Harry 'The Hat' Anderson : Podcast Transcript

 

Harry Laverne Anderson was born in Newport, Rhode Island at a Naval Hospital, on October 14th, 1952. His father, Harry Laverne Anderson Sr.  was graduate of the US Naval Academy Class of 1950. He was soon transferred to Queens NY shortly after Harry was born. He attained the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade before being discharged around 1953. Harry’s father would then become a salesman, selling dishes. But according to a Jun 2018 article on Genii Magazine, Harry’s father real passion was betting on the ponies. He apparently gambled away most of the family fortune. They moved to Chicago next. Harry was around 7 years old. This is where his interest in magic began. And a fact often left out of his origin story, he first saw Blackstone Sr. perform in Chicago and was enthralled…mostly with the showgirls, but still enthralled. While in Chicago, His father would often rent a conference room at the Ambassador East Hotel and Harry would be left alone in the lobby. It turns out, the The Palm Room was there where Bert Allerton the magician performed. But during the day it was a place where a lot of card men hung out, gamblers and the like. Harry would learn about cards, card games, cons, even magic tricks. It was an ideal education for someone who would eventually become a budding young magician.  Incidentally, I believe his parents had divorced by this time. So Harry would spend some time with Dad and other time with his mother.

Harry and his mother Suzanne, would move often during his youth. By the time he was 16 years old he had lived in 12 different states and there would be more to come. He wound up on Las Vegas where his mother took a job as a casino dealer. A People Magazine article stated, his mother worked often  as a prostitute.  Harry understood the hardships they encountered and did not hold this against his mother. 

Another move was right around the corner. But this time, he would go by himself to live with his father. He found himself in Los Angeles. How long this lasted I’m not sure. According to the book WISE GUY by Mike Caveney, Harry left home and moved in with a friend in Fullerton CA.  This friend was Eric Norby. Something to remember because only a few years later, Norby would become Harry Anderson’s manager.  One of my favorite stories about Harry Anderson happened during this time. As it turned out, the Norby house where Harry lived was very close to Claude Yarbrough, who would later be known as Johnathan Pendragon.

The story comes from the pages of Genii Magazine March 1986. According to Johnathan, Harry was living in his neighbors garage and he had gone over to visit. Jonathan was admiring a small production box, when Harry asked him what he thought of it. Johnthan said he thought it was beautiful. And with that, Harry grabbed it out of his hands and threw it across the room. To quote Johnthan, “He looked at me and said, MAGIC Is an ART, not a CRAFT!. Harry Loved being dramatic”.  So there is our first lesson in magic from 16 year old Harry Anderson, Magic is an ART not a craft.

Another interesting fact is that Harry became part of the Dante Magic Club that met at Rancho Dante in San Fernando Valley. This was Harry Jansen’s place and though Harry, or DANTE, had since passed away, the club and ranch was still being run by his son Al Jansen. Quite a few names came through there over the years including Paul Green and Paul Harris. Harry was about 14 at the time. The Dante Magic Club would have lectures…now keep in mind, this is 1966. Charlie Miller lectured, Kuda Bux lectures, Dai Vernon lectured

During his senior year of High School Harry made a trip to San Francisco where he happened upon a street magician, a busker as it were. And Harry’s life was forever changed! He realized he could do this same thing and make money at it. He saw a number of street performers who would go onto fame. Robert Shields who would later be a popular mime with his wifeLorene Yarnell, aka Shields and Yarnell. BTW, they would later be guests on one of the Doug Henning World of Magic Specials. There was also a comedian, you might have heard of him, Robin Williams. Harry was only in San Francisco for a couple days, but it was long enough for him to know he needed to return once he finished High School. 

After HS, he had been given an English scholarship, so he went to Berkely to check it out, but found out quickly it was not for him. So he was then San Fransisco bound. As a solo busker on the streets of San Fran, one of the things he did was the Three Shell Game. The book WiseGuy says he learned from a Jack CHANIN manuscript, but Harry would say it came from Frank Garcia’s routine. Likely it was a mixture of both. Things went pretty well until the day that an irate participant broke Harry’s jaw. There was a silver lining to the accident however. He discovered a little magic nightclub and a local magician who performed there, Martin Lewis. This would be an occasional gig for Harry, and a life long friendship for him and Martin. It was Martin who encouraged Harry to start doing indoor gigs, which led him to performing in colleges.

Speaking of Martin Lewis and Harry Anderson. The first time I ever saw either of them was on the John Davidson Talk Show. Harry was up first, and he was quite young. He came out and did a quick bit and suddenly Davidson came running onto the stage picked up Harry’s props and moved them slightly and then left. Harry stood there confused. John came back on and said, “you missed your mark. You had to be on your mark or lighting would be all wrong” and then the audience laughed and harry gave a half hearted chuckle and repeated the opening gag. But it didnt stop him from having a strong set. Later in the episode, Harry introduces Martin Lewis who does some great close up magic with Dice. A few years later, Harry and Martin would team up and write and produce a satirical version of Genii Magazine called Wenii.

Next he moved to Ashland Oregon. He would soon find himself working for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 1971. Among his unique magic was a version of the Broom Suspension that he had fabricated by a local orthopedic supply builder and they were able to create something that worked. According to WISE GUY, it was a bit overbuilt, but it worked and then so did Harry.

The next season Harry was offered the job if he could come up with a new feature. His choice the deadly bullet catch. Yes, the Bullet Catch that has killed, a dozen or so magicians. The book Wise Guy lays out the entire story, and I’ll say, Harry was lucky he had a career after this adventure. Actually, he was lucky he had a life after this adventure. At moments during the development of his routine, and the development of the method, Harry really should have been seriously injured. But something always stopped it at the last moment. As you know, I don’t divulge secrets on this podcast, but rest assured, Harry’s method had a projectile heading straight at him, had he gone with his first idea. In a test run, a hole was shot through a thick wooden fence. Umm, yeah let’s reexamine this procedure. 

Eventually, he came up with a quite dramatic routine that was as safe as it can be. A marked bullet shot from a gun, ends up in the mouth of the magician who is standing some distance away. Like his idol Ted Annemann, Harry spun around and hit the ground before revealing the marked bullet had arrived in his mouth!

When Harry was doing colleges, he would do a free show in the afternoon, kind of his busking material, and then later in the evening he would do a bigger show at the college for which he did get paid, and paid well. His evening show consisted of mentalism. As I mentioned, One of Harry’s magic heroes was Ted Annemann. and the mentalism that Harry used was straight out of the Jinx and Practical Mental Effects. His college tours lasted a couple years.

During the college tours, he picked up a new assistant Leslie Pollack, who would eventually become Mrs. Harry Anderson. 

Leslie would take the lead role in their mentalism act. In fact, she would be the designated medium. They quickly learned that having Leslie read minds was more believable to the audience. This left Harry to do whatever dirty work was necessary to make the effect happen.

There was a gentleman in the 1970s named Kerry Ross, a young comedy magician. At the time his big claim to fame was the development of the first ever comedy straitjacket routine. No one had done this prior to Kerry. Today it’s pretty commonplace to say the least.

Well, Harry Anderson saw Kerry’s routine and according to the book Wise Guy by Mike Caveney, Harry said, “You know, that could be funny.” That’s one way of putting it. I have seen numerous people credit Kerry Ross with having the first comedy straitjacket routine. Kerry created this in 1972. He is unquestionably the originator. However, In 1977, Kerry worked with Harry at the Magic Castle and this is where Harry Anderson saw the straitjacket routine for the first time. Harry told Kerry he liked what he was doing and he was going to start doing it. Which he actually did, line for line, Kerrys routine.

In 1979, HBO was developing a special called Worlds Greatest Escapes. Steve Baker was a big part of that special. The producers asked Steve what he thought about Harry Anderson’s comedy straitjacket routine. Steve told them, “if you want a comedy straitjacket routine, you should go to the guy who originated it”, and that’s how Kerry Ross got to be part of that special. I think its important to state for the record, the guy who came up with the concept. It’s rather daunting to consider how many others have copied this act.

Later, Kerry Ross and actor, writer Larry Hovis restructured and rewrote the act so that it no longer would conflict with what Harry had stolen. I’m sure Kerry made sure to keep this away from Harry. BTW, Kerry is still a very busy working professional magician to this day.

Harry Anderson, would eventually expand and elaborate this routine to include his wife. They would be involved in a contest and she would have to free herself from 100 feet of rope tied to a chair. While Harry had to get free of the jacket. The contest, Who would free themselves first. I believe Leslie always won. Or better, Harry always just lost.

In 1980, Gallagher saw Harry and Leslie perform in Hollywood. Gallagher at the time was being represented by Ken Kragen. Ken then saw the act and asked Harry and Leslie if they would like to be the opening act for his main client, Country Music Star Kenny Rogers. Harry and Leslie would open for Kenny Rogers when he was working in Las Vegas. Ken Kragen was very pleased with the Anderson’s and offered to manage them. The Anderson’s would open for Kenny Rogers, The Gatlin Brothers, Dottie West, Robert Miller, Debbie Reynolds, the 50 rocks band Sha Na Na and frankly many others. They were a popular opening act. UNTIL, Leslie got pregnant. Basically, at that point, Harry had to replace the Escape Contest with something new. This is where his exploration of the GRAPPLER began.

The Grappler was an elaborate gambling device that Harry picked up from owens magic. At the time he had no idea what to do with it, but he knew there was something there. When Leslie wasn’t able to do the show, Harry incorporated the Grappler into another routine as sort of an absurd explanation all for laughs. It worked and became a staple in his show. Here is a video of what might be Harry's first attempt at using the Grappler. 

Wait, back to the Contest one more time. So Harry and Leslie were in Reno performing. And some nights were rather slow. In fact, there was one Monday, when there was one guy in the audience. And he was drunk. But Harry was contracted to do his act, so he ddi the show for one guy. He gets the him up to tie up Leslie and then put him in the jacket. The moment he finishes getting them both secure, he leaves the theatre. There they are, Harry and his wife, all tied up with no one to watch. Was this maybe a tiny bit of Karma? Maybe. 

Being managed by Ken Kragen led to Harry getting the occasional talk show, of which there were many back then. John Davidson, Dinah, Merv Griffen, Mike Douglas, and those were just the day time talk shows. The evening you had The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and the Late Show with Tom Snyder. And though it wasn’t a talk show, one of the biggest comedy shows on TV, Saturday Night Live.

Next is a great video of Harry. He is hosting the Young Comedians Special on HBO and he's doing The Pavel Walking Knot. This would be the first time I ever saw it. I had seen the version that Doug Henning did, NOT Pavel, but a more elaborate version of the Walking Knot, and Harry's version was very different.

                                

Dick Ebersol was the new producer of Saturday Night Live and caught Harry’s act in Las Vegas and offered him a comedy spot on SNL.  Harry would appear on that show nine times over the years, even hosting it at one point.

In 1957, a magician named Bruce Spangler invented a clever trick called, “You Do VooDoo.” This was a wild effect where a large hat pin could be shoved through the magicians arm. In 1975, possibly earlier, he put it out on the market. I say 1975 because that was the first time I could find an ad for it in Genii. According to the book WISE GUY, in the early 70s when Harry was working the streets in San Francisco, he visited Marvin Burger’s House of Magic and purchased the You Do Voodoo trick for a friend. Unfortunately his friend never received the gift as Harry found it to be perfect for his show. 

Known as The Needle Through Arm, it took a while to develop. There is a photo of Harry doing the trick in 1974 in the book. He used it for shock value. It usually divided the audience with half liking it and half hating it. After all, it looks quite real. He eventually added comedic bits and a new attitude for the effect that put it over much better. Harry even allowed an audience member pull on the needle when it was through his arm. This became a signature trick for him. Harry presented the Needle through Arm on his fourth appearance on Saturday Night Live. His full routine appears in the book Wise Guy by Mike Caveney, though 20 years later, Harry is quoted as saying, “Why would anyone want to do this trick, even I shouldn’t be doing it anymore!”

The first time Harry Anderson was asked to HOST Saturday Night Live, he had a new routine to offer the producers. A little thing he called Skippy.  This routine used a Lloyds Guinea Pig Box. The one Harry had came from Danny Dew. The standard routine involved taking a live guinea pig and tearing it to pieces. I honestly don’t know if you wrapped the animal in newspaper first or what. But Harry’s version would have him showing the LIVE guinea pig and then picking him up and visibly shoving it into his mouth and eating him, swallowing it whole on LIVE TV. The demonstration caused the NBC switchboard lit up. Untold thousands, or more were calling in to see if the Guinea Pig was harmed!!! To say it made an impact is putting it lightly. To show how strong an effect this was, many years later, Mac King would present his version of the same effect on Penn and Tellers Fool Us! And this time, in the internet age, it caused the video to go viral!

If you are familiar at all with Harry Anderson, you’ll know he got a little side-tracked in the 80s and 90s. He did a few guest spots on the TV show CHEERS, which led to him getting cast as Judge Harry Stone on the TV Show Night Court. Along the way, Harry starred in his own comedy magic special Hello Sucker, and then later, Harry Anderson Tricks of the Trade. He hosted Magician’s Favorite Magicians for CBS, and appeared on NBCs World’s Greatest Magic 5. He also hosted a special called The Science of Magic. And he appeared on Magic In the Magic Kingdom. There were many appearances on TV by Harry Anderson, both on specials and talk shows. And his acting career included two long running series, Night Court and Dave’s World, and many smaller parts on tv and in movies. 

After Dave’s World ended in 1997, Harry slowed his acting roles down and began to move back towards magic. Eventually, he moved to New Orleans, where he opened his own magic shop called Spade & Archer. If you’re curious, the name comes from the movie the Maltese Falcon, it’s the name of the detective agency. Harry also had a shop of curiousities called Sideshow,  and his own theater called Oswald’s Speakeasy.  Here is where he presented his one man show, aptly called Wise Guy. That show was an interesting mix of material. No longer really completely Harry the Hat, the wise talking con man character. But now, more mellow, still a bit sarcastic, and reflective. He opened by telling the story of doing the Skippy routine on SNL and actually DOING the routine in the process. Skippy was the Guinea Pig eating trick if you recall. He does the Straitjacket, but now it’s something quite different. It’s not Kerry Ross’s routine. It’s not the Escape Dual. It’s now the Middle-Aged StraitJacket Escape, in which he is placed into the jacket, struggles a little, and then his hand is seen to reach out of the lower end of the jacket and removes a twenty dollar bill from his pocket. He then hands this to a spectator and says, “Let me out!”  

He did something that I always wanted to see but never did. I only heard about it actually, and only recently saw photos. He did a ventriloquist act with a vent puppet that looks like Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man.  And here is where that came from. Harry gets a call one day from Jay Johnson, the Ventriloquist, who says, “You have 45 minutes left, someone is selling an Elephant Man Vent Puppet on eBay!” That was it. Harry knew instantly. He won it and it went into his show. 

There are other things in the show, no needle though, but he does his Monarch Monte and finishes with Chapaugraphy, the art of Folding a circle of felt into various hat like shapes. He did this on tv several times. It’s quite nostalgic and frankly artsy. 

Things in New Orleans were looking up. Harry who had sadly divorced Leslie in the late 90s, Now met and married a woman named Elizabeth, who he remained married to for 18 years. He had two stores, Spade and Archer, and then Sideshow. I guess they were more like museums for his vast collection of oddities. Harry did sell a number of magic props, many of which were hand made by him.  Sadly, in the mid 2000s, Hurricane Katrina came along and devastated New Orleans. The Speakeasy became a meeting place for locals and a rallying point for local organizers to try and rebuild the city. Harry and Elizabeth finally left when Harry realized the New Orleans governmental leaders, Mayor Ray Nagin especially, didnt care about fixing the city. Harry’s fears would be proven true when Nagin was convicted on charges of wire fraud, bribery and money laundering related to a city corruption scandal. He served ten years in prison.

Harry and Elizabeth moved to Asheville, North Carolina, for a quieter life. Over the years, Harry had many dear friends: Turk Pipkin who he met in Austin TX during his busking days. He and Turk would collaborate and write material for books and TV. Jay Johnson, the ventriloquist comedian was very close to Harry. Mike Caveny and Tina lenert and Martin lewis. All of these people were members of The Left Handed League.  Harry was close with his cast members of Night Court, John Laroquette and Markie Post. He was NOT close to, nor ever liked to speak of or hear the name Richard Moll, the actor who played BULL on Night Court. 

Harry Anderson died April 16th, 2018. He was 65 years old. Harry had been having health issues related to influenza and had several strokes. Apparently he died in his sleep of a stroke. 

Harry is survived by his wife Elizabeth, his son Dashiell and daughter Eva Fay from his marriage to Leslie. 

I did find a quote from Harry that i really like in regards to magic. This is from his Penguin Magic Lecture. “Good magic is something you’re never finished with. IF you’ve got something you love doing, you should always consider it half done for as long as you can”.  The point of it was to always be creating, adding new lines or trying to improve it. I made a bid deal of the straitjacket earlier and rightfully so. But if you look at how he changed it over time to make it his own. Even in his 60s, he felt getting out of a straitjacket for him, was a bit silly, so he created the Middle Aged Straitjacket escape. 

Make no mistake, Harry was one of the big names of the 20th Century in Magic. He's up there with Copperfield, Henning, Blackstone, Ricky Jay, Penn and Teller. He made a huge impact both in the magic world and the acting world. But we will always remember him as Harry The Hat. 

H

The Magic Detective Podcast Breaks the 50,000 Mark

 

Breaking 50,000 downloads is quite the milestone for this little podcast. And I am grateful beyond words. Yet, I'd like to make it to 100,000 FASTER than it took to get to 50,000. A lot of the blame lies with me not getting out episodes regularly. I get them out, but not on a very consistent schedule. Various reasons, which usually boils down to work taking over. If I had a 9-5 job, I could do the podcast regularly. But I'm a self employed magician and that means I'm doing most everything myself. It's that old saying, Show Business is made up of 2 parts, show and business. The show is such a tiny part of things, it's the business stuff that take the majority of the time. And when it consumes my time, the podcast gets put on the backburner.

But even though, I've not had a new episode since February, the podcast still shot past 50,000. This is due to new listeners coming on board all the time. I just discovered a had a couple more 5 Star ApplePodcast Reviews, again, I am so grateful for those!

In honor of the 50,000 downloads, I've got a contest for you. This one is different than the one which will be on Episode 100. Today, May 3rd is the birthday of an iconic magician. What was this iconic magicians middle name?  Send your answers to:  info@carnegiemagic.com  put the words: 50,000 Contest in the subject line. Include your name, address (in chase you win) and the ANSWER to the question. I'll draw a winner from among the entries. OH, and the winner will receive a piece of authentic magic memorabilia.

The Magic Detective T-Shirt Can Be Yours...

 

Well, after much delay (on my part) the Official Magic Detective T-Shirts are available to purchase. I'm very excited to be able to offer these to my readers of the blog and listeners of the podcast. I teamed up with a fellow who knows a great deal about the printing business and does an excellent job in his branding business, Billy Diamond from Branding for Entertainers. He will be printing these awesome looking tees. 

I think this is just the first t-shirt of a series. I'm considering doing a run of my artwork on t-shirts. And I may be offering other 'swag' down the road. For now, your purchase of the shirt helps me to cover the cost of producing the podcast as well as helps me add more books to the library for future podcasts!

Here is the link for your own Magic Detective T-shirt https://tinyurl.com/4vt4v84v

Charles Dickens: The Amateur Conjurer Corrected

 

Episode 86 of The Magic Detective Podcast was on Charles Dickens and the fact he was an amateur magician. I will admit to being a bit rushed to get that episode out. I wanted to have it out before Christmas Eve and I did, but only by an hour or so. And because of that, it looks like I made a few errors.

Ian Keeble, who I mentioned is an authority on Dickens as a Conjurer, and is the author of the book, Charles Dickens Magician: Conjuring in Life, Letters, and Literature, reached out to me in regards to my podcast on Dickens. He was kind enough to point out a few errors I had made and provided the background and reasoning behind the mistakes. Basically, I was not the first person to make these mistakes, they were mistakes magic historians and writers made before me, and I just passed them along.

I'm going to attempt to re-record the entire episode with the correct information. However, if I'm not able to do it without loosing the stats from those who already listened, then I'll have to pass on it. I'll be contacting my host company to see what can be done.

In the mean time, for historical accuracy, I'm putting the errors and corrections here.

1. The supposed connection between Ramo Samee, Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby and Hull in 1838 was first made in the magical press by Frank Staff in The Magic Circular in 1929 (the original 'spot' was made in The Dickensian, 8 years previously). It was picked up by JB Findlay in Charles Dickens and his Magic (1962) and also by Eddie Dawes in The Great Illusionists (1979). It was actually Trevor Dawson in his book Charles Dickens: Conjurer, Mesmerist and Showman, 2012, that demonstrated Dickens was in London at the time (which I have also checked out). So a relatively recent discovery that it is highly unlikely that Samee played any part in Dickens taking up magic.

 

2. How Clarke, in Annals of Conjuring, came up with Eugene Bosco as the name of the magician Dickens saw in France in 1854 is not known. Clarke did admit that he wasn't completely sure it was him. It was, ironically (given his error above), Frank Staff who cracked the name as being Alfred de Caston in another article in The Magic Circular in 1931. I have subsequently compared what de Caston did according to Dickens (he gives a very accurate description of his repertoire) with his tricks from other sources; and it is quite clear that it was de Caston.

 

3. The article which was supposedly written by Dickens about Robert-Houdin was called 'Out-Conjuring Conjurers'. It appeared in Household Words, vol. XIX, no. 472, 9 April, 1859 and was a review of Robert-Houdin's Memoirs. The review came out before the English edition was published, so the reviewer must have read it in French. I think the first assumption that the article was by Dickens was made by Will Goldston in Goldston's Magical Quarterly in 1934. The article you probably saw was from The Sphinx, November 1938: this reproduced parts of the article with the heading 'About Robert Houdin by Charles Dickens'. 

 

This myth has long been sustained, including by Ricky Jay (Celebrations of Curious Characters) and Jim Steinmeyer (Hiding the Elephant) - so you are in good company! The true author was actually first revealed in the magic press by Stephen Tigner in his short-lived The Journal of Magic History (1979 - the revelation was made in an undated supplement). No magic historian (Jay actually references the original Tigner article, but apparently didn't see the subsequent supplement) seems to have spotted that, including Trevor Dawson in his 2012 book Charles Dickens: Conjurer, Mesmerist and Showman. Dawson incorrectly claims that Dickens didn't only write this article on Robert-Houdin; but also many other articles which have magic references in them. In reality Dickens didn't write any article directly about magic; although he wrote two or three about spiritualism. He had a particular dislike of Daniel Dunglas Home.

 

'Out-Conjuring Conjurers' was actually written by the Reverend Edmund Saul Dixon. If you read the article, it's in fact pretty boring: doesn't have any of the flair of Dickens' writing so prevalent in his own articles.

And there you have it. The errors and the corrections. I am so grateful that Mr. Keeble took the time to explain all this. If I had more time when writing my article and IF I had Ian's book in hand, which I don't have, I likely wouldn't have made as many of the mistakes.  One thing I can say is that information that appears in The Sphinx magazine is often wrong. I find this time and again when researching a particular subject. And because that info is wrong, much of what is in David Price's book is wrong. This then leads to a detour in the research, just to discover the correct information.  But we are all human, and we make mistakes. And frankly, I love the research, so even though the source material was incorrect, it was still great fun to work on. And It's nice when the record is corrected for future researchers, so thank you again Ian Keeble. 

Special HOUDINI Playlist

I didn't realize it until just last night, but you can actually set up your podcasts by a playlist, just like you can with music players. With that in mind, here is a sample playlist with all the episodes featuring Houdini. In truth, I could have included a couple other episodes that he is also featured in, but these currently make up the core of the Houdini episodes. And I'm taking it one step further. I'm embedding the episodes in the following order so you can listen to them from right here!

BTW: the additional episodes where Houdini is mentioned include the Samri Baldwin Episode, The T.Nelson Downs Episode & the Raymond Episode. I did not put them on the playlist.

HOUDINI

ep  5  Early Years

ep 32 Martin Beck

ep 01 The section on Houdini’t trip to Germany 1900

ep 03 The section on Queen Victoria’s Dress 

ep 35 Milk Can

ep 10 Harry Kellar

ep 34 Protege

ep 33 Evanion

ep 26 Minerva

ep 22 Anna Eva Fay

ep 50 Men Who Fooled Houdini

ep 46 Radio Illusion

ep 7   Houdini & Congress

ep 36 His Own Words

ep 6   Final Days

Just the Portion on Houdini's Trip to Germany 1900...starts at 13:35 into the podcast

Just the Portion on Queen Victoria's Dress.....begins at 21:30 into the podcast

Karl Germain The Wizard

Today I get to talk about one of my favorite magicians of all time. I became fascinated with this gentlemen when I first saw one of his breathtaking posters (see above). It was hanging in the American Museum of Magic years ago and I was awe struck. The poster was tall, a 3 sheet poster, with an image of a witch and black cat leaning over a fire. The smoke from the fire revealed an image of Germain who himself, was conjuring a spirit. And across the top of the poster the words, GERMAIN The Wizard. I read what little I could find on Germain in books, and then learned there were two biographies written on Germain, but a the time they were long out of print. When I finally was able to get a copy of them, I read them cover to cover. Germain truly seemed like a real wizard. I think you too will become fascinated by Germain just as I did, after reading this article. 

Our subject was born Charles Mattmueller on Feb 12, 1878 in Cleveland Ohio. Technically he should be Charles Mattmueller Jr. as his father was  also Charles Mattmueller. David Price’s book, MAGIC A Pictorial History of Conjurers in the Theatre, explains The name Karl came about during his school years when several other boys in his class also had the name Charles. The teacher decided this Charles would be called Karl. It must have pleased young Karl Mattmueller because he kept the name. 

He became interested in magic in his youth, but I’m not sure what the specific event was that peaked his curiosity. I have a feeling that his interest in magic came directly from his father, who had seen magicians in his native Germany and often told young Karl about the feats he had witnessed. Also, I know young Karl had a copy of Modern Magic by Professor Hoffmann which was given to him by his father when he was 14. At age 15, in 1893, he sketched out a design for a possible poster inside his copy of Modern Magic, on a blank page no doubt. His name in the design  is listed as Chas. Mattmueller. The following year he would create another sketch for a potential advertising piece but this time his name was listed as Karl Mattmueller-Magician. 

Young Karl’s early magic career, in fact, his entire magic career, would be a family affair. Census records from the time list his father as being a machinist and also working in the picture framing business. He was clearly a skilled craftsman. Karl’s father would make many of the props that Karl would use in his show. Another family member would be a regular part of Karl’s show and that was his sister Ida. She would act as assistant and would participate in his mind reading experiments. More on both of them later.

He would have several stage names before settling upon the best one. First he was Charles Mattmueller, then 

Karl Mattmueller, then for a time he went by the stage name Alexander, but upon being selected to perform for the Central Lyceum Bureau in 1899, he chose the name Germaine. Actually the chose the name GERMAIN without the ‘e’, but due to an error by a printing company, he became Germain with an e at the end. They didn’t have spellcheck back then sadly. 

Now before I can get into his magic, I must point out something that I read in several different articles and books on Germain. When describing his act, many people use the word ‘artistic.’ The first time I read it was in David Price’s book, and then I also saw it in The Annals of Conjuring book. In several magazine articles on Germain, they also use the word ‘artistic’ to describe him. On the surface it might seem that these various magic authors are simply being lazy and copying each other, which happens a lot in magic literature. But having looked over the material in Germain’s show, and seen photos of the incredible props, plus having seen a number of them in person, I can attest to the fact that ARTISTIC is probably the perfect word to describe Karl Germaine.

Beyond the look of his props, why do so many say Germain was artistic. I truly believe it was because he was highly creative, presented many of his own original creations. When he did regular magic routines, he always added something to the routine to make them unique to him. His patter was different from the standard performer of the time. Of course, he dressed immaculately, as did his on stage assistants. And this appears to be the case from the very start of his career right up to the end.

Germain’s bread and butter seems to be the Lyceum and Chautauqua circuits. As mentioned he began in 1899 and continued for several years. In the book, Germain the Wizard and His Legerdermain by Stuart Cramer, he shares the story of an event that took place in July of that year. The Germain company was onboard a train heading for their next destination. They were part of a larger troupe of performers. Germain was there with his sister Ida. Unknown to the passengers, a cargo train off in the distance was on the same track as the passenger train. No one knew, and the sudden realization did not prevent a disaster from happening. The two trains collided, sending various cars crashing, and some tipping off the tracks. The passenger car that Germain and his fellow performers were on, was further down the line but still suffered from the impact. The result was that their car came to an abrupt stop and tilted at an angle off the tracks. No one was hurt, though everyone was very shaken up. 

After helping other passengers out of the wrecked cars, Germain realized it would be impossible for him to make his show unless he made other arrangements. I’m not even sure how they pulled this off but they were able to get a buggy to take them and their luggage and equipment to another train and booked passage just in time to make it to their destination. They also made it in time to do give their performance!

Another story from the Germain The Wizard and His Legerdermain book, tells of Germain’s appearance at the Opera House in Wheeling WV. The company was unaware that the entire area had flooded, but the organizers met Germain at station with a raft to bring them to the theatre to do the show! Unreal. 

If you’re wondering what kind of magic Germain did, well, he was capable of doing most anything. He had primarily stage or platform style tricks, but he kept a number of very deceptive close-up tricks on him at all times. He also excelled at mentalism, which included his sister Ida. And one of the bigger surprises for me was to discover that Germain also presented illusion magic, as in Grand Illusion. At this time period, Grand Illusion was really in it’s infancy, but there were some truly marvelous creations that came out of this period. One early illusion was called The Mystery of Malabar. The thinking behind this routine was brilliant. The effect was a two sided platform which was set up in front of the audience. A top went onto this two sided platform and then a basket similar in style to that of the famed hindu basket effect was placed on top of this platform. You could see above, below, and to the sides of this platform. Next, Germain put on a robe and mask or beard and climbed into the basket. Only seconds later, walking down the aisle in the audience was Karl Germain. He vanished from the basket and in impossible time, appeared at the back of the theatre! He wouldn’t be the first or last to present this type of effect, but his method was quite clever. 

Each year Germain added new an amazing mysteries to his show. Let’s take a moment to examine some of his other unique effects…

The Block. This is an incredible effect with a crazy method but completely original. From the perspective of the audience, this is what they see. There is a block of wood, probably about 12 inches long and maybe 2.5 inches square. This is handed out for examination. In addition is a wooden board, 16 inches long, twelve inches wide, and a quarter inch thick, which is also given out for inspection. Germain then took the block and held it against the board and mysteriously it passed right through. He then pulled it back out, and placed the block at another position on the board at a different angle and once again, the block passed through the board. He repeated it a third time. To the audience it appeared he could push the block through the examined board at any spot and it would pass through, like a knife going through butter.  The image of Germain passing the block through the board is just crazy. In it’s most basic form, this is a penetration effect, and there are many of them in magic. What makes this one so diabolical is the fact that the items are handed out beforehand. Also their appearance is quite organic, meaning they don’t look like magic props but rather normal pieces of scrap wood. They also don’t appear to leave a hole in the board once the block is  passed through. Keep in mind, I do not reveal methods on this podcast, but trust me the method is wild. In the book, CONJURING by Jim Steinmeyer, he has two effects of his own creation that are inspired by Germain’s Block trick, if you are interested.

Another incredible Germain effect is his Butterfly. Again, this was one of the early Germain photos that totally had me intrigued. Keep in mind, this is totally original. Here is the effect: Germain would tell the audience he was about to produce a somethingness out of nothingness. And then he reached up and produced a 14 inch silk. He continued to do this again, and again until he had a dozen or so of varying colors. All of this was done to patter. The dozen silk scarves were then rolled into a sort of ‘cocoon’ and suddenly the bundle of fabric sprung open to reveal a very large butterfly with fluttering wings. I don’t know the actual size of the butterfly but in images it looks to be approximately 3 feet wide. Very large. Once it was produced it was handed off to an assistant who carried it away. Sadly, it almost seems that the better approach would have been to have it float or fly away on it’s own!

Flowers have figured prominently in the acts of many magicians. The Kellar Flower Growth is a wonderful routine where two planters of dirt, eventually sprout two large bushes of flowers. Kellars routine used several tables and two large metal cones which were first showed empty. I have mentioned this in previous podcasts, there is a video of Nickolas Night presenting the Kellar Flower Growth on Youtube, it’s a must see! Oh, and the technique that is used in this video is an improvement suggested by none other than Karl Germain!

Germain’s personal favorite routine was his own Flower Growth. This was the creation of Karl and his father. You see, according to the book Germain the Wizard by Stuart Cramer, Karl’s father had seen a magician in Germany do a similar trick and it always stuck in his brain. So now father and son went about creating a version of their own. In fact, Germain would create several different flower productions before working on the actual Flower Growth idea.   It went through various renditions until the final version, the ultimate one was finally realized. This is how it appeared to the audience. On stage sits a gold Louis the 14th Style side table. It is away from the curtain, and has a clear view above and below the table. On a second table sits an empty flower pot. Germain shows the empty flower pot and proceeds to fill it with dirt. He carries the now full flower pot to the other table and picks up a fan that was resting on the table. Without any covering, no tubes, no curtains, Germain simply waves the fan in the direction of the flower pot. Almost immediately a small tiny green sprout is seen. Germain then continues to wave the fan and move or dance around the table. Gradually, the tiny sprout blooms and gets larger. As Germain continues his fan dance, the plant grows higher and higher until the audience sees large roses on the table. The plant grows to a height of several feet. Germain then takes a pair of shears and cuts off some roses at their stems and passes them out the members of the audience, thus proving he has just made a LIVE rosebush grow right before their very eyes.  

I have been very fortunate to see the Germain Flower Growth prop LIVE in person. It resides in the collection of Ken Klosterman. It is a thing of beauty. The elder Mattmueller hand made this table, with ornate carvings on angels on each leg of the table. The method is diabolical, there was nothing like it when it came out. Many have said it was superior to Kellar’s Flower Growth, at least, that is what I’ve read in a couple books. I swear I saw a video of it being presented online, but now I can’t seem to locate it anywhere. There are three Germain Flower Growths that exist, one , as I mentioned is in Ken Klosterman’s collection, another other is in the collection of David Copperfield, and a third earlier version is in the collection of TELLER.

There is another effect of Germain's that is purely his, and that is his Egyptian Water Bowl Mystery. I recently wrote about it on this blog, so here is a link to that article.

Earlier I mentioned Ida Mattmuellar. This was Karl’s younger sister. She was born in 1880 and thus was 2 years younger than Karl. She provided the music in the show by playing the piano, and served as an assistant to Karl since his earliest days as a magician. In his first tour in 1899, she is listed on the brochure, along with her photogragh, as Ida Germain. She is also singled out as helping him in his ‘Telepathy’ Act. She continued in this role until Karl was offered the chance to perform in England. 

In June 1906, Germain set sail for England. He arrived 7 days later, after an awful sea voyage which left him sea-sick the entire time. But he recovered quick enough and was soon performing. He would tour all over England and Ireland. Eventually he ended up in London where he appeared at the New Bedford Palace Theatre. Germain was very popular in London, as was magic in general. Many of the greats of that era where in town the same time as Germain, folks like Chung Ling Too, Houdini, Lafayette and more. 

In 1907, Houdini and Karl Germain were both in England. Germain, happened to run into Houdini at a banquet and decided he wanted to amaze his friend. He then proceeded to present his favorite pocket trick, the term that was used then for close-up magic. The trick was called The Spirit Writing On Cigarette Paper.  The effect was a blank piece of paper was pinned to the end of a pencil. The spectator (HOUDINI) was asked to name someone, and the signature of that person appeared on the previously blank paper. Houdini watched like a hawk, but in the end was amazed by the presentation.

The highlight of his time abroad was working at St. George’s Hall for Maskeylne and Devant. He was there for a quite a long run. By December 1907, he was back home in Cleveland…..after another LONG sea-sick filled ocean voyage.

On Feb 26th, 1908, Germain’s friend Edward Maro passed away from Typhoid Fever. You can learn all about Maro by listening to podcast ep#11. Maro’s real name was Walter Truman Best, and his wife Allie was abruptly left a widow. Germain did not find out about the death until after Best had been buried.

Allie Best asked Germain for help in dispersing her husbands show props. Germain agreed and headed north to Maronook, on the shores of Lake Lelanau, in Michigan. While going through the various props. Germain naturally got first dibs on things he wanted. He came away with Maro’s Meteroic Ribbon effect, and he came away with a very famous piece that had once belonged to Charles Bertram. And he almost came away with Allie Best! Apparently, that relationship did not last. But let me backtrack to the Charles Bertram item. This was Bertram’s Spirit Lock, that no one knows how it ended up with Maro, but here it was in Maro’s collection. Germain apparently tried to purchase it while he was in England a few years before but was unable. And now it was his. And as he always did, he made it his by creating a unique routine. He told the story of Dr. Faust who was in prison, this lock held the prison door shut. He held up a picture of a lock and then held his fingers as if they were a key. A shadow was cast on the picture of his fingers and as the shadow entered the lock, he turned his hand and the real lock sprang open. 

Thanks to an article in the Dec 2005 issue of MAGIC magazine by Tim Moore, he said no one knew what Bertrams routine was, nor did they know what Maro’s routine was.  So here was Germain, making this clever trick his own by creating a mystical and memorable story. 

Curiously at the conclusion of his tour in 1909, Germain gave what he called ‘His Farewell Performance’ at Marktinka’s theatre in NYC. FAREWELL PERFORMANCE???? It seems rather abrupt, and premature to say the least. 

However, in only a few months an event would happen to make him want to leave the stage for good. On Jan 30th, 1910, Ida Mattmueller died from a tumor on her spine. She had been in declining health ever since he returned from England a few years before. But now, her death left a huge void in his life. He began to reassess his priorities. The lure of the road and stardom no longer appealed to him  . The reality of the road was that it could be brutal and miserable more than it was good. And as far as stardom, despite the constant demand for his shows, he had not achieved the kind of celebrity status like Kellar, Herrmann, or Houdini. 

It was time to look for a new profession, something that would keep him home, near his father, who was still alive and near friends and familiar surroundings. He was able to convince the president of Western Reserve Law School to allow him to attend classes, despite not having graduated high school nor ever attending college. What would happen to the show you might ask? Germain trained a new person to be Germain. Paul Fleming, who was an up and coming magician was chosen to take out the show and fill the many dates that were already booked. He would hit the road as Paul Germain. On the rare occasion Paul was unable to fill a date, Germain himself went out and presented it. He was not completely out of the magic world, but he was heading in that direction.

In 1914, Karl Germain became a lawyer and opened a practice in Cleveland. He dealt with probate law and had a partner in his practice. He intended to be out of magic at this point, and leave the performing to Paul Fleming. But for whatever reason, Germain couldn’t  leave magic alone. By 1916, he accepted another Chautauqua Tour. This one however, would prove to be the final tour for Germain. During the 2 month tour he was having issues with headaches and blurriness in his vision. He went to see a specialist who recomenneded he go to Boston to see another specialist. The verdict was a tumor in his brain pressing against the optic nerve. An operation was nessesarry or else he could go blind and mad. But the operation could also cause him to go blind. Germain agreed to the operation and when it was completed, he had zero vision. It turned out to be temporary to a point. He never regained his full vision. This predicament also caused him to leave his law firm and also put an end to show business. His father, would assist Karl for the remainder of his life, at least until he died in the 1940s. 

I’m not sure the date of this, but the story comes from Germain the Wizard by Stuart Cramer. In the story,

Houdini was in Cleveland performing and had contacted Germain about some curtains he had for sale. They worked out an agreeable price, but before settling on the deal, Houdini said he needed to see them hanging in the theatre to get a better idea of their condition and if they’d work for him. The curtains were hung and Houdini went on with his show. After the show, Germain was waiting in his dressed room and Houdini said he’d be happy to take the curtains but the offer was now half what had been agreed upon. Germain vanished for a bit and when Houdini went to look for him, he had departed, along with his curtains. The curtains eventually found their way in Paul Flemings show and today they hang in the mini-theatre in Ken Klosterman’s collection. And I’m assuming these are the plush green curtains that are there. Though for some reason I was thinking they were the black curtains that hung in Germain’s show.

In 1922, Germain decided to put together a talk/lecture on spiritualism. This was something he had been interested in his entire life. In fact, many of his shows featured a spirit cabinet, different versions, or other spirit effects. It was a perfect topic for Germain to talk on. But a tour never developed. It could be he didn’t have the name recognition that HOUDINI had and this made it near impossible for him to get hired to deliver the talk. Plus, his partial blindness was very apparent, so I can imagine that figured into people’s decisions not to go with his program.

 This remarkable man, who created so much original magic had been dealt a terrible blow with this partial blindness. But things would get worse. In 1938, while crossing an intersection, a truck ran into him. He survived the accident, but was left completely blind. 

There was one saving grace and that came in the form of a young amateur magician who befriended Karl Germain, his name was Stuart Cramer. If it had not been for Cramer, the final days of Germain would have been much worse. If it had not been for Cramer, we likely would know very little about Germain, other than what was little was written in magic magazines. 

As it was, Stuart Cramer was with Germain in the hospital in his final days and his final moments on his planet. Karl Germain Mattmuellar died on August 9th, 1959. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Cleveland Ohio. He was 81 when he died, and he lived with his blindness for 43 years, more years than he was full time magician. A sad ending for such an incredible performer.

I was surprised by one thing, the Mattmueller family plot, has all 4 Mattmuellars buried there. On Germain’s grave it has this on the tombstone, “Karl Germain Mattmuellar”, but on the fathers grave it has “Karl Mattmueller” as well. However, in Census records he is always listed as Charles. I can’t help but wonder now if his name was actually Karl, as this is a German name, and it was changed when he immigrated to the United States. It also stands to reason why his son, Charles, continued to use KARL throughout his life. And it also makes me wonder about the ‘school house’ story. 

Like his friend Edward Maro, Germain’s posters did not include the devilsh imps, which were standard for the time. Instead, much like Maro, he had mythical creatures like elves, fairies, witches and the like. It appears that Germain had one full color lithograph, it must have been printed sometime between 1899 and 1905, as the poster has the spelling of his name, G-E-R-M-A-I-N-E. His other posters all have a red/black color scheme, or red/black/white color scheme. And they are very striking posters. I am not sure, but the long poster with Germain conjuring the spirit, I have seen this poster in a reddish color, yellowish color, as well as orange. I’m not sure what the original color was, or if there were indeed several versions of different colors. Also, Stuart Cramer reveals in his book that a stash of posters was found in the attic of Germain’s home after he died and these included 1 sheet, 2 sheets, 3 sheets and 8 sheet posters. I have NEVER seen one of these 8 sheet posters, so I can only imagine what that was like. 

A final point I would like to make about Germain. I believe Germain may have given the very first TED Talk. If you don’t know what a TED Talk is, I suggest you look it up on google. On May 9, 1949, Germain spoke before SAM Assembly #10. He was at the home of magician John Grdina and unknown to Germain, Grdina made an audio recording of the presentation. So Germain’s trust had been betrayed, and when he later found out, he was quite livid. But for posterity sake, that recording still exists, and thankfully so. I have not heard the recording, but in the May 2002 issue of Genii Magazine, a transcript of that speech is featured. It’s a bit heavy, and frankly for an audience, probably even boring. But if you read the content you really should be enriched. The point of the talk was to be a true artist, you must be original, and to be original you must be yourself. So to present a trick, word for word, move for move is not art, but copying. And please, I know there have been countless debates on this very subject. But I’m talking about Germain’s opinion here, and I think he has the moral high ground when it comes to talking about originality. His point was not to change everything in a given routine, but to include yourself, your personality, your thoughts, your opinions in the routines. A great example of Germain taking a standard trick and adding himself was his approach to The Misers Dream. IF you are not familiar with the Misers Dream, you should listen to Podcast Ep#23 about T. Nelson Downs the man who revolutionized that trick. But suffice to say, many people perform the Misers Dream in much the same way. Germain added something that I just love. At the conclusion of his routine, after having pulled countless coins from the air and from other places, he turns all the coins into candy. The method can be found in the Stuart Cramer books, and it’s genius, and rather simple.

Another example would be Germain’s approach to The Kellar Flower Growth. He never presented this, but he recognized it could be stronger with one simple change. In Harry Kellar’s hands, this routine was a thing of pure beauty. How it looked when other performers presented it I do not know. But Germain suggested changing the table drapes to a mesh-like fabric, in this way the audience could see through them. And proof of the brilliance of this one simple change can be seen in the Nicholas Night performance on Youtube of Kellar’s Flower Growth!

I wish I had the ability to include Germain’s recorded speech here on the podcast. Maybe in the future, I can track down a copy and then get permission from whoever the owner is. I would LOVE to hear Germain speak of originality in his own voice. Wow. 

I wonder how many magicians in the past 100 years have had a similar approach? Off the top of my head, I’d say Slydini, Tommy Wonder, for pure originality. And as far as putting themselves into their magic, one only has to look as far as the top performers in the field, Henning, Copperfield, Siefried and Roy, Penn & Teller. Sure there are lots of others, but the point is, those performers were unique, and they were unique because they were themselves.

It may come as a surprise to many of you, that Karl Germain would not approve of this particular episode. He was very much against people writing or talking about him after his death. In fact, he was even against people writing about him after he retired but was still alive. 

He told Stuart Cramer that he would come back and HAUNT him if he dared write about him after his death. And Stuart wrote two books, The Secrets of Karl Germain in 1962 and Germain the Wizard and his Legerdermain in 1966. 

Paper Mache Bust of Germain (Klosterman Collection)

 This is the transcript from the Feature of Episode 25 of The Magic Detective Podcast. It has been slightly edited to conform to this format.

Research Materials for This Episode Included:

Stuart Cramer GERMAIN THE WIZARD by the Miracle Factory

David Price     MAGIC A Pictorial History of Conjurers in the Theatre

Prof. Hoffmann MODERN MAGIC

Sidney Clarke  The Annals of Conjuring

The Linking Ring Vol 40 #12

M-U-M Vol 104 #4

M-U-M Vol 204 #9

MAGIC Vol 15 #4

MAGIC Vol 24 #6

MAGIC Jan 1997 Conjuring Column