According to the
Chicago Tribune, his interest in magic started when he was six. As a youngster, he saw performances by
Thurston and
Houdini. In later years, he admitted to dozing off in the midst of Houdini's show. After only a year at college, he went on to be a professional entertainer instead, initially working out of
Boston. He later moved to
New York City where he met Naomi Baker, daughter of
Al Baker, then Dean of American Magicians. Naomi married Marshall and they had two sons, James and Alexander ("Sandy"). During
World War II, Marshall was "
island hopping" in the
Pacific to entertain military personnel in
USO shows. He became tired of taking his elaborate ventriloquist's dummy called Henry with him, so he decided to use a white glove and some bunny ears to turn his left hand into his
dummy, "Lefty". Marshall often described the transition from his use of a traditional vent dummy to the development of his glove puppet rabbit commenting that the "dummy wouldn't carry the suitcase." Originally made from a
khaki army glove, when Marshall was discharged from the army, he replaced it with a white dress glove. While performing in Las Vegas, at the suggestion of one of Marshall's friends, the puppet was further transformed into a rabbit by affixing two fingers from a separate glove to it, thus forming a pair of perky ears. Over his 60-year career he appeared on
The Ed Sullivan Show 14 times together with his glove puppet rabbit dummy, "Lefty". He also played the
New York Palace and
London's Palladium. Marshall was the opening act for performers like
Frank Sinatra,
Milton Berle and
Liberace. He was the first act to open for Sinatra in
Las Vegas. In Marshall's later years, he was honored with the title of "Dean of American Magicians" by the
Society of American Magicians. ==Personal==