Episode 099—The Most Interesting Man in the World (feat. Michael MacBride)

Nobody puts Baby in the corner and nobody makes Merton Clivette pick a lane. Author and indie publisher, Michael MacBride, regales us with tales of painter, magician, writer and more Merton Clivette, aka Clivette the Great, aka The Man in Black, aka The Mysterious Strange. Join us to learn about all things Clivette and how/why MacBride found himself writing a whole book about him.

More on Michael

Originally from Michigan, Michael MacBride now calls Minnesota home. Michael received his PhD in 19th century American and 18th century British Literature, but his true focus was 1870-1930. He studied Mark Twain and the period of American history from 1780-1930, and sought out the odd and unusual moments of history. Michael began his college career as an art student, then art history major and has continued to have a love for art and artists. For fun, Michael reads newspapers from 100 years ago--a habit he began in 2017 (which is how he initially became aware of Clivette). Michael taught English, Literature, and Humanities courses at universities and colleges in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Illinois, but also held a number of odd jobs. He has delivered newspapers, worked for UPS, delivered pizzas, did collections at a bank, was a roadie for a country band, and was a grant-writer and funder-researcher for non-profits. Regardless of what he was doing and when, the two consistent things in his life have been: writing and his intense curiosity. Michael has written academic books about pedagogy and cultural studies, non-fiction about LGBTIA+ history, contemporary "bookclub" fiction, speculative/science fiction, and a series of mid-grade interactive detective books.

Follow Michael @michaelmacbride on ⁠Instagram ⁠& ⁠Twitter⁠, ⁠@mdmacbride on TikTok⁠ and ⁠@author.macbride on Facebook

SOURCES:
Books:

Barnum, P.T. Barnum's Own Story: The Autobiography of P.T. Barnum. Dover Publications: 2017.

Bowdoin, W. G. "The Man in Black, Eternalist, Makes a Village Exhibit." The New York Evening World. 17 September 1919.

Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave. Did Buffalo Bill Visit Your Town? A Comprehensive Country/State Listing of William “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Tour Destinations. 2010.

Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill's Life Story: An Autobiography. Skyhorse: 2010

Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Historical Sketches and Daily Review. Cincinnati: Strobridge Litho. Co., 1907.

Clivette. A Bouquet of Worse Liver. Chicago, Laird & Lee: 1908.

Clivette. A Tome of Liver Worse. Chicago, Laird & Lee: 1909.

Clivette. Café Cackle from Dumps to Delmonicos'. Chicago, Laird & Lee: 1909.

Clivette. Confessions of a Palmist. Chicago, Laird & Lee: 1908.

Clivette. It. Sign of the Sphinx, New York, Nine Barrow Street: 1922.

Clivette. The Red Rag. Chicago, Laird & Lee: 1907.

Clivette. Thorn Decked Prince of Peace. Chicago, Laird & Lee: 1917.

Copperfield, David, Wiseman, Richard, and David Britland. David Copperfield’s History of Magic. Simon & Schuster: 2021.

Daniel, Noel, Caveney, Mike, Jay, Ricky, and Jim Steinmeyer. Magic: 1400s-1950s. Taschen: 2009.

Delaney, Michelle and Gertrude Kasebier. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Warriors: A Photographic History. Harper Collins: 2007.

From the Ralph Pulitzer Estate and others. Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, Sculptures. Plaza Art Galleries, Inc: New York: 6 February 1941.

Jay, Ricky. Jay's Journal of Anomalies: Conjurers, Cheats, Hustlers, Hoaxsters, Pranksters, Jokesters, Impostors, Pretenders, Sideshow Showmen, Armless Calligraphers, Mechanical Marvels, Popular Entertainments. Farrar, Straus, Giroux: 2001.

Jay, Ricky. Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women. Farrar Straus & Giroux; 1986.

Kalush, William and Larry Sloman. The Secret Life of Houdini. Atria: 2007.

Kasson, Joy S. Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Celebrity, Memory, and Popular History. Hill and Wang, 2001.

LaDelle, Frederic. A Complete Illustrated Course of Instruction How to Enter Vaudeville. CreateSpace: 2016.

Lamont, Peter and Jim Steinmeyer. The Secret History of Magic: The True Story of the Deceptive Art. TarcherPerigee: 2018

Lewis, Robert. From Traveling Show to Vaudeville. John Hopkins University Press: 2007.

Little, George H and Lawrence. The Vaudeville. 1895.

Little, George H and Merton Clivette. Artist Era. 1896.

Little, George H. Mahatma. 1895-1906.

Lorenz, Marianne. Theme & Improvisation: Kandinsky & the American Avant-garde, 1912-1950. Little, Brown: 1992. 157-158.

Lustig, David J. La Vellma's Vaudeville Budget: For Magicians, Mind Readers, and Ventriloquists. Robert W. Doidge: 1926.

Mellow, James R. Walker Evans. Basic Books: 1999.

Merton Clivette Papers, 1927-1930. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Miller, Edwin Haviland. The Artistic Legacy of Walt Whitman, A Tribute to Gay Wilson Allen. New York University Press: 1970.

Modern Art Paintings Watercolors Drawings: From the Collections of Paul Reinhardt, Miss Edith Wetmore, and Mrs. Charles Howland Russell, Jr. and Others. Edward P and William H. O'Reilly. 7 May 1939.

Monod, David. Vaudeville and the Making of Modern Entertainment, 1890-1925. North Carolina University Press, 2020.

Mulholland, John. John Mulholland’s Story of Magic. Racehorse: 2019.

Museums of The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. Report for the Year 1930. 1931.

Poore, Henry Rankin. Modern Art: Why, What and How? Knickbocker Press: 1931.

Rains Galleries including a Collection of Art of the Moderns. Rains Auction Rooms. 13 May 1937.

Ringling, Bros. Route of Ringling Bros. Shows: 1882-1900. Central Printing and Engraving Co: 1902.

Slide, Anthony. The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville. University Press of Mississippi: 2012

Society of Independent Artists. 11th Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists. New York, N.Y.: 1927.

Standiford, Les. Battle for the Big Top: P.T. Barnum, James Bailey, John Ringling, and the Death-Defying Saga of the American Circus. PublicAffairs, 2021.

Stein, Charles W. American Vaudeville as Seen by its Contemporaries. Da Capo Press: 1985.

Steinmeyer, Jim. The Last Greatest Magician in the World: Howard Thurston Versus Houdini & the Battles of the American Wizards. TarcherPerigee: 2012

Stewart, D. Travis. No Applause Just Throw Money: The book that made Vaudeville Famous. Faber & Faber: 2006.

Twain, Mark. No. 44 The Mysterious Stranger. University of California Press: 2011.

Warren, Louis S. Buffalo Bill's America: William Cody and The Wild West Show. Vintage: 2006.

Wertheim, Arthur Frank. Vaudeville Wars: How the Keith-Albee and Orpheum Circuits Controlled the Big Time and its Performers. Palgrave Macmillan: 2009.

Wilson, R. L. and Greg Martin. Buffalo Bill's Wild West: An American Legend. Random House: 1998.

Wilson, Robert. Barnum: An American Life. Simon & Schuster: 2019.

Newspapers and Magazines:

"A Clivette Exhibition." The Art Digest. 15 April 1933. p. 10.

"A Little Bit of Paris in Little Old New York." Sunday News. 16 July 1922. p. 24.

"A Painter of Vamps--Tooting in the New Year." American Pictorial. 2 January 1922.

"A Queer, Unusual Personality is Clivette. The Detroit News. 16 December 1928.

"A Show of Works by the American Painter: Clivette." L’Art Vivant Bernheim-Jeune. 16 July 1927.

"A Very Good Slack Wire Performer named Clivette." Albany Democrat-Herald. 11 September 1888. p. 3.

"Ainslee Opens with Clivette." The Detroit News. 16 December 1928.

"Ainslie Enters Detroit Field." The Art Digest. Mid-December 1928. p. 8.

"Ainslie Galleries, Open in Detroit." The Art News. 1 December 1928. p. 26.

"Ainslie Sponsors Clivette." The Art Digest. Mid-November 1928. p. 6.

"American Art and the Museum." The Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art. November 1940. pp. 3-26.

"Amusements." Chicago Daily Tribune. 8 October 1896. p. 6.

"An Exhibition at Goodwater Grove." The Stockton Mail. 4 May 1886. p. 3.

"Around the New York Galleries: Work by Several Artists including Merton Clivette, Schenke, Boardman, Robinson, Lemordant, Pye, Czobel and Others." The New York Times. 23 January 1927. p. 10.

"Art and Artists.: Painting and Sculpture." Los Angeles Times. 26 November 1928.

"Art Man." Time. 24 January 1927. p. 19.

"Art: Exhibitions of Paintings." The New York Times. 20 February 1921. p. X7.

"Art: Exhibitions of Paintings." The New York Times. 8 May 1921. p. 79.

"Art: Hellman Paintings on View." The New York Times. 11 December 1932. p. 35.

"Art: News of Exhibits Current in Gotham." Chicago Daily Tribune. 30 January 1927. p. G4.

"Art: The Last Days of Winter Exhibitions." The New York Times. 26 February 1922. p. 79.

"Artist Requests Ashes be Scattered to Four Winds." The Buffalo Courier Express. 10 May 1931.

"Artist Wins Fame after 70-Year Bid." New York Evening Post. 15 January 1927.

"Asks Governor to Extend Quiz of Courts Here: Mrs. Clivette goes over Head of Appellate Division with Plea." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 21 January 1931. p. 1.

"At the Temple, M Clivette." Sentinel-Democrat. 26 October 1897.

"Big Apartment for Sheridan Square." The New York Times. 19 August 1923. p. RE1.

"Brisk Spectacle at Hippodrome." The New York Times. 1 September 1912. p. 9.

Burgess, Clinton. "Metropolitan Magic." The Billboard. 31 July 1920. p. 51.

Burrows, Carlyle. "News and Exhibitions of the Week in Art." New York Herald Tribune. 24 November 1929.

"California Raises the Question of Clivette." The Art Digest. Mid-February 1929. p. 8.

"Cincinnati Show." The Art Digest. 1 March 1927. p. 8.

Clifton, Leigh Ann. "Merton Clivette at Couturier." Art & Auction. October 1993.

"Clivette Again." The Art Digest. Mid-December 1927. p. 9.

"Clivette Arrives with a Boomity Boom." The Art Digest. 1 February 1927.

"Clivette at Vassar." The Art Digest. 15 February 1927. p. 20.

"Clivette in Paris." The Art Digest. August 1927. p. 2.

"Clivette is Dead." The Art Digest. 15 May 1931. p. 7.

Clivette, Merton. "Winning the 'Type-Sticking' Race in Old 'Frisco." The Country Editor. Rockville Center, Long Island, NY: November 1922.

"Clivette Paintings now on Exhibition." New York Enquirer. 2 April 1933.

"Clivette Petition Plan Gets Backing." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 20 January 1931. p. 3.

"Clivette The Eternalist." Los Angeles Times. 30 August 1931. p. B14.

"Clivette the Incomparable Breaks Summer Art Drought." Brooklyn Daily Times. 17 August 1930. p. 9A.

"Clivette, the Main in Black." Alton Evening Telegraph. 27 October 1897.

"Clivette, World's Greatest Artist, by his own Admission, Quits Village for Paris." The Evening Telegraph. 13 March 1923.

"Clivette." The Art Digest. 15 March 1927. p. 6.

"Clivette." The Art Digest. Mid-October 1930. pp. 9, 18.

"Clivette: At the Temple, Wednesday and Thursday." The Carlinville Daily. 25 October 1897.

"Clivette's Pictures." The Art Digest. 15 October 1932. p. 8.

"Contemporary Artists' Work Exhibited Here." The Philadelphia Inquirer. 27 December 1942. p. a7.

Cravens, Junius. "The Clivette Invasion." Argonaut Magazine. February 1929.

"Creative Spirit at Arts Council." The Art News. 28 January 1927. p. 8.

"Cubists, Otherists all in Art Show." New York World. 13 March 1927.

"Deaths." The New York Times. 12 May 1931. p. 23.

"Entertainment at the Cafe Monico." Pall Mall Gazette. 20 April 1895.

Estcourt, Charles Jr. "New York Skylines." The Courier-Journal, Louisville. 5 February 1928. p. 8.

"Exhibition in Paris." The New York Times. 24 July 1927.

"Exhibition of Watercolor Paintings, Pastels and Drawings by American and European Artists and Miniatures by the Brooklyn Society of Miniature painters." Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn, N.Y.: 1929.

"Exposition D’Oeuvres du Peintre American Clivette." Chez Bernheim-Jeune Editeures D’Art. Paris, France: 1927.

"Extravagant?" The Art Digest. September 1930. p. 11.

Fietelson, Lorser. "Two New Canvases by Clivette at Palace." Oakland Tribune. 19 February 1928.

Flint, Ralph. "Art News and Comment: New York Exhibitions." The Christian Science Monitor. 31 December 1927.

Frank, Stanley. "Anything goes in Greenwich Village." Saturday Evening Post. 16 September 1950. pp. 127-132.

"Free Exhibition of Gustave Nassauer’s Collection of Paintings by Clivette." Art Center. New York, N.Y.: 1929.

"Greenwich Village Historical Society to Exhibit at Ainslie's." The Art News. 1 December 1923. p. 5.

Harris, Ruth Green. "Now on Exhibition in Paris." The New York Times. 24 July 1927.

"Here is the way to make clever shadow pictures." San Francisco Call. 5 June 1898. p. 5.

"High Art Calls Cop when Critics Carp." The Sun. 29 January 1919. p. 6.

"Hopkin's Vaudeville." The Courier-Journal, Louisville. 28 September 1902. p. B2.

"Humorous." The Courier-Journal, Louisville. 6 March 1909. p. 5.

"In the Wake of the news: Earlier Chicago." Chicago Daily Tribune. 9 February 1929. p. 19.

"Joint Exhibition of Unusual Paintings by the Mystic, Poet-painter of the Unseen: Prince Childe de Rohna-d'Harcourt and Merton Clivette, Painter of the Mob." The Spanish Society. 3 June 1925

Kirsh, Francine. "Big Top Treasures." Antiques & Collections. 1999. pp. 53-57.

Lehre, Florence Wieben. "Feininger, Clivette and Others." The Argus: A Journal of Art Criticism. January 1929. p. 10.

Lehre, Florence Wieben. "Is Clivette and Artist or Faker?” Oakland Tribune. February 1929.

"Lincoln Nude." Time. 17 December 1928. p. 20.

"List of Accessions." The Brooklyn Museum Quarterly. January 1931. pp. 39-40.

"Made his Mark: The Oakland Painter who is known in the Theatrical World." Oakland Tribune. 7 February 1891. p. 5.

Mannes, Marya. "Gallery Notes." Creative Art. January 1928. p. 5.

"Many Attractions for Park Visitors." The Courier-Journal, Louisville. 6 July 1905. p. 2.

Mason, Richard. "Independent Artists Have Their Little Jokes at Free-for-All Exhibition." Page Eleven. 22 March 1925. p. 107.

McBride, Henry. "Clivette, the Impressionist, at the New Gallery." New York Sun. 15 January 1927.

McCormick, William B. "A Review." Journal American. 24 November 1929.

"McVicker's: Schiller." Chicago Daily Tribune. 16 May 1897. p. 34.

"Merton Clivette Estate $2,000." The New York Times. 26 June 1931. p. 15.

"Merton Clivette Eulogized by Sulzer: Ex-Governor Pays Tribute to Artist and Writer at Funeral Services." The New York Times. 10 May 1931. p. N7.

"Merton Clivette, Artist, Dies at 62." The New York Times. 9 May 1931. p. 13.

"Merton Clivette, The Man in Black." California View Fine Arts. Los Gatos, CA: 2004.

"Merton Clivette." New York Evening Post. 15 January 1927.

"Merton Clivette." The Art News. 23 May 1931. p. 14.

"Merton Clivette: New Gallery." The Art News. 24 December 1927. p. 10.

"Merton Clivette: New Gallery." The Art News. 29 December 1927. p. 11.

Millier, Arthur. "Brush Strokes." Los Angeles Times. 9 June 1935.

Moore, Frank. "On the West Coast." The American Magazine of Art. December 1927. pp. 675-677.

"More Studios for Sheridan Square." The New York Times. 31 October 1926. p. RE2.

"Mrs. C. P. Clivette, Civic Leader Here: Founder of Greenwich Village Historical Society, Former Singer and Actress, Dies." The New York Times. 23 June 1951. p. 15.

"Mrs. C. P. Clivette." The Art Digest. 1 July 1951. p. 29.

"Mrs. Clivette Honored." The New York Times. 28 June 1931. p. 22.

"Mrs. Merton Clivette Quotes Ainslie's Daughter at Trial of Atalie Rider." The New York Times. 14 November 1924. p. 15.

"Music and Drama: Attractions of the Week." Chicago Daily Tribune. 3 September 1899. p. 36.

"Nassauer Declares Clivette Is Greatest Artist of All the Ages." The Art Digest. Mid-October 1930. p. 9.

"New Books of the Spring Season." The New York Times. 10 April 1909. p. BR222.

"News from the Dailies: New York." Variety. 19 January 1927. p. 35.

"Not Yet Writing Clivette Biography." The New York Times. 15 May 1931. p. 48.

"Notable Paintings & Drawings Chiefly of the Modern School." American Art Association. New York, N.Y.: 1932.

"Notes on Current Art." The New York Times. 2 May 1920. p. X10.

"Oakland Debunks Clivette." Argus Magazine. February 1929.

"Obituary: Merton Clivette." Variety. 13 May 1931. p. 93.

"Old Masters and Ex-Magician Share Attention in First Collection Shown." The Detroit Free Press. 16 December 1928.

"Painter Clivette hailed as Wonder." New York Sun. 2 May 1927.

"Paintings & Sculptures by Living Americans." Museum of Modern Art & Plandome Press. New York, N.Y.: 1930.

"Playbills." Chicago Daily Tribune. 13 September 1903. p. 37.

"Playbills." Chicago Daily Tribune. 14 June 1903. p. 37.

"Portraits of Artists are Presented in a Special Exhibition." The Art Digest. 1 November 1932. p. 32.

"Portraits of Artists—Roerich Museum, New York." The American Magazine of Art. November 1932. pp. 293-294.

"Prefers Kreisel to Sheeler." The Art Digest. 15 October 1939. p. 15.

"Propagandists Dwarf Real Painters at the Independents' Annual." The Art Digest. 1 May 1936. p. 7.

"Recent Deaths and Memorials." Science, New Series. 13 November 1936. pp. 433-434.

"Recent Museum Acquisitions." Parnassus. October 1929. pp. 20-21.

"Rites for Clivette, Artist, Conducted." Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 18 May 1931. p. A14.

Roach, George. "Notes and Comments." New York History. July 1942. pp. 368-388.

"San Francisco." The Art News. 2 February 1929. p. 24.

"Scientific Notes and News." Science, New Series. 13 November 1936. pp. 434-436.

"Scientific Notes and News." Science, New Series. 7 June 1935. pp. 555-559.

Semons, Lillian. “Merton Clivette.” Brooklyn Daily Times, Review. 17 August 1930.

Smith, Louis W. "Clivette, Mysterious Man in Black." The New York Times. 17 July 1927.

"Spring Salon 1929." Salons of America, Inc. New York, N.Y.: 1929.

Stein, Aaron Marc. "Art's Circus Man Holds Show at 84." The New York Evening Post. 4 September 1930.

"Summertime Amusements." The New York Times. 22 June 1913. p. x9.

"The Ainslie Galleries of New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles opened in Detroit on December 15th in Three Galleries in the Fisher Building." The Art News. 22 December 1928.

"The Art Calendar." The Art World. 16 January 1927. p. 33.

"The Drama: Attractions for the Week." Chicago Daily Tribune. 18 September 1898. p. 36.

"The Sidelights of New York." The Saratogian. 29 April 1927. p 4.

"The Week in New York: Recent Openings Reviewed." The New York Times. 1 May 1932. p. X8.

"The Week's Novelties." The New York Times. 7 January 1906. p. 4.

"Theatrical Gossip." The New York Times. 25 September 1895. p. 8.

"To California: $33 one-way tickets on sale daily." Chicago Daily Tribune. 4 September 1905. p. 2.

"To Construct Community Center." American Lumberman. 6 June 1931. p. 44.

"To the Editor of The Art Digest." The Art Digest. 15 October 1930. pp. 179-180.

"Unusual Pictures Appear in Hellman Auction." The Art Digest. 1 December 1932. p. 16.

"Utica Library to Exhibit Paintings by M. Clivette." Utica Observer. 26 November 1928.

"Vandal Shoots Through Window of Artist at Wilson's Picture." The Courier-Journal, Louisville. 12 May 1922. p. 13.

"Varied Art Shown at Modern Museum." The New York Times. 4 December 1930. p. 23.

"Vaudeville." Chicago Daily Tribune. 28 April 1907. p. I4.

"Vaudeville." Chicago Daily Tribune. 5 May 1907. p. I4.

"Village Vamps." Mid-Week Pictorial. 13 March 1924. p. 10.

Warner, Jeremy. “The World of Art.” Artists & Models Magazine. May 1926. pp. 37-40.

"Week's Bills at the Theatres." The New York Times. 17 May 1910. p. 9.

"What is Going on this Week." The New York Times. 6 May 1934. p. N5.

"Who’s Who in Art 1929." American Art Annual. 1929.

"World’s Best Artist is Clivette! Ask Him!" New York American. 17 January 1927. p. 11.

"Zipp's Casino." The Standard Union. 22 March 1890. p. 5.

CREDITS: Original Theme: Garreth Spinn
Original Art: Sarah Cruz
Animations: The Banditry Co.

SPONSORS: This season of Shared History is sponsored by The Banditry Co.