Grave of Rameses The Egyptian Mystic

 

Albert Marchinsky was born in Poland in 1876. He came from a very large family. He had 3 brothers and 5 sisters. At age 14 he saw a magician at the Royal Aquarium Theater in London and got hooked on magic. He started doing shows shortly thereafter. 

Eventually, Albert chose the moniker of Rameses, an Egyptian character to present his magic and to set himself apart from other performers. This was not a parody act and some sources claim he was very serious about his portrayal, having studied Egyptology in depth.

It is said his magic was not anything new, but the manner in which it was presented was very unique. He and his cast wore elaborate Egyptian style clothing, his backdrops and curtains all had beautiful painted scenes with pyramids and statues. 

Albert Marchinksy was only 54 when he died, the same age his father was when he died. He is buried in the Edmonton Federation of Synagogues Cemetery in Edmonton, London Borough of Enfield, Greater London, England. He died July 31, 1930.

To learn more about Rameses, check out The Magic Detective Podcast, Episode 101

The Grave of Chung Ling Soo

(photo used with permission of Tom Atkinson)

Chung Ling Soo was the stage name of magician William Ellsworth Robinson. He was an American born in NY on April 2, 1861. His life story has been covered in a number of books, but the most extensive book is GLORIOUS DECEPTION by Jim Steinmeyer (a must read). Robinson was probably the most knowledgeable man in magic in his lifetime but he struggled to be successful. Instead he worked for the big names of the time like Alexander Herrmann, then Harry Kellar and then Herrmann again.

One day he witnessed a performance by an authentic Chinese Conjurer Ching Ling Foo and was so inspired by the performance that he decided to create his own oriental character Chung Ling Soo. Before long, a feud would break out between the two culminating in a showdown at a London Newspaper Office. However, Soo won the title as the best magician because FOO didn't show up.

On March 23rd 1918, Soo was fatally wounded on stage during a performance of the dangerous Bullet Catching Feat. He died the following day. Speculation continues to this day of whether or not it was an accident or perhaps some sort of planned suicide by Robinson. I tend to lean towards accident.

Soo/Robinson is buried in East Sheen Cemetery, Section B, grave number 219/220/221 London. Here is a photo of the cemetery entrance. The photo at the top of the page was kindly furnished by Tom Atkinson of Maidstone, Kent, England.

David Devant's Grave

David Wighton, known professionally as David Devant was an English Conjurer during the early part of the 20th Century. He had already become a well known name in his country before he teamed up with John Nevil Maskelyne at St. Georges Hall.

He was born in Holloway London on Feb 22, 1868. Besides being a magician he was a pioneer filmmaker. He had one of the very first movie projectors in England and would show his movies along with his magic shows.

David Devant was the first president of the Magic Circle. He wrote several books that I know of 'My Life in Magic',  'Secrets of My Magic', 'Woes of a Wizard' and 'Our Magic'. There is another book I found by Devant called 'Tricks for Everyone' which was probably more of a pitchbook sold after his shows or in the theatre lobby. All of Devant's writings are available from MiracleFactory.net. S.H. Sharpe wrote a book about Devant called 'Devant's Delightful Delusions'. If you look into the works of Jim Steinmeyer you'll see that he is heavily influenced by Devant.

David Devant died at 6:30 p.m. on October 13th, 1941 after having suffered for years from a debilitating form of paralysis. He is buried at the Highgate Cemetery in North London.