Who Was Alexander the Conjurer?

The photo above is of Houdini and Alexander the Conjurer. I've seen the photo before but it never occurred to me to ask, "Who was Alexander the Conjurer?". He was not Alexander The Man Who Knows. That Alexander was Claude Alexander Conlin who was a crystal gazer/mind reader during the Roaring 20s. This other Alexander, I am not familiar with, but some digging turned up some interesting details.

Alexander the Conjurer was born Dec 4, 1819* in Munster Germany. His real name was Johann Friedrich Heimberger. He was a contemporary of Robert Houdin and John Henry Anderson, the Great Wizard of the North. Houdini met Alexander on March 17th, 1903 while playing in Cologne. He records his entire visit and then some in his book The UnMasking of Robert Houdin. In fact, it appears that it may be because of Houdini that we still remember Alexander today.

From the book Annals of Conjuring I discovered that Herr Alexander got into magic in by being an

assistant to another itenerant German magician of the day F. Becker in 1839. And Becker had also started his career as an assistant to Bosco. Alexander only stayed long enough to learn all the magic and then was off on his own. Early on he presented magic combined with the exhibition of Phantasmagoria. It appears that he had a fairly short career but made quite a bit of money that allowed him to retire at and early age.

One of the reasons that Houdini records Herr Alexander is because of his claim to have invented the Suspension illusion in 1845 while on tour in America. This would be two years before Robert-Houdin if it's true. Apparently, however the only documentation is a flyer from Herr Alexander from 1850 showing the Suspension illusion. Houdini says that Alexander got the idea from reading about Indian Fakirs doing their sitting suspension which is probably the same place that Robert-Houdin got his inspiration. The The Annals of Conjuring says that Herr Alexander's version only had the person suspended upright and not at a horizontal position like Robert Houdin's version. Perhaps they both came up with a version of the same effect, but Robert-Houdin took the effect much further.

Houdini does make a small error in his chapter on Herr Alexander. He states, "I felt especially honored to stand in the presence of the only magician who, up til that date,  had ever appeared at the White House by the request of President Polk." I do know there have been others who performed at the White House, one was Wyman the Wizard who performed for Martin Van Buren, the 8th President of the United States, and thus predated the Alexander visit by several years. Still, you could count the number of magicians who performed for U.S. Presidents on one hand, so he was still in rare company.

Houdini's visit with Alexander is fascinating to read. Here was an 80+ year old gentlemen who, by

looking at the photo above and from Houdini's description, was 'bent with years'. But he came alive when talking about the history of magic. Herr Alexander knew many of the greats from his day including: Bosco, Robert-Houdin, Frikell, John Henry Anderson, Signor Blitz, Compars Herrmann, and according to Houdini, the original Bamberg of Amsterdam.

In 1904, Houdini paid a second visit to Herr Alexander and again he was greeted warmly. This time, the old magician gifted Houdini with some playbills and programs from his own collection. But this would be the final time the two would meet. At the conclusion of their meeting, Herr Alexander confided to Houdini that all preparations were made and he soon expected the Grim Reaper to come to take him. But death is often cruel and in this case, death came to take his wife rather than him. Alexander would live several more years and live to be 89. He died July 25th, 1909.

He was known professionally as Herr Alexander or as Alexander the Conjurer. In late 1843 he came to the United States to perform. The beginning of his tour left him almost penniless. Eventually, his lucked changed and the money and success began to roll in.

Some of the tricks for which he made quite a sensation included The Spirit Bell, the production of a very large bowl of water while in Chinese robes, and of course the Suspension illusion. Houdini mentions in The UnMasking of Robert Houdin, that Herr Alexander's performance of the large bowl of water production predates that of Ching Ling Foo. 

He continued to perform in the US until 1847 when he left for South America. Magicpedia states that Herr Alexander's daughter assisted him with his Second Sight routine and she died while on tour. This event is what caused him to return to his homeland of Germany. Houdini says that Herr Alexander returned to Germany in 1854, but The Annals of Conjuring puts the date at 1852. Whichever one, we know that he did not return to performing when he got home. He amassed quite a fortune in his few years performing and retired upon returning home.

He did write a book describing his early career called, Der Moderne Zauberer (The Modern Magician) which he claimed, according to Houdini, "is rated as one of the gems of German literature, as well as the best book ever written by a conjurer." However, in Annals of Conjuring it says "Der Moderne Zauberer, a book of no great interest save for its reference to the itinerant conjurers of Germany."

*In the book MAGIC-A Pictorial History of Conjurers in the Theater author David Price lists the year of Herr Alexander's birth as 1809. He also lists the 1852 or 1854 as the year he returned to Germany, so he too discovered the discrepancy.

NYPL and HOUDINI

The New York Public Library has opened their digital vaults. They have 180,000 images that are public domain and there are quite a few HOUDINI pictures. Though no where close to 180,000 Houdini images, more like 70 or so. But great photos they are. Also, there are some very clear images of a couple of the Houdini posters. The Houdini pictures come from the Billy Rose Theatre Collection. And they have a collection of magic posters and a few photos of magicians as well.

HOUDINI
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=Houdini#
Magic Posters
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/magic-scrapbooks-separated-posters#/?tab=about&scroll=5
Magicians
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=magician#

Happy New Year 2016 From The Magic Detective!

2016 is just hours away now and I'm very excited for the coming new year. I sadly fell a little behind in 2015 with keeping the blog up to date. But I'm hoping to do a better job in 2016. I get on my various 'kicks' from time to time, things that I'm very intrigued with and it seems now that I've finished The Witch of Lime Street, I'm on a big Margery kick. I just ordered another book on Margery and I need to pour over my notes from the late Norman Bigelow to see what keen insights he had shared with me.

I hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year and I'll see you in 2016!!!

The Witch of Lime Street -Book Review

The Witch of Lime Street by David Jaher is a book about the life of Margery the Medium. The subtitle of the book is ‘Séance, Seduction and HOUDINI in the Spirit World’. Houdini plays a part, but he is a secondary character even though his image and name appears on the cover of the book. Speaking of the cover, it might be the coolest book cover of ANY book with Houdini because this book cover GLOWS IN THE DARK! It’s very subtle, but I think the glowing in the dark cover and spine add to the already spooky subject matter.

When I heard that a first time author was writing this book, I had my doubts about the quality of the content. But having read the book AND listened to the audio version as well, I can tell you that Mr. Jaher did an outstanding job of research. The book is well written, entertaining and filled with history.

I had never been that big a fan of Margery until fairly recently. I think for me my interest began when I saw the actual Bell Box that was used in the Margery/Houdini Séances. I also got to see the so-called spirit-fingerprints that Walter, Margery’s spirit guide and brother, apparently created during a Séance. Shortly after this, I started to correspond frequently with the late escape artist and Houdini historian Norman Bigelow, about Margery. I wish Norm had lived long enough to read this book, I know he would have enjoyed it.

David Jaher does a great job of laying out the details for the reader of Margery’s character before becoming a medium and after and then during the last days of her life. It would seem that Mina Crandon was a fun loving individual. When she became Margery she developed a seductive air about her. She was overly flirtatious with many men on the  investigative committee. No doubt her suggestive behavior helped to take many of them off their game. Despite this she still had standards of behavior that can be seen when Malcolm Bird tried to bring a prostitute to Margery’s Lime Street home and he was abruptly chastised by Margery and turned away.

Margery was a complex woman. Early in the book, it’s apparent that she doesn’t believe in any of this ‘spirit nonsense’. Though skeptical, she still attends a séance with a friend and encounters a medium who shares a revelation with her that she has a future in the spirit business. Sure enough, she eventually becomes the best-known spirit medium in the country. Oddly, though she likes presenting séances she claimed she didn’t want publicity. She doesn’t even use her real name Mina; rather she uses a form of her middle name Margery. And though she doesn’t want the publicity, she is competing for the top prize in country, to be examined and proven to be genuine by a committee of investigators from The Scientific American Magazine. Yes, she was a complex woman.

Houdini is in the book because he plays a major part in the investigation of spirit mediums during the 1920s and he is an important player in the investigation of Margery. The author shares Houdini’s encounters with Conan Doyle and their early friendship as well as their eventual parting of ways. This helps to set-up Houdini  as an authority on fake mediums, for the reader. Even one of Houdini’s spirit debunking co-workers, Rose Mackenberg, gets featured in the book.

There really is no better person to spot a spirit faker than a knowledgeable magician. I preface that with ‘knowledgeable’ because if the magician doesn’t know anything about fake spirit work, they’ll likely be as taken in as anyone else. Houdini was not the first to expose mediums though he was arguably the most famous debunker. Magicians were involved with exposing mediums since the very early days of Spiritualism. John Wyman, known as Wyman the Wizard at one point helped to investigate the Fox Sisters. John Nevil Maskelyne, in England, went after the Davenport Brothers. So magicians have been at the forefront of investigating fake mediums from the start.

One thing that puzzles me is where Margery learned her tricks of the trade? It’s clear that she used deception. But she was creating manifestations that no one else was doing. And she continued to evolve over time adding more and more unique effects to her Séances. A great example would be the ectoplasmic arms and hands that would mysteriously protrude from her body yet no trace of them could be found after the Séance.

I really enjoyed The Witch of Lime Street. I’m not the only one, as the movie rights to the book have already been picked up. Will we see a Houdini/Margery movie? Time will tell. But what a fascinating movie it could be. It’s a very unique chapter in history and frankly I think we owe it all to Houdini. Without him, I don’t think there would have been as much press exposure.  I also think this unique confrontation would have likely been forgotten over time without Houdini’s participation.

Chung Ling Soo Model Plane Maker

One of my favorite things about this blog are the readers who contact me with various bits of information. Earlier in the year I received an email from a reader about a magazine he had in his possession, called The Model Engineer from June 1949. Within the magazine is an article written by Donald Stevenson, who worked with Soo, and it's about Soo's interest in model aeroplanes.

There are some interesting facts that come out in the article. First thing that jumps out at me is the list of machinery in Soo's workshop: "One treadle fretsaw, one treadle circular saw, a 4.5 inch screwcutting lathe, and a pillar drill and emery wheels, also treadle-driven, a wood bench with vice, metal bench with vice, large assembly bench, a small forge and a good supply of wood and metal hand tools. All the small tools were hung on the walls in their own places, and there were also shelves all around the workshop". That complete description came from The Model Engineer Magazine.

Another interesting fact was that besides magic books and periodicals, it would seem that Soo's favorite magazine was The Model Engineer, in which this article appeared.  Stevenson goes on to describe how Soo would often come to the workshop with an idea and spend hours and hours working it out. Soo's illusion ideas were built from cardboard and wire first before they would be build from wood and metal.

Soo had an interest in model aeroplanes and would build working models from time to time. In 1911, he was approached by a company that was interested in having him build model planes. After showing the company samples of his work, Soo received an order for a weekly supply of model aeroplanes. Soo hired several new employees to help with the increased workload. This made his shop one of the very first in England to produce model planes. The work continued until the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914.

Soo continued to tinker with the models even after 1914. According to Donald Stevenson, Soo's favorite place was in his workshop.  Below is an image of a model plane that William Robinson/Chung Ling Soo built.

Thanks to Martin Griffiths, for making me aware of this and for mailing the magazine to me!