Frederick Eugene Powell's Grave

Frederick Eugene Powell was born March 1st, 1856 in Chester PA.  He first became interested in magic by viewing the shows of Robert Heller, Signor Blitz, and Wyman the Wizard. Powell was a contemporary of Harry Kellar and Alexander Herrmann. For a time he formed a partnership with Servais LeRoy and Imro Fox, they called themselves The Triple Alliance.

Powell was a skilled conjurer, adept at both manipulation magic as well as large scale illusions. He presented a cremation illusion in his show as well as the very large Noahs Ark Illusion. He died very close to his 82nd birthday on Feb 27th, 1938.

During Powell's life he saw the Civil War first hand as well as World War 1. He saw the advent of radio and the movies. When he was alive people got from town to town either by horseback or by train. But during his life he saw the invention of the automobile as well as the airplane.

Frederick Eugene Powell is buried in an unmarked grave in his family plot at the Chester Rural Cemetery in Chester PA Plot: Sec K Lot 10 Grave 5

Adelaide Herrmann - Grave

photo courtesy of Richie Magic & Barbara Nista

The Queen of Magic, Adelaide Herrmann was the wife/widow of Alexander Herrmann. After her husband died on a train in 1896, Adelaide decided to carry on the show. First, she sent for her nephew Leon Herrmann from Europe to fill in for Alexander. This partnership only lasted a short time and then Adelaide created a solo act of her own.

In 1926, a fire in a NYC Warehouse destroyed most of the props from the Herrmann show, but with the help of other professional magicians like Harry Houdini and Harry Blackstone, Adelaide began to rebuild.

She passed away Feb 19, 1932. She had been writing her memoirs at the time but never finished them. An attempt was made to publish the memoirs after her death but the Great Depression prevented that from happening. Then in 2011, Margaret Steele had the good fortune to locate and acquire the manuscript and she later published a very wonderful version of Adelaide Herrmann's Memoirs.

Adelaide is buried next to her husband Alexander in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx NY in the Oak Hill section.

The Kuda Bux Grave

Kuda Bux was known as The Man with X-Ray Eyes. I still vividly recall seeing one of his performances on TV and being dumbfounded by what I saw. I was told that at the time this performance took place, Kuda Bux was legally blind. I don't know if that was legit, but it sure made his exhibition even more impressive.

Kuda Bux died February 5, 1981 and is buried in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery. He is apparently buried in an unmarked grave behind the church as you enter the cemetery.

Forest Lawn Hollywood Hill Cemetery is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive Los Angeles, CA 90068
I believe the church is called The Church of the Hills, as that is the closest one to the front gate.

I want to thank Bill Bowers for graciously providing the information on Kuda's final resting place.

Carter The Great - Grave

Charles Joseph Carter, better known as Carter the Great was born in 1874 in New Castle Penn. Along with his credentials as a magician, Carter was also a lawyer, he ran an entertainment agency, he was a producer and a journalist running his own entertainment trade magazine for a period of time.

Instead of fighting over the same showbiz crumbs in America, Carter eventually decided to take his show on the road, well actually on the seas and perform around the world! He toured the globe 7 times, though I am not sure the seventh tour was officially completed as he died in while on tour.

The link above give a little more detailed account of his life than I am giving you here. If you'd like a fantastic account of the life of this world traveling performer then you'll want to locate a copy of Mike Caveney's Carter Book. It's simply fantastic. The information comes direct from Charles Carter's scrapbooks and notebooks. The stories are out of this world.

In fact, I'll share with you one quick story that I also mention over at my other blog. At the end of one of Carter's tours overseas, he tried to book passage on a new ocean liner. He was denied passage however because there was no available storage for his props. It seems some very wealthy people had booked passage on this ship as well and took up most of the available storage. It was a good thing too because that ship was the TITANIC!

Charles Carter died while on tour in Feb of 1936. He is buried in the family plot in Calvary Cemetery in Queens NY. The photo below is provided by Richie Magic. I'll try and post another photo of the entire tombstone if/when one becomes available.

photo courtesy of Richie Magic

Edward Maro - Prince of Magic

Born on September 9th, 1869, Walter Truman Best was his real name but he changed his performing name to Edward Maro. He began his entertainment life as a musician, but later learned conjuring from Dr. A.M. Wilson.

Mike Caveney wrote about Maro in the September 2011 issue of MAGIC Magazine and a photo of his gravestone caught my eye! His tombstone is a 5.5 ton boulder which has a plaque mounted on it. Caveney mentions that he was buried in a family cemetery in St. Charles IL, but doesn't mention the name of the cemetery. Fortunately, other curious magic types have searched out the grave and discovered it's whereabouts. At the Chicagomagic blog, there is a photo of the gravestone on it's side. Apparently since that time, the stone has been lifted and a permanent cement foundation put in place to keep the boulder from falling over.

Edward Maro, the Prince of Magic died on February 26, 1908 of Typhoid Fever, he was only 39 when he died. He is buried in the North Cemetery in St. Charles IL. His is the only 5.5 ton boulder marking the grave so it's not difficult to find. In front of his grave are the graves of his wife and his mother. There are better photos of the grave at FindaGrave.com

To read an interesting article about the grave and why it looks as nice as it does today, check out this link http://saxo.dailyherald.com/article/20100917/News/309179941/   My friend Terry Evanswood, was instrumental in getting the large boulder reset. It's a great story.

A proper biography of Maro will appear at my Magic Detective Blog later in the year.

Grave - The Great Wizard of the North

Born John Henry Anderson in 1814 in Scotland. He was known professionally as The Great Wizard of the North, though he began his performing career as 'The Caledonian Conjurer'. His early act seems to be very similar to that of Robert Houdin. The differences can be seen in some the trick titles. For example. Robert Houdin presented 'The Ethereal Suspension' and Anderson presented 'The Suspension Chloroforeene', same trick, different name.

Anderson is also credited as being the first magician to perform the Rabbit from the Hat trick. So we can all collectively thank or curse him for his contribution (just kidding, we won't curse him). Another feature of his performances was the death defying Bullet Catching feat, which has been known to kill it's practitioners. He left a lasting impression on the history of magic and for those audiences he performed for.

In 1909 Harry Houdini went to visit the grave of Anderson and found it in need of repair. He started a fund for it's repair. By 1930 it was again in need of repair and now apparently the authorities in Aberdeen Scotland treat the grave site as a very special place and it's also a tourist attraction.

John Henry Anderson died on February 3rd, 1874 at the young age of 60. He is buried in the  churchyard at St. Nicholas Church in Aberdeen Scotland.