Chapter IX: Introduction: By Dr. Paul Carus (8)

Signor Blitz. Signor Blitz, Jr. Signor Blitz, The Original. Signor Blitz’s Son. Signor Blitz’s Nephew. Signor Blitz, The Wonderful. Signor Blitz, The Great. Signor Blitz, The Unrivalled. Signor Blitz, The Mysterious. Signor Blitz, By Purchase. Signor Blitz, The Great Original.

Blitz was not only a magician, but a ventriloquist and trainer of birds. He relates an amusing encounter with the great but eccentric genius, the Italian violinist, Paganini, whose romantic life is known to all lovers of music. The adventure took place in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, where Paganini was giving a concert. Says Blitz: “He, Paganini, was tall and awkward-looking, cadaverous in features, ungainly in form, with long {179} black hair, said to be very wealthy, and characterized as extremely penurious. No instance was ever known of his contributing a penny to the distressed, or to a benevolent institution. One morning I called and found him quietly seated in his room alone. After conversing with him a short time I noticed his violin case lying upon the table, when suddenly the cry of a child issued from therein.

(From the Collection of Mr. Ellis Stanyon, London, England.)]

{180}

“ ‘Who is that?’ said Paganini, quickly looking around.

“ ‘It is _me_, with the babe,’ answered a womanly voice.

“ ‘My God! what is this?’ inquired the astonished violinist.

“ ‘You well know,’ plaintively answered the woman, at the same time the infant again commenced crying.

“ ‘We know you are a bad woman,’ vehemently declared the excited man.

“ ‘And did you not make me so, you old Italian fiddler?’

“After this there was apparently a commotion in the box, when Paganini became alarmed and was about to leave the room when I unmasked myself and explained that he had been a victim to the vagaries of ventriloquism; which, on hearing, delighted him prodigiously, and grasping me by the hand he exclaimed, ‘Bravo, Signor!—bravo!’ ”

Signor Blitz retired from the stage with a fortune and settled in Philadelphia. His home was on Green street near 18th street. He taught magic and gave private entertainments for some years before his death, which took place February, 1877. One of his daughters was the famous opera singer, Madame Vanzant, who at the present writing lives in Europe. These facts I obtained from Mr. Thomas Yost.

ALEXANDER.

Alexander Heimbürger was born December 4, 1819, in Germany. He performed under the _nom de théâtre_ of Herr Alexander. He toured Europe, North and South America with great success for a number of years, and retired to his native land with a large fortune. He is at present residing at Munster, an old man of eighty-four, with snow-white hair and beard, and bent over with age. He was long supposed to be dead by the fraternity of magicians, but Mr. Houdini, in his tour of Germany in 1903, discovered that he still lived, and his whereabouts. Alexander had many strange stories to relate of his adventures in America and other places. He was personally acquainted with Houdin, Frikell, Bosco, Anderson, Blitz, the original Bamberg of Amsterdam, etc. He performed several times at the White House before President Polk, and hobnobbed with Henry Clay, Webster and Calhoun. {181} With letters from Polk he visited Brazil, and was admitted into the most aristocratic circles. On leaving New York in 1847 he was presented with a heavy gold medal, cast in the United States Mint at Washington. This medal has his portrait on one side, and on the reverse the following inscription:

“Presented to Herr Alexander as a token of esteem from his friends. New York, 1847.”

Mr. Houdini writes as follows about the old magician (_Mahatma_, June, 1903): “He was a welcome guest at the Palace of the King of Brazil. He showed me letters to him from King Pedro II and his wife, dated Brazil, 1850. After an absence of ten years from his native country he returned, and married. He is blessed with six children, two sons and four daughters. {182} One is in New York at the present time. While in New York, Alexander was approached by an illusionist named Orzini, who had a cabinet of mystery. He was in hard circumstances and came to Alexander for assistance. The genial German gave him ten dollars. Orzini secured an engagement at the Park Theatre, but alas, only played one night, as his act did not suit, so he was closed after his first performance. Said Alexander to me, and the statement caused me infinite surprise: ‘This Orzini was the man who threw the bomb at Napoleon III in Paris, trying to kill the Emperor, but was himself killed; also blowing up several bystanders, and wounding the horses of Napoleon’s carriage. The reporters discovered that Orzini had just arrived from America, and in his lodgings they found some kind of a mysterious glass house, which must have been the Illusion Cabinet. In this affair Napoleon escaped with his life and a few scratches.’ ”

This is a strange story. I am of the opinion that Herr Alexander is laboring under a mistake in trying to identify the illusionist Orzini with the celebrated revolutionist Orsini. In the first place, there is the different spelling of the names—“Orzini” and “Orsini”; but Mr. Houdini may have incorrectly reported Alexander in this respect. There is no record of Orsini having come to the United States. Again, he was not killed in the attempted assassination of Napoleon III, in the rue Lepelletier, Paris, January 14, 1858. He was captured and suffered imprisonment, and was guillotined March 13, 1858. While in prison he wrote his memoirs.

Herr Alexander is the author of a work entitled _Der Moderne Zauberer_ (“The Modern Magician”).

FRIKELL.

(As Exhibited Before Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle.)]

Wiljalba Frikell was born in Scopio, a village of Finland, in 1818. His family was well-to-do and gave him advantages in the way of education. He graduated at the High School of Munich in 1840, in his twenty-second year. During his scholastic days he became interested in legerdemain, and read with avidity every work on the subject he could find. He attended {183} the performances of all conjurers who came to Munich. Refusing to study for one of the learned professions, greatly to the disappointment of his parents, he went on the stage, and visited the principal cities of Europe, after which he journeyed to Egypt. In the land of the pyramids Frikell had the honor of performing before Mehemit Ali, who presented him with a gold medal. Returning to Europe he visited Greece, Italy, and Spain. Subsequently he went to India and investigated the thaumaturgy of the fakirs. He made his first appearance in London in 1851, and performed before Queen Victoria and the Royal Family, at Windsor Castle. His broken German and peculiarity of manner caused him to be described by _Punch_ as “a comic Charles Matthews.” The same journal also compared him to “a monster raven in full dress for evening party.” His success was marked. The Czar of Russia presented Frikell with a diamond ring of great value, and the King of Denmark made him a Knight of Dannebrog. Just when this remarkable man retired from the stage I have been unable to ascertain. In his old age he became {184} a recluse and denied himself to visitors. In fact, it was supposed by the profession that he was dead, until Mr. Houdini discovered his whereabouts in Krotschenbroda, a few miles from Dresden, Germany, February, 1903, and called at his villa, but did not succeed in obtaining an interview. Nine months later Frikell died. He contemplated writing his memoirs _à la_ Robert-Houdin, but, alas, death cut short the undertaking. That they would have been extremely entertaining and full of curious incidents of travel, admits of no doubt. An extract from a letter written by Mr. Houdini to his American friend, H. S. Thompson, of Chicago, will prove of interest to the reader.

“Dresden, Oct. 20, 1903.

“I have some news for you that may be of interest. You may remember that I sought an interview last February with Dr. Wiljalba Frikell, but was unable to meet him. Since then we have been in correspondence, and he wrote me that if I ever came to Dresden he would be pleased to see me. On arriving in Dresden I sent him word that I would call upon him on October 10th last. I accordingly went to the Villa Frikell about 1 o’clock, and you can imagine with what sorrow and astonishment I learned that Dr. Frikell had died of heart failure three hours before. He was awaiting my arrival at the time. Fate willed it that I should see Herr Frikell, but that we should not speak to each other.

“He was buried on October 13th. I attended the funeral and laid two large wreaths on his grave; one on behalf of the Society of American Magicians, and the other from myself. The S. A. M. wreath was the largest and handsomest there.

“Herr Frikell was 87 years old and had made all arrangements to live to 100. He always claimed he would live to over 100 years and would tell why he expected to reach that age. Too bad we could not have held a conversation ere he departed this life.

“Sincerely yours,

“HARRY HOUDINI.”

Frikell was an innovator in the art of magic. He dispensed with apparatus. In his _Lessons in Magic_, he says: “The use of complicated and cumbersome apparatus, to which modern conjurers have become addicted, not only greatly diminishes the amount of astonishment they are enabled to produce,—a defect which is not compensated by the external splendor and imposing effect of such paraphernalia,—but the useful lesson, how fallible our senses are, by means the most ordinary and at everybody’s command, is entirely lost. It has been my object {185} in my performances to restore the art to its original province, and to extend that to a degree which it has, I believe, never yet hitherto reached. I banish all such mechanical and scientific preparations from my own practice, confining myself for the most part to the objects and materials of every day life. The success I have met with emboldens me to believe that I have followed the right path.”

There is more or less truth in what Frikell says. But one can go to extremes in the avoidance of magic paraphernalia. The happy course is the middle one—a combination of sleight of hand and apparatus. I quote, as follows, from an article by Prof. Hoffmann (_Mahatma_): “The scientific school of conjuring, of which Robert-Houdin was the originator, had its drawbacks. It involved the use of costly and cumbersome paraphernalia, which grew and grew in quantity, till we find Anderson, the Wizard of the North, traveling with seven tons of luggage! Further, a trick, which, like Robert-Houdin’s automatic figures, obviously depends upon ingenious mechanism, palls upon the spectator. Such figures, at the present day, would be no more regarded as magic than the Strasburg clock. Lastly his electrical tricks produced an extraordinary effect, because very few persons in his day were acquainted with the properties of electricity, but now that there are electric bells in every household, and electrical motor cars in every street, its magical prestige exists no longer.

“Hence a reaction to a severer and simpler school of conjuring, of which Wiljalba Frikell was the earliest exponent, the school which professes, so far as the public is concerned, to work without apparatus and which in fact reduces its apparatus to the smallest possible dimensions. Many high class performers now give what is known in England as a ‘carpet bag’ show, and will keep an audience wonder bound for a couple of hours, using no more apparatus than can be carried in an ordinary gripsack.

ST. JAMES’ THEATRE
(LONDON, 1854)
PROFESSOR WILJALBA FRIKELL

Appointed Physicien to their Majesties the
Emperor and Empress of Russia

NEW ENTERTAINMENT OF
PHYSICAL AND NATURAL MAGIC
(WITHOUT THE AID OF ANY APPARATUS)

ENTITLED
TWO HOURS OF ILLUSIONS

1.—The Secret Power and Wonderful Appearance
2.—You Shall and Must Laugh
3.—The Drunken Bracelet
4.—Something for Everybody and the Pleasant Pastime
5.—Time in a Fix

INTERVAL

1.—The Little Devil and the Secret Dispatch
2.—Aladdin’s Magic Lamp
3.—Grand Military Manœuvre, or the Courage of Prof. Frikell
4.—Das Geheimnisz, and Flight in the Air
5.—The Children’s Delight and Christmas Presents of
Prof. Wiljalba Frikell

THE ABOVE IS A COPY OF ONE OF FRIKELL’S PROGRAMMES.]

“Broadly speaking this is undoubtedly an advance, for of two performers, the one who can produce by the magic of his own fingers the same degree of illusion for which the other needs elaborate apparatus, the former is surely the greater artist. But {187} the striving for simplicity may be overdone. The performer is apt to lose his feeling for breadth of effect, and to fritter away his skill over illusions too minute and too soon over to make any permanent impression. One of the most skilful sleight of hand performers we have ever seen throws away half the value of his work by going too fast, and producing small effects, individually brilliant, so rapidly that his audience has not time fairly to appreciate one before another is presented. The spectator, under such circumstances, takes away with him a mere blurred impression, rather than a clear mental photograph of what he has seen, and the show suffers in his estimation accordingly.

“Another danger attending the non-apparatus school lies in the fact that the performer is apt, by carrying the principle to needless lengths, unduly to limit his methods.

“On the whole we are inclined to think that the most successful magician of the future will be one who judiciously combines apparatus and non-apparatus tricks; such apparatus, however, to be of a simple and homely kind and not made admittedly for the purpose of the trick. The ideal entertainment, from the standpoint of the spectator, will be one in which feats of dexterity or supposed dexterity, are worked in conjunction with brilliant stage effects of a more spectacular kind, such as are exhibited by Mr. Maskelyne at the Egyptian Hall, London.”

And so I ring down the curtain on the old-time conjurers. They played their parts in the great drama of life, and enriched the history of the stage with their adventures. What could be more romantic than the career of the incomparable Bosco?

The prestidigitateur makes things appear and disappear to our great wonderment, until finally Death, the greatest of all necromancers, waves his wand, and the mortal fades away from view, amid the shadows of the tomb. Tom Masson, that charming writer of _verse de societé_, says—

We are like puppets in some conjurer’s hands, Who smiling, easy, nonchalantly stands And says, amid the universal cheers: “You see this man—and now he disappears!”[26]

[26] Munsey’s Magazine, August, 1905.

{188}

THE SECRETS OF SECOND SIGHT.

“Then _second-sighted_ Sandy said, ‘We’ll do nae good at a’, Willie.’ ”

—_Child’s Ballads_, VII. 265.

I.

I went on one occasion to dine with Mr. Francis J. Martinka, and while waiting for the repast to be served, seated myself upon an old-fashioned sofa in his drawing-room.

“Pardon me,” said my host, gaily, “while I put a bottle of wine on ice. I will be back in a little while. In the meantime, you may amuse yourself looking over these photos of eminent conjurers. And, by the way, you are seated on the very sofa {189} which Robert Heller used in his second-sight trick. Examine it carefully and you will see where the wires and electric battery were located. I came into possession of the relic after the death of Heller.”

So saying he went out to look after the wine.

And so the piece of furniture I was seated on was the veritable up-to-date tripod of that High Priestess of Delphi, Miss Haidie Heller, who assisted Robert Heller, acting the part of clairvoyant. It called up a flood of memories to me.

The magician of the Arabian Nights transported himself from Bagdad to Damascus upon a piece of carpet. In imagination that old sofa carried me back thirty years into the past. I was seated in the gallery of the old National Theatre, Washington, D. C., at a _soirée magique_ of the famous Heller. I shall never forget his second-sight trick. It was the most wonder-provoking, the most mysterious experiment I have ever seen. In his hands, it was perfect. Robert Heller saw Houdin give an exhibition of this feat of mental magic in London. His acute mind divined the secret, and he set about devising a code for working the experiment. He added many new effects. Nothing seemed to puzzle him and his assistant.

At an entertainment given in Boston, and described by Henry Hermon in his work on Hellerism, a coin was handed to Heller. He glanced at it and requested Miss Heller to name the object.

“A coin,” she quickly answered.

“Here, see if you can tell the name of the country, and all about it?” he next asked.

Without a moment’s hesitation she replied: “It is a large copper coin—a coin of Africa, I think. Yes, it is of Tripoli. The inscriptions on it are in Arabic; one side reads ‘Coined at Tripoli;’ the other side, ‘Sultan of two lands, Sultan by inheritance, and the son of a Sultan.’ ”

“Very well,” said Heller, “that is correct. But look, what is the date, now?”

“The date is 1‐2‐2‐0, one thousand two hundred and twenty of the Hegira, or Mohammedan year, which corresponds to 1805 of the Christian year.” {190}

Tremendous applause greeted this feat.

Mr. Fred Hunt, who was for a number of years Robert Heller’s assistant, revealed the secret of second sight soon after Heller’s death. The performer has first to be initiated into a new alphabetical arrangement, which is as follows:

A is H; B is T; C is S; D is G; E is F; F is E; G is A; H is I; I is B; J is L; K is Pray; L is C; M is O; N is D; O is V; P is J; Q is W; R is M; S is N; T is P; U is Look; V is Y; W is R; X is See this; Y is Q; Z is Hurry. “Hurry up” means to repeat the last letter. For example, the initials or name in a ring is wanted. Say it is “Anna.” By the alphabetical arrangement H stands for A. D for N. The exclamation “Hurry up” always means a repetition of the last letter, and again H will give the answer when put as follows:

“Here is a name. Do you see it? Hurry up. Have you got it?”

Attention is paid only to the first letter of every sentence, and it will be perceived that the name of Anna is spelled.

After the alphabet we have the numbers, which are arranged as follows: 1 is Say or Speak; 2 is Be, Look or Let; 3 is Can or Can’t; 4 is Do or Don’t; 5 is Will or Won’t; 6 is What; 7 is Please or Pray; 8 is Are or Ain’t; 9 is Now; 10 is Tell; 0 is Hurry or Come. “Well” is to repeat the last figure. Now for an example: The number 1,234 is needed. The conjurer remarks: “_Say_ the number. _Look_ at it. _Can_ you see it? _Do_ you know?”

Suppose the number called for is 100.

“_Tell_ me the number. _Hurry_!”

So much, dear reader, for the spelling of proper names and conveying numbers to the clairvoyant on the stage. In regard to colors, metals, precious stones, countries, materials, fabrics, makers of watches, playing cards, society emblems, coins, bills, jewelry, wearing apparel, surgical instruments, etc., etc., Heller had them arranged in sets of ten. The first question he asked gave the clue to the set; the second question to the number of the article in the set. Thus but two short questions were necessary to elicit the proper reply from the assistant. {191} Miscellaneous articles were divided into nineteen sets. I will give examples of two:

FIRST SET.

_What article is this?_

1. Handkerchief. 2. Neckerchief. 3. Bag. 4. Glove. 5. Purse. 6. Basket. 7. Beet. 8. Comforter. 9. Headdress. 10. Fan.

SECOND SET.

_What is this?_

1. Watch. 2. Bracelet. 3. Guard. 4. Chain. 5. Breastpin. 6. Necklace. 7. Ring. 8. Rosary. 9. Cross. 10. Charm.

Supposing a spectator handed a _Rosary_ to the conjurer. He would call out to his assistant, “_What is this?_” (Clue to the second set.) Then he would exclaim, “_Are_ you ready?” The word _are_ would give the clue to number 8. And so on.

The clues to the sets were worded very nearly alike, so as to make the spectators believe that the same questions were being constantly asked.

Evoking the aid of electricity, Robert Heller was enabled to convey the cue words and numbers of the sets to Miss Heller _without speaking a word_. It was this wonderful effect that so puzzled everybody. A confederate sat among the spectators, near the center aisle of the theatre, and the wires of an electric battery were connected with his chair, the electric push button being under the front part of his seat. Heller gave the cue to the set in which the article was, its number, etc., by some natural movement of his body or arms; and the confederate, rapidly interpreting the secret signals, telegraphed them to the clairvoyant on the stage. The receiving instrument was attached to the sofa upon which Miss Heller sat. The interchangeable use of the two methods of conveying information—spoken and unspoken—during an evening, completely bewildered the spectators. It was indeed a sphinx problem.

Robert Heller, or William Henry Palmer, was born in Canterbury, England, in 1833. At the age of fourteen he won a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music. In the year 1852 {192} he made his début in New York City at the Chinese Assembly Rooms. On this occasion he wore a black wig and spoke with a Gallic accent, believing that a French conjurer would be better received in this country than an English magician. He failed to make a success, and eventually drifted to Washington, where he taught music for a number of years. All this time he was perfecting himself in legerdemain. Finally he reappeared in New York and won unbounded success. He visited Europe and India, returning to the United States in 1875. His last performance was given at Concert Hall, Philadelphia, on November 25, 1878. He died in the same city on November 28, 1878. Soon after his death an absurd story went the rounds of the {193} press that he had directed his executors to destroy his automata and magical paraphernalia. Such is not the case. Mr. Francis J. Martinka, of New York, possesses a number of his tricks. Heller was a magnificent pianist and always gave a short recital of his own compositions and those of the masters during his entertainment. He used to append the following effusion to his posters:

“Shakespeare wrote well;
Dickens wrote _Weller_;
Anderson was—
But the greatest is Heller.”

The following is one of Heller’s programmes (Salt Lake City, Utah, May 23, 1867):

FOURTH PERFORMANCE OF THE RENOWNED CONJURER, ILLUSIONIST AND PIANIST

MR. ROBERT HELLER!

The selections of WONDERS AND MARVELS! For these performances will embrace many of his Most Famous Inventions in Magical Art!

THE MUSICAL SELECTIONS Will be rendered upon Chickering’s Grand Piano, attached to the Theatre.

MR. ROBERT HELLER Will make his FOURTH Appearance THIS EVENING

PART I.—ILLUSORY.

1.—WITH A CANDLE.
2.—WITH A WATCH—The Watches of the Audience made to strike the hour.
3.—THE CANNON BALLS.
4.—WITH 30 PIECES OF SILVER.
5.—MOCHA—an utter impossibility.
6.—A PHOTOGRAPH.

PART II.—MUSIC.

1.—Caprice on Airs from “Il Trovatore,” including the famous Anvil Chorus.—HELLER. 2.—“Home, Sweet Home.”—HELLER. 3.—“Storm and Sunshine.”—a musical story.

PART III.—THE GREAT MYSTERY OF SECOND SIGHT!

The Most Startling Phenomenon of this Country.