Lunar Tribute | A Celestial Celebration
SUZY WANDAS
The Lady with the Fairy Fingers
This Lunar Tribute contribution to A Celestial Celebration
is by Kobe and Christ Van Herwegen with Nikolaas Martens
Belgium leaves a surprising trail of women related to magic history. Ionia, daughter of Charles de Vere, was born in Brussels, the Belgian capital, in 1888. The father of Adelaide Hermann was also born in Brussels; and her mother was born in Ghent, just 33 miles from the capital. It is also the same region where Jeanne Van Dyk was born—in a fairground wagon near the outskirts of Brussels on March 5, 1896. The name Dyk on her birth certificate was actually a misspelling of the family name Dyck, but it mattered little for Jeanne. She would end up changing her name, and go on to be known around the world as Suzy Wandas—The Lady with the Fairy Fingers.
Her father, Charles Louis Van Dyck (1867-1911), a man who had roots in fairground entertainment, met Jeanne’s mother, Elisabeth Steelandt (1877-1954) and they soon married in 1895. Jeanne, their first of four children, was born shortly after. Charles Louis had established a fairground theatre called Theatre Louis Michel-Van Dyck and included his children in the show as part of the entertainment. Jeanne was billed as “Miss Jenny, artful acrobatics on a piece of thin wire.”
In June 1906, after a mesmerizing performance at the Palais d’Été in Brussels, T. Nelson Downs was invited by Charles Louis to visit the family’s wagon, where the great magician treated young Jeanne to a sampling of his coin manipulations. Downs was charmed by the child, and was surprised by how quickly she caught on to the palming techniques he showed her. A few years later, in 1910 in Brussels, while watching a performance of Le Roy, Talma and Bosco at the same theatre Downs had played, the Palais d’Été, Jeanne experienced a profound moment of clarity. As she watched Talma perform her elegant rendition of the Miser’s Dream, Jeanne felt a light pat on her back and heard her mother, Elisabeth, whisper: “Now pay attention…” leaving no room to misunderstand the purpose of their visit to the show. In watching Talma, Jeanne realized her true calling, and from then on she set her sights on being a female manipulator.
But before Jeanne could establish a new magic act, tragedy befell the family, which now included Jeanne’s brother, Louis, and two little sisters, Thérèse and Marie-Caroline. Their father, Charles Louis, died suddenly at age forty-four on March 3, 1911, from a mysterious ailment. Their mother, Elisabeth, was left to care for both the young family and their caravan theatre. Overwhelmed, the grief-stricken woman, finding it difficult to feed such a large family and to manage their nomadic life, was forced to send her two youngest daughters to a boarding school in Roborst, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. That left Jeanne and her brother, Louis, to help Elisabeth run and manage the travelling theatre.
Though the family made an honest attempt, the strain from setting up and dismantling the theatre, in addition to the daily demands of the rigorous show schedule, wore them all down terribly. Elisabeth decided to sell the theatre a year later, in 1912, thereby freeing the family to tour the more prosperous vaudeville circuit.
In a trio with her brother and mother, Jeanne starred in Les Vanda Illusionnistes, performing at some of the biggest venues in France. With each member of the family playing a role in the act, their routines evolved, making way for Jeanne to showcase her brilliant manipulation skills.
As the show became longer and more refined, it also found greater success—especially with Elisabeth at the helm, demonstrating more confidence and business savvy, doubling her responsibilities as both a performer and as the show’s manager. Elisabeth secured more bookings, and eventually brought her family to Italy, leaving fairground memories fading behind them.
But in 1916, Louis, who fulfilled the comical part of the act, left the show to join the military forces waging the First World War. Once again, Elisabeth and Jeanne were forced to reinvent themselves. With less than twenty years between them, Elisabeth astutely predicted that a “sister act” would sell more successfully over a “mother-daughter act.” Et voila! The Wanda’s Sisters—with their eccentric spelling—were born.
After the war, Jeanne created a second act, in which she danced and played the violin in an impressive evening gown. In 1927, billed as Suzy White Flower, she performed at the Antwerp Scala Theatre for the first time under her new stage name. The duo still performed as The Wanda’s Sisters until 1936. But with her daughter maturing and emerging as the clear talent on the stage, Elisabeth decided it was time for her to step out of the spotlight and instead focus on her efforts as Suzy’s manager.
With a new stage persona as a solo artist, the beautiful Suzy now starred in a magic act all her own. A passionate performer, she confidently filled the stage of the famous Palais d’Été as Suzy Wandas from August 28 until September 3, 1936. It must have been a special time for Suzy because it was the very same stage on which Talma had inspired Suzy’s magical career more than twenty-five years earlier.
Suzy was a star, and in great demand. The public could not get enough of the dexterous and elegant magician. Her calendar quickly filled up with booking after booking. When she performed at the famous ABC Theatre in Paris, French impresario Mitty Goldin dubbed her “The Lady with the Fairy Fingers,” and it became Suzy’s hallmark title for the rest of her performing career.
Alas, the growing presence of Hilter’s dark shadow stomped down her growing success. When the Second World War broke out, Suzy fled to Amsterdam, hoping to find safety and security. It was a difficult period for the young stage performer but she somehow managed to secure a booking with a travelling variety company called Vroolijk Variété-festijn. Fortunately, this booking kept her financially secure even as war raged across Europe. During one of her performances, a young man named Bram Bongers paid close attention to the manipulations performed by Suzy. He would go on in the magic world to become the three-time world champion of magic, Fred Kaps.
Suzy’s talent gained more and more international fame, and was soon she was noticed in English-speaking countries, too. In September 1952, she was invited to join the playbill for the British Ring Convention in Hastings, where her act surpassed all expectations. No one in the room had ever seen anybody like Suzy before. American attendees gushed about the act to Percy Abbott and Abbott, in turn, invited Suzy to attend and perform at the Annual Abbott Magic Get Together in 1953—her first American performance.
It was there she met physician and amateur magician Dr. Zina B. Bennett. The two found distraction from daily life by writing to each other and, in 1958, she invited Dr. Bennett to join her for a visit to the World Exposition in Brussels. The couple was inseparable for three days. When the time came to say their goodbyes, they realized they were in love.
After a series of farewell performances in Brussels, Suzy Wandas married Dr. Bennett on August 26, 1959. After their honeymoon in England, they returned to America and settled into their new home in Detroit. Dr. Bennett, with the help of his brother, transformed their basement into a mini magic theater where Suzy and her husband filmed each other performing their most famous magic tricks and routines. They were deeply in love and enjoyed their new life together as husband and wife.
But sadly, their intense happiness didn’t last long: On July 2, 1965, Suzy’s beloved Dr. Bennett died at seventy-three from complications of a long illness. To supplement her income, Suzy then sold the majority of her magic posters and paraphernalia, a move that became a kind of definitive farewell to her performing career, too.
She was, however, fondly remembered in both Europe and the United States. In 1975, she was inducted into The Society of American Magicians Hall of Fame. With pride, she donated part of her remaining magical collection to the museum. Two years later, the mayor of Detroit declared January 7 as Suzy Wandas Bennett Day. And in 1981, she was presented the ultimate recognition by The Academy of Magical Arts with a Performing Fellowship Award.
On July 17, 1986, at the age of ninety, the final curtain fell on the life of this grand dame of magic: Suzy Wandas, the Lady with the Fairy Fingers.
Learn more about Suzy’s magical story in
Suzy Wandas: The Lady with the Fair Fingers
This Lunar Tribute is by Kobe and Christ Van Herwegen, with Nikolaas Martens, and part of A Celestial Celebration