Hurwitz’s traveling magic performances played a huge part in helping the city to recover and begin to prosper again. Mental Floss explains that he also worked at the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphanage, and was a keen magician who would engage children in their education through his illusions. New York City’s mayor at the time, Fiorello La Guardia, so admired the entertainer’s efforts that he made him the city’s magician in an official capacity, to boost the morale of not only the children but New York society at large.

The official magician of New York City was dedicated to his role and performed it with gusto. According to Maxi Show, Hurwitz performed this role for almost twenty years, appearing for children in different shows and classes under his stage name, Peter Pan. His work was not just about his own magic, either. Along the way, he created a group for young magicians that he called The Magic Club (later F.A.M.E).

On his death on October 1, 1981, aged 76, The New York Times stated that the Lithuania-born Doctor Hurwitz (he had a Ph.D. in education guidance) had performed for around 1 million children, across every New York borough. The city mourned his passing, as did his wife and two daughters (one of whom, Shari Lewis, became a respected ventriloquist under her father’s guidance).