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.

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.

The grave of Magic Dealer Otto Maurer

Otto Maurer was a magician and magic dealer who ran his own magic shop in the basement of 321 Bowery in NY for 28 years. His shop was a popular hang out for professionals and amatuer magicians. Houdini and Thurston both learned the then underground move (no pun intended) called the Back Palm from Maurer. To read more about Otto Maurer, please visit TheMagicDetective.com
Otto Maurer died of cancer at the age of 53 on May 15th, 1900.

He is buried in The Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in Queens. The actual location is Public Lot 3, Map 5, Row 25, Grave 25.