Magic, Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography. Albert A. Hopkins
One of the best sleight-of-hand artists that ever lived was Carl Herrmann, who styled himself the “Premier Prestidigitateur of France and First Professor of Magic in the World.” He died at Carlsbad, June 8, 1887, at the advanced age of seventy-two. Of him Burlingame says: “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.” Carl Herrmann traveled extensively, and many conjurers adopted his name as a nom de théâtre. Magicians seem to have a penchant for this sort of thing, as witness the case of Signor Blitz. Antonio Blitz, a very clever performer, no sooner arrived in the United States than imitators sprang up like mushrooms in a single night. In his “Fifty Years in the Magic Circle,” he gives a list of eleven of these impostors, who not only had the impudence to assume his name, but circulated verbatim copies of his handbills and advertisements—
Signor Blitz.
Signor Blitz, Jr.
Signor Blitz, The Original.
Signor Blitz’s Son.
Signor Blitz’s Nephew.
Signor Blitz, The Great.
Signor Blitz, The Wonderful.
Signor Blitz, The Unrivaled.
Signor Blitz, The Mysterious.
Signor Blitz, By Purchase.
Signor Blitz, The Great Original.
A clever entertainer was Robert Heller. He was a magician, a mimic, and a musician—a combination of talents rarely seen in one individual. He was, indeed, the Admirable Crichton of fantaisistes. As a pure sleight-of-hand artist, Heller was not the equal of some of his contemporaries, but he made up for all deficiencies in this respect by his histrionic abilities. By the power of his address and wit he invested the most insignificant feats of legerdemain with a peculiar charm. In this regard he was like Robert-Houdin. Robert Heller, or Palmer, was born in London, in the year 1833. Early in life he manifested a unique talent for music, and won a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of fourteen. Having witnessed several performances of the conjurer Houdin, in London, he became enamored of magic, and devoted his time to perfecting himself in the art of legerdemain, subsequently traveling around giving entertainments in the English provinces. In the year 1852 he made his bow to a New York audience at the Chinese Assembly Rooms, on which occasion he wore a black wig and spoke with a decided Gallic accent, having come to the conclusion that a French prestidigitateur would be better received in the United States than an English wizard. I have this on the authority of Henry Hatton, the conjurer, who wrote an article on Heller’s “second-sight” trick for the “Century Magazine” some years ago. Hatton also says that Heller began his magical soirée with an address in the French language. Not meeting with the desired financial success, Heller abandoned conjuring, and settled in Washington, D. C., as a teacher of the piano and organist of one of the large churches of the city. Eventually he married one of his music pupils, a Miss Kieckhoffer, the daughter of a wealthy German banker, and abandoned music for magic. He went to New York, where he opened Heller’s Hall, in a building which then stood opposite Niblo’s Garden, on Broadway. His second début as a conjurer was an artistic and financial success. After a splendid run in New York he returned to London, opening what is now Pool’s Theater. Subsequently he visited Australia, India, and California, returning to New York in 1875. He died November 28, 1878, at the Continental Hotel, Philadelphia, at the height of his fame. Like most of his confrères, Heller was a clever advertiser. His theatrical posters usually bore the following amusing verse:
“Shakespeare wrote well,
Dickens wrote Weller;
Anderson was——,
But the greatest is Heller.”
His entertainments consisted of magic, music, and an exhibition of pretended clairvoyance. Those who were not interested in his feats of legerdemain flocked to hear his superb performances on the piano.
Heller, like Houdin, made great use of electricity in his magical séances. Many of his electrical tricks were of his own invention. In his will he directed his executors to destroy all of his apparatus, so that it might not come into the possession of any other conjurer.
The most popular performer in this country was Alexander Herrmann, a European by birth, but an American by adoption. I am indebted to Mr. Wm. Robinson, for years an assistant to Herrmann, for the following account of the great conjurer’s career:
“The late Alexander Herrmann was born in Paris, France, February 11, 1843, and died in his private car on December 17, 1896, while en route from Rochester, N. Y., to Bradford, Pa. He came of a family of eminent prestidigitateurs, his father, Samuel Herrmann, being the most famous conjurer of his day. Samuel Herrmann was a great favorite with the Sultan of Turkey, who frequently sent for him to give entertainments in the royal palace at Constantinople.
ALEXANDER HERRMANN.
“The next in the family to wield the magic wand was Carl Herrmann, who was the first of the Herrmanns to visit America, and the first to use and introduce the name ‘prestidigitateur’ in this country. Carl, Alexander’s eldest brother, achieved great success in the world of magic. He died June 8, 1887, at Carlsbad, Germany, possessed of a large fortune. There were sixteen children in the Herrmann family, Carl being the eldest, and Alexander the youngest. After Carl adopted magic as a profession, the father abandoned it, and began the study of medicine. It was the father’s fondest hope that Alexander, his favorite son, should be a physician, but fate decreed otherwise. Alexander’s whole desire and ambition was to become a magician like his father and his brother. He persuaded his brother to take him as an assistant. One day young Alexander was missing from the parental roof; he had been kidnapped and taken away by Carl, with whom he made his first public appearance, at the age of eight, at a performance in St. Petersburg, Russia. Even at that early age his great dexterity, ingenuity, and presence of mind were simply marvelous. The sudden appearance of the father dispelled the visions of the embryonic magician, and he was compelled to return home. But the youth’s attention could not be diverted from his purpose, and again he became his brother’s assistant. This time, the father compromised by consenting to Alexander’s remaining on the stage, provided his education were not neglected. Carl engaged two competent tutors to travel with the company and instruct the young prodigy. For six years the brothers worked together, visiting Spain, France, Germany, Russia, and the surrounding countries. Again the parents claimed Alexander, and placed him in the University of Vienna. At the age of sixteen, the old desire and fascination took possession of him. He accepted his brother’s proposal to make a tour of the world, and ran away from home and studies. Their first appearance in America was at the Academy of Music, New York, Monday, September 16, 1861. Their last joint engagement was in this country in the year 1869. On the opening night, in New York, Monday, September 20, Carl introduced Alexander to the audience as his brother and successor. When this engagement terminated, the brothers separated; Carl made a short tour of this country, but Alexander went to Europe, where he appeared in the principal cities, subsequently visiting the Brazils and South America. After that he made a remarkable run of one thousand performances at the Egyptian Hall, London, England. From England he returned to the United States in the year 1874, and from that period made this country his home, becoming a naturalized citizen in Boston, 1876. His career as a magician was one uninterrupted success. The many lengthy and favorable notices of him in the leading journals of this country, immediately after his death, showed that he was regarded as a public character.
“Herrmann bore a remarkable resemblance to ‘His Satanic Majesty,’ which he enhanced in all possible ways, in recognition of human nature’s belief in the superhuman powers