Editing Melinda Saxe

Saxe comes from a Las Vegas showbiz family. She is the daughter of Bonnie Saxe, a dancer turned show producer, who helped launch Melinda's performing career. Melinda's brother [[David Saxe]] began assisting in the technical and business side of her shows while still a college student and went on to be her producer for 17 years.<ref name="rebelyell">{{Cite journal

|url = http://www.unlvrebelyell.com/article.php?ID=11735&PHPSESSID=9a88fdf09e3e9320acf31572b337aded

|title = Vegas producer gives back

|journal = The Rebel Yell

|publisher = University of Nevada, Las Vegas

|date = 10 March 2008

|first = Sandra

|last = Hernandez

|format = {{dead link|date=March 2009}} &ndash; ^{[http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=author%3AHernandez+intitle%3AVegas+producer+gives+back&as_publication=The+Rebel+Yell&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&btnG=Search Scholar search]}

}}</ref><ref>{{cite web

|url = http://www.davidsaxe.com/about.htm

|title = About Us

|publisher = David Saxe productions

|accessdate = 2008-05-02

}}</ref>

Her self-styled title "The First Lady of Magic" originated as the name or billing strapline for the various shows she presented in a succession of Las Vegas venues throughout her career. Her first starring show was a small scale cabaret at the Bourbon Street Hotel when she was aged 20.<ref name="theview">{{cite web

|url = http://www.viewnews.com/2001/VIEW-Jun-13-Wed-2001/NWest/16257355.html

|title = Melinda makes magic a career

|publisher = The View, neighbourhood newspapers

|date = 13 June 2001

|accessdate = 2008-05-02

}}</ref> At the height of her fame she was starring in big shows with large supporting casts at some of the city's best known locations. She featured in the earliest version of [[Showgirls of Magic]], with Melinda as the featured performer among a cast of nude showgirls. She also had a residency at the Trump Castle in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]] and enjoyed a four-year run in her own 3,000-seat theatre in [[Branson, Missouri]].

[[File:Melinda - Double Sawing|thumb|right|335 px]]

In 1994 she was chosen by producer [[Gary Ouellet]] as one of the acts for his [[World's Greatest Magic I|World's Greatest Magic ]]<span style="display: none;"> </span>television special broadcast on the [[NBC]] network. Melinda performed the thin model sawing in half (of [[Charlotte Pendragon]]) and her famous Zombie Ball routine, and also took part in the vanish of the Space Shuttle Explorer. The following year, Melinda was invited back for World's Greatest Magic II, which featured the television debut of the [[Drill of Death]] illusion. She also featured in [[Houdini: Unlocking the secrets|Houdini: Unlocking&nbsp;the secrets,]] in which she again teamed up with Charlotte Pendragon to present a number of Houdini's illusions. Gary Ouellet was also producer for [[Disney's Melinda: First Lady of Magic|her special for Disney in 1997]], which, like her stage shows, was titled ''Melinda: First Lady of Magic''. She also featured in the first of Ouellet's ''[[The World's Most Dangerous Magic|World's Most Dangerous Magic]]'' specials in 1998, in which she performed two escapes: an upside down suspension, and a levitation after being tied up and placed in a glass tank that was filled with snakes.<ref name="imdb">{{imdb name|id=1192398|name=Melinda Saxe}}</ref>

Saxe stopped performing in 2002 saying she intended to devote herself to starting a family with her new husband.

==Drill of Death==



Melinda's most famous illusion is the Drill of Death — Melinda would be shackled, spread-eagled, in the path of a giant industrial drill, which then penetrated her midsection, before lifting her up and spinning her limp body high above the stage. The routine went through a number of revisions, and featured in several of her TV appearances, including [[World's Greatest Magic II]] and her [[Disney's Melinda: First Lady of Magic|Disney special]].

The Drill of Death was created specifically for Melinda, who had wanted something "even better" than [[Impaled]], which she performed, both as magician and assistant, in her earlier shows.



==Awards==

In 1998 the [[International Magicians Society]] named her "Magician of the Year" in its "Merlin" awards.<ref>{{cite web

|url = http://www.magicims.com/merlin_award_recipients.php

|title = Merlin Award Recipients

|publisher = International Magicians Society

|accessdate = 2008-08-18

}}</ref>

==Personal life==

Saxe married fellow magician [[Lance Burton]] in 1993 but the marriage was short-lived and they divorced. On 1 June 2000 she married Mark Evensvold, a managing partner in the P F Chang restaurant chain.<ref name="theview"/> On 24 August 2003 she gave birth to their son Mason Ray Evensvold. Saxe now lives in [[Manhattan Beach,Ca.]]. She had her second child on 3 August 2007, a baby girl named Mallory Rose.

==Further reading==

* Steve Bryant, interview with Melinda in ''Genii magazine'', August 1999 (Vol.62, No.8)

<references/>

[[Category:Las Vegas Magicians]]