Showing posts with label Jesse Lasky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesse Lasky. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Herrmann - Lasky References

Back in March 2011, I wrote a little article on this blog about Jessy Lasky's connection to magic. I stumbled upon his connection by accident. I knew that Lasky had something to do with Houdini's movies and looking further into it the name Herrmann popped up. So the research began.

Here are some of the sources of the information.
 
Los Angeles Herald, Volume XXXI, Number 327, 21 August 1904 http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19040821.2.314.41#

 
pg 656 Vaudeville, Old and New by Frank Cullen 2006


 
pg 35 The Moving Picture World Volume 19

And finally, A website created by Betty Lasky

I found that some of the resources mention Herrmann the Great, but the time period didn't make sense to me because Herrmann the Great died in 1896. So that is how I figured out it was Leon Herrmann. There were also a number of additional newspaper articles I found through the Library of Congress, but I didn't keep track of that info as best as I should have. Still, looking over the above resources, everything I found can be found above.

James Hamilton had asked me in April 2013 where I found the info, while at the Magic Collectors Conference in Washington D.C.. I mentioned that I discovered it all online, but obviously didn't have the source info handy. Let me state for the record, James Hamilton is THE LEADING SOURCE of Information and Knowledge on the HERRMANN FAMILY today! No question about it. In fact, James and I talked about Herrmann for almost an hour and it was one of the most fascinating conversations I've ever had, one of the highlights of the weekend for me.
  
James also, apparently uncovered much of the Herrmann/Lasky connection a few years previous and spoke on it at a Magic History Conference in 2010. Unfortunately for me, I never heard his talk or was aware of it.  Anything I found was discovered without the knowledge of James's research. But make no mistake, James is the authority on Herrmann. I seriously doubt I would ever uncover anything that James Hamilton was not already aware of. I have the utmost respect for his knowledge, and I'm posting these resources here just to show where I got my information.



 

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Jesse Lasky's Magic

Jesse L. Lasky
He was born Jesse Louis Lasky on September 13th 1880. He is probably best known as one of the folks who started Paramount Pictures. However Jesse Lasky had some connections to magic which are quite interesting. But first, how did he get into show biz in the first place?

He began in his teens by performing the cornet. In 1899 he went to Nome Alaska along with many others during the gold rush. While there he continued to play the cornet in music halls and saloons. After a year he headed back to San Fransisco and teamed up with his sister Blanche and they developed a Quick Change Act. This leads to him being hired in 1902 by Leon Herrmann, the nephew of Herrmann The Great. Jesse and his sister present their act, and he also plays cornet in the show with Herrmann for a 40 week tour of the U.S..