Olive Dot Robinson Gravesite

When it comes to one of the greatest magician's assistants in history, surely one of the early ones was also one of the best. Olive Robinson was the wife of William E. Robinson. For a time she worked as Harry Kellar's chief assistant in his show. Later, when the Robinson's were wooed away by Alexander Herrmann, she became an assistant in his show. And when her husband, William Ellsworth Robinson hired her to be his chief assistant as well.

Her husband, in the roll of Chung Ling, was tragically killed on stage while presenting the Bullet Catch mystery in 1918. In 1922, Olive packed her bags and left England to head back to America. Oddly, she didn't tell anyone she had returned.Word was she was embarrassed by the death of her husband and the varied rumors surrounding the death.

When she arrived in New York in 1922, she didn't tell anyone she was here. She lived until the ripe old age of 71 passing away on Nov 13, 1934. She is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. In 2016 magic historian Diego Domingo raised money for a stone market to be placed on Dot's grave.

Margery the Medium - Cemetery

Mina Stinson Crandon, better known as Margery the Medium was born in Canada in 1888. She became famous as a Boston Medium who came up against Harry Houdini. Controversy still exists today as to exactly what took place. Margery claimed Houdini tried to sabotage her and did things to make her appear fake. He denied it.

However, some claim that Jim Collins admitted after Houdini had died that he placed a ruler in the 'Margery Box' to try and make it appear that Margery was a fake. On top of that he claimed Houdini told him to do it. But I don't know if Jim Collins actually said this. It's terribly out of character for him.

Margery died on November 1st , 1941 in Boston. She is buried in the Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston. Below is a map showing where she is buried in the cemetery. X marks the spot, approximately. Update: The red X on the map should move over to the right slightly. The grave is next to the roadside on Birch Ave.

Robert Heller - Grave

Above is a photo of Harry Houdini standing next to the grave of Robert Heller (William Henry Palmer) the great Victorian Age Magician. He was buried in the Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia PA. Houdini discovered the grave after much searching. Within a few years after it's discovery the grave site had fallen into disrepair and SAM Assembly #4 in Philadelphia took it upon themselves to raise money to get the grave cleaned up. Apparently a similar thing happened about then years after that.

2011 marks the 133rd Anniversary of Heller's death/burial at Mt. Moriah and the condition of the grave area is apparently very overgrown and poorly maintained. Actually, for several years there has been NO work done to the cemetery at all. It's a disaster basically. It's a very large cemetery and along with Robert Heller is the famed historical seamstress Betsy Ross. A group called 'The Friends of Mt. Moriah' have come together and organized a number of clean up days. They are seeking volunteers and I have decided to help them and line up magicians to participate as well.


My goal is to clean up the Heller grave and surrounding plots. The date of October 8th has been set for this clean-up. If you are interested in participating, please contact me at carnegiemagic@me.com and I'll add you to the list of people and will contact you via email with all the updates and information you'll need. You're help is certainly appreciated.

Below is a site which shows the condition of the cemetery today. There has been some cleanup since these photos were taken, but we are expecting something like this. http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/mount_moriah_cemetery,_abandoned.htm 

UPDATE:

I have to regretfully let you know that the Heller Project, the clean-up of Robert Heller's Grave in Philadelphia, is going to have to be postponed. Yours truly has a fever of 102. I've been sick all week and desperately trying to recover in time to make the 3 hour drive but it looks like I'm not going to be able to make it.

I've contacted everyone who gave me their email to let them know. I did state though that anyone who still felt they wanted to help the group 'Friends of Mt. Moriah' with their clean-up, which is still taking place, is more than welcome to go. OUR group was just going to be working on Hellers Grave. So I'm sure the other group could sure use the help if you feel so inclined.

My apologies to all. It's a delay, we'll get out there before too long and restore Heller's Gravesite to friendly and visitable location.

UPDATE 2014: Heller Grave Found!

The Friends of Mt. Moriah recently found the grave of Robert Heller and uprighted the grave stone which had fallen over. If you'd like to see what it looks like today, please visit my other site
http://www.themagicdetective.com/2014/04/robert-heller-returns.html

Grave - The Original Dante

photo used with permission of Kent Blackmore

Long before Harry Jansen became known as Dante, there was another Dante. In fact, this Dante had the potential to rival Howard Thurston, but tragedy struck his life.

His name was Oscar Eliason and he was born July 8th 1869 in the state of Utah. He showed an interest in magic from an early age. After seeing Herrmann The Great perform, he decided this would be his chosen profession though his father wanted him to follow in the family business.

When Anna Eva Fay came to town, Oscar decided he would put together a show that exposed her methods. He did this quite successfully and later had quite a run in with another medium by the name of Harry Waite. He and Waite attacked each other in the papers and eventually Oscar went on to expose the tricks of Waite and more.

Joe Karson's Grave

Joe Karson was the inventor of one of the classics of magic, The Zombie. Joe was also the inventor of a number of other magic effects which include 'The World's Fastest Card Trick and a one man floating handkerchief routine called "Voodoo". Magician Mike Rose wrote a biography about Karson a few years back which is sold out but available in e-book format through www.lybrary.com

Apparently, Mike Rose also took it upon himself to start up a Memorial Fund to raise money for a marker for Joe Karson's grave. Through his efforts we now have the headstone that you see above.

Joe Karson died on November 6, 1980 and is buried in the St. Michael's Cemetery in Springfield Mass.

To find out more about Joe Karson and the history of magic please visit: www.magichistorybooks.com