John Nevil Maskelyne
The foremost Victorial Magician was John Nevil Maskleyne Born in Cheltenham in 1839 and died in 1917
He was a stage magician who is credited with many of todays illusions.
He was a descendant of Nevil Maskelyne the Astronomer Royal.
John started by seeing the Davenport Brothers with their fake Spirit Cabinet and quickly realised that he could do a much better job himself.
He recreated his own Spirit Cabinet with the aid of George Alfred Cooke (a friend and cabinet maker).
They then exposed the Davenport Brothers as Fakes at a show in Cheltenham in 1865. The show was wildly successful and the two friends decided to become Professional Magicians.
Regrettably they soon ran short of money but were rescued by William Morton (A theatrical agent) who financed a tour for them and became their manager for the next 20 years.
Their success continued and eventually they opened a show at the famous Egyptian Hall in Picadilly,London in 1873.
The two friends invented many popular tricks that are still the basis of many modern tricks.
Maskelyne would work out the basics of each illusion and Cooke would make them. Maskelyne invented the principle of Levitation (wrongly sometimes attributes to the Frenchman Robert-Houdin).
Robert Houdin invented a different illusion known as the Broom Suspension.
Harry Kellar has also been credited with inventing levitation but in fact he stole the illusion by bribing Paul Valadon - the technician who worked with Maskelyne
After George Cooke died in 1905, Maskelyne went into partnership with David Devant. David Devant had been a part of the Maskelyne team earlier when he auditioned as an inventor and conjurer to replace Charles Morritt who had worked at the Egyptian Hall with Maskelyne and subsequently left to start his own show (this was a common practice between Magicians in the late 1900s.)
The team of Devant and Maskelyne developed the tradition of good humoured magic to entertain many famous people.
One of the most famous routines was A Boy, a Hat and Some Eggs which ended with an assistant from the audience who had the (losing) task of keeping track of a bewildering number of eggs plucked from thin air by the magician.
One of the most famous routines was A Boy, a Hat and Some Eggs which ended with an assistant from the audience who had the (losing) task of keeping track of a bewildering number of eggs plucked from thin air by the magician.
The two of them wrote Our Magic: The Art in Magic, the Theory of Magic, the Practice of Magic . This is a classic of Magic.
The Magic Circle welcomed Maskelyne as a member and he tried to kill the idea of occult or supernatural powers
of Conjurers and magicians.
He joined the Occult Committee and in trying to expose fraudsters and other villainies also tried to expose the famous Indian Rope Trick as a fraud
in the belief that this was never performed but merely a magic legend circulating in India.
The Indian Rope Trick consisted then of a snake charmers basket with a coiled rope which uncoiled and rose to the heavens. Then a small boy climebd that rope and disappeared at the top.
A huge noise followed and then blood and pieces of meat fell from the sky into the basket . The lid was placed on the basket and the boy reappeared safe and well.
A huge noise followed and then blood and pieces of meat fell from the sky into the basket . The lid was placed on the basket and the boy reappeared safe and well.
Several Indian District Commissioners claimed to have viewed this illusion and the write is currently researching these accounts.
John Nevil Maskelyne had another less praisworthy invention to his name.
He invented the coin in the slot public lavatory for which thousands of people have cursed him since !
This brought forth the phrase to Spend a Penny (the price of admission to the lavatory.)
He invented the coin in the slot public lavatory for which thousands of people have cursed him since !
This brought forth the phrase to Spend a Penny (the price of admission to the lavatory.)
