Lance Burton's publicity materials bill him as the "premier classicist magician in the world," owing to a mantle passed to him from the great illusionist Lee Grabel. But, Burton said he thought the "classicist" bit was something his manager came up with.

The mantle itself, however, is not a creation of public relations. In 1908, the great Harry Kellar retired and named a successor in magician Howard Thurston. Thurston made it a tradition when he named the magician Dante (born Harry Jansen) in 1936, who named Grabel in 1955. The royal dynasty of magic, as it is called, was generations old when Grabel named Burton in 1994. Grabel followed Burton's career and bestowed the title on him while he was at the Hacienda.