The format for this biography of the great Australian illusionist, Les Levante (1892-1978), is unlike any other book in the series.
After discovering Levante's unpublished autobiography, author Kent Blackmore spent five years researching the fascinating life of perhaps the last of the great touring illusionists.

Each chapter is divided into two distinct sections. First comes Levante's personal memories of the many adventures he experienced while touring the world with his ever-expanding, full-evening illusion show. Levante's words are followed by the author's considerable research which adds greatly to the story, makes corrections and places into context Levante's reminiscences.

In describing his heroic struggle to the top of his profession, Levante provides a word's-eye-view of show business during the early  part of this century. Travel with Levante and Company as they visit  Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan and India. As a headliner in  England's music halls, Levante socialised with many of magic's greatest names including Dante, Goldin and Selbit. Levante - His Life, No Illusion contains over a hundred photos illustrating his long career and spectacular magic show. An appendix describes many of Levante's classic tricks and illusions that have been explained in magic magazines over the years.

The fame of Les "The Great" Levante stemmed not only from his talent as a performer, but from the friendly and gentlemanly fashion in which he dealt with his audiences and other magicians, both professional and amateur. Born in Sydney, Australia in 1892, Leslie Cole turned professional by 1910, working in country touring shows with an escapology act. Doing shows at this time meant working every tiny town, promoting, collecting the tickets, as well as performing. Levante headed off to New Zealand in 1920, performing magic and escapology right through the country, then travelled extensively throughout Australia. Touring was a tough life for a man with a young family, but here Les was really paying his dues, carving out that self-assured confidence that was his trademark. In 1927 the family left Australia for their first "world tour" and prior to 1933 they moved through China, Borneo, the Philippines, Malaya, Singapore, Burma, Japan and India, all the while honing skills in showmanship, promotion and the art of bluffing one's way through any situation.

In 1933 Levante arrived in England. It took another four years of touring Britain, gradually building up the size and repertoire of the show, before the big show came about in 1937. "How's Tricks?" was not the accustomed full evening show focussing on the magician alone, but a revue composed of various novelty and musical acts between the illusions. An astonishing number of different variety acts appeared in the Levante show over the years. This was the high point in Levante's career. The show was notable for its rich costuming, clever comedy magic sketches, and Les' personality, particularly with smaller effects such as the Thumb Tie, the Egg Bag, and his big publicity-puller, The Inexhaustible Kettle.

Faced with the closure of theatres upon the outbreak of World War Two, the show was forced to return to Australia, and in late 1940, "How's Tricks?" played Sydney, Melbourne, and New Zealand. By the time the war was over, the writing was on the wall for Variety, and live theatres were being closed everywhere. Les had been born too late to cash in on the Golden Age of Magic. He carried on until 1947 with lengthy seasons in New Zealand, at the Tivoli Theatres in Sydney and Melbourne, and army camp shows on behalf of the US Army. Then, in a return to his earlier nomadic lifestyle, a huge tent was bought, holding 1200 people, and a cut-down "How's Tricks" took off around New South Wales and Queensland.

Les started to talk about retiring, but in 1954 he returned to Britain for what he called his Third World Tour, playing short seasons all over the country. Country travel in Australia formed the later years of Levante's life, with occasional trips back to England. By the 1970's, the world recognised that Levante was one of the last great touring magicians, and in honour of his amazing life in magic, he was awarded both the Performing Fellowship and the Masters Fellowship by the Academy of Magical Arts. Levante died in 1978. The world lost a supremely talented magician, a clever but unpretentious man, an adventurer who had done everything that there was to be done in the world of entertainment and who, largely through the force of his personality, had won the hearts and minds of audiences all over the world.