Happy Birthday Doug Henning

Friday May 3rd marks another birthday for Doug Henning. Had he lived, he would be turning 72, and no doubt would be the spitting image of Merlin himself! On Friday, my second podcast on Doug Henning debuts on https://magicdetectivepodcast.com, it is Episode 20. Basically on this podcast I do a run down of the World of Magic Specials 5-8. I give a list of tricks and a few other details from the specials. There is something that I mention during the podcast, that I have talked about before and I'd like to mention it again. The 8 World of Magic TV Specials, though wonderful to those of us who experienced them as they happened, may not hold up well for newer generations. They likely seem corny, over produced, campy, even goofy. It was a different time for sure. But I also point out that even though I loved the specials they failed to capture Doug at his best. What does that mean?

To see Doug Henning LIVE was much different that the TVspecials. Gone were the corny jokes and the poorly written patter. Instead, what you have is a very confident performer who is genuinely funny, energetic, enthusiastic, and HAPPY to be in front of an audience. I never in all my years heard anyone say that "Doug Henning phoned in a performance, or walked through a performance". He was engaged and in touch with every audience he performed for. And amazingly, I found proof of what I speak.

On Youtube there is a video that someone shot of Doug performing LIVE in Omaha Nebraska sometime in the 1980s. Yes, he is wearing his signature overalls, but that was HIS style for the time. But the magic is rock solid, the entertainment is fantastic. Listen to how the audience responds to his various lines and quips. He is a master showman without question. Please take a few moments to enjoy the magic of Doug Henning!

The Magical & Musical Litzka Raymond Gibson

The woman who was known as LITZKA was born Pearl Beatrice Gonser, in Mt. Carmel Penn on January 11th 1901. Pearl’s mother taught voice and music and she instructed her daughter in these disciplines. Pearl also took up the harp at a young age and became quite accomplished ‘harpiste’. 

In regards to her music background, she was a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, and she was the featured soloist with the Boston Symphony and the London Symphony. As a featured Harpiste, she chose the name LITZKA as her stage name. Some sources have tried to say she was born with the name Pearllitzka, or ‘Little Pearl’. But census records show her listed as simply PEARL. 

The story Litza told later in life ‘was that when she was 8 years old she saw the Great Raymond perform. She then told her mother she was going to marry him some day. And sure enough in 1927 she did! Litzka became part of the Raymond Show, playing the Harp and later helping with the illusions. She was the ‘sawing in half girl’ and also presented Raymond’s version of the Substiution Trunk which he called ‘metempsychosis’.   

Litzka owned 5 different harps, one costing as much as $3000. She did numerous costume changes when she did her Harp act. She also had funny asides that she would throw in while she was playing various songs. The act was well structured for entertainment, but she was an exceptional harpist to boot. Litzka also began to do her own segment of magic in the Raymond show. It was a mix of asian inspired mysteries. She wore elaborate costumes and had her own unique presentations. Before long she added a trained rooster to the show. Her rooster would become more famous than her, he was called ‘China boy’ and was a bantam rooster. He did card tricks, as in finding lost playing cards. I would imagine that Liztka produced the rooster magically at the start of her act. So popular was China Boy, that he even had his own comic book, that the Raymonds used to promote and market Litzka’s act. And China Boy became a traveling companion for her as well. 

In the October 1981 issue of MUM magazine, Litzka relays a story of her days traveling with the Raymond Show. She said that they had arrived at the Port of Entry for Columbia South America. Litzka always took part in verifying the contents of trunks with the local authorities. She said that usually they only looked at 3 or 4 trunks and then would issue them the permits for their stay in the country. One of the things that they did to get in good with local authorities was to do a show in the Port City at the start of the tour. On this particular day, about half of the shows trunks had been loaded into cars and were on their way to the theatre. And that is when things get bad. A British freighter, The Tritonia” caught fire. The ship was loaded with petroleum, dynamite and other explosives. A quick aside, “who thought it was a good idea to keep these items all together on the same ship?”. Anyway, pandemonium insued. The entire crew of the Tritonia abandoned ship. The dock workers packed up, but not before leaving the other half of Raymond’s show ON the docks. It had been covered with tarps, but if this ship full of explosives was to, well, explode, it could wipe out everything on the docks, as well as local businesses and even the hotel near the dock. 

Please were evacuating the city. Even Raymond’s crew took off. He and Litzka stayed behind. 

There were updates about ‘when’ the explosion was expected to take place. And after the last update, someone realized that the Captains, pet cat was still on board the ship! The mayor of the town even went so far as to offer a reward to anyone who would be willing to go on the ship to retrieve the cat! And as crazy as it sounds, two German sailors accepted the offer and went on board the ship. No more than 5 minutes passed before the unthinkable happened. The ship exploded, with the sailors and the cat still onboard. 

The explosion was tremendous, towns people thought it was the end of the world. Parts of the ship were thrown into buildings all over the area. People hid for their lives. Litzka said she found herself hiding underneath the bed in her hotel room. Her husband, Maurice Raymond was downstairs enjoying the excitement with other hotel guests. 

Much damage was done to the area. Buildings had collaped, but some escape unharmed, like the local Theatre it was untouched. The trunks from the Raymond show that had made it to the theatre, were unharmed as well. So what was the status of the other half of the show that was left on the loading docks??? When Raymond and Litzka went to check, a crowd of people were surrounding that area. It turned out that laying upon the canvas tarps, covering the remaining trunks from their show, were the remains of the two german sailors. 

According to Litzka, the town was in no mood for a show, so they loaded the trunks from the docks and the trunks from the theatre into trucks, and continued on with their tour. When it came time to return a month or so later, that is when they arranged to do their show for the people of the Port City.  WOW, that is an incredible story!

Litzka performed in the Raymond show for 22 years until her husband died on Jan 27th, 1948.

Litza performed at a lot of magic conventions doing her act with the Harps and her Magic act with China Boy. At one point, Walter Gibson became her Manager. Eventually, Walter Gibson also became her second husband. And she be known as Litza Raymond Gibson. Or in reality, Pearl Beatrice Litza Raymond Gibson.

Another highlight of Litza’s career was when she became the featured performer for the Annual Fashion Show sponsored by Madamoiselle Magazine. Litzka created an entire show of magic and illusions around FASHION. She sawed models from the magazine in half, produced loads of livestock, birds, rabbits and of course China Boy. She had custom stage settings created for the event. Apparently this event was a traveling sort of show, with multiple different groups presenting shows. So Litzka had multiple sets and props created and shipped off to the various destiantions. From what I gather, she trained people to do some of the magic, but she would actually appear in person at some of the lagers of these shows. Her character for these shows was known as “Mademoiselle Magic”. 

Walter Gibson, her third husband, was known to be a prolific writer and soon, Litzka would join her husband by writing books as well. She wrote “The Mystic and Occult Arts” and “ the complete illustrated book of divination and prophecy”,  a book called “How to Read Palms” and later, “The Official Know it alls Guide to Palm Reading”. Some of these books are still in circulation today. 

Litzka sold the Raymond Show in 1994 to a group consisting of Mario Carrandi Jr. David Baldwin, Henry Muller and Sid Radner for $225,000.

Litzka Raymond Gibson died on May 11th, 1996, she was 95 years old.

Bancroft Prince of Magicians

This poster above belonged to a magician named Frederick Bancroft. This poster is beautiful to be sure. And apparently it was also humongous. This was either a 28 sheet or 16 sheet poster. In other words, its a HUGE poster. I'm not even sure where you'd be able to hang such a poster. It clearly is for the side of a building. But how many buildings had free space for this monster? In 1925 this poster and another similar one were for sale at the price of 10 cents per sheet. It also came with a stand for an additional 50 cents. Imagine that.

Seeing this poster you might think that Bancroft was one of the greatest magicians to ever live. Well, let me tell you about Bancroft. His name was Frederick Bancroft.  He was born in 1866 in Winona Minnesota.  At a young age he saw Alexander Herrmann and decided he wanted to become a magician. Not only did he see Herrmann, but it appears he became a bit of a groupee following around from town to town for a period. Maybe he was more of a stalker! lol. 

Bancrofts first foray into magic was under the name DeCastro and it was a disaster. He was an enterprising individual who got into many different businesses.* He moved to St. Paul MN. where he married and had a child. He also speculated in real estate and sold insurance. He spent $30,000 or about $777,000 in today’s money. By all accounts he had purchased top of the line posters, top of the line brochures, top of the line draperies, scenery and even hand carved tables. Almost every mention I could find of Bancroft mentioned his elaborate and beautiful stage settings. What he didn’t spend the money on however were the latest magic effects.

In 1896 Bancroft set out on his own.  The magic in his show consisted of smaller platform style magic and it was very old, one article called it hackneyed. Other seasoned performers could take the same material and make it shine but Bancroft simply did not have the strong personality that Herrmann did. Alexander Herrmann had been performing since the days of the Civil War, and had coaching in the early days from his very popular brother Compars. Bancroft struggled. He had huge a 5 part show, with 3 parts devoted to smaller magic. 

Also in 1896, The Great Herrmann died. And Bancroft, being a smarter businessman than he was a magician, hired Herrmann’s agent, E.L  Bloom. Bloom helped to reshape the Bancroft Show, and I  included at least one illusion in this new version. Dr. A.M. Wilson in the Sphinx mentions that Bancroft was the inventor of The Lions Bride, using Black art. I’d never heard this before. But sure enough there is a poster of Bancrofts that advertises an illusion called LEONII, using an 'untamed lion' named Wallacker. So now Bancroft had a feature to his gigantic production!

E.L Bloom booked Bancroft into a theatre in Charleston, SC on Sept 26th, 1897. Bancroft came down with Typhoid Fever and died. Much like our friend Maro who was featured in Podcast Ep 11 he too died to Typhoid Fever. 

WHAT HAPPENED TO the show following Bancrofts death? Good question. It seemed that it was acquired by Henry A. Dixey, who was managed by Edward Bloom (Bancrofts former manager). Dixey would later debut in NY in his new role as magician in early 1898. By July of 1898, Mahatma Magazine says “Henry Dixey, the comedian who succeeded the late Bancroft, as a magician, has given up magic."

Dorny said of him, “Bancroft had one of the most lavishly mounted magical shows on the road? And a very promising career was cut short by his untimely death”

You might be familiar with the story that Houdini would tell about his early years of struggling, so he sent letters to Maskelyne, Kellar, and Herrmann, inquiring about possible work with them. Well, you can add Bancroft to that list because apparently Houdini had contacted him too, according to Dr. A.M. Wilson in a Dec 1922 Sphinx magazine column. 

Here is a piece also from the Sphinx,

"The spontaneous familiarity of Herrmann and the quiet yet not austere dignity of Kellar gave to their entertainments a fascination never equalled by any other magician on the American Stage. Bancroft could not follow Herrmann. Dixie could not succeed Bancroft. Thurston is not filling the place left by Kellar. Not that Bancroft, Dixie, or Thurston were and are not qualified magicians..."

So it puts into perspective the challenge of taking on someone like a Kellar or a Herrmann. Even with Bancrofts massively beautiful sets and stage decor, it wasn't enough. He did not have the personality to win over audiences. Yet at the same time, his advertisements were so grandiose that it appeared to fool someone like Houdini into thinking that Bancroft was one of the leading performers of his day.

Bancroft lasted barely two years before he died. And many people suggested that over time, Bancroft may have grown into the role that his advertisements portrayed, that of a GREAT Magician. But his premature death ended that.

*There were a couple corrections made to this article. One, originally I posted that Bancroft went into Denistry, but apparently this was not so. This is a mistake that was recorded a couple times in magic periodicals and books. I also mentioned he was born in St. Paul, MN, but he was born in Winona MN in the year 1866. He did later move to St. Paul however.

(Library of Congress Photo)

Edwin Brush The Mystic

I'm so happy to be able to include Edwin Brush in my podcast roster. I knew very little of his life before I started and he has turned out to be a fascinating individual. He was born Edward M. Brush on March 21st 1873 in Garden Prairie Illinois. He grew up on a farm so unlike many kids who were in the city, he had no way of seeing magicians. His first exposure to magic came from a neighbor kid who showed him some small pocket magic tricks. Brush was amazed and began to learn some pocket magic himself.

When he was 16, Alexander Herrmann came to town. Herrmann was really King of the Magicians at the time. Not only was he famous in the U.S. but he was famous all over the globe. Herrmann had a wonderful personality, was known to be quite funny, and an excellent sleight of hand artist. Brush took in all that he saw and decided on that day that he would one day become a full time magician.

Brush was smart, first he went to college to learn business and then he came out and got a real job working for a clothing manufacturer. He used magic as a sales tool to loosen people up, break the ice as it where. But the pocket tricks also had another effect, people saw that Brush was a fine magician and began to request if he could work at their events. Brush was well on his way to becoming a full time magician.

I cover the life of Brush quite well in podcast 17 of the Magic Detective Podcast, but I wanted to share one more thing with you and that is a photo of Brush's iconic mustache. It is clearly NOT growing that way on it's own. He must have had a ton of wax on that thing to keep it down

What possessed him to think that mustache looked good is beyond me? But then again, it was a great marketing too because once people saw it, they could not UNSEE it, lol.

Strangely, Brush continued to sport the crazy mustache through out his entire life. Even in his 80s and 90s he still have the wild mustache, though he did cut it back slightly.

Besides his mustache, Brush has a very positive career in the world of magic. After looking at some of the comments by his fellow magicians, I see that Brush was very well respected by his peers.

If you'd like to learn more about the magical life of Edwin Brush, please check out my latest podcast at  https://magicdetectivepodcast.com/e/ep-17-the-magical-life-of-brush-the-great/

Review of the book: Powell Master of Magic and Mystery

Alright, I'm just going to come out and say it. I gave this book a standing ovation! Seriously! I love this book, Powell, Frederick Eugene Powell Master of Magic & Mystery by Thomas Ewing.

I will be honest, before reading the book, I didn't know a lot about Powell. I had written a couple paragraphs about him on this blog, but nothing very extensive. Then along comes this book, and not a minute too soon.

Who was Frederick Eugene Powell?" Really! Well, Tom Ewing answers the question and many more.

Powell was a gentlemen, he respected magic. He cared for his audiences. He wanted to deliver a great show now matter where he was playing, no matter if it was before a crowd for 4000, or a small group at a school. Powell had a high opinion of magic. He didn't care for the exposure of magic. Yet, Tom Ewing points out, one of his first exposures to magic were tricks taught in a magazine for children.

Powell was a big believer in knowing your magic history. He spoke of Robert Heller and finding Heller's grave in disrepair. Sadly, many years later, so did I. Frederick Eugene Powell was a big hit with Mexican audiences because he spoke Spanish and had knowledge of the culture. He was actually performing in Mexico when the Mexican Revolution broke out. He was also in Mexico when they got hit with some pretty fierce earthquakes.

Powell continued to perform in his 60s and 70s. After all, a showman is born to perform, and Powell was clearly a magnificent showman.

The author uses a combination of newspaper articles, magic magazine articles and correspondence that Powell shared with various magicians, as his source material. And I must say, it is a rich history that is delivered. I also love the fact that Tom Ewing occasionally adds some historical perspective in regards to events happening in the world, while the activities of Powells' life are playing out.

The reader also gets to see quite a few of Powell's props that are today in private collections. In fact, one that is pictured is the umbrella for Powell's Cone and Flower production. In fact, the box of Powell's Spring Flowers is also in the book. Well, below I'm going to post a video of Powell performing his Cone and Flower mystery!

But before I do, I want to encourage you to pick up this excellent book on one of magics most beloved artists and one who has been mostly forgotten to time. You can purchase the book from 1878press.com , although truthfully many magic dealers are carrying the book, so find it somewhere and get a copy. You'll be glad you did!

The Three Early Pioneers of Mind Reading

John Randall Brown

I must reluctantly admit that I do not know as much about mind readers as I do other areas of magical entertainment. I know of some of the bigger names: The Zancigs, Dunninger, Alexander, Annemann, and others, but as far as it's origins, I am not as knowledgeable. This brings me to the subject of my latest podcast, Episode 15, The Early Pioneers of Mind Reading.

Stuart Cumberland

It appears that things center on three people: John Randall Brown, Stuart Cumberland, and Washington Irving Bishop. The only name of the bunch I was aware of was Bishop and I didn't fully grasp his contribution. It turns out though that things begin with John Randall Brown and a technique he developed which would become known by a number of different names: Contact Mind Reading, Hellstromism, Psycho Physiological Thought Reading are just a few names it was given. For my podcast, I used the word CMR technique to simplify the name.

The technique in it's simplest form involves holding the wrist of a spectator and apparently having the vibrations of their thoughts pass from touch into your brain. (Magicians will understand what I'm saying). What I didn't know was this was once considered very close to the real thing in regards to reading someone's thoughts, because it used no props or gimmicks of any kind. On top of that, this technique could be used to reproduce many different types of effects in mentalism. And it turns out, this was the technique used by all three of the pioneers of Mind Reading mentioned above.

John Randall Brown's initial test with the technique was to have someone hide a pin, and then he

Washington Irving Bishop

would locate the hidden pin by holding the wrist of the person who hid it. Moments later he would walk right to the object that was very well secreted away. A simple test and effective. It reminded me of modern day mentalists who have a spectator hide a coin in one of their hands and they are able to devine which hand contains the coin with 100% accuracy. It's also the same as the stunt Kreskin has done for years where someone hides his check and he finds it.

All three of these early mentalists used the Pin Test. They were each tied to one another in some way and they all did the same basic act. What made them different was their individual personalities.

I did find researching this podcast to be more difficult than others due to the lack of information on mind readers. Granted, there may be some excellent books on the history of mind reading that I do not own, but I have a pretty extensive library so I don't know if I'm missing much.

They also are all connected to spiritualism. These three all presented Spiritualist exposures in their programs. But other performers who would become iconic in mentalism were more closely tied to spiritualism, like Anna Eva Fay and Samri Baldwin. It's as if the earliest mentalism had to deal with the spirits telling the secrets of members of the audience and then that changing to the mentalist telling the secrets of members of the audience, aka mind reading. In a similar way, escapology has it's origins in spiritualism as well. The Davenport Brothers being examples of very early escape artists, and other performers following suit.

Of the three early pioneers, Stuart Cumberland seems to be the most prolific having written a biography of his exploits. Washington Irving Bishop was likely the most famous and suffered the most tragic death. To find out more, please check out episode 15 of The Magic Detective Podcast.

Remembering Doug Henning 19 years later

Doug Henning passed away 19th years ago on Feb 7th, 2000. It doesn't seem like that long has passed. I decided that I would put up some of my own recollections of Doug in the latest episode of the Magic Detective Podcast. I didn't want to do a biographical piece, at least not this time around. Rather, I just wanted to share some of my own thoughts. 

Doug was influential in my interest in magic. Over the course of my own career and development it seems I have done around 40 Henning tricks in my own shows. Now, I didn't always do them like he did, but they were material that I first saw Henning do. They range from close-up magic to stage magic to grand illusion. Doug was the first person I ever saw do many tricks. For example, Card Warp, I first was exposed to this on one of his specials. The Mental Photography Deck is another that I saw Doug do for the first time. Granted a lot of this stuff was already out there in the magic world, but because I was a kid at the time, Doug Henning was the first I saw present them.

He was the first I saw do The Needle through Balloon, the Al Wheatly One Cup routine, and he was the first to do Rubics Cube magic on TV! Talk about a trailblazer! Illusions, let's see, Shadow Box, Zig Zag, Mismade Lady, Microphone Suspension, Sword Suspension and more. All of these things I've listed are things I have since done. And of course, so have thousands of other performers as well. 

One of my favorite routines came from the 4th TV Special. It was a Monte Effect that boggled my mind when I first saw it on TV. Then later I saw Doug Henning perform it live several times. Years later, my friend Denny Haney would tell me where I could find that routine, it was locked away in a booklet, and thankfully I obtained it and learned it. I then wrote a script that was original to me and it became a signature trick in my own show.  In my show I tell the story of Houdini meeting a very young Charlie Chaplin for the first time, and the routine takes off from there. 

My podcast on Doug is the longest one I've done so far, almost an hour long. And I realized something after I finished the podcast. Doug's TV specials were great, but some were hit or miss. And it's hard to judge him from just the TV specials. However, in LIVE performances he was fantastic. He was charismatic and likable and he won over everyone with his joyful exuberance. He was a breath of fresh air and there has never been another like him since and there certainly wasn't anyone like him prior.  

Let's all remember Doug Henning on his day. What effect did he have on your magic? He paved the way for so many magical artists.  We were lucky to have him in our world.

Episode 12 Podcast Wyman the Wizard Notes

Episode 12 of the podcast is up and already getting downloads, thanks everyone! I don't have a lot of notes on this episode because most of it was covered in previous blog articles. However. I do have an image for you of Professor Pugh, the friend who Wyman met during his retirement. He gave or sold some of his props to Prof. Pugh and here is a photo of the good professor with them.

By the #s, there is #5 Little Bobbie, you can barely make out the carved head on this thing. # 6 is hard to see but it's in the back, the Spirit Clock/Dial. #7 is the rifle, or as it's listed, Gun and Target. #8 is that odd looking thing that the rifle is leaning against, it's a Pearl Inlaid Chair Back. #9 is pretty obvious, it's a Card Sword. #11 is the Money belt, though I don't see the number in the photo, but I do see the belt. And #13 is also not marked but it's the Canister and Bird Cage. You can see the cage right behind Little Bobbie. The man in the image is Prof. Pugh, not Wyman.

This is the link for the various articles on Wyman that can be found here on the blog...
https://www.themagicdetective.com/search?q=wyman

The Grave of Olive Dot Robinson, Wife of Chung Ling Soo

Dot Robinson being floated by Harry Kellar

When it comes to one of the greatest magician's assistants in history, surely one of the early ones was also one of the best. Olive Robinson was the wife of William E. Robinson. She was born Olive Path and had been with William Robinson since the very beginning of his career. For a time she worked as Harry Kellar's chief assistant in his show. Her husband was stage manager, illusion designer, and even performed his Black Art Act in the show. Olive, or Dot as she was known because of her small size, presented The Cocoon Illusion in Harry Kellar's show. She also was featured in an amazing levitation that was co-created by her husband and several other magicians, the effect was known as Astarte.

Later, when the Robinson's were wooed away by Alexander Herrmann, she became an assistant in his show. Astarte was performed in Herrmann's show also, but it was retitled The Maid of the Moon, and again featured Dot Robinson.

Finally, when William Robinson decided to go out on his own, he presented a show as an Asian character named Chung Ling Soo. His wife Dot was renamed, Suee Seen, and became the chief assistant in her husband's show. So Dot Robinson got to perform with three of the most iconic magicians of their era.

After the tragic death of her husband, who was shot on stage at the Wood Green Empire Theatre in 1918, Dot Robinson quietly fades into the background. The book The Glorious Deception by Jim Steinmeyer, suggests that Dot had become embarrassed by the scandal and controversy involving her husbands death. In 1921, she leaves London without informing her friends there and relocates to New York. She moves not far from many well known magicians, including Houdini. But she never let anyone in America know of her move either. She remained in seclusion throughout the rest of her life. In 1933, Dot Robinson was diagnosed with cancer. She died the following year at the age of 71. Olive 'Dot' Robinson was buried in the Bronx in Woodlawn Cemetery in an unmarked grave. But that's not the end of the story.

In 2016, magic historian, Diego Domingo, started raising money to put a stone marketer on her grave. The dedication for the stone marker was Oct 24th, 2017. Olive Robinson is buried in the Robinson Family plot not far from Williams' brother, and apparently just down the path from one of her former employers Alexander Herrmann. And today she has a proper gravestone.

Photo courtesy Diego Domingo

Minerva Queen of Handcuffs - Guest Post

I first heard of this project from my friend Ron Pearson at a marketing conference we both attended in the fall of 2017. It sounded like a great idea, a play about Minerva, and I think it is! Rather than me talk about it, I'll let Ron tell you about it!

Minerva-Queen of the Handcuffs

The inspiration for the play came from Jim Steinmeyer's book on Jarrett. Jarrett was married to Minerva and tells a harrowing story about her and Houdini. I don't want to give it away here as it is very important to the plot of the play, but if you have the book it's worth taking a look. 

I very much liked the idea of portraying Houdini as the bad guy, as he is traditionally seen as the archetypal hero. It gave me the opportunity to cast him as the symbol for all of the barriers and inequality that women had to endure at the turn of the twentieth century, particularly female performers. 

The play follows Minerva from the beginning of her career, learning the act from her first husband William Vano. I then touch upon certain real life career points, such as the development of her Water Barrel escape, her suing Merryland Amusement Park in Maryland for breech of contract and her European tour.

Being that there is limited information about Minerva's history, I have had to take some liberties here and there. For example, there were three events in her life that I have connected for the narrative of the play. One was her sudden and unexplained cancellation of two weeks of performances. Another was her visitations from a Hypnotist (who later became her second husband and manager). The third was her promotion of an anti-anxiety pill in a newspaper advertisement. 

So, in the play Minerva has consulted a Hypnotist to help her overcome anxiety attacks that have made her cancel her performances. The play is then told through flashbacks that come out of her hypnotic trances.

I am very fortunate that the lead actress in the play, Miranda Allen (yes, while I was writing the names Miranda and Minerva were continuously mixed up!). Miranda is a real life escape artist and street performer, as well as a trained actress. We had performed together at a number of Canadian festivals and she became the.catalyst for me to finally write this play that had been rattling around in my brain for many years. Her partner, Richard Lee Hsi, is also a trained actor and dancer and plays all of the male characters in the show, including Houdini. 

I want to take this opportunity to thank Dean Carnegie and Gary Hunt, who were so kind and giving with their information on Minerva. I absolutely could not have written the play without their help. Thank you gentlemen! 

I hope you will be able to see our show one day. My intention is to tour it, and I will certainly keep Dean in the loop as to where we will be performing. If you are in the Edmonton, Canada area January 15 to 27, please come see us! And please follow Minerva's future exploits on her facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/queenofhandcuffs/

And if you're interested you can check out my previous article on Minerva called The American Queen of Mystery

Playwright Ron Pearson

Coming Later This Week, A Very Special Guest Post

Later this week, I'll have my first guest post of the year. I can't tell you how thrilled I am about this. It's by a friend of mine who has written a play about MINERVA The Queen of Handcuffs. Keep watching, as it should be up in a few days!

Notes on Episode 11 The Great Maro

Here is the cartoon that appeared in the Sphinx Magazine on Maro. I believe the reason he left the 'devilish imps' off his posters was due to his Christian faith. Maro was no evangelist, nor did he include Christian references in his show, but like many people of the time, he was being respectful of his faith by leaving off that particular imagery.

If you look closer at this particular poster, you'll see in place of the 'imps' Maro has garden gnomes. 

If you're curious about the Houdini-Maro Illusion I mentioned during the podcast, you can read about it and see the picture here. 

In regards to the Astarte Levitation. Below is the video of Doug Henning presenting Astarte on one of his specials. It was an unusual and very different illusion when I saw Doug do it, but not particularly a big mystery. The version that was presented at the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History is a much longer piece and the costuming and choreography are much better. That version you can see if you are a Genii Magazine subscriber. It's in the January 2014 issue on page 72. It's called The Maid of the Moon, which is the name that Herrmann used when he presented the illusion.

And now you can listen to the entire Episode 11 below, IF you haven't already done so. And please remember to LIKE-SHARE-and Subscribe to the podcast, PLEASE :)

Magic Detective Podcast Ep10 Notes on Harry Kellar in Retirement

Most people kind of fade out of the limelight when they retire. But this was not the case for Harry Kellar. Sure, he didn't spend all of his time on the road going from theatre to theatre but he still traveled a fair amount. He also visited his old friends quite a bit. And he kept up with magic.

Kellar retired in 1908 when he handed his Mantle of Magic over to Howard Thurston. But Thurston got a lot more than the Mantle. He also received Kellar's Manager, Keller's Touring Routes, Kellar's two chief assistants Frizt and Carl Bucha, as well as all the props and paraphernalia that went with the Kellar show. And to the surprise of many, Thurston only kept two of Kellar's illusions, the rest he sold.

The first thing he did after he retired was take a very long vacation in Atlantic City. Above is a photo of Kellar and Houdini in Atlantic City. According to the Ken Silverman bio on Houdini, this is where their friendship really began to take off. Over time they developed a father/son type of relationship and it's proven in the various letters they shared back and forth.

I mentioned on the podcast about a photo I had of an improved Kellar prop. His name was cast into the iron, and below is a photo of that prop. I'm only showing the part that has Kellar's name due to secrecy issues. The piece is now owned by David Haversat.

Here is a video of Kellar and Houdini. I'm not sure of the location, but I did learn that Houdini had some film footage taken of Kellar and himself while he was in Los Angeles, so that is possibly where this was taken.

One quick minor correction to the podcast also has to do with Kellar giving Psycho to Houdini in 1919. He didn't ship it to Houdini but rather gave it to him while Houdini was in California making movies. 

Finally, I wanted to give you the link to an article I wrote a few years back called 'Kellar's Last Mystery'.


I used the book, Kellar's Wonders by Mike Caveney and Bill Miesel, The Sphinx Magazine, Ken Silverman's Bio on Houdini, AskAlexander.org and several other sources during my research for the entire three part series on Harry Kellar. I also used Geneologybank.com, Newspapers.com to research newspaper articles on Harry Kellar.

Magic Detective Podcast Ep 9 -Notes

Episode 9 is up and ready to listen to. This is part 2 of the Amazing Life of Harry Kellar. It covers his years right after the tragic shipwreck, right up to his retirement in 1908.

Along the way I mentioned a few things and I wanted to share them below. First up was the Automaton Psycho that Harry Kellar ripped off from John Nevil Maskelyne. Below is a video of Kellar's Psycho in action.

Next I mentioned the Blue Room and also The Spectre Cabinet. After reading through the book Kellar's Wonders by Mike Caveney and Bill Miesel, it appears that the video below is actually The Spectre Cabinet and not the Blue Room, IF I understood this correctly. It is referred to as The Blue Room, and I'm assuming the two effects are similar in operation. At least you get an idea of how magnificent this effect really was.

This next video has a clip of The Mascot Moth, but you have to wait till the very end of the video. It's in the last few seconds.

Finally, here is an image of the beautiful Golden Butterfly Poster.

Episode 10 will conclude the series on Kellar and will cover his retirement years.

Carnegie On French Houdini Documentary

Back in May of 2018, I took part in a documentary segment about the time Houdini testified before Congress. This segment was for the French TV Channel ARTE. The segment finally aired TODAY, November 21st, 2018. It's all in French, so if you don't speak French, you won't understand a word, lol. But it's a pretty good segment and I hope you enjoy it. Below is the french version. 

By the way, during the actual event in 1926, Houdini presented the Spirit Slates to the Congressman, and then exposed it to them. He said, "My oath prevents me from exposing magic secrets, but I have no problem exposing the secrets of mediums". I did a quick demonstration of the Spirit Slates during my segment, though unlike Houdini, I did not expose it!

Episode 8 Magic Detective Podcast Additional Notes

Episode 8 of The Magic Detective Podcast is about the Life of Harry Kellar. As I was recording the episode today I quickly realized that this would be a multi-part episode. So this first part only cover 1849-1875. I've covered this period of time on this blog before, so I'm going to give you links that you can check out about the various topics.

1. The Fakir of Ava http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/01/fakir-of-ava.html

2. The Davenport Brothers & The Spirit Cabinet http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/03/spirit-cabinet-history.html

3. William Fay http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/02/who-was-william-fay.html

4. The Shipwreck http://www.themagicdetective.com/2012/06/kellars-sunken-treasure.html
Please note there is a small error on the podcast. I mentioned that following the shipwreck, Kellar wired for money from his father. In truth, Harry Kellar borrowed money, approx $1000 from Junius Spenser Morgan, a banker, and the father to J.P. Morgan. 

5. The Vanishing Birdcage http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/02/vanishing-bird-cage-history.html

And if you'd like to listen to the podcast before you check out the above links. Here you go!!!

Houdini the Patriot

Today, Nov 11, 2018, marks the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War 1. The war which began in 1914. Coincidentally, the United States did not get into WWI until the day that Houdini celebrated as his birthday, April 6th, 1917.  And, despite the fact that the land in which Houdini was really born, Hungary, was involved on the opposing side in the war, Houdini stayed true to The United States.  He was a true blue American. Though Houdini appears to be mostly apolitical, he was certainly quite patriotic. And he was a big supporter of the War effort in WWI. Houdini actually enlisted but was too old to be considered. Instead, he got behind President Wilson and the war effort by selling Liberty Bonds and performed at military bases across the country to support the troops.

The S.S. Antilles, was a US Troop-Transport Ship that was sailing out of France on it's way to the United Stated on October 15, 1917. A German u-boat fired a torpedo at the Antilles the morning of Oct 17th sinking the ship. Sixty Seven sailors lost their lives.

Now Houdini steps into the picture. As a way to raise money for the families of the service members who died, Houdini put together a benefit show. His idea was to bring together theatrical artists and put on a huge show at the Hippodrome Theatre in NYC. The program was dubbed, 'Remember The Antilles' and was presented on November 11th, 1917. Among the artists in the 'Carnival of Wonders' portion of the show were: Charles Carter, Frederick E. Powell, Julius Zancig, Howard Thurston, Theo Hardeen, Adelaide Herrmann, Houdini, the biggest name of them all Harry Kellar.

Kellar's name was important, as he was coaxed out of retirement for the singular event. His appearance was billed as 'positively farewell performance by Harry Kellar, The Dean of Magicians.' He had retired from the stage in 1908, having handed his 'Mantle of Magic' over to Howard Thurston at Ford's Theatre in Baltimore MD. For his portion of the show he presented 'table lifting' and then his version of the Davenport Spirit Cabinet. An account in the Dec 1917 issue of The Sphinx magazine says that Kellar far outshined all the earlier performers. And they added this, "He is just as good as ever and works with the same rare skill that made him not only the dean of magicians, but one of the most finished performers we have ever known."

Houdini followed with his Metamorphosis routine and then the Water Torture Cell. I should also note, to promote the entire event he did his upside down strait jacket escape from a crane on Broadway.

When the event was over Houdini's benefits show raised $10,000.00. This would be a little over $212,000.00 in todays money. I'd say it was a huge success.  Speaking of money raised, The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman says that Houdini sold more than $1,000,000.00 in war bonds and gave away at least $7000 of his own money to soldiers during shows at military bases.

There is more to the Carnival of Magic Show at the Hippodrome, but I'd prefer to include that in an upcoming podcast. For now, I hope you enjoyed Houdini the Patriot!

The Forgotten Houdini Student

Poster by Alfred Choubrac

Looking through old magic magazines often reveal little gems of information. I was going through an old issue of Mahatma Magazine, the July 1902 issue, I came across a sentence about Houdini.

"Eugene Fougere has been taking magic lessons from Harry Houdini, according to an account in a German Newspaper. I think that magic is in demand as everyone wants to become a magician."

There is little chance of me finding the German newspaper, but I was curious who this 'Eugene Fougere' was. It turns out that Eugene Fougere is actually Eugenie Fougere and was a French Vaudeville and music hall star.  Her act was extremely suggestive & seductive for the time. She was called a soubrette-a flirtatious or frivolous woman. In 1891, she came to the United States to tour the Vaudeville theaters here. Her tour was met with scandalous reviews. She was really before her time. One article I read likened her to the way America looked at Elvis when he appeared on the scene. Many loved him, others were shocked by his gyrations. I'd say that Eugenie's gyrations were even more daring than anything Elvis was doing, at least for the period of time, but tame for the 21st century of course.

In 1902 she was back in Paris. Houdini, in January & half of  February of 1902, was performing at The Olympia Theatre in Paris. He started at the Olympia on November 29th, 1901. The Olympia is a 2000 seat theatre that has since hosted stars like Josephine Baker, Marlene Dietrich, Liza Minelli, The Jackson Five, The Rolling Stones, even the Beatles. But in 1901-02, the Olympia was featuring Houdini & Eugenie Fougere on their bill. It was his King of Cards Act that made him a hit in Paris, rather than his handcuff act. I would imagine it was card magic that he was teaching to Eugenie Fougere. And I've seen nothing in regards to her adding magic to her act. It is likely her sex appeal outshined any tricks she might have included.

By the way, one of Houdini's more famous non-escape promotions took place in Paris. He hired 7 bald headed men to paint the letters H-O-U-D-I-N-I on top of their heads. They would then wear a bowler hat and sit at a cafe. Then at numerous times per day, they would lean over and remove their hats, showing the name HOUDINI to passers by.

And now, for the curious, here is Eugenie Fougere presenting her 'ragtime -cake-walk' dance.

Magic Detective Podcast Ep 7-Houdini & Congress 1926

Seeing as we are on the eve of a big congressional election, I thought I'd share a podcast about the time Houdini testified before Congress on behalf of an Anti-Fortune Telling Bill. It was quite a wild affair, with Houdini bringing in some of his top notch investigators like Remegius Weiss and Rose Mackenburg. It's clear from the transcripts that some of the congressmen were not taking this seriously. Still others were dead serious about the testimony.

My guess is that Houdini must have had a hand in crafting the bill, which was another reason he was brought in. There are a number of surprises that come up over the several days of testimony. Much of this episode comes directly from the Congressional Record. And it also comes from several articles that appeared right here, in TheMagicDetective blog!

A side note, earlier this year (2018) I actually was involved in a video documentary about Houdini's time before Congress. The video was made for a French Language TV Show, so despite my excitement, it will all get dubbed over. I don't think it's aired yet, but when it does, I'll let you know. I'm curious how some of the magic turned out as the humidity that day was wreaking havoc on some of my sleights and flourishes, including a coin roll (the coin kept sticking to my fingers)

This episode runs almost 40 minutes and will be the last FULL Houdini Episode for a while. At least, that is the plan at the moment. Because it's my podcast, I could easily go back on that, lol. But I'm hoping to make the next podcast about Harry Kellar. For now, please enjoy Episode 7!

Magic Detective Podcast Episode 6- Houdini's Final Days and Beyond

Episode 6 of The Magic Detective Podcast is about Houdini's Final Days and Beyond. All of this comes from previous articles here on the site, and I'm going to include the links below to the various articles. You'll be able to see a number of photos that help to illustrate the various stories.

But first, I'd like to include the names of the books that I mention in the podcast. These are all biographies of Houdini.

The Secret Life of Houdini -William Kalush and Larry Sloman
Houdini The Man Who Walked Through Walls by William Lindsey Gresham
Houdini His Life and Art by James Randi and Burt Sugar
Houdini His Legend and Magic by Doug Henning
HOUDINI!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss by Kennth Silverman
Houdini The Untold Story by Melbourne Christopher

Articles

Tracking the Body of Houdini
The Day Houdini was Buried
Last Days of Houdini
More of the Last Days of Houdini
The Manifestations of Houdini

Episode 7 should be up next Monday. It too will be about Houdini and then when I get to Episode 8, I'll explore some magicians you might not be familiar with.

And anytime you want to check out the podcast, you can always just click the link on the far right of the page. Or just go to MagicDetectivePodcast.com. You can also find the podcast in iTunes!

The Original Houdini Seance Coming

If you want a cool experience and you are in NYC Oct 31st, then you'll want to attend The Original Houdini Seance. This one will be in the afternoon, and at the site of Houdini's childhood home. Here is a link for more information. https://form.jotform.com/toddspr/-houdini-seance-event-registration