Moi-Yo Miller was the stage name of Mona Loretta Miller (24 April 1914 – 18 September 2018), an Australian entertainer who toured the world as a

magician's assistant A magician's assistant is a performer in a magic act who is not billed as the magician or principal name in the act. The role of an assistant can include holding the props that are used by a magician, shifting props onto and off the stage, and ...

and illusionist of the stage magician

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...

(a.k.a. Harry Jansen), during the 1930s and 1940s

Biography

Miller was born in

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

She first met

while still in her late teens when she was appearing in a musical revue in Melbourne. Dante had decided to recruit an Australian girl as an assistant after, in his words, "he saw in Melbourne more beautiful women per square block than he had seen in any other part of the World". Miller dated Dante's son, Bill, and went on to work with Dante, staying with him for the rest of his performing career. She very quickly became his main assistant and an integral part of his show ''Sim Sala Bim''. She was often billed as "Australia's Most Beautiful Woman". She once estimated that she had been sawed in half around 11,800 times during her career. Miller became highly regarded among professional magic performers and is widely cited as one of the all-time great magic assistants. She features in the 2008 documentary movie, ''Women in Boxes'', which explores the vital role of assistants in magic. In 1993 she received the Dragon Award presented by the J. Marberger Stuart Foundation. She celebrated her 100th birthday in 2014.Happy 100th Birthday Moi Yo Miller
/ref> A public art mural of Miller's face was created by artist Michael Cassar in June 2016 on the corner of James St and Minns Lane, Geelong.

Biography

References

Further reading