Our feature today is Harry Sears. He was born Harry S. Knight, December 28, 1885 in Washington D.C. He appears to be the only son of William and Grace Knight. The Knight family can be traced back to living in America as far back as the 1600s. Seems the first KNIGHT to be born in America was named Charles. His parents are not listed onboard the Mayflower, but were in Massachusetts shortly thereafter. Now, Harry though being born in the Nations Capital, Washington DC, but actually grew up in the Philadelphia area. I haven’t been able to find who inspired his interest in magic, however, given his location, any number of magicians may have created the spark. My money is on Harry Kellar.
The earliest description of young Harry Sears, comes from a Jan 19th, 1924 issues of Billboard. In the column called, “Magical Highways and Byways” by Adam Hull Shirk, who at the time was president of the Los Angeles Society of Magicians. He writes, “I saw him perform when I was but a boy= and he was too. He was a clean cut fellow with a nice manner and charming personality. At that time, his magic was of the small order and included among other effects the Rise Wand, which in his hands was superior.”
The first time Harry shows up in the magic periodicals, his name is listed as Harry Sears Knight and he is a mere 18 years old. This was the July 1903 issue of Mahatma, and it says, “At Keith’s Harry Sears Knight, a young Philadelphian, makes his debut as a magician.” So this was no doubt his first big time vaudeville appearance. A short time later he appeared in the magazine again, this time it describes his future in magic to be very promising. Also through Mahatma, we learn Harry is using an Aga levitation in his act. Here is what they have to say, “At Woodside Park, Seers, the magicians, presents AGA in a manner that is all to be desired. It is the best AGA that I have seen and is done in such a neat, clean and mysterious manner that is the subject of much comment among the patrons of the park. Sears is a young magician, who, in my estimation, has a brilliant future before him. He possesses address, skill, and ambition and i predict he will some day be in the future rank of the workers in the noble art of magic. he is an adept in the art of advertising and you hear of his Palace of Mystery as soon as you get inside the Park. It may not be amiss to add that the AGA illusion was built by the New York Magical Co, who also supposed the AGA now being exhibited in Atlantic City. Truthfuly speaking, it is far superior to the AGA illusion which caused such a sensation in New York that is can be called absolutely new.”
As I mentioned, the AGA, is a type of levitation illusion. Magicians often have many methods to create a specific illusion, and AGA refers to a specific type of levitation. And by all accounts, he had improved the method and ws really enjoying a lot of success with it.
(1906-07 Conjurers Monthly Magazine) Reports that Sears is now performing in England.
(May 1907) Conjurers MM) Sears has just gone through Chicago with his big act. He has 5 assistants and a car load of baggage. Watch out, GOLDIN, for this fellow will soon beat your baggage record!
(June 1907 CMM) Houdini reports that Sears is now performing the Suspended Trunk Mystery at the Keith Proctor Harlem Theater. He adds that Charles DeBiere first introduced this effect to American Audiences. And Horace Goldin has been trying to prevent others from presenting it.
This effect in full features a large cannon. A female assistant is placed inside the cannon and then it is pointed towards a large box hung high from the theater ceiling. The cannon is fired, a huge explosion is heard, a blast of fire and smoke shoot out of the cannon and suddenly the box is seen to move and twist as if something has hit it. The box is lowered and inside is another box. That box is opened to display another inner box. This 3rd box is opened and out pops the assistant who was placed into the cannon. A wonderful illusion. The magazine also points that the Cannon part of the mystery was first introduced to the stage by Frederick Eugene Powell. Mr. Powell will be the feature on an upcoming episode of the podcast.
(Sept 1907 CMM) Sears is still touring the US to great acclaim. He then takes his show to Canada and does very well there. Next stop, England.
Now the Conjurers Monthly Magazine has been very good to Sears till now. But upon an appearance in England, a British newspaper quotes Sears as having performed a ‘Handcuff and Straitjacket act in America’. And the CMM is quick to refute those facts, even pointing out that Variety newspaper had reported what was in his show earlier in the year and there was no mention of any escape material.
Sears was often compared to Horace Goldin the illusionist. In a July 22, 1907 Keith’s advertisement it has this promotion, “Up To Date Sensation, The Great Sears European Illusionist”. I suppose the mistake was easy to make, he was American after all, but had been performing for some time in England and headlining every where he went. In 1907, `08, he was mostly in England. In 1909 Sears took his show over to Italy.
Next, from the pages of Stanyon’s MAGIC October 1908, we have a review of Sears, from the London Hippodrome, when he appeared the month before. I am going to edit some of this as Stanton has a habit of trying to describe how particular effects work, and I don’t give away secrets on this podcast, only history.
The show begins with a Curtain that rises showing stage well furnished with apparatus. First comes the Production of two Assistants in a Cabinet. The performer appearing with a rush, calls attention to a large cabinet in center stage. Cabinet, square shaped and mounted on four short legs, is provided with no less than eight doors, ie, a pair of doors, opening in center, on each side of it’s four sides. Sears begins by opening the eight doors, those at the rear last or after the side the side doors are open. He next jumps into the cabinet, and runs around to show all clear, then gets out and closes all the doors. Next, all doors opened and a lady jumps out of the cabinet. Then a male assistant is produced in exactly the same manner,
Next act begins with a barrel without ends which is turned about for inspection, then placed on a low stand. Front end of the barrel covered with paper and held in place with a metal band. Barrel turned and rear end, now front, closed with paper in same manner. Another assistant then bursts from the apparently empty paper cover in a grand display. This was known at the time as the Barrel of Dioginees.
Next, a pretty spectacular effect in the form of an illuminated spiders web set center stage. Lady mounted on the center of the web instantly disappears.
Now, a personality piece or an in one routine is presented, the Thumb Tie. Sears steps into the arena in search of a couple of volunteers. Two pieces of string about 15 inches long, a long stick, and a steel ring are handed out for examination. Thumbs also inspected. Thumbs are now crossed and one piece of string ties both thumbs together. Second chord goes the opposite direction and ties the thumbs again. The walking stick his held in a vertical position by a spectator, one hand near the top, one near the bottom, the ring is held by the other spectator. Sears pushes hands against stick and somehow penetrates it and finds himself linked in this position. The the other spectator tosses the ring to Sears who catches it and likewise it becomes linked on his arm. And it should be pointed out, Thumbs are still tied this entire time. Next, he frees himself from the walking stick and from the steel rings. Sears then instructs the two people on stage to both clasp their hands together making a make shift giant hoop. Before they have time to think. Sears has linked himself onto their arms!
Strong magic continues with the Materialization of a Lady from the Performers side. Sears sits upon a low stool and a spirit form of a lady slowly emerges from his side , head first, and moving upwards and at a 45 degree angle. Both performers step out and lady exits the stage.
Next we have three leather cases, each in the form of a drain pipe provided with a lid, the smallest big enough to hold the lady, are first shown, then nested together and swung in the air. A square canopy just large enough to hold one person standing, is now stood over carpet in front of a 4 fold screen. The entire thing is now enclosed by the 4 fold screen. There i one door in the front of this screen that allows Sears to step into the cabinet, he quickly shows that it is empty and exits. A male assistant steps into the cabinet and the door is closed. Then the entire thing is hoisted into the air. A small door opens during this process allow the audience to see the boots of the male assistant. The door is closed. Sears fires a pistol, which was a common practice at this time and the cabinet is lowers. Now inside is a female assistant, and the maie is produced from a cabinet far down the stage from this action. BTW, the pistol was a starter pistol, used for the SOUND, and drama. Think of it taking the place of a magician saying ‘abracadabra’
In the final sequence, a female assistant mounts a pedestal, She is given a large umbrella to shake about. Suddenly the umbrella falls to the floor and the lady has vanished. Next, nest of three leather cases lowered, outer one opened and the two inner ones removed. Nest of two set on floor, one box removed from within the other. Final box, lady is produced to huge applause. ENCORE - Lady put into square box with lid on each oh four sides, all lids hinged at the bottom. lids closed and box put on table. Box hoisted in air, pistol fires, doors fall open, box is empty and lady appears in large cabinet set near wings. Tremendous, and well deserved applause followed. That sounds like a great show!
In 1910, Harry Sears took out his most ambitious project, a show that he called “the Blue Pearl” From the pages of The Magical World periodical it says, “This majestic spectacle employs no less than 45 people in it’s action, while elephants, camels horses, snakes, and more , help to create an atmosphere of Oriental realism. The show is good and likely to prove a popular success.
The Great Lafayette, born sigmund neuberger perished in a theater fire on may 9th, 1911. Sears and Lafayette were performing during the same time. They were friendly competitors and Sears was often compared to Lafayette. When Lafayette perished in teh fire, Sears and his entire troupe attended the funeral and at a later date the all made a pilgrimage to the grave of Lafayette in Edinburgh.
Sears during his career had been compared to Carl Hertz, Horace Goldin, and The Great Lafayette, all strong performers in their own right, which makes me believe that Sears himself was just as competent a performer as those three gentlemen. And he was clearly ambitious. Let’s look again at The Blue Pearl. This comes from the pages of The Magical World
The \Blue Pearl," a mystical pantomimic phantasy in five scenes.
Scene 1 discloses a busy bazaar in the principal street of Benares. Merchants sell- ing their wares, customers buying, Devotees, Fakirs, dancers, natives, guards, &c. The scene had an absolute scent of the East, it was so realistic. In this scene one
•of t h e natives gave imitations of animals, &c, very cleverly. Then we had Indian •dances, an Indian fakir stopped a crowd of Europeans and performed the Egg Bag; trick and the Indian Basket trick. In this scene -one of the snakes escapes and nearly bites one of the maids, who is saved by the priest, with whom she falls in love. Scene 2 is the interior of the Temple of Siva, where priests and slaves are offering jewel's, &c. to their god. The Rajah enters on a pilgrimage to see the wonderful " Blue Pearl," the eye
<if the god Siva. He covets the pearl and determines to steal it. Two British soldiers blunder into the Temple and try to loot it. but they are surprised by the priests and
slaves, who give chase to the soldiers. The Rajah, finding the Temple deserted, succeeds in stealing the pearl, and escapes unseen. The priests returning notice its absence, and are distracted and appeal to their High Priest, who goes into a trance and sees in a vision the enactment of the theft. Then he instructs the priest to follow the Rajah, get into his service, and steal from him the pearl. In this scene a cauldron emits huge clouds of vapour and on this the vision is seen, as on a lantern slide. Scene 3: The road to Bahar (evening). In this scene there is a
procession of animals and attendants, and the full strength of the company is seen, but there are no illusory effects. Scene 4: The borders of the Sacred Jungle (night). The Rajah enters at the head of his caravan, and, seeing as he supposes a roadside fakir, he demands to see his tricks. The fakir per- forms several tricks, including the rope trick. In this the boy climbs the rope with the rapidity of a monkey, and as soon as he is out of sight the rope falls to the ground and the boy comes running from the back of the crowd, who are watching the fakir. Then the Rajah wishes life brought back to the skeleton of one of his favourite dancing girls. The skeleton at once becomes a beautiful girl, a n d executes a graceful dance. T h e Rajah is enraged and tries to kill the fakir, who in his anger causes the princess to
disappear from n palanquin, a n d t h e priest snatches the pearl, but is discovered by the Rajah, who orders his execution by having his head crushed beneath an elephant's foot. The slave girl who loves him pleads for his life, but to no purpose. The High Priest (the fakir) at the last moment gives convincing proof of his powers and saves the priest, a n d t h e Rajah, overcome with fear, gives up the pearl, which is restored to its proper place in Siva's eye. Scene 5: The King of Mystaria and his court are enter- tained in the palace of a famous illusionist, who also uses his power to prevent the death
of the King by a desperate anarchist, who forces his way into the throne room. In this scene Sears comes on in evening dress and performs his principal illusions.”
Next we have an actual review OF the show which appeared in the pages of the Magical World. This is from a performance at the Finsbury Park Empire Theater, Feb 13th, 1911.
“This stupendous and magnificent production, redolent of the Orient, with all its fabled mystery, is by far the most superb magical spectacle ever witnessed on the variety stage of Europe. The cost enormous ; detail perfection; stage craft and setting beyond praise; yet from a magical point of
view reveals little of material novelty that the clever showman Sears had not already shown us on his previous visit to England. Animal mimicry, the egg bag, Indian basket and rope tricks, are performed by others, genuine natives from the East, we are told. This is in perfect keeping with the majestic colour scheme pervading the act. It is not until the final scene, where the King of Mysteria holds court that the real magician is introduced in the person of Sears himself, attired in bur own conventional evening dress. His first act is to produce a male assistant from a tub, now familiarized as that of " Diogenes." Then three cylindrical cases are brought for- ward, each fitting within the other and provided with lids. All are shown empty, and…
raised in the air. A platform, about a yard square, standing on four legs, is next introduced. This supports four brass uprights and canopy. A fourfold screen is displayed, lifted, and placed completely around the up- rights. From this improvised cabinet a girl is produced who executes a Russian dance. Some quick-fire effects follow, in which the lady assistant is put into a trunk and elevated into the air. Sears enters a cabinet at the " Wings," lit by electric lamps, to appear the next instant behind a large fan opened out at rear of the stage. In place of the lady in the elevated trunk, a 5001b. weight is discovered, which a second or two later is burst open to display a small boy within. The lady herself appears in the centre one of the three suspended cylinders, while the male assistant appears in the cabinet at the side of the stage, recently vacated by the Wizard. The final illusion consists of building a box upon a table, placing an assistant within, and causing the
inevitable disappearance.
I should point out that in many magic magazine articles Mrs. Sears is mentioned as having not only an important part in the show, but credits her with much of the success of the program.
Around 1913, we see our last mention of Harry Sears in the magic magazines for several years. This is the ‘dark period’ as I call it where I’m not exactly certain what he is doing. I’ve pieced together some things, but it’s only a small glimpse into this time period. One major thing that took place was that while they were on tour in England in 1910, Edyth gave birth to their son Desmond. Perhaps, after returning to the US, Harry scaled down the size of the show to keep working, but stayed closer to home to create some stability for the family.
In 1917, Harry registered for the draft for World War 1. Here we find out some interesting information. First, he used his real name, Harry Sears KNIGHT, although he added in parenthesis, (known as Harry Sears). His occupation says, “actor / producer”. And under place of employment it says, “changes frequently due to working on different circuits” He is apparently, still performing in 1917 and 18 and living in the Bronx. But he doesn’t appear anywhere on the 1920 Census, so he may have been out of the country or perhaps relocating and missed the census.
It isn’t until 1920 and then again in 1923 that his name appears in a magic magazine. But this time not as a touring performer, but as a member of the Golden Gate SAM Assembly in California. So he has moved to the West Coast. As late as 1924, Sears still had an interest in magic, having visited the Thayer Studios and sharing some of his recollections of being on the road.
There is also a curious endorsement of a magic product by Harry Sears in one of the magic magazines. So we can assume he still had his notoriety, but what happened to him???
Turns out the Sphinx broke the news, but it was a short paragraph with no other details. It seems that Harry Sears, World Traveling Illusionist, bought a Gold Mine, the Old Victor Mine. Sears incorporated a business and changed the name of the mine to The Calavaras Central Gold Mine to be specific. This was in 1926. If you had asked me, “What magician purchased a Gold Mine during the 20th Century” I might have said, THURSTON, but nope, it was Harry Sears. I can only assume he sold all the properties of his show and along with the money he had made over his short career performing, he purchased a Gold Mine. Sure why not. That’s what everyone does, lol.
During the 1930s , Sears became President of the Mining Association of California. In this position, he sued the State of California on a number of occasions over various disputes.
At some point he sold the Gold Mine and started a new business, supplying the pipes needed for mining. This bit of information came from the 1930 US Census. UP until that time he was listed as a Gold Mine Owner.
Years later in 1960 the Calavaras Gold Mine went up for sale, Sears attempted to purchase it ,but he didn’t have enough money to cover the back taxes.
It appears that a few months after trying to repurchase the Calavares Gold Mine in 1960, Harry Sears passed away, it was June 4th 1961. In his newspaper Obituary, there was no mention of Harry Sears ever having been a magician or even associated with it. It does record that he had owned the mining company.
Harry Sears Knight, is buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park, Colma California, in San Mateo County. He was 75 when he passed away.
(this was episode 103 of the Magic Detective Podcast)
