Sears The Illusionist

 

Harry Sears Knight was a remarkable man. He had an interest in magic from an early childhood. In his teens, he started to perform professionally. By his mid 20s he was performing in England and all over Europe. He developed a show with 45 people as well as animals like, an elephant, a camel, horses, snakes and much more. His sets were extravagant, he was way ahead of his time in the manner in which he performed. Very theatrical.

Then he seemingly vanished. More appropriately he went underground. To find out more on his life and what happened to him, listen to my podcast episode 103. 

Harry Sears (Knight) is buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park in Colma California, which is in San Mateo County. He died June 4th, 1961.

There is a photo of the grave on https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84550444/harry-sears

The Grave of W. D. LeRoy

William D. Le Roy was born in LaSalle Illinois August 5th, 1862. In his youth, he studied music and

the violin. By the age of 19 he was living in San Francisco and was giving classes on the violin. This appears to be where he picked up the magic bug and began to learn the trade. But, whether he met someone or discovered it from a book is not known.

In 1885, he made his first professional appearance as a magician at the Fountain Theatre in San Francisco according to the Feb 1909 issue of The Sphinx. He also appeared on the cover that month. 

In 1887, he relocated to Boston and by 1893 opened the Boston School of Magic on 103 Court Street. According to the website Auspostalhistory.com, Le Roy altered the way his name was spelled in 1906 from Le Roy to Leroy. I would guess because it was easier to remember or to distinguish himself from Servais Le Roy.

He is credited with having the largest and most up to date magic catalog of it's time. Besides selling magic he was a big advocate of magic fraternities and was instrumental in signing up many people to the Society of American Magicians.

Le Roy passed away on June 10th, 1919. He is buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Gloucester Mass.

Horatio G Cooke's Grave

Photo used by permission of Don Lynch

Horatio Cooke lived quite an exciting life. He was born Feb 1, 1844 in Norwich Conn. By his mid teens he was a school teacher. The break out of the Civil War interrupted his teaching and he enlisted in the Union Army. He eventually became one of President Lincoln's Federal Scouts.

Cooke met Lincoln personally at a meeting he had been called to in Washington D.C. Word had gotten around about Cooke's uncanny ability to free himself after being tied up. At this meeting, Cooke was put to the test and he passed with flying colors.

Harry Cooke went on to be an accomplished magician, escape artist and spirit debunker. Later in life he would become friends with both Harry Kellar and Harry Houdini, as well as many others in the Los Angeles magic scene.

Harry Cooke died June 17, 1924 and was buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles. His grave is located in Plot: Sect 5, Lot 66, Grave 2NE.   Harry Kellar is also interned in this same cemetery.

Don Lynch, a contributor at Findagrave.com gave us permission to use the photo.

To read more about the life of Harry Green Cooke, visit
http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/08/civil-war-era-magician-part-6.html

Compars Herrmann's Grave Update

photo courtesy of Heinz König

Compars Herrmann was a victorian era magician from Europe. He was the older brother of Alexander Herrmann who would become very well known in America as Herrmann The Great. Compars developed his interest in magic through his father Samuel who was also an amateur magician. At some point in time, the younger brother Alexander became part of the Herrmann show. Alexander took the look of his brother, dressing the same with the same physical appearance and facial hair.

Compars performed mainly in Europe although he did venture to the United States. On January 27th, 1862, Compars, who was also known as Carl appeared with his younger brother Alexander before President Abraham Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln and his cabinet at The White House in Washington D.C.. One of the feature effects he performed was the Inexhaustible Bottle. This was an effect where any drink called for would come out of the bottle. Mrs. Lincoln requested tea, which Compars gladly poured from the bottle. Members of the audience asked for other drinks and Compars poured each drink called for from the bottle. This was a popular effect of the time and many magicians used it successfully.

Compars was friends with Johann Hofzinser another great Viennese Conjurer. It's said that a number of Herrmann's routines were adaptations of things he learned from Hofzinser. One in particular was the "Cone, Vase, Beans, Hat and Orange Trick" (quite the name huh), was originally called "Der Grosspapa" by Hofzinser. 

Compars is buried in the Vienna Central Cemetery, in Vienna Austria. There are three magicians buried in this cemetery and I will eventually post all three. The image above is how the grave looks today. Compare it to the image below  from the Sphinx Magazine 1906, a monthly magic periodical, and you'll notice that the decorative metal work on the grave is now missing.

Compars Herrmann -Born Jan 23, 1816 Died June 8, 1887

Wiener Zentralfriedhof (Vienna Central Cemetery)

: XI. Simmeringer Hauptstrasse 234, Vienna Austria

Section: T1 Group: 6 Row: 29 Grave: 38

Hardeen -Theodore 'Dash' Weiss

Brother of Houdini and quite the performer in his own right. Theo, was born Feb 29th. For those unfamiliar that is leap year so he'd only have a birthday every 4 years. Today would be his birthday IF it were a leap year, but it's March 1st so no cake!

Dante's Final Resting Place

Harry August Jansen better known as DANTE was according to some the successor to Thurston.  Dante traveled the world with his show 'Sim Sala Bim' and was a striking performer. He appeared on stages all over the globe and in the 1942 Laurel & Hardy film 'A Haunting We Will Go'.

© original artwork by Dean Carnegie

In 1955 Harry Jansen, known professionally as DANTE the Magician died at his home. Arrangements were made to have his body cremated. Apparently, his ashes and those of his wife remained in a cardboard box in the basement of the Chapel of the Pines Crematory for forty some years. I’m not sure  why or what the situation was that caused that to happen. 

There is good news though. People in the magic community raised money to get the remains moved to a proper resting place. Donations came from magicians all over the world and with the help of the Society of American Magicians they were able to have the remains of Harry Jansen and his wife Edna moved to The San Francisco Columbarium where they received a proper resting place.

Harry August Jansen was born on October 3rd, 1883 in Copenhagen Denmark. He died of a heart attack at his ranch in Northridge CA June 15, 1955.

Dante's remains are at the San Francisco Columbarium 1 Loraine Ct. San Francisco CA

This is another example of the kindness and generosity of the magic community. See also Joe Karson's Grave