THE SUSPENSION TRICK
In chapters XVI. and XVII. of the American edition of his "Memoirs,"
Robert-Houdin states that he closed his theatre during the months of
July, August, and September, 1847, and devoted his time to producing new
tricks for the coming season. He chronicles as the result of these
labors the following additions to his répertoire: "The Crystal Box,"
"The Fantastic Portfolio," "The Trapeze Tumbler," "The Garde Française,"
"The Origin of Flowers," "The Crystal Balls," "The Inexhaustible
Bottle," "The Ethereal Suspension," etc.
Had these inventions really been original with the man who claimed them
as the result of his own brain-work and handicraft, three years would
not have sufficed to bring them to the perfection in which they were
presented at that time. It is not always the actual work that makes a
trick a success, nor the material from which it is constructed, but it
takes time to plan a new trick; and then after you have worked out the
idea, it takes more time to make it practical. The same piece of
apparatus may have to be made dozens of times, in as many shapes, before
it is presentable. Therefore, when Robert-Houdin claims to have invented
and built with his own hands the tricks mentioned in the list given
above, it is time to prove the improbability and falsity of his
statements.
[Illustration: A Robert-Houdin poster on which his complete repertoire
appears, under date of June 14th, 1852. From the Harry Houdini
Collection.]
[Illustration: Poster used by Robert-Houdin during his first London
engagement, featuring suspension. From the Harry Houdini Collection.]
Inventions are a matter of evolution, but as the tricks which
Robert-Houdin presented in his new répertoire were not new, he was able
to offer them as the result of three months' work. To the expert
mechanician or builder of conjuring apparatus his claim is farcical. The
majority of the tricks mentioned require skilled hands and infinite
patience, if they work in a way that will completely deceive the public.
Particularly is this true of the first suspension apparatus such as
Robert-Houdin must have used. This included a steel corset or frame for
the subject, and both the corset and the supporting rods had to be
strong, invisible to the audience, and still be perfect in mechanism.
Robert-Houdin, with characteristic ambiguity, does not refer to a
complicated mechanism, but lays stress on his ability to keep his tricks
up-to-date and in line with popular movements of the hour. In writing of
the suspension trick, he gives the impression that but for the sensation
created by the use of ether as an anæsthetic he would never have thought
out the new trick. His own words as presented on page 312 of the
American edition of his "Memoirs" are reproduced in this connection:
"It will be remembered that in 1847 the insensibility produced by
inhaling ether began to be applied to surgical operations; all the world
talked about the marvellous effect of this anæsthetic and its
extraordinary results. In the eyes of the people it seemed much akin to
magic. Seeing that the surgeons had invaded my domain, I asked myself if
this did not allow me to make reprisals. I did so by inventing my
ethereal suspension, which I believe was far more surprising than any
result obtained by my surgical brethren. This trick was much applauded,
and I am bound to say that my arrangements were excellently made. This
was the first time that I tried to direct the surprise of my spectators
by gradually heightening it up to the next moment, when, so to speak, it
exploded."
While Robert-Houdin, in his "Memoirs," claims to have invented the trick
for the season of 1847-48, in the illustrated appendix of the French
edition he states that the first production of the trick, with
improvements, was in October, 1849. The improvement consisted of working
the trick with a stool upon a platform, when, previous to this date, he
had used only the ordinary platform and rod.
During the course of researches covering many years, during which I
visited national libraries in various countries, the first trace of the
suspension trick was discovered in the writings of Ian Batuta, who
flourished about the thirteenth century. He mentions two conjurers who
performed before the court of the Mogul in Delhi. One of the men assumed
the form of a cube and rose into the air, where he remained suspended.
The other man then took off his shoe, struck it against a rock, and it
also rose and hung in midair, close to the suspended conjurer or human
cube. On being touched on the neck, the cube descended to the ground,
and the conjurer resumed his natural form.
The historical verity of this tale cannot be determined, and it may be
classed with the familiar story which crops up periodically, describing
the ball of cord thrown into the air for a youth to climb into the
clouds. Once out of sight, the youth is said to draw the cord up after
him; then presently a leg falls from the unseen heights, then another,
followed by an arm, a rib or two, and so on until the entire body is
scattered upon the ground, the head coming last with the neck standing
upward. At the command of the magician, the body seems to crawl
together, so runs the tale, and eventually the youth stands up to be
examined by the astonished populace.
[Illustration: Reproduction of an engraving in an old German
Encyclopædia in the Harry Houdini Collection, which credits to the
Chinese the trick of climbing into the air and having the body fall down
piecemeal and being set together again.]
These stories belong in the very first of the travellers' tales. In 1356
Sir John Mandeville, called by some authorities "the Father of English
Prose," after travelling thirty-four years, published a book detailing
some of his marvellous "witnessings." Though many of his stories are
absolutely impossible, yet so popular did his works become that, barring
the Scriptures, more copies and manuscripts of the books containing his
various "Magician Stories" have been handed down to posterity and exist
to-day than any works of his contemporaries. Still, Mandeville did not
mention this suspension trick, which is sometimes attributed to the
Chinese and sometimes to the Hindoos.
In Cologne, Germany, I purchased an encyclopædia, published in 1684,
from which I reproduce a double-page engraving, which shows the Chinese
magicians doing the tricks previously accredited, in the stories of
travellers, to Hindoo conjurers.
In "Lives of the Conjurers," Thomas Frost describes the suspension trick
as offered about 1828 or 1829 at Madras by an old Brahmin with no better
apparatus than a piece of plank with four legs. This he had formed into
a stool, and upon it, in a little brass socket, he placed a hollow
bamboo stick in a perpendicular position. Projecting from the stick was
a kind of crutch, covered with a piece of common hide. These properties
he carried with him in a bag, which was shown to all those who desired
to witness his exhibition. The servants of the household then held a
blanket before him, and, when it was withdrawn, he was discovered poised
in midair about four feet from the ground, in a sitting posture, with
the outer edge of one hand merely touching the crutch, while the fingers
deliberately counted beads, and the other hand and arm were held in an
upright position. The blanket was again held up before him, and the
spectators caught a gurgling sound, like that occasioned by wind
escaping from a bladder or tube. When the screen or blanket was again
withdrawn, the conjurer was standing on the ground.
[Illustration: The Brahmin suspension as shown in an illustration found
in Robin's l'Almanach de Cagliostro.]
The mystery was supposed to have been solved when Sheshal, commonly
known as "the Brahmin of the Air," exhibited the trick in 1832 in
Madras. It was observed that his stool was ornamented with two inlaid
stars, and it was suggested that one of these might conceal a socket for
a steel rod, passing through the bamboo, and that another rod, screwed
to the perpendicular one and concealed by the piece of hide, might be
connected with a mechanism of the same metal, passing up the sleeve and
down the back, and forming a circular seat. This conjecture probably was
not far from the truth, for while Frost is by no means the greatest of
authorities on magic and magicians, in this particular instance I
believe that his explanation of the trick is correct.
The next authentic early information I have gathered regarding
suspension concerns that wonderful performer who called himself Ching
Lau Lauro. Presumably he was a Chinaman, and from the programmes in my
collection he evidently appeared first in England, in 1828, when he was
engaged to perform between scenes of various plays, including "Tom and
Jerry," at the Coburg. I reproduce on page 231 one of Ching Lau Lauro's
programmes.
About 1833, or possibly a year earlier, he cut out some of his singing,
and introduced the suspension with which he closed his performance. At
this time he gave the entire programme. According to his programmes, in
some places he excluded the public from the gallery, so I judge that his
suspension was accomplished by the use of the iron rod from the back,
which would have been in plain sight from the gallery. The stage would
not permit the suspension to be worked out of range of the gallery gods.
[Illustration: Ching Lau Lauro handbill featuring suspension in 1832.
From the Harry Houdini Collection.]
[Illustration: A Compars Herrmann programme of 1848 in which suspension
is featured. From the Harry Houdini Collection.]
When Robert-Houdin went to London in 1848 he found in the field of
magic a clever rival, Compars Herrmann; a few months later came John
Henry Anderson, the Wizard of the North. Both of these men presented the
suspension trick in precisely the same manner claimed by Robert-Houdin
as his original invention of 1847. Neither Anderson nor Herrmann claimed
the honor of having invented the trick, and it is more than likely that
the mechanician who made their apparatus for the suspension trick made
the one used by Robert-Houdin also. Herrmann, like Robert-Houdin, called
the trick ethereal suspension. Anderson gave it the title of
"Chloriforeene Suspension," as the reproduction of an Anderson
lithograph on page 234 will prove.
During precisely the same period of time a brilliantly successful German
conjurer, Alexander, was presenting the same trick in America, where he
remained as a professional entertainer for ten years. In my collection,
together with corroborative handbills and programmes, there will be
found this statement from Alexander:
"The suspension was at first produced by me in 1845 or 1846, after
reading in an Oriental annual, edited by several officers of the Indian
Army, the trick of a fakir who made a companion sit in the air by using
a bamboo stick. My trick had no success, because the sitting was too
near the ground. I then made him stand in the air, and the effect was
marvellous."
My meeting with Alexander, of which this correspondence was the result,
marked an era in my search for material for this volume. Having read in
a small book on magic, dated 1896, that a man named Heimburger, who had
travelled in America as "Alexander the Conjurer," was living in his
native town of Münster, in Westphalia, I determined to secure an
interview with him if possible.
[Illustration: "Suspension Chloriforeene," as presented by Anderson and
his son, from a lithograph used by him on his return from the Continent,
December, 1848. From the Harry Houdini Collection.]
On March 17th, 1903, while playing in Cologne, I boarded an express
train and arrived in Münster bright and early. From the city directory I
learned that one Heimburger resided in Krumpentippen, 16. Hailing a
passing droschke I was soon carried to my destination, where a
bright-faced German girl opened the door and ushered me, without
formality, into the presence of the man to whom I desired to pay my
respects.
An old man, bent with years, snow-white of beard and gray of head, came
forward slowly to greet me. Finding that he was quite deaf, I raised my
voice and fairly trumpeted my mission, adding that I felt especially
honored to stand in the presence of the only magician who, up to that
date, had ever appeared at the White House, Washington, by request of
the President of the United States, my native land. Alexander had been
asked to entertain President Polk and his guests on several occasions,
and the fact that I knew this seemed to please the old conjurer and pave
the way to a pleasant and profitable interview.
In a few moments we were sitting side by side, and he was adding to my
store of information by relating the most fascinating experiences,
stories of fellow-magicians long since dead, and tales which he could
corroborate by his own collection of bills, programmes, etc., his diary,
and his personal correspondence. He had known Robert-Houdin, Frikell,
Bosco, Count Pererilli, John Henry Anderson, Blitz, the original Bamberg
of Amsterdam, Compars Herrmann, and many lesser lights among the
old-time magicians. Robert-Houdin had told him personally that being
pressed for time he had entrusted the writing of his "Memoirs" to a
Parisian journalist.
[Illustration: Mrs. Leona A. Anderson, daughter-in-law of John Henry
Anderson, as she appeared with him in the suspension trick about 1868.
From the Harry Houdini Collection.]
As he warmed up to these reminiscences, he held me spellbound. Had he
risen from the grave to tell of his contemporaries, he could not have
riveted my attention more securely.
Here was a man of eighty-four, whose memory quickened at the coming of
one interested in his beloved art, whose eye brightened with each fresh
detail of a long and successful professional life, and who, in fifty
years of retirement, had not only written a book, but had kept in touch
with the world of magic, giving me information which the most exhaustive
encyclopædia could not yield, answering questions on topics never yet
discussed in dusty parchments and fading scripts. It was like having the
history of magic unrolled before my eager eyes, in a living,
palpitating, human scroll.
It had been my intention to remain but a few hours in Münster, but the
old master held me as if hypnotized and the hours fairly drifted past.
Letter after letter, clipping after clipping, token after token, he
spread before my fascinated eyes; and I allowed him to speak without
question or interruption of any sort. Early in our interview he had
remarked that he was beginning to feel old and that only the impetus of
my presence was responsible for his unusual strength of speech. For over
seventy years he had been collecting books on conjuring and kindred
topics, which he was able to read in English, French, Spanish, and
German.
The dinner hour found us still engrossed in conversation, and Frau
Heimburger extended a most hospitable and cordial invitation for me to
join the family circle. But my hunger was purely mental, and the true
savor of the meal was the reminiscent chat of Herr Heimburger, who, from
his post at the head of his household, looked as hale and hearty as if
he had found the Elixir of Life which so many of his charlatan
predecessors claimed to have "discovered."
[Illustration: Alexander Heimburger, a veteran conjurer who presented
the suspension trick in 1845-46 during his American tour. From a
photograph in the Harry Houdini Collection.]
In 1904 I paid the old master a second visit. To his professions of
pleasure at meeting me once more, he added the gift of several rare
programmes now in my collection, and when our hands met in a farewell
clasp he told me that he had set all things in order and was ready for
the coming of the Grim Reaper. Soon after that visit, however, I
received a card with the following melancholy message:
MY DEAR FRIEND--Have not been very well of late, and have been
expecting my last days. All preparations have been made and Death
the Visitor arrived, but instead of calling for me, he has taken
away my beloved wife. I am not capable of writing more. God be with
you. From your old friend,
ALEXANDER HEIMBURGER.
Alexander Heimburger or, as he was billed, Alexander the Conjurer, was
born December 4th, 1818. From 1844 to 1854 he toured North and South
America, returning to his native country with the intention of there
following his calling as a professional entertainer. But his fame had
preceded him, and, as his fortune was large, his souvenirs and tales of
travel many and interesting, he was taken up by the world of fashion and
lionized. This practically closed his career as a conjurer, for in those
days magicians occupied no such reputable position in the professional
world as they do to-day, and to have returned to his stage work would
have closed the doors of aristocracy to him. He married one of Münster's
prettiest girls, who bore him six children, two sons and four daughters.
So he passed the remainder of his days, living modestly but comfortably
on the money he had amassed in America, entertained by a large circle of
appreciative friends, and well content to live thus, far from the
madding crowd in which the professional entertainer must move.
While the recollections of his public career and his meetings with other
magicians, as well as notable men in other walks of life, were fresh, he
wrote his book, "Der Moderne Zauberer" (The Modern Magician), which he
claims, with much justice, is rated as one of the gems of German
literature, as well as the best book ever written by a conjurer. It is
built from extracts from his diary and is on the style of Sig. Blitz's
book, but is far more diversified and interesting.
[Illustration: Alexander Heimburger, known in conjuring as Alexander the
Conjurer, from a quaint illustration in "The North American," published
in Mexico.]
His scrap-book also told a most romantic tale of vicissitudes. A
half-page article in the New York _Tribune_, dated October, 1845, showed
Alexander arrayed in a Chinese costume, and producing huge bowls of
water, flowers, and various sorts of heavy articles. This proves
conclusively that Ching Ling Foo was not the first conjurer to offer
this Chinese trick in America, as it is generally supposed. Alexander
added that all the old-timers would change their programmes by
introducing the Chinese tricks, and, to verify his statement, readers
need only to see the following files in Astor Library, New York City:
New York _Herald_, New York _Tribune_, and New York _Evening Gazette_ of
November 6th, 1845.
Herr Alexander had arrived in New York almost penniless, after a
disastrous tour of other American cities. He tried to hire Niblo's
Garden, but was informed that the auditorium was never opened in winter.
Through the intercession of Mrs. Niblo, however, he finally secured it
at a rental of twenty dollars per night. He opened to a small house and
for three nights did not even pay expenses, but the fourth night
witnessed a change in his fortunes and for three months he played
literally to standing room. Then because he had no new tricks to offer,
and his pride forbade his presenting his old répertoire until receipts
grew lighter, he closed his New York season.
While playing in Saratoga, Alexander was approached by the late P. T.
Barnum, who was accompanied by Gen. Tom Thumb. Alexander declined Mr.
Barnum's offer because he thought to join the Barnum staff of
entertainers would injure his professional rating. Barnum's admission
fee was 25 cents, while Alexander charged 50 cents and $1.
About this time the fame of Alexander attracted the attention of no less
a personage than S. F. B. Morse, of telegraphic fame; and Alexander had
on his programme one trick which mystified Morse, who honestly believed
that the conjurer had discovered some new law of nature that might be of
service to scientists.
[Illustration: Alexander Heimburger presenting the suspension trick
during his engagement in Brazil. From the Harry Houdini Collection.]
Alexander called this trick "The Spirit Bell," and, worked by one method
or another, it has been used by many magicians. Some employ a thread and
hook, causing the clapper to strike by pulling the thread which runs
through an innocent-looking ribbon on which the bell hangs. Others use
an electric magnet. Herr Alexander placed his bell on top of a fancy
case which he could set anywhere, and the bell would ring at command.
The secret was a small bird, trained to jump from one rung of a tiny
ladder to another, at word of command or the waving of a stick or wand
which the bird could see from its point of imprisonment. Every time that
it jumped from one rung to another, it would pull down a step which was
so arranged that by the smallest overweight it would release a catch,
which in turn would throw the hammer against the glass. When the bird
stepped off, the hammer would again come back to its original position
and be ready for the second blow. This bird he bought from a street
fortune-teller, who had trained it to go up different steps of a ladder
and select envelopes containing variously printed fortunes.
Alexander enjoyed personal acquaintance with President Polk, Henry Clay,
Daniel Webster, Calhoun, and their fellow-statesmen in the United
States. Through his friendship with President Polk he carried to the
West Indies and Brazil letters so influential that the aristocracy in
these countries opened its doors to him. He was welcomed at the palace
of Dom Pedro, and has in his possession letters from both the King and
his consort, dated 1850.
So much for the history of a man who was brave enough to admit that he
developed the suspension trick from principles laid down by humble
Indian fakirs.
The crudest method used for accomplishing the suspension trick consisted
of a steel corset, an iron rod painted to resemble wood, and a platform.
The steel rod was fitted into a special place in the corset, also in
the platform. This method was improved, first to make it a self-raising
suspension, then eventually with a steel rod from the back of the stage,
eliminating the use of both rods under the arms.
Spectators and reviewers commented on the rigid, almost painful,
carriage of Robert-Houdin's son during the performance, which they laid
to the effect of ether. Unquestionably Robert-Houdin used this crude
corset-and-rod method of working the trick.
The fumes of ether which reached the audience, he admits, were caused by
pouring a little ether over hot irons in the wings.
But whatever the method employed by Robert-Houdin to secure the effects
of "suspension éthéréenne," he was merely introducing a century-old
trick, which other contemporary magicians were also exhibiting. The name
of the real maker of the apparatus may never be known, but some clever
mechanician supplied Robert-Houdin, Compars Herrmann, and John Henry
Anderson with precisely the same method of working the trick, at
precisely the same time. Robert-Houdin alone was audacious enough to
claim the invention as his own.