Our friend Joe Notaro left a hugely intelligent and well-informed comment on last week's post Houdini & Erdnase.
Among other things, Joe commented on the link between Erdnase and Houdini. For those uninitiated, S.W. Erdnase is one of the most mysterious figures both in magic and in publishing. Under that pseudonym in 1902 he published a book, The Expert at the Card Table, which reveals all the most arcane tricks of the card cheater and, almost as an afterthought, the card magician.
Erdnase's book has never gone out of print - it's one of the most successful books of all time, right up there with the Bible and Agatha Christie. It has spawned a flood of second-degree books, including the one pictured, written by Bart Whaley, Jeff Busby and Martin Gardner. They did some serious detective work trying to nail down Erdnase's true identity. The Erdnase thread on the Genii Forum has to be the longest discussion in the history of the Internet - more than six thousand entries and still going strong. German filmmakers are about to release an Erdnase quest documentary....
Here are some of Erdnase's slick moves, done pretty well by a guy who isn't Erdnase:
The beautiful and elegant move we're most interested in - mentioned by Notaro in his comment - is Erdnase's first Transformation. According to our go-to expert on card magic, our old friend Darwin Ortiz, it was really invented by Harry Houdini! Notaro notes that this is disputed by the Canadian magician David Ben, but a close reading of the history of the move, in Ortiz's labor of love The Annotated Erdnase, makes it clear that Houdini was indeed the source.
So there is at least this one connection between the two immortals of magic. Our question is: how well did these two know each other? Did they both hang out at Gus Roterberg's magic shop in Chicago in the late 1890s, dazzling one another with Color Changes, Back Palms and the Mexican Turnover?
Houdiniphiles? Your thoughts and insights?
"How well did these two know each other?" Since I am convinced S.W. Erdnase was Edward Gallaway (for details see here https://www.lybrary.com/the-hunt-for-erdnase-and-the-path-to-edward-gallaway-p-673843.html ) there is one other possible connection between Erdnase and Houdini: circus. Edward Gallaway worked at the circus ~1891-1894. We also have him managing a sideshow for a fair in 1896, so his involvement with the circus spans at least 1891-1896. That means there is a possibility that Gallaway may have met Houdini at the circus. Or perhaps it was a topic Gallaway and Houdini could bond with when they perhaps met at Roterberg's shop, or when Harto introduced them. Also Harto was a circus performer, as was Vernelo, yet another magic shop owner in Chicago who worked at circuses. Perhaps all of these folks knew each other from the circus, or at least knew of each other as circus people and thus bonded and did business with each other.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insight. Makes sense, esp. since Houdini was, at that time, as much a circus "bender" as a magician.
ReplyDeleteHoudini worked for the Welsh Brothers circus in 1895, and did not return to the Welsh Brother again until 1898 for one final time. He only spent two seasons with the Welsh Brothers, which goes to show you the circus life was not for him. If he did meet Gallaway it was during his stint with the Welsh Brothers in 1895. As far as I know, there is no evidence that Gallaway was involved with the Welsh Brothers in any capacity.
ReplyDeleteCircus people met even if they didn't work in the same circus. Many circuses crossed paths during their tours around the country. Many circuses wintered in the same town or region. Gallaway meeting Houdini is not limited to them working at Welsh Brothers at the same time.
DeleteAccording to Billboard, Harry Houdini was with the Welsh Bros Circus selling magic books, in which appeared the following advertisement: “Professor Harry Houdini, School of Magic, 221 East Sixty-ninth Street, New York City. Send 10 cents for catalog.” I believe this would have been 1898 as opposed to 1895. I have also seen an advertisement label for Prof. Harry Houdini “School of Magic” that lists 57 East 115th St. New York City which was his last New York address before a five-year tour of Europe. The 221 East Sixty-ninth Street address was Cecilia Weiss address.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Kellock, the school was first opened in New York and later continued in Chicago, but no great rush of pupils developed. The most devoted student was a very old man in Chicago who had retired from business and had an ambition to astonish his friends; this student could not have been Gallaway.
Houdini showed Selbit a card move and Selbit published it, thanking Houdini for showing it to him. It was not invented by Houdini; he had learned it from someone else, presumably "Erdnase".
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