
Don Alan
(Cincinatti, Ohio: 22nd February 1926 - 15th April 1999)
Stage name of Donald Alan McWethy. Chavez graduate 1947. Protégé of John Snyder Jr and Bert Allerton. Pro close-up since 1949. Bartender-magician at Schulien's 1951-54. TV "Magic" weekly series (26 half-hour shows) in Chicago 1952-53; ABC-TV "Magic Ranch" (13 half-hour shows) 1961. Many TV bits with Sullivan (1960 and 1961), Carson, Allen, Douglas, etc.
Wrote Close-Up Time with Don Alan (1951, 20pp; repr 1970), Pretty Sneaky (1956, 48pp; repr 1960 and 1968), and The Rubber Circus (1958, 15pp). Tricks in New Phoenix. Video (1988). Bio and collected tricks is by Jon Racherbaumer, In a Class by Himself: The Legacy of Don Alan (2001, 309pp).
In 1989 Mike Rogers wrote that "Don Alan is the most copied professional close-up magician in history". Many would agree. Died in San Diego of Alzheimer’s complications.