The GREAT Henry Ridgely Evans

I should probably have referred to him as the PROLIFIC Henry Ridgely Evans but it's sort of a play on words as you will see.  While going through a wonderful book on history by Ken Klosterman titled, Of Legierdemaine and Diverse Juggling Knacks*, I came across an interesting article titled, 'How I Became Interested In The Magic Art' by Dr. Henry Ridgely Evans.

It seems that a young Henry Evans was fascinated with the book The Arabian Nights as a child. The article even goes on to say that he slept with the book under his pillow.  Years later he came upon an article about Robert-Houdin in an issue of Harper's Magazine. And then in 1877, Professor Hoffmann put out his book MODERN MAGIC, and this took Henry Evans over the edge! He devoured the book and it's material. He soon found a copy of Houdin's biography that he also read through and through.

Drive way up to Dumbarton Oaks

While attending Columbian College in Washington D.C. one of his school mates encouraged him to put on a show and even offered his home as the venue for such a performance. His friend was Edward Linthicum Dent, and the home was called, The Oaks. Today it is known as Dumbarton Oaks and is a Research Library and Collection institute administered by the Trustees of Harvard University. But in the late 1800s it was a private residence and quite an impressive mansion. In fact, it still as!


According to the article, 200 school children from the area came to see the show put on by the amateur conjurer Henry Ridgely Evans. As is often the case for a new performer, poor Evans got cold feet. In fact, he got more than cold feet, his feet wouldn't even move. He was paralyzed with fear! The kids in the audience got wind of his condition and like wild animals that could smell blood, they were ready to pounce!!! But, Evans somehow gained his composure and presented a fairly decent show, with one exception. His 'Card Star' accidentally released early and cards shot everywhere, when they were not supposed to. It brought about the end of the show, and likely the end of Henry Ridgely Evan's career as a performing magician. Fortunately for us, his fascination with magic remained and he became a very prolific writer on the topic.

Dr. Henry Ridgely Evans would go on to become a valued writer of magic history. He wrote, Magic & It's Professors (1902), The Old and the New Magic(1906), Adventures In Magic (1927), History of Conjuring and Magic (1928), A Master of Modern Magic: The Life and Adventures of Robert-Houdin (1932), Some Rare Old Books on Conjuring and Magic (1943)  I just obtained a copy of The Old and the New Magic and am anxious to delve into it's pages.

I wrote about him previously and you can check out that article here http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/10/who-was-henry-ridgely-evans.html
Evans died died at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore on March 29th, 1949. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington DC. Below is an image of his grave. Incidentally, Dumbarton Oaks, that I mentioned above is right next to the cemetery! I'm sure had I done more research I might have found the home he lived in while he lived in town, but frankly, the weather was making any sort of further adventures difficult. It took an hour just to find the grave because the areas are not marked, at least not that we could find. But  eventually we did find it and I paid my respects. 

*To be clear, Ken compiled the material in this book, but the material was written by John Braun.

The Magician Who Met Abraham Lincoln

This story has intrigued me from the first time I heard of it. In fact, I even wrote about it before. A friend sent me an article from a 1920 LA newspaper and it rekindled my interest in the story. So I'm reprinting my original article below with a couple corrections. These corrections came about by reading an article in the Los Angeles Evening Herald Feb 12th, 1920 edition. In truth, they really fill in more of the blanks than truly correct things. I hope you enjoy the updated article.

The individual in question is Horatio Green Cooke, born 1844 in Norwich Connecticut. As a youth his family moved around a bit finally settling in Iowa. In 1861, Horatio was working as a teacher.  In 1862, Horatio, who would go by the name Harry, enlisted in the Union Army. He had excellent penmanship and was also a fine marksman. Before long he was writing correspondence for various Generals in the Union Army, among them General U.S. Grant.

Due to Cooke's ability as a penman, he soon came to the notice of various people in Washington DC. His ability as a marksman, also played a part in his change in career and in rank. 




He went from being a private in the Union Army to being selected to be as a Captain of Lincoln's Federal Scouts.  He always carried with him a letter autographed by the President Lincoln informing him that he had been selected to be one of his special scouts.  In 1863, he fell under the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant during the Siege of Vicksburg. The surrender of Vicksburg by the Confederate Army gave control of the Mississippi River to the Union Army, and basically split the Confederacy in half. This event, along with the Battle of Gettysburg, were the turning points in the war for the Union.

R. Ingersoll, Gen Hancock, E. Stanton, Gen Sherman, A. Lincoln

On May 1st, 1864, Harry Cooke was ordered to appear before Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War in Washington D.C.. When he arrived  he found that along with Stanton, was General William Tecumseh Sherman, General Hancock, Senator Robert Ingersoll and President Abraham Lincoln. They had heard of the young scouts unusual ability to free himself from restraints and were curious. So he was tied up with fifty feet of rope. After he was securely tied, Cooke asked Lincoln to walk ten feet away. Then he asked him to return and before Lincoln got back, Cooke had freed himself from the confinement! According to the Los Angeles Evening Express Newspaper, Lincoln was amazed and jubilated. Lincoln said to Cooke "Here my boy, keep this to remember Uncle Abe by" and Lincoln then handed Cooke a two dollar bill. Harry Cooke kept that two dollar bill his entire life.

John Singleton Mosby - The Grey Ghost

In the Fall of 1864, Harry was assigned to join General Sheridan in Winchester VA. On October 19th, Harry Cooke and six other scouts were captured by Mosby's Raiders under the command of  'The Grey Ghost', John Singleton Mosby*. Mosby was notorious for his stealth-like raids against Union forces. When his band of raiders captured Harry Cooke and his fellow scouts they took from them all their possessions. In Cooke's pocket was the personal letter from Lincoln appointing him to the position of Federal Scout, a cherished memento. In Mosby's eyes Cooke was a spy and was sentenced to be hanged along with his other scouts. They were to get an early morning hanging, but their final evening on earth would be spent tied to a tree. Being the escape artist that he was, Cooke quietly freed himself from the ropes, and then proceeded to free his fellow prisoners and return back to the Union side under the cover of darkness. Due to the fact that not all of his fellow scounts could swim, they had to split up. Three swam across the Potomac River and the others made their way through the woods. One of the scouts who was swimming later drowned when trying to cross Harpers Ferry Canal.  Cooke and his companion finally made it back to a Union camp. From there, he took some men back to try and find those scouts who chose to make their way through the woods because they couldn't swim. They were eventually discovered, hanged and full of bullet holes. In the end, only Cooke and his other fellow scout that he swam with made it to safety.

Fords Theatre /Library of Congress photo

Harry had always been bothered by the theft of his Lincoln Letter by Mosby's Raiders and decided to try and get a copy from the President himself. On April 14th 1865, Cooke went to the White House in Washington to see Mr. Lincoln. Upon arriving at the White House he was told that Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln had left for an evening at Fords Theatre. Harry Cooke went to Fords Theatre, where the President and First Lady were watching the play "Our American Cousin". A short time after Harry Cooke arrived a loud shot rang out, and well, the rest is history. Cooke was there, in the audience, as John Wilkes Booth shot the President and then jumped to the stage and out the back doors of Fords Theatre.

It's hard to say when Harry Cooke got his interest in magic or where he developed the ability to escape from ropes. One thing is certain, he had an ability to escape like no one before him, and few since.  After the Civil War ended Horatio Green Cooke became "Professor Harry Cooke" and worked as a professional magician and 'Celebrated King of the Spirit Exposers". Years later he would become President of the Los Angeles Society of Magicians and would obtain the new moniker 'The Oldest Living Magician'. His favorite trick throughout his life was the Linking Rings and apparently his routine was one to wonder over.

On May 1st 1924, at the young age of 80, Harry Cooke duplicated his feat of escaping from 50 feet of rope for the Los Angeles area magicians. During this exhibition, Harry Cooke wore his blue Union Army uniform, the same one he wore during the Civil War. The result was exactly as it had been 60 years earlier when he presented the stunt before President Lincoln and his cabinet, HE ESCAPED! A a little over a month later Horatio Green Cooke passed away on June 17, 1924.


I must make note of the fact that though Harry Cooke was well known during his day, and appeared often in magic periodicals of his time period, and was even one of the pallbearers at Harry Kellar's funeral, he had largely been forgotten in recent years. It was Mark Cannon, escape artist and magician who brought the wonderful stories of Harry Cooke back to life through a fantastic article he wrote for MUM Magazine in April 2006. Mark had actually been fortunate enough to meet one of Harry Cooke's daughters at one of his shows and was given Cooke's personal scrap book. And it was because of Mark's wonderful article and my interest in magic history that I first started to delve into the world of Harry Cooke. Eventually, I too got to meet one of Cooke's descendants. You gotta love magic history, you never know where it will take you or who you might encounter!

DC Jail Escape Follow-up.

The 10th Precinct Building

Back in 2014 I wrote an article about Houdini's 1906 jail escape in Washington DC from the 10th precinct. When I first wrote the article I thought  that the jail had been torn down. Later I discovered that in fact, that jail actually was still there and still operational. I finished the article by saying, "Maybe someday I'll head over there and check out to see if Houdini's cell is still there."

As it turned out, last year I received an email from a friend of mine who lives near there. He told me he was planning on going over and check the place out. But then I didn't hear from him. I figured maybe he never made it over. But alas, I ran into him at The Yankee Gathering in November 2016. The mans name is Charles Greene, and he is an excellent magician, speaker and magic historian/collector, and also owner of this site http://magicpostergallery.com/MagicPosterGallery/MagicPosterGallery.com.html

It turns out that Charles DID visit the 10th Precinct Station and went inside inquiring about a 'Houdini's jail cell'. The cell, was originally in the basement and Charles was told that they'd been removed a long while ago. Still he pressed on and asked to see for himself. Sure enough, there was nothing remaining. The building was still standing but the cell where Houdini did his escape was gone. And thanks to Charles, at least now we know!

Now please don't mistake this for Houdini's other, and more famous jail escape in DC from the Old DC Jail. That would be where Houdini escaped from the cell that once held the assassin to president Garfield. That escape would take place only 5 days later, on Jan 6th, 1906. Below are two views of the prison that may be new to many people. They come from the Library of Congress/Harris&Ewing Collection.

This Old D.C. Jail  was torn down in the early 80s. However, as an interesting side now, the stones used in the building were from the same quarry that supplies stones for the Smithsonian Castle. So some of the jail stones were taken to the Smithsonian to use in repairs of the Castle.

Houdini and the Boston Jail, Setting the Record Straight

I'll admit, I do my best to verify everything I put up here, but I have missed a couple of times.  It might be due to an outdated source that I'm using that got it wrong, or a newspaper that I didn't have access that might later alter the facts that I have. Alas, one of my earliest articles turns out to not be accurate and I'm not too happy about that. I had been given a tip that this was it, and couldn't find any information on other jails at the time, so I went with the tip. Later newspapers from the time confirmed that it was indeed NOT the Charles Street Jail that I had first listed, but rather the City Jail/Prison on Somerset Street.  I want to give credit where credit is due and that is to Bill Mullins who discovered the correct information and was kind enough to let me know! I am going to reprint the original article below but insert the proper information along with new photos. 

Houdini at the 'Boston Tombs'

Houdini escaped from the Boston Tombs in 1906. The photo above shows Houdini about to go over the wall of the Boston Tombs as the jail was called. The actual jail was the City Jail or City Prison located on Somerset Street in the Pemberton's Hill area. I discovered that it was common in that time to refer to a jail or prison as the Tombs. The most famous was the Manhattan Detention Complex in NYC known as The Tombs. 

The Escape

The date was March 19, 1906 and the Superintendent of Police William Pierce had agreed to lock up Houdini in their jail. He was first taken to cell number 77 on the ground floor where Houdini removed his clothes and was checked for keys and picks. Nothing was found and Houdini's clothes were then locked into this cell while he himself was taken to the second floor. He stepped into cell number 60 and was secured in handcuffs and leg irons. Then the Superintendent locked Houdini inside Cell #60 and he and the other police officials left Houdini and headed for the main office. They were confident that Houdini could not escape.

Sixteen minutes later Houdini was scaling the outer wall of the jail and running down the road towards Keith's Theatre. Houdini called William Pierce from the theater to let him know he had escaped! Shock set in. Superintendent Pierce asks Houdini to return so that the photographers can get a photo of him going over the wall (see photo at top of page). According to the Kalush Biography, the Superintendent told Houdini he expected him to show up in the jail office if he got out. He shook Houdini's hand and seemed happy with the results. Though Houdini's book "Adventurous Life of a Versatile Artist" paints a different picture. Houdini claims that Pierce's only response was "I have nothing to say".

The route of escape from the City Prison in Boston

The Jail Today

The building that once housed the City Prison is today called the John Adams Courthouse. It was built in 1885 and originally known as The Suffolk County Courthouse. I do not know if any of the jail, or the cells remain in the building or not. Looking at this photo, I can't quite match up this image with the one on the top of the page, so I'm guessing the back of the building is where the jail was likely housed. Houdini's cell #77 was on the ground floor, though he was moved to an upstairs cell #60.

Now I'm wondering, if the 'staged' photo at the top of the page might just have been taken at the Charles Street Jail, as that buildings facade totally matches up to the building in that photo? I'll eventually find a view behind this building and see what the rear of the building look like. For now though, the record has been corrected, thanks to Bill Mullins!

Happy Birthday Bess Houdini!

Bess Houdini was born January 22, 1876, which makes her 141 years old today. She honestly doesn't look it! In November, I attended the Yankee Gathering in Massachusetts and in attendance was John Hinson, Great Nephew of Bess and Harry Houdini. John is just the coolest guy. He clearly has a passion of magic history and especially the Houdini family. He loves to share the stories of his family and share rare photos, many that have NEVER been seen in print before.

John graciously has allowed me to share some of these pictures with you in the coming months, and I am very excited to be doing so. I don't yet have those pictures from John, but I know he's been busy so you'll get to see them soon enough.

For now we wish Bessie a very Happy Birthday!!!

HOLD THE PRESSES!!!! Bessie can have some cake today if she likes, but ole John Cox pointed out to me that John Hinson (the very same I mentioned above) showed him proof that Bessie was born on Jan 23rd!!!!!!!! Honestly though, having gone through many census records and birth records from the 1800s and seeing how dates change and fluctuate, its a wonder we have an accuracy at all. But, then again, if it comes from John Hinson's collection, I'm going to believe it! So 23 it is!!!!!!!!!

Rare Robert-Houdin Magic Token Help Needed

I was contacted by Paul Courville, a collector of magicians tokens,  concerning an item he has acquired of Robert-Houdin. Specifically, he is searching for any information or individual with information that could provide him with additional details about the item.

Paul found a reference for this coin dating it to France 1935, created by J Dhotel, however, the listing says the back of the coin is blank, but Paul's has writing on the back. The back of his coin reads "Association Francaise Des Artistes Pretidigitateurs". (see photo very bottom of page)

Additionally, he found an image of a plaque, which also has the 'Association....Prestigitateurs' on the bottom of the plaque and a bronze image of Robert Houdin in the center, with the exact same likeness as that of the coin. (see below)

If you happen to have any information regarding this coin and it's history, would you kindly contact Paul at paul@paulcourville.com

 

The Other Blackstone Book Review

Back in 1999 Daniel Waldron wrote a book called Blackstone A Magician's Life. It was a fantastic biography of one of the true greats in our business. If you've never read it. find it and read it! You'll be glad you did. One of the great things about the book are the first hand accounts by George Johnstone and Nick Ruggiero, both who worked on the Blackstone Sr. Show.

In 2016, a new book was written by Daniel Waldron called The Other Blackstone. Though not as extensive as the first book, it's still an enjoyable recollection of the the other Blackstone. This book is about Alfred Peter Boughton, who was born March 1st 1887. He was the younger brother of Harry. Yes, the name was originally spelled Boughton.  The book has 6 chapters and a epilogue, plus a lot of photos. It's only 40 pages long, so it's a quick read, but it's a fun one. There are some great stories in the book, and as I mentioned, great photos to match.

And the great thing about the book is the co-author, Adele Friel Rhindress, who also worked on the Blackstone Show.  She has her own great book on her adventures with Blackstone called 'Memoirs of An Elusive Moth'. The recollections of her time with Pete really help the reader to see him as a living breathing human being, and give a rare glimpse behind the scenes of a famous touring show.

I remember the first time I saw a photo of Pete. I was confused as to what I was seeing. I thought it might be some double exposure photo that Harry had produced. But then I found out that Harry had a brother. According to Adele, it was Pete who really RAN the Blackstone Show. Harry was the star, but Pete handled everything backstage.

I purchased this book at the Yankee Gathering from David Haversat. I'll be honest, I don't know how many were produced. But I would check with him to see if there any left. 

ThrowingCards, The Blog, Check it Out!

There is a new blog that just hit the internet called ThrowingCards.blogspot.com. It's the brainchild of Gary Brown, who used to have the site Throwingcards.com a number of years ago. That original site was on a free platform that has since vanished into the night, as many of those 'free' sites eventually did. But now, Gary, along with Gary Frank, and Tom Ewing, have restarted the site as a blog. And it's very cool.

What is a throwing card? Well, it's a very clever piece of advertising that magicians would use at their shows and during appearances. From what I've seen, it was a customized playing card with the artists information on the front of the card, and the back usually like a playing card back, but not always. Sometimes, the cards would be from the same stock as playing cards, other times they might be from a thicker card stock. Often the magicians would throw or scale the cards from the stage. In other cases, they might simply hand the card out, like one would hand out a business card. I did not know it, but this was done by a lot of performers, both famous and not so famous. I was aware of the Thurston throw card, in fact, I own one. But outside of that, I didn't really think it was very popular. Wow was I ever wrong!

I would encourage you to go over and check out the site. As I mentioned, they have three regular contributors so I'm sure you're going to see some great pieces. I was so inspired by viewing their site that I am not considering a throwing card of my own! Go check them out,  http://throwingcards.blogspot.com

The Fay Controversy Continues

Anna Eva Fay

Anna Eva Fay was a medium and clairvoyant who rose to prominence in the late 19th Century and early part of the 20th Century. I have written about her several times and even visited her grave in Massachusetts. She was a fascinating woman on many levels. She began as a medium, one who was highly investigated and fooled many of the top minds in the world who researched psychic phenomenon. But still she was a fake. So that makes some of her achievements even more remarkable.

Eventually, she would move into mind reading using the method first developed by Samri Baldwin.  This addition took her out of the area of spiritualistic demonstrations to theatrical performances and it proved highly successful. Along the way, she began to train her son John in all the methods and techniques that she used, hoping and expecting that he would one day take over the show. But in what would be an incredible betrayal by her son, he taught a young woman whom he would later marry, Eva Norman how to do the act. They went out as The Marvelous Fays. Anna was furious. Overtime, Anna would forgive her son, but she never forgave Eva Norman, and the two barely tolerated each other for the rest of their lives.

This brings me to this past weekend's Potter and Potter Auction. There was an item that was listed as "Fay, Anna Eva. The Fay Thaumaturgy Dream Book" And it was a very awesome item, but this was actually an Eva Fay book, not an Anna Eva Fay book. There are several things that give away who this belonged to. For one, the publisher was John T. Fay, the son of Anna. The 'mascot' coins which are reproduced on the cover of the booklet are also those of 'The Fays' not Anna Eva Fay. And finally, they called their performance 'Thaumaturgy', where as Anna called what she did "Somnolency'.  That doesn't make the item any less valuable however. It's still a very rare Dream book and whoever won that item has a real treasure! I think the auction item also came with a token and a ticket, which again pushes up the value of this lot!

This mix up between The Fays and Anna Eva Fay has been going on for years. In fact, Barry Wiley in his wonderful book The Indescribable Phenomenon, says that when Anna Eva Fay passed away in 1927, the news of her death was in all the papers and in an ironic twist of fate, Eva Fay's bank accounts were closed, thinking that she had died. But it was Anna Eva Fay who had passed. I guess the elder Fay got the last word.

By the way, I just finished reading The Indescribable Phenomenon, and it was a fantastic book. Barry Wiley's in-depth research is remarkable. I would encourage anyone interested in magic history and especially the Spiritualist side of the art, to check out this book. I found my copy on ebay. It was published by HermeticPress.com but their website is down currently.

Both Fays, had put out special token coins, that they both sold for 25 cents. Both had the word 'Mascot' on them. But it's easy to tell the difference. I think there are two Anna Eva Fay coins and one Eva Fay or 'The Fays' coin. The first copper coin below is the Anna Eva Fay coin. You can see her initials, AEF, under the sitting figure. In the book The Indescribable Phenomenon, it's mentioned that there may have been 6 different versions of this coin, but all looked relatively the same. There is a second Anna Eva Fay Coin, which is round, about the size of a quarter and is pictured below. Both coins have the initials, AEF on one side. The final coin below was used by 'The Fays/Eva Fay', and you can clearly see how similar in look this coin is to the copper AEF coin. However, the name 'The Fays' is clearly visible on one side of the coin. And rather than a sitting figure on one side of the coin like AEF had, The Fay coin has an Egyptian looking figure with wings. 

Anna Eva Fay -Mascot Token

Anna Eva Fay - Round Mascot

Eva Fay/The Fays - Mascot Token

Both Fays also put out Dream Books. These are easy to tell apart because one uses the word, Somnolency, which is Anna Eva Fay's book, and the other uses the word Thaumaturgy, which is the book used by The Fays, the son and daughter in law. I don't own any of those at the moment, otherwise I would put up a picture.

I came across another site recently that had a poster listed as an Anna Eva Fay poster, but it was actually one of Eva Fay's. I don't recall off hand what the site was and I can't seem to locate it. Suffice to say, the confusion between the two Fays continues on.

Dot Robinson, Wife of Chung Ling Soo

Olive 'Dot' Robinson was the wife of William Ellsworth Robinson, known professionally as Chung Ling Soo. She was born Olive Path and had been with William Robinson since the very beginning of his career. She worked with him in his Black Art act. When he signed with Kellar, she was there and acted as assistant in the illusions. Later, when they switched over to work with Herrmann the Great, she continued on, performing the illusions as only she could. Her nickname was Dot, due to her small stature. And because of her size, it allowed for very deceptive illusions. Several sources, including Magic: A Pictorial History of Conjurers in the Theatre, mention that she was one of the greatest assistants to ever live. When William Robinson created the Chung Ling Soo character, he renamed his wife Suee Seen.

Her life was not all sunshine and roses however. Though everyone thought she was married to

Robinson, they actually did not marry until 1906.   Robinson had a reputation for being a womanizer and Dot overlooked it all those years. But after the marriage, his extramarital affairs strained their relationship.

In 1918, Chung Ling Soo/William Robinson was shot on stage of the Wood Green Empire Theatre in London while performing the Bullet Catching Illusion. He died as a result of his wound and was buried in London. Dot, remained in London until 1921 when she quietly returned to America. She moved to the Bronx and became a recluse, never again associating with her friends in the magic world.  She died November 13, 1934 from cancer.

Olive 'Dot' Robinson is buried in an unmarked grave in The Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.  Other notables in the magic world who are buried there include: Alexander and Adelaide Herrmann, Max Holden, and Black Hermann.

Fellow magic historian, Diego Domingo is now working to raise funds for a grave marker for Olive Robinson. I learned of this at this years Yankee Gathering, when Diego gave a brief talk about Olive and the unmarked grave. As you know, I am a believer in caring for these graves of our brethren, and have contributed to the fund and would like to give you an opportunity to as well, if you so choose.

If you would like to contribute to the fund Checks should be made out to:

Funds have been collected and a new gravestone is in place.

Magic Christian and His Crusade

I first heard the name Magic Christian many years ago when he appeared on the cover of Genii Magazine, November 1980. I was just a kid but I still recall reading about this interesting gentleman from Austria. His issue was filled with original magic that he created. I know I have seen articles on him in the years since as well.

A few years ago, I came across his name again when doing some research on Hofzinser. I would say that Magic Christian is the leading authority on Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser today. If you don't have his books on Hofzinser you are really missing out. He has a two volume set called Non Plus Ultra Volumes 1 and 2. Volume 1 is subtitled Magic of the 19th Century. Volume 2 is subtitled Hofzinser's Card Artistry. They have been written, researched and compiled by Magic Christian. Volume 1 originally was published in German in 1998. The second Volume followed in German in 2004. They were translated into English in 2013 and these are the books I proudly own and am carefully reviewing.

I got to meet and talk with Magic Christian at this years Yankee Gathering and he told me that The Conjuring Arts Research Library is currently editing Volume 3 of the Hofzinser books! This is amazing news and I can't tell you how thrilled I was to learn that! I remember when I read the first two books that there was yet a third one out there, but it was in German I believe. Well, now its being translated! 

Besides his work on Hofzinser, Magic Christian is also working to get the grave of Compars Herrmann repaired. During the Yankee Gathering, he showed a short slide presentation of before and after photos of the grave site. The first photo, to the left,  is what the grave looked like around 1906. You'll note it has an iron fence around it, an ornate wreath and metal vines on the face of the stone and then a decorative firebowl at the top. I understand there were also rose bushes behind the grave itself.

Now, fast forward to around 1988 and you'll see the deterioration of the gravesite. Rust has overtaken the iron fence, and the ornate wreath and other decorative items on the grave were stripped off the grave during World War 2. Actually, there is another photo that Magic Christian sent me that shows the grave around 1988 and vines and leaves had totally overtaken most of the grave. So the photo below must be after some initial work on the grave.  

It's clear by the photos that the front of the fence, the gateway, is gone. And as I mentioned all the ornate decorative items on the tombstone are also gone.
 

In 2009, the Magic Club of Vienna and Magic Christian began plans and work to restore the grave. It appears the first thing they did was clean up the tombstone itself and clean up all the vines and such that had grown up around the grave.

Then they set about to restore the grave to the way it looked originally. The wreath and metal vines on the face of the grave were remade. Gold lettering was redone on the face of the tombstone and white lettering on the black plaque at the bottom part of the tombstone.

Next, it appears that they had the iron fence totally redone, along with the ornate gate at the very front.  The work they've done is remarkable. During this entire time they have raised funds from magicians and magic organizations to help pay for the restoration.

The only things left to do are to replace the firebowl at the top of the tombstone and replant the rose bushes behind the grave.  At the Yankee Gathering, Magic Christian took up a donation for the continued restoration. I wanted to include the information here in case anyone else wants to contribute. You will find that information underneath the next photograph. 

The tomb is situated in the Central Cemetery of Vienna in the old Jewish section

Group  6 – Row 29 – Tomb 38

 

Dear friends we hope that you will support this big project: Please send your donation to Magic Christian and the Magischer Klub Wien:

Bank: Postsparkasse PSK 60000

Account: Magischer Klub Wien

Number: 00002349219

InternetBanking/0111642744$?d=accountdetails&fkonto=00002349219

IBAN: AT696000000002349219

BIC: OPSKATWW

And if you have other questions for Magic Christian, you can contact him through his website at MagicChristian.com. All the grave photos here were provided by Magic Christian and used with his permission. 

The Yankee Gathering 2016

The Yankee Gathering 2016 is now over, and I'm finally home and have a few moments to reflect on events of the conference. I guess my first thought is, 'WOW'. What an incredible time we had. Usually at magic conventions you spend a lot of time in the dealers room when there are no activities. But I barely spent any time in the dealers room. In fact, Denise and I had to make a special trip on Saturday INTO the dealers room because we missed so much...and then we still did not get to stop by every booth. There were also a lot of people I didn't get to chat with or introduce myself too. Some of them, honestly, I didn't know where present otherwise I would have searched them out. One person comes to mind, Kevin Connolly. I really would like to have met him and said hello, but I didn't know he was there, my guess is he was probably in the dealers room and we just never made it over to his booth. Also, I did catch out of the corner of my eye, Arthur Moses, but I never saw him alone where I could go up and say hello.

But let me focus on the folks I did meet. Adele Friel Rhindress, who I already knew but spent quite a bit of time with during the conference. Gary Frank, who I purchased my Kellar poster from earlier in the year but this was the first time I got to meet him in person. Magic Christian from Austria who was a charming gentleman. John Hinson, who I also previously met and it was great to see him again. David Haversat, who I met at the registration booth, but didn't really get to talk to. He was usually in conversation or I was. Kent Cummins who I believe I had met once before and who was a good friend of one of my good friends. so it was great to reconnect with Kent. Judge Gary Brown, who is funny, and clever, and quite the magical inventor as well as being a great guy.  Gary Hughes, it was great to see him again, always nice to see him and talk magic history. William Rausher, who I had met briefly once before but it was nice to see him again. Oh, my friend James Hamilton, the authority on all thing Herrmann was there. I got to meet Thomas Blacke who I first learned about from the late Norman Bigelow. Rick Heath, the artist from Le Grand David was there and we went to dinner on the first night, always great to see Rick. David Bull from Le Grand David stopped us in the hall to chat for a while which was very nice. Lupe and Norm Nielsen who I've met before but it's always nice to see them. I got to meet Ray Ricard, the fellow who invited me to lecture and who has a tremendous book collection. It was also great to see Alan Wassilak again, we had met a couple years ago at Ray Goulet's Magic Shop. OH and of course, I enjoyed chatting with Ray again as well. Charles Greene, who lives in my area but I only ever see at these history conferences. John Bundy and Morgan were there and I finally got to meet them after all these years. I sold them an illusion about 10 years ago and they still remembered it. David Oliver was there and we spent quite a bit of time chatting with him, he is quite the individual. Tim Moore, the dentist and collector from Columbus, what a great guy and so nice to finally meet him. I also spoke for several minutes with Mike Caveney and got to meet Bill Smith as well. And I got to see Bill Schmeelk again from Wellington Enterprises, nice to see him again.

I'm sure there were people I met that I left off the list above and please forgive me if I did. You might just get mentioned in a future article. Denise and I left the Yankee Gathering for another conference that was even more intense than our 4 days in the Boston area. I'm still not caught up on my sleep.

Apparently the Yankee Gathering events always have a guest of honor, and this year it was Norm and

Lupe Nielsen. Norm was given an award and Lupe spoke about their incredible poster collection. She told how it first began, some of the rare gems in the collection, and how they went about deciding to sell the collection.

Lupe brought along a power point presentation filled with incredible images of posters. There are over 2000 posters in their collection, and even after the two Potter and Potter Auctions, they will still have quite a few that they are keeping. One of my favorites in their collection was the Houdini Underwater Packing crate poster, which can be seen to the right. This poster found it's way to the Copperfield Museum, along with several other wonderful pieces. I think David might have also got the very rare and very large KELLAR poster that was similar in size to the Houdini Under Water Packing crate escape poster.

There were a number of highlights for me. The first lecture of the event was by William Rauscher who spoke about Kalanag. I will make this simple, I loved his presentation. He gave a great narrative of the life of a very complex man, Helmut Schrieber. Mr. Rauscher did not try and white wash his connection to the Nazi party, or rewrite history by saying he didn't have anything to do with it. Rather he put the entire story into historical perspective. There were many wonderful slides to go along with the talk. My favorite part was when a video clip was played of Kalanag presenting the Billiard Balls. It was such a simple routine and far superior to most versions I've seen. Great lecture.

Next up was yours truly, the Magic Detective, talking about the Life of The Great Maro. This was supposed to be a repeat of the lecture I presented last year in Leland Michigan. I reworked the lecture to appeal to the magic crowd. I assumed that everyone knew about Maro, to some degree, so I wanted to give them information they might not have been aware of. My lecture was a big hit with folks.  I talked to a lot of people who really enjoyed it. The most common comment was "I'd seen the Maro posters but never really knew anything about him." I'm glad I could share my knowledge of this fascinating man who died too young, with this group of magic history fans. After my lecture, two different people told me they had Maro material in their collections, both described posters which I had never seen before. So I may be writing more about Maro in the future. 

Following my lecture, they started to get ready for the Auction. This was great fun and I walked away with a book and some Le Grand David posters and programs. There was one item that I had bid on fairly high but eventually let it go, I forget what item that was. The funniest part of the lecture to me was my assistant Denise, who was with me. She won so many items I couldn't believe it. In fact, I wish I had been a fly on the wall when she walked in her front door carrying a guillotine!!!

My buddy John Hinson was full of surprises. He stopped me on day 1 at the registration booth to tell me he had something special in store for me. That something special was a pair of Houdini's Hamburg 8 handcuffs. He even let me try them on! We couldn't quite snap them shut because my wrists are much larger than Houdini's. But it was still a great experience. John had quite an amazing display of photographs and I will share those on another blog article.

I'm not sure it's fair to say that 'such and such was a highlight', because frankly EVERYTHING was! I love magic history, so around every corner there was so new treasures to behold and experience. Many of these gems came in the form of the wonderful people attending the conference. So many people came up to me and shared their time and stories with me. I just loved that.

Display of MacDonal Birch items by Tom Ewing

Tom Ewing's lecture on Mac and Mabel (MacDonald Birch) was incredible! Tom has quite a fine collection of Birth memorabilia as well, including a backdrop from the show. Like the other lecturers, his presentation included a slide show. Tom also has a new book out on Birch which I have to pick up!Eddie Dawes lecture was so informative and interesting.

As far as the evening shows, they were quite interesting. A fellow named Leland Falkner who I was unfamiliar with did a splendid job with Troublewit and Chapaugraphy. William Rauscher gave us some old school magic which must have taken hours to set up. John Bundy and Morgan were present one night to present their take on The Spirit Cabinet. David Oliver presented a routine which I just saw for the first time a few days before the conference and then got to experience it live. The routine was his take on the Pavel Walking Knot. This is a routine I've done for years, but David has really made this routine into a masterpiece. A period act bringing Richard Potter to life was pure magic through and through. The final night Lyn Dillies presented her full evening Illusion show and I'm frankly not sure how she pulled off all those illusions in such a tight area, but she did!

I didn't cover everything here, as I'm saving a few things for future articles. But I would like to say this, if you have ever considered attending a magic history conference, you should really look into the Yankee Gathering!

Visiting with Margery the Medium

Last week, I was in the Boston area to attend and lecture at the Yankee Gathering. This is a wonderful magic history conference put on by the New England Magic Collectors Association. When I went to the registration booth on the first morning of the conference, I found out that the festivities didn't get going until later in the day. I was very glad about this, because it gave me an opportunity to take a slight detour.

I jumped in my car, along with my assistant Denise who was traveling with me, and we set sail for Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston. I had a map of the cemetery so I knew where in the cemetery to look, or so I thought. My trusty map, with a big red X marking the location of Margery's final resting place turned out to be wrong. So we began to stroll in the vicinity hoping to come across the grave. Twenty minutes or so later, we kept turning up nothing.

Finally, I stopped and considered going to the front gate to see if they knew where she was. But then I looked, and immediately in front of me was a moss covered grave. Removing the moss reveals the name STINSON in big bold letters. It was right there next to me, the grave of Mina Stinson Crandon, better known as Margery the Medium, one of the great Houdini's toughest adversaries.

A great book about Margery and the battles she had with Houdini came out last year called The Witch of Lime Street by David Jaher. If you're interested in locating the grave for yourself, it's located off of Birch Avenue in the Artemisia section.  The grave faces the road, and isn't too hard to find now, thanks to the resourcefulness of Denise.

Sneak Peak: Houdini's Hamburg 8 Handcuffs

John Hinson was like Santa Claus at the Yankee Gathering this year. He brought a number of things that he wanted me to see. One item in particular was Houdini's pair of Hamburg 8 handcuffs. Not only did I get to see them, but I also got to try them on. When he made this suggestion, I knew that they were not likely to fit, as most Hamburg 8s don't fit me, I need the larger version which I'm not sure were available during Houdini's day.  John did not bring the key, but even if he had, I don't think they would have shut. Still, it was pretty cool holding and experiencing a pair of Houdini's cuffs.

Yankee Gathering Review will be Coming Soon.

Coming Soon...

I will have some reviews and stories from this years Yankee Gathering 2016, shortly. But I am on my way to a Business Marketing Conference, so it won't be will next week. Suffice to say it was a fantastic time and I would encourage anyone interested in magic history to attend this event.

The Great Maro At The Yankee Gathering

In just a few hours I'll be leaving for Massachusetts to attend The 2016 Yankee Gathering. Not only am I attending this event, but I will also be speaking. I'll be repeating my lecture from last year on The Great Maro. I did have to tweak the presentation slightly for this group. Previously I presented the lecture for a group of lay people. This time it's a group of magicians. Due to the fact that Maro was one of the lesser known magicians of his time, I hope the audience enjoys what I have to share with them!

I will do my best to give you updates on the event as well as share photos along the way!

Happy Magic Day, The 90th Anniversary of the Passing of Harry Houdini

Happy Halloween, Happy Magic Day. Today marks the 90th Anniversary of the passing of magic's most iconic performer, Harry Houdini. There has been quite a bit written over the past 2 weeks concerning this 90th Anniversary. Events are planned and some have already taken place to commemorate Houdini's life and to try and contact his spirit, again.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Houdini isn't coming back. Ouch, that was harsh. But there is good news. Houdini does speak from beyond, sort of. He speaks through folks like Patrick Culliton, John Cox, Arthur Moses, Fred Pittella, David Saltman, Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz, Joe Notaro, Tom Interval, Bill Kalush, Kevin Connolly, and yours truly. And there are probably a few others whose names I missed, my apologies to you if I did. The point is, we are sort of the keepers of the flame. We collect, we research, we discover new things about Houdini and we share them.

Some of us even perform. Just yesterday I did 2 shows which opened with three back to back escapes. I had heard there was a young fellow from Pittsburgh who was going to recreate Houdini's upside down hanging strait jacket escape, and my friend Andrew Basso pays homage to Houdini every time he performs the Water Torture Cell in the show The Illusionists.

Ironically, for us, there is no escaping Houdini.

I had been working on two separate articles about Houdini, both of which I just have not had time to complete. I don't want to put up a partially researched articles when it could be a real gem, so those two articles will have to wait until I have some time to work on them. My fellow Houdini bloggers have more than filled up the space that I've left by not posting, and then some. I had some big plans for #90, but events in my personal life have occupied the majority of my time and prevented me from following through some of the more interesting things I wanted to do.

For now let me wish the Spirit of Houdini the best. I don't think you should congratulate someone on the day of their death. But I can say, even 90 years later, Mr. Houdini, you are sorely missed.

A few years ago I wrote an article tracking the body of Houdini after he died until his funeral. You can check that article out here: http://www.themagicdetective.com/2012/01/tracking-body-of-houdini.html

And if you want MORE Houdini, just follow this link to all the articles on this site about Houdini
http://www.themagicdetective.com/search/label/Houdini

This Is What Real Presidents Look Like!

Of course, I'm speaking of Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States and Harry Houdini, President of the Society of American Magicians from 1917 to 1927 though he died in 1926 during his last term. I believe Houdini was the longest serving President of the S.A.M. as well.

The photo was created by Houdini as an example of Spirit Photography. He wanted to show how easily such a process was faked. There are numerous versions of this photo, and I found a very interesting one that is stored at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. You can see the photo and a handwritten letter of Houdini's here: http://alplm.tumblr.com/post/40018587432/houdini 

That is as 'political' as I will get. Sorry, I don't discuss politics as a rule.

Paul Osborne Passes Away

I just got word that Paul Osborne passed away suddenly this morning. No news on what happened, yet.

I found out when I saw Jay Johnson's post on Facebook.  Where would I be had it not been for Paul. My first sub-trunk was built with Paul Osborne plans. One of my very popular Santa Claus productions was Paul's. I have a huge double Tip-Over Trunk in storage that we built from Paul's excellent plans and my latest steampunk effect, Tri-Section, came from Pauls incredible workshop plans. Anyone who works with illusions will feel profound sadness this day. RIP Paul. Below is a link to the piece that Jay Johnson wrote on his blog.

THE WORLD IS A STAGE: Good Bye Paul:  The tradition is to break a magic wand in half in honor of a magician who dies.  Symbolically it says that his magic will not be done aga...


For those interested, here is a wonderful article about Paul. It gives more details on his life and it was written while he was still alive. http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2012/october/paul-osborne-jr-selling-magic-wholesale/