Highlights of Germain's Magic

HIGHLIGHTS Of GERMAIN'S MAGIC

In my previous blog about Karl Germain I mentioned that the poster of him with the spirit figure/witch and black cat was one of the most striking posters in all of magic history. (Part of that poster can be seen to the right) Though I had seen the poster image in my youth, it would be a number of years before I actually encountered his magic. This happened through two books The Secrets of Karl Germain & Germain the Wizard and His Legerdemain by Stuart Cramer that I happened to eventually track down. I found Germain the Wizard and his Legerdemain at Barry's Magic Shop and some time later I found Secrets of Karl Germain at Denny & Lee's Magic Shop. I was so thrilled because I'd always heard of the books, but they were long out of print. Yet, when I found copies I made sure to buy them and devour the contents.

One of the book contains a most unusual magic effect called The Block.  The routine begins with Germain passing out a long block of wood to an audience member to examine. He also has a wooden board that he passes out for examination. After they are returned he brings them on stage and holds the end of the block against the board and it passes right through. Quickly, Germain removes it and places that block against a different area on the board and it again passes right through. Finally, he picks a third spot and again does the seemingly impossible. If this thing looks as good as the photographs it must look like a miracle. One of the great benefits of much of Germain's magic is the naturalness and simplicity of the props. At least as far as how they appear to the audience. What could be simpler than a block of wood and a wooden board?

There is a photograph of Germain and a butterfly that I always found quite magical. Well that routine, called simply The Butterfly and here is another effect that sounds like a dream. Germain plucks silk scarves out of thin air, one at a time. He bunches the scarves together to form a sort of cocoon and suddenly the thing bursts open to reveal a very large silken butterfly spreading it's wings! I wish I could see this in action. The photos of the butterfly are amazing and I've only seen them in black and white. I can only imagine what they look like in color or in real life. A popular magic effect today is taking several colored scarves and turning them into a giant silk with a butterfly printed on it. But Germain's effect is so beyond that.

Germain's actual props for the Water Jar Illusion (Klosterman Collection)

Germain's Water Jars is an effect that I've heard about but never really knew all the details. It's been said about this effect that Germain was the only performer to ever really make it work. By that I imagine others had tried but never gained the notoriety from the effect like Germain did. Here is a description of The Germain Water Jars...Six Large Metal Jars are shown to be empty one at a time. Then mysteriously, each jar fills to the brim with water which is then poured out into a large tub. It sounds amazing. I've never seen it performed. I do know that David Ben had performed a version of it in his show The Conjurer, ten years or so ago. But I can tell from the description that most modern performers would avoid this effect for the simple reason that it's liquid and thus messy. But if other magicians from Germain's time tried to perform it and met with little success, then I'd have to say it belongs only in the hands of a master conjurer.

Ken Klosterman Collection

The idea of growing flowers was not a new thing in magic. Robert-Houdin was doing it long before Germain and then his flowers turned into Oranges! But most magicians were using some sort of covering or tube during the course of their flower routines. Harry Kellar used covers and had an incredible sequence of misdirection to bring about the conclusion of his trick. Karl Germain's father had seen a magician in Europe in the 1860s present some sort of Blooming Flower routine and it left such an impression, it's no surprise that a version of it found it's way into Karl's act.

Together, father and son created a number of different versions of the Growing Flower trick, but the final version was pure magic. It was called The Enchanting Rose Wonder. No coverings in this version. It began with a flower pot sitting on a three legged table. The pot was filled with soil and slowly little sprouts appeared, then more foliage and eventually the roses. And in Germain's version, the roses were clipped off and given to members of the audience thus proving they were real! To the left is a photo of the actual Germain Flower Growth now in the collection of Ken Klosterman. You can actually see a video of the Flower Growth in action on the DVD set for the 2011 Essential Magic Conference. During the tour of David Copperfield's collection, he actually stops and demonstrates the trick.

Many of my magician friends ask me "what's the big deal about magic history?". There are so many ways to answer that, but the above piece on Germain's magic just shows how inspirational a look back can be. Who today is turning silks scarves into a butterfly? And with the technology today imagine how much more incredible we could make it look. Jim Steinmeyer, one of magic's most prolific writers and inventors was inspired by Germain's Block trick when he created The Perforated Brick effect which can be found in his book Conjuring Anthology. If Mr. Steinmeyer get's inspiration from Germain, I think we all could!

These are just a few of the wonders from Karl Germain's show. I may put together a second article featuring more of Germain's effects. I'm also working on another biographical article. In the mean time, if you're interest in Germain is peaked in the same way mine was, you might want to track down the book Germain the Wizard by Stuart Cramer and published by The Miracle Factory. The book has been sold out for some time, but you might be able to find a copy at Denny's or on eBay. Until next time!

Mattmuellar the Wizard

As far as posters go, the above image is one of the most striking magic posters ever created. I still recall the first time I saw this poster in real life. It was at the American Museum of Magic many years ago and I was dumbstruck by it's beauty. It was at this point that my fascination with Charles Mattmuellar began.

He was born Feb 12, 1878 in Cleveland Ohio. His first magic show was a bit of an impromptu thing where he presented a 'spirit cabinet' like effect for some friends. He was eight years old at the time. His mother forbid him to pursue the magical arts, but he did anyway. Eventually, his father recognized the talent that the young boy had and Mattmuellar the Magician was born!

In grade school Charles became known as Karl because of the number of other students in his class named Charles. The name stuck and he kept it for the rest of his life. As a magician, he would first use his last name Mattmeullar and then for a very short period use the name Alexander, after his idol Alexander Herrmann. However, when Karl had the opportunity to move into the Lyceum circuit, he was encouraged to alter the name again because there were already a multitude of 'Alexanders' in the show business world. Karl chose the name Germain, after the Marquis of St. Germain, a mystery man and mountebank. At first a mistake in spelling in an advertisement caused the name to be  spelled  'Germaine' with an 'e' on the end but eventually he dropped the 'e' and used Germain. He would also eventually drop the term 'magician' in favor of 'the Wizard' to round out the name.

Though in the early days his mother was against her son doing magic, she eventually got involved. It

(Ken Klosterman collection)

was his mother who apparently handled his money, at least in the beginning and did so well investing it that Germain was able to live off it throughout his life. His sister Ida became part of his act, becoming an assistant when he presented his mind reading routines.

Finally, and probably most importantly,  it was his father Charles Mattmuellar Senior who deserves a great deal of credit in the success of his son. His father helped build the famous Germain Flower Growth Illusion, using both carpentry skills and wood carving skills. They would build many versions and adaptations of growing flower tricks over the years. One of their creations was the forerunner of the Square Circle effect and a clever improvement to the Kellar Flower Growth routine which was then adopted by other performers.

I would imagine his father also built the first Wooden Block Thru Board Illusion and many of the other signature effects, possibly even the Germain Spirit Lock. I do know for a fact his father built the Germain Spirit Dial, which was a popular effect with magicians of the time, but Germain's prop was built by his Dad. The Flower Growth and the Spirit Dial can both be seen in the photograph to the right. Ken Klosterman owns a great deal of the Germain props and has a very extensive collection of Germain posters. I believe a second Germain Flower Growth is in the David Copperfield Collection, given to him as a gift from Mr. Klosterman. And recently, I learned the Germain Spirit Lock resides in Tim Moore's Magic Collection.

There is much to share about the life of Karl Germain as he truly was an amazing Wizard. At another time, I'll delve deeper into his effects and in a future article I'll share some stories of his life and the tragic turn near the end of his life.

Now You See Me - Review

I finally got to see the movie NOW YOU SEE ME today. I think in a previous blog I mentioned it looked like it had potential from watching the trailer. Well, I'm happy to say that it more than delivers.

The movie has quite a cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Michale Caine, Morgan Freeman, Dave Franco, Melanie Laurent, and the drop dead beautiful Isla Fisher. I frankly could have watched the movie with ONLY Isla Fisher and I would have been happy, but that's just me. The story is basically about a group of magicians who are known as the Four Horsemen, who put on a show together and the big trick is robbing a bank in the middle of the show and giving all the money to the audience. That is the premise, but the story is much more involved and there are twists and turns and pieces of misdirection that are worthy of the best magic show. In fact, the opening scene is a magic effect not only in the movie but it also is subtly done to the theater audience, brilliant!

My thoughts on the movie after it was over was that the must have scene David Copperfield's PORTAL Illusion and created this elaborate story around that trick. David is one of the consultant's on the movie, as well as Keith Barry and Jonathon Levit and Dan and Dave Buck. The magic in the movie is exceptionally well executed and frankly inspiring.

One thing I found interesting is the connection to magic that many of the stars have. Jesse Eisenberg is from NJ and his earliest exposure to magic was from a very popular NJ kidshow magician named Bruce Bray. I knew Bruce, he was a great guy and sadly he passed away not long ago from complications due to an accident.  Mark Ruffalo actually co-starred as Theo Hardeen in the TNT HOUDINI movie that came out a few years back with Jonathan Schech in the lead role. Michael Caine of course was in The Prestige and another movie called Is Anybody There in which he plays a retired magician. Then there is Dan Franco, who is the brother of James Franco, better known now as the Wizard from The Great & Powerful OZ. That's as close of a connection as I could put together for Dan Franco, but he does do a great job in the movie. I'm not really sure what the others stars connections to magic are, but I can say that Woody Harrelson and Isla Fisher both did pretty decent tricks on TV Talk Shows promoting the movie.

Now I have to tell you about the strangest thing that happened when I saw this movie today. I walked into the theatre with a buddy of mine, a fellow entertainer. As we sat down we noticed the theatre was fairly packed, pretty unique for a weekday showing. But the odd thing was that the movie was packed with all women. We actually thought that we might have gone into the wrong theatre, so I got up and walked out to make sure we were indeed in the correct theatre. We were. So next we figured THEY were all in the wrong theatre and the moment the movie started there would be a grand exodus. But that didn't happen. My conclusion, "chicks love magic!" That was the line I said to my buddy who cracked up. They were probably there for the young stars like Franco and Eisenberg, but still, they were there and the movie was so well done that it was clear everyone enjoyed it.

As a magician I would encourage you to see this movie because there are moments in the movie that are frankly inspiring. The water torture cell by Isla Fisher is superb. The way the magic show is shot in the round with big video screens around the theatre is honestly, something we should all look into.
Five out of five stars for me!