Talma was the stage name of Mary Ann Ford (1861 – July 13, 1944), a female magician who is best known for performing with her husband Servais Le Roy

Servais Le Roy

Servais Le Roy was a Belgian magician, illusion designer and businessman. He is known for the act Le Roy, Talma and Bosco and as the inventor of the classic levitation illusion Asrah the Floating Princess....

 in the act "Le Roy, Talma & Bosco". Talma was born in England while her husband was Belgian. She became accomplished at performing sleight of hand

Sleight of hand

Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation or legerdemain, is the set of techniques used by a magician to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly....

 and manipulation acts, especially coin manipulation, and she was often billed as "The Queen of Coins". As a performer, she adopted the name Mercedes Talma but was generally known just as Talma.
She formed a long-running stage partnership with her husband and their colleague Leon Bosco. They named their act "The Comedians de Mephisto Co" but they were much better known as Le Roy, Talma & Bosco. Le Roy is credited with devising the Asrah levitation

Asrah levitation

The Asrah levitation is an illusion effect whereby the magician hypnotizes an assistant and commands them to recline on a table or couch. The assistant is then fully covered with a cloth and levitated under the cloth. The form of the assistant is still visible while levitating. Moments later, the...

illusion, which he and Talma first performed in London in 1914.