www.magicvideolibrary.com

Magicians and Magic History

Magic, also known as prestidigitation and conjuring, is the art of entertaining an audience by performing illusions that entertain, baffle and amaze, often by giving the impression that something impossible has been achieved. Yet, this illusion of magic is created entirely by natural means. The practitioners of this mystery art may be called magicians, table magicians, close up magicians, conjurors, illusionists or prestidigitators. Artists in other media such as theatre, cinema, dance and the visual arts increasingly work using similar means but regard their magical techniques as of secondary importance to the goal of creating a complex cultural performance.

Magicians

Performances we would recognize as conjuring have probably been practiced throughout history. The same ingenuity behind ancient deceptions such as the Trojan horse would have been used for entertainment, or at least for cheating in gambling games, since time immemorial. However, the respectable profession of the illusionist gained strength during the eighteenth century, and has enjoyed several popular vogues.

Modern entertainment magic owes much of its origins to Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (1805-1871), originally a clockmaker, who opened a magic theatre in Paris in the 1840s. His specialty was the construction of mechanical automata which appeared to move and act as if they were alive. The British performer J N Maskelyne and his partner Cooke established their own theatre, the Egyptian Hall in London's Piccadilly, in 1873. They presented stage magic, exploiting the potential of the stage for hidden mechanisms and assistants, and the control it offers over the audience's point of view. The greatest celebrity magician of the nineteenth century, Harry Houdini (real name Erich Weiss, 1874 - 1926), took his stage name from Robert-Houdin and developed a range of stage magic tricks, many of them based on escapology (though that word was not used until after Houdini's death). The son of a Hungarian rabbi, Houdini was genuinely highly skilled in techniques such as lock picking and escaping straitjackets, but also made full use of the whole range of conjuring techniques. Houdini's show business savvy was as great as his performing skill. In addition to expanding the range of magic hardware, showmanship and deceptive technique, these performers established the modern relationship between the performer and the audience.

In this relationship, there is an unspoken agreement between the magicians and the audience about what is going on. Unlike in the past, almost no performers today actually claim to possess supernatural powers. It is understood by everyone that the effects in the performance are accomplished through sleight of hand (also called legerdemain), misdirection, deception, collusion with a member of the audience, apparatus with secret mechanisms, mirrors, and other trickery (hence the illusions are commonly referred to as "tricks"). The performer seeks to present an effect so clever and skilful that the audience cannot believe their eyes, and cannot think of the explanation. The sense of bafflement is part of the entertainment. In turn, the audience play a role in which they agree to be entertained by something they know to be a deception. This is one of the few situations in which people willingly allow themselves to be lied to, and the audience trusts the performer not to exploit this, for example by cheating them out of money. Houdini strengthened this trust by using his knowledge of illusions to debunk charlatans, a tradition continued by magicians such as James Randi, P.C. Sorcar, and Penn and Teller.

Today (2006), the art is enjoying a vogue driven by a number of highly successful performers that specialize as either stage, TV or close up magicians. The mid twentieth century saw magic transform in different aspects: some performers preferred to renovate the craft on stage - such as The Mentalizer Show in Times Square which dared to combine spirituality and the ancient wisdom of kabbalah with the art of magic - others successfully made the transition to TV, which opens up new opportunities for deceptions. A widely accepted code has developed, in which TV magicians can use all the traditional forms of deception, but should not resort to camera tricks, editing the videotape, or other TV special effects - this makes deception too "easy", in the popular mind. Most TV magicians are shown performing before a live audience, who provide the remote viewer with a reassurance that the effect is not obtained by camera tricks.

Categories of illusions
Although there is much discussion among magicians as to how an effect is to be categorized, and in fact, disagreements as to what categories actually exist -- for instance, some magicians consider "penetrations" to be a separate category, others consider penetrations a form of restoration -- it is generally agreed that there are very few different types of illusions.

Perhaps because it is considered a magic number, it has often been said that there are only seven types of illusion:

Production
The magician pulls a rabbit from an empty hat; a fan of cards from 'thin air'; a shower of coins from an empty bucket; or appears in a puff of smoke on an empty stage-- all of these effects are productions, the magician produces "something from nothing".

Vanish
The magician snaps their fingers and a coin disappears; places a dove in a cage, and the bird vanishes, puts a silk into his fist and opens his hands revealing nothing, or waves a magic wand and the Statue of Liberty has magically gone. A vanish, being the reverse of a production, sometimes uses a similar technique, in reverse.

Transformation
The magician has a volunteer pick a card, from a deck, and with a flourish, shows the wrong card, then the magician magically changes the card to the correct card chosen.

Or, a dog is placed in a cage, the cage is covered with a cloth, which is immediately whisked from the cage, and the dog has become a tiger. A bowl of fire may become a dove. Transformations change one thing into another. Or, into several others.

Restoration
The cut-and-restored rope is a restoration: a rope is cut into two pieces, the two pieces are tied together, the knot vanishes, leaving one piece of rope. A newspaper is torn to bits. The magician rubs the pieces together and the newspaper becomes whole. A woman is sawn into two separate parts (an apparent hemicorporectomy), and then magically rejoined. A card is torn in fourths and then restored piece by piece to a normal state. Restorations put something back into the state it once was.

Teleportation
A teleportation transfers an object from one place to another. something is vanished, then later found inside a tightly bound bag, which is inside a box that is tied shut, inside another box, which is in a locked box... all of which were across the stage.

The magician locks their assistant in a cage, then locks them self in another. Both cages are uncovered and the pair have magically exchanged places. This is a transposition, a simultaneous, double teleportation.

The magician climbs on a motorcycle, rides it into a crate, the crate is hoisted in the air. The motorcycle instantly appears, engine roaring, in the middle of the audience, 80 feet away, with the magician astride it. In a teleportation, something magically moves from one place to another.

Levitation
The magician "puts his assistant into a trance" and then floats her up into the air, passing a ring around her body to show that there are 'no wires' supporting her. A close-up magician folds up a borrowed note, and then floats it in the air. A playing card hovers over a deck of cards. A silk scarf dances in a sealed bottle. Levitations are illusions where the conjurer magically raises something -- possibly including the magician him or herself -- into the air.

Penetration
In which one solid object passes through another. The magician links two solid steel rings, or the cup and balls trick in which the foam balls pass through the cup are penetration illusions.

Secrecy
The purpose of a magic trick is to entertain, amuse and create a feeling of wonder; the audience is generally aware that the magic is performed using trickery, and derives enjoyment from the magician's skill. Usually, magicians will refuse to reveal their methods to the audience. The reasons for these include:

Exposure is claimed to "kill" magic as an art form and transforms it into mere intellectual puzzles and riddles. It is argued that once the secret of a trick is revealed to a person, he or she can no longer fully enjoy subsequent performances of the trick, as the amazement is missing.

Some magicians have taken the controversial position that revealing the methods used in certain tricks can enhance the appreciation of the audience for how clever the trick is. Some frequently perform tricks using transparent props to reveal how it is done, although they almost always include additional unexplained tricks at the end that are made even more astonishing by the revealing props being used.

Often what seems to be a revelation of a magical secret is merely another form of misdirection. For instance, a magician may explain to an audience member that the linking rings "have a hole in them" and hand the volunteer two unlinked rings, which the volunteer finds to have become linked as soon as he handles them. At this point the magician may make a gesture at the open space in the center of the ring as he jokingly says “theres the hole in the centre”.

Types of magic performance
Magic performances fall into three broad genres:

Close-up magic, also known as table magic or close up table magic, is performed with the audience close to the magician, possibly in physical contact. Close up magicians usually makes use of everyday items as props, such as cards and coins. Close-up magic is a form of magical entertainment that happens right in front of you, magic you can not only see but feel and touch. This intimacy is what makes it so different from other types of magic. And it is this that has probably made it the most popular type of magic performed today. An expert close-up magician will involve and interact with the audience far more than a stage or platform magician.

Platform magic, in which the magician stands while performing and is seen by more people simultaneously than the close-up performer.

Stage magic, which is performed for large audiences, typically within an auditorium. This type of magic is distinguished by elaborate, large-scale props.

Other specialties or niches have been created:

Bizarre magic, which uses metaphysical, horror, fantasy and other similar themes in performance. Bizarre magic is typically performed in a close-up venue, although some performers have effectively presented it in a stage setting.

Mentalism, which creates the impression in the minds of the audience that the performer possesses special powers to read thoughts, predict events, control other minds.

Shock magic is a genre of magic that shocks the audience, hence the name. Sometimes referred to as "geek magic", it takes its roots from circus sideshows, in which "freakish" performances were shown to audiences. Common shock magic or geek magic effects include knife-through-arm and pen-through-tongue.

Techniques
Close up magic relies mostly on sleight of hand in which skilful manipulation of cards, coins and other props enables an effect to be created. For example, the appearance that an item has vanished (or been produced) can be achieved by a sleight.. There is a wide range of sleights for vanishing, producing, and switching items.

Sleights require a good deal of practice to perform convincingly, and so many beginners are attracted to close up tricks based on hardware gimmicks. However, most shop-bought gimmicks are usually obvious to the audience for what they are, even if the exact mechanism is not understood. Some professional magicians do use hardware gimmicks, but tend to base their acts on skill with sleight of hand as the main foundation. Some magicians see gimmicks and sleight of hand as a means to an end, and use a combination of both.

One principle that underlies virtually all magic tricks is misdirection, which is the act of drawing the audience's attention to one location while, in another location, the magician performs a crucial manipulation undetected. An experienced performer can force the audience to look, however briefly, in a certain direction, and use this as cover for what the other hand is doing. This is the basic idea of misdirection, although it can become very sophisticated and subtle for an advanced magician. These are based on the natural instincts of a human being, relating to psychology.

Misdirection, manual dexterity with sleight of hand. along with theatrical acting abilities and also NLP can help to improve how the magic is perceive by the audience, These elements show the difference between an experienced magician and a beginner, even if they were to perform the same effect

Most of the British Colonies of North America were under the strong influence of Puritanism, which frowned on all idle amusements as works of the devil. Magicians were outlawed in some colonies. Only in Dutch New Amsterdam were such entertainers well received and permitted to perform.

The general lack of acceptance in the colonies may have prompted the first outstanding American magician, Jacob Meyer, to make his reputation in Europe during the second half of the 18th century. He adopted the name of his birthplace, Philadelphia, and traveled Europe entertaining royalty and the general public under the name Jacob Philadelphia. He even reached Russia, where he performed his illusions for Catherine the Great. In 1774 he published 'Little Treatise on Strange and Suitable Feats'. This was the first magic book by an American-born magician.

By the time of the American Revolution, public attitudes toward magicians had become more tolerant. Several European illusionists made their way to the United States after 1776. Among them were Peter Gardiner, Hyman Saunders, and John Rannie. One of Gardiner's feats was stretching himself between two chairs, with his head on one and his feet on the other. He lay there as a member of the audience used a sledge hammer to break a rock placed on his stomach. Saunders was able to remove a man's shirt without disturbing the jacket or vest. Rannie was a ventriloquist and juggler as well as an illusionist.

The first native-born American to succeed as a magician in the United States was Richard Potter, the son of a slave woman. He was usually taken to be an American Indian or a native of India. His career lasted from about 1805 until his death in 1835. He, too, was a juggler and ventriloquist.

While Potter's career was progressing, a former soldier was working as a magician in the Midwest then still mostly frontier. Eugene Leitensdorfer was born in northern Italy. He went to the United States in 1809 and began performing in 1814. His most fascinating illusion was restoring a playing card that had been burned to ashes.

In 1835 Antonio Blitz arrived from Europe. He was basically a showman who used magic in his acts. His illusions were always accompanied by humor. Laughter and mystification were his goals. Catching a bullet in midair was among his tricks.

Scots-born John Henry Anderson, who performed throughout Europe and the United States, was another consummate showman. He advertised himself relentlessly and conducted street parades to get audiences. Bullet catching was his favorite trick, but he is better remembered as the magician who pulled a rabbit from a hat. He did not originate the trick, but he popularized it.

Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary (see Houdini). Before taking up magic he was a trapeze artist. Houdini began performing in the 1890s. His worldwide fame came from his amazing escapes. He started his escape routines by getting out of straitjackets and handcuffs. He progressed to an act in which he was shackled with irons and placed in a box that was locked, roped, weighted, and submerged under water. Late in his career he went to Hollywood and made such films as 'The Grim Game', 'Terror Island', and 'The Man from Beyond'.

Two other great magicians of the early 20th century were Harry Blackstone and his chief competitor, Dante. Blackstone (Henri Bouton) was born in Chicago in 1885, while Dante (Harry Alvin Jansen) was born in Denmark three years earlier and came to the United States at age 6. Bouton took the name Blackstone in 1917. He worked in vaudeville, in theaters, and in his own show. One of his best-liked illusions was the "disappearing horse." He also used one of the most ancient illusions, the Indian rope trick, and like Houdini he was an escape artist. Late in life Blackstone toured military posts during World War II, had his own radio show, and appeared on television variety shows. His son, Harry Blackstone, Jr. (born 1933), replaced him as a stage and television performer.

Dante began entertaining in 1902 but did not get his stage name until 1923, when his friend and associate Thurston bestowed it on him. He traveled the world with a magic show, and, like Blackstone, he appeared on television.

During the 1940s the most recognized name in magic in the United States was that of mind reader Joseph Dunninger. He began as a magician doing card tricks and other illusions but soon found that people were more fascinated by his abilities as a mentalist. His national renown came from his radio show, which began in 1943. He was succeeded as a mind reader by the "Amazing Kreskin" (George Kresge, Jr.), who also did hypnotism routines. Kreskin worked in clubs, but he became widely known from his television appearances.

A great number of other magicians little known in the United States made reputations for themselves during the middle of the 20th century in their native lands and in Europe. Among them were Kalanag (Helmut Ewald Schreiber) of Germany; Protul Chandra Sorcar of India; Emil Kio of the Soviet Union; Raffael Chefalo of Italy; Julius Sundman of Finland; and Fu Manchu (David Bamberg).

In the last quarter of the 20th century, Doug Henning and David Copperfield inspired a new interest in magic. In 1974 Canadian-born Henning starred in a rock musical entitled 'The Magic Show' on Broadway. He avoided using complex mechanical devices, believing they had become outmoded. In 1975 he appeared in 'The World of Magic' on television. He duplicated a number of Houdini's escape tricks and performed a convincing levitation illusion.

David Copperfield was born in 1957 and began performing magic at age 12. He was the youngest member ever admitted to the Society of American Magicians. His shows featured a great variety of tricks, but he was noted for his escapes and the ability to make large objects disappear. One of his early remarkable illusions was making an airplane disappear off an airport runway. In 1987 he staged an escape from a well-guarded cell at Alcatraz prison. From the late 1970s he was on television annually in 'The Magic of David Copperfield'.

So remarkable were the innovations that Robert-Houdin introduced to stage illusions that he has been called the father of modern magic. By profession a clockmaker, he was born Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin in Blois, France, in 1805. His debut as a magician was in 1845 in Paris. He was the first magician to use electricity; he perfected the thought-transference trick; and he used common objects to create illusions instead of complicated pieces of machinery. He also denounced magicians who claimed psychic powers or supernatural help for their tricks. Robert-Houdin is the man from whom the American magician Harry Houdini took his name a generation later.

In 1856 the French government sent Robert-Houdin to Algeria to discredit native priests who were using magic to foment rebellion. Robert-Houdin used one of his best tricks to deceive them. He had an empty wooden box that anyone could lift. It had an iron bottom, however, and could be made immovable by turning on an electromagnet hidden under the stage floor. With this trick he was able to convince an audience that he could drain the strength from the strongest of men at will.

During Robert-Houdin's lifetime the number of stage magicians increased dramatically. They were always popular in Europe. As the United States grew more settled and the frontier gave way to cities and towns, theaters were built in every town that could support one.

One of the most successful illusionists and show-business promoters was English-born John Nevil Maskelyne, a noted escape artist. He began his career shortly before Robert-Houdin's death in 1871. Along with his amazing escapes he perfected levitation rising from the stage seemingly unaided. In 1893 he teamed with master magician David Devant. In 1911 they published 'Our Magic', a major sourcebook on the theory of magic. Maskelyne died in 1917, but Devant went on performing until shortly before his death in 1941 at the age of 73.

Prior to the appearance of Harry Houdini, the most outstanding American magician and showman was Harry Kellar. He learned magic as a teenager. He traveled to all parts of the civilized world before establishing himself in the United States in 1884. He performed until 1908, when he sold his show to Howard Thurston. Thurston was from Ohio and was touring the world doing mainly card tricks when Kellar met him in Paris. After he took over Kellar's show he made it the largest magic extravaganza to that time. For more than 20 years he toured with a three-hour show and became known for his large stage illusions such as the "floating lady." In 1931 he shortened his program to appear as a stage attraction in movie theaters.

The English magician P.T. Selbit (born Percy Thomas Tibbles) gained fame for two unusual illusions. In 1914 he walked through a brick wall on stage. This illusion was updated in 1986 when David Copperfield walked through the Great Wall of China in a performance that was seen on television. In 1921 Selbit gained notoriety for one of the most famous of all tricks sawing a woman in half.

A magician is an actor who pretends he is doing the impossible. The most common trick is to make objects or people disappear and reappear. For some illusions the magician depends on mechanical or scientific props. The fire-eater, for example, uses a loosely woven rope specially treated with chemicals. The rope glows before it is put into the mouth, but it does not actually burst into flame until the mouth is opened and a gust of air is expelled.

It is vital that a magician keep the audience from noticing what is actually being done. This is the psychology of deception. If the audience's attention can be controlled, the magician needs only some skill of hand and very little apparatus. Distraction of the mind may be just as necessary as distraction of the eye. The attention is drawn away from the method. In a mechanical trick, for instance, the magician talks about skill of hand or magic words anything but mechanics. Robert-Houdin was very adept at misdirecting an audience, as he proved with his wooden box that could not be lifted by the strongest of men.

Another element in the psychology of magic is timing. According to the manner in which an action is performed and the time at which it is done, a magician can impress audiences with the doing or make them fail to notice that anything at all is being done.

Sleight of hand must be done slowly and gently. The magician may speak of quickness of the hand to mislead spectators so they will watch alertly for some swift movement. They thus fail to notice the normal, easygoing motions by which the trick is really done.

There is a vast amount of equipment designed to help magicians perform their mysteries. Much of it is never seen by the public. Some of the apparatus the audience does see may have very little to do with a trick. Feats in which people or large animals play a part can only be done on stage, and they require special, often cumbersome equipment.

Magicians have tended to specialize. Alexander Herrmann, a 19th-century German, did mostly small tricks. Harry Kellar, Thurston, Dante, and David Copperfield became famous because of large illusions making a woman float in the air or making some huge object disappear. In one fascinating trick Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear. Thomas Nelson Downs, an American, was known as the "king of coins" because he specialized in coin tricks. Gus Fowler of Birmingham, England, did tricks only with watches and clocks. Houdini emphasized fantastic escapes, while Dunninger amazed audiences with seemingly impossible mind-reading acts.

Readers interested in learning more about magic should consult 'The Illustrated History of Magic' (Crowell, 1973) by Milbourne Christopher, a noted American magician. There are many books available to teach one how to perform magic tricks.

The subject of Magic and Magicians is an extremely wide subject and difficult to contain in this article. Nonetheless magic and skilled magicians can be traced in the ancient Manuscripts written by Emperor Jepang where he described himself witnessing the tricks performed by Indian Jugglers and upon not being to understand the wonders created by them, termed them as supernatural powers.

A scholar describes a magic item he had seen on the western coast of India. Twelve or fourteen persons, of whom nine belonged to the troupe, formed a circle, in the center of which stood a basket. A juggler having lain himself in the basket, was covered up. The form of the juggler dwindled more and more and finally when the cover was removed the basket was found empty. The basket was again covered and the juggler reappeared in his former place. The traveler states that he could not explain this occurrence, the more unable to do so as there was no depression in the ground beneath the basket, the juggler was unprepared as the trick was performed in front of his host's residence. He further adds that he had often seen experiments by European magicians, but had never been so mystified.

For people not conversant with the art of Magic, it seems that the performer possesses extraordinary powers. But then, more the education towards science, more are the tricks that a magician could conjure. The progress in science, at its highest in Europe, has enabled the magician to practice his art to a greater extent than among less civilized nations. But it is a known fact that a person sees more wonders in a foreign land than in his own.

But Magic. Where did it originate? Magic was given much preference in its place of origin, amongst the Medes and Persians. Their Magic-men had the word Megh from which is derived the Greek word ‘Magus’, and hence the word Magic.

Many magicians appeared after this scene with some of the prominent ones being Paracelsus, Agrippa von Nettesheim, Faust, Mesmer, Dr. Eisenheart, Cagliostro, Dr. Graham, Philadelphus Philadelphia, Count Alexander Cagliostro, Prof. Epstein Professor Antonio Blitz , Pinetti, Compte, Grise, Dobler, Bosco, Anderson, Phillipe, Robert Houdin, Maskelyne and Cooke, Dr. LynnProfessor Louis HaselmayerMr. Alfred Stodare, Wiljalba Frikell and others.

1) Bosco
One of the earliest representatives in the 19th Century was Bartholomew Bosco who was born in Turin. He made the trip of the campaign in Russia with the French armies, whence he was taken prisoner and went to Siberia, where he attracted attention by his astonishing tricks in magic. He was discharged in 1814, and taking leave of a military life, traveled for eighteen years through Europe and the East, practicing his art successfully. His apparatus was very simple indeed consisting only of tin cups and pasteboard boxes, some of which still exist. He was the first magician who made his experiments with simple apparatus, and declared them to be natural experiments.

Bosco died March 6, 1863, in Gruna near Dresden.

His son followed in the footsteps of his father, but had the misfortune while performing in Weimar, to shatter his hand by the explosion of a pistol. The magicians traveling now under the name of Bosco have adopted the name purely for advertising purposes.

2) Prof. Liebholz
Prof. Liebholz was not a prominent hand performer, but who nevertheless excelled in performances of the extraordinary nicety and accuracy. He started a new direction in modern magic; the general use of apparatus or mechanical instruments of all kinds. He worked out many new ideas, and had the apparatus made by different mechanics. Innumerable tricks of Modern Magic, -the Indian basket, Hindu Box Trick, the Speaking Head, the Sphinx and many others, were first introduced by him. In the use of his ideas he had a great influence on the science of mechanics and its profession.

In Hamburg he ordered a wood turner Oscar Lischke, many pieces of apparatus, boxes, nine pins, plates, cases, etc., which were then also supplied to the Professors colleagues. Thus many tradesmen came to know about the tricks used in making these magic shows and a new amateur magician industry was formed in Hamburg, which flourished profoundly

3) Hermann
The great magician Hermann had a long and lasting fame like Bosco. Compars Hermann, generally known as Carl Hermann, died at 70 years of age, July 8th, 1887, in Carlsbad.

He was amongst the most noted of modern conjurers. Without using much mechanical or optical apparatus, he produced many wonderful effects by a sharp observation of the absence of mind of the human auditor, assisted by a hand as firm as steel and capable of the most deft movement. Hermann was the son of a traveling conjurer and was probably born in Poland, January 23, 1816.

At an early age he went to Paris where he perfected himself in the French tongue. In 1848 he began his professional tours and traveled throughout the world reaping both fame and fortune.

Hermann reigned supreme for years in Austria and Germany in the domain of higher magic, and there was scarcely a European court where he was not a welcome guest. He took pride in showing his friends the invitations of potentates, written with their own hands, bidding him welcome in the most flattering terms.
Everywhere he received costly presents. From the city of New York he received many souvenirs, among them an acknowledgment of his charity performance, a gold medal as large as the top of a silk hat. He was a passionate collector, but did not keep his collections together. He was restless, would sell his collections and again begin the collection of new curios. He lost a fortune several times--once in the panic of 1873; but came again to the top, and died a millionaire. He was noted for his charities, and for his free, honest, and frank life. He was well informed, and liked to talk on different subjects. His sharp eye had also a very good-natured expression.

4) Prof. St. Roman
Prof. St. Roman, whose real name is said to be Stroman, performed in theatres built especially for the purpose of magic, as well as in halls, and was considered a very dexterous performer.

He has performed at many courts and possesses many marks of honor in the form of gifts. He resided in Vienna, owning several houses there, and traveled through all countries with some novelty. His greatest effect is the "duck hunt," and this has never been imitated with the same elegance and accuracy with which he produced it

5) Agoston
Agoston traveled with a theatre through Germany under the title "Chevalier Agoston." In the 60's he had a ship turned into a magic drawing room, and traveled in this floating palace, up and down the Rhine, stopping at all the cities along this river and giving performances. Later he visited all the larger cities of Germany and Switzerland. He is noted for the interest of his ghost shows, which he produces with elegant settings. Mrs. Agoston afterwards appeared as a magician in Oriental costume, and had surprising success.

6) Charles Arbre
Charles Arbre, whose real name is Carl Baum, is the foremost among them. He was born in Olmutz (Maehren). He is one of the few conjurers who have received an extra fine education, being not only a clever gentleman, but also a conjurer par excellence. He is also the inventor of many wonderful pieces of apparatus, which have found the greatest applause wherever shown.

7) Prof. Becker
Prof. Becker, born in Berlin, traveled for many years with an elegantly arranged theatre and was met everywhere with great success.

Knowing the Russian language, he has traveled principally in that country, and in Poland, as well as in countries where he has had less competition. He is for Russia what Hermann was for Germany and Austria, the most prominent and famous artist of modern times.

8) Bellachini
Bellachini, whose real name was Bellach, was born in Poland, and was an officer in the Prussian service. In 1846 he took up magic and succeeded in making for himself both name and fortune.
He performed mostly in Germany, beyond the limits of which country he seldom passed, winning there the title of "Court Artist."

He himself tells that at a performance before the Prussian court he used the magic inkstand to the astonishment of all the court and Emperor William I. He handed his majesty a pen and asked that he convince himself that he could write in any desired color, and the Emperor asked, "but what shall I write?" The performer quickly requested him to write "Bellachini, Court Artist," and the Emperor laughingly did so. The next day he received his diploma as "Court Artist."

Many jokes are told of him, quite a number of which are true. Very often on the first night of his performances he would appear in a traveling suit, as if he had just arrived, and would take off his overcoat and gloves and begin with the words: "Unprepared as I am." Sometimes when showing a trick with a handkerchief he would turn to the audience with the words: "Does any one happen to have a clean handkerchief?" And of course all would laugh. Bellachini seldom performed tricks requiring dexterity, for he could scarcely make a dollar disappear. But he was supplied with all modern apparatus, which he worked by electricity and mechanism, and he also did a side business in magical apparatus, which he sold to amateurs as a "particular favor, at cost prices only."

Yet, notwithstanding his successes, he left but very little when he died, in 1880, of a stroke of apoplexy, which attacked him during one of his performances

9) Prof. Hartwig Seeman
Prof. Hartwig Seeman also traveled in the 19th Century with a magic theater. Seeman came from Stralsund, and later gained quite a name and experience in India, he being the first of modern conjurers to visit that far away country.

He returned to Germany with apparatus all of solid silver, and was considered the richest magician of his time. He appeared in his act literally covered with diamonds, and the suit that he wore on the stage was valued at 50,000 marks at that time.

Later he traveled in Sweden and Norway, came in the beginning of 1880 to the United States and died in Texas in 1884.

10) Prof. Stengel
Prof. Stengel, who was formerly a traveling Tyrolese singer, has also achieved some celebrity in magic. Honored by many of the court princes, he has also received the title of Court Artist. His home is in Wiesbaden, and in the summer time he makes trips to the watering places along the Rhine.

11) Dr. Hofzinser
The most celebrated card performer of the world is undoubtedly Dr. Hofzinser, of Vienna. He was a government employee, and as he could not appear publicly as a conjurer, he established a theatre in Vienna under the name of Madam Hofzinser. He was an educated gentleman, having received his diploma as a doctor, and his manipulation of cards has never been excelled.

12) Ben Ali Bey
We should not forget to name Ben Ali Bey, the inventor of Black Art. His original name was Autzinger, and he was born in Bavaria. For seven years he was an actor in one of the Berlin theatres and as he could hardly support his family on his small salary, he looked around for something else, and seized upon the original idea of Oriental Magic. His invention was first shown in Berlin, in Castan's Panopticum where it received very little notice. Shortly afterwards the attention of Arbre was called to it, who visited the performances several times. He saw a chance of improving it and engaged Ben Ali Bey to go with him. The first part of their performances was parlor magic. In the second part Ben Ali Bey introduced Black Art and in this representation he made his reputation. The success was so great that it was imitated immediately by the entire profession all over the world, but none of them succeeded in producing it any length of time, as they were all very poor imitators of the original. To his honor it must be said that no person has yet been able to introduce Black Art as well as he has done.

Other conjurers include great magicians like Prof. Carmelli, Prof. Antonio Eleonora Orlowa, Miss Anna Eva Fay, Madame Cora and many more.

Conclusively, many more things can be said about the Magicians and their magic. Conjuring of magic trick requires art over techniques, which the predecessors of today’s magicians have evolved successfully and their trend is currently being seen in today’s magic also.

Magic and Magicians in the 19th Century