The Great Tihany: A circus impresario’s narrow escape
A fledgling circus magician narrowly escapes the infamous Novi Sad raid in January 1942, where the Hungarian military massacred 4,000 Jewish, Serbian and other civilians to covet favour with Nazi Germany. Miraculously, he survived and went on to create the most spectacular magic-based circus show in Latin America. A circus magician For over five decades, the name Circo Tihany was as famous in Latin America as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circuses were in North America. It was the most successful travelling show on the continent. The show was conceived and developed by Franz Czeisler (aka The Great Tihany), a magician and illusionist who built it from its early origins as an extended magic act into a spectacular variety circus. Franz ( Hungarian : Ferenc) Czeisler was born on 29 June 1916, in Kétegyháza , Hungary (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). He received a few lessons from German magician Alfredo Uferini as a ch...