PHILADELPHIA
A Historical Seventeenth Century Magician
By HOUDINI.
[Copyright, 1920]
To-day this would hardly be considered either an appropriate or an attractive name for a magician. The famous conundrum of Shakespeare: "What's in a name?" may have in his day, merited no wiser answer than the one he gave, but in these days of high-powered press-agents, with their seven-league-boots of successful endeavor, by means of which they far out-distance the gold-bought publicity of past generations, there is not only a great deal in a name, but more than a little in the size of the type in which the name appears. However, the name seems never to have proved a handicap to Philadelphia ihimself, and he even succeeded in surrounding it with quite a distinct halo of glory.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 14th day of August, 1735, of orthodox Hebrew parents, this man, whose right name was Jacob Meyer, must have left these shores at an early age, as all his successes were won in foreign lands, and I find him mentioned as a "celebrated conjuror" in 1773, and it took many years to win such a title in those slow-moving days.
That he was sufficiently well known to attract the attention of a prominent writer is shown by the following:
Under the title of "Horea Subsecivae," in the Dublin University Review, in 1833, vol. i., p. 482. by the late Dr. West, of Dublin, appeared the following amusing trifle:
"Among Swift's works, we find a jeu d'esprit, entitled 'The Wonder of all the Wonders that the World ever Wondered at,' and purporting to be an advertisement of a conjuror. There is an an amusing one of the same kind by a very humorous German writer, George Christopher Lichtenberg,* which, as his works are not much known here, is perhaps worth translating. The occasion on which it was written was the following: In the year 1777 a celebrated conjurer of those days arrived at Gottingen. Lichtenberg, for some reason or other, did not wish him to exhibit there; and, accordingly, before the other had time even to announce his arrival, he wrote this advertisement in his name, and had it printed and posted over the town. The whole was the work of one night.
* Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph. Born at Oberramstädt, near Darmstadt, Germany, July 1, 1742; died at Gottingen, Feb. 24th, 1799. A German physicist and satirist, professor at the University of Gottingen. He is best known as the discoverer of the electrical figures named from him. His works were published in 1800-05. Century Dictionary.
"The result was that the real Simon Pure decamped next morning without beat of drum, and never appeared in Gottingen again. Lichtenberg had spent some time in England, and understood the language perfectly, so that he may have seen Swift's paper. Still, even granting that he took the hint from him, it must be allowed he has improved on it not a little, and displayed not only more delicacy, which, indeed, was easy enough, but more wit also."
" 'Notice.
" 'The admirers of supernatural Physics are hereby informed that the far-famed magician, Philadelphus Philadelphia (the same that is mentionel by Cardanus, in his book De Natura Supernaturali, where he is styled "The envied of Heaven and Hell"), arrived here a few days ago by the mail, although it would have been just as easy for him to come through the air, seeing that he is the person who, in the year 1482, in the public market at Venice, threw a ball of cord into the clouds, and climbed upon it into the air till he got out of sight.
" 'On the 9th of January, of the present year, he will commence at the Merchant's Hall, publico-privately, to exhibit his one-dollar tricks, and continue weekly to improve them, till he comes to his five-hundred-guinea tricks amongst which last are some which, without boasting, excel the wonderful itself, nay are, as one may say, absolutely impossible.
" 'He has had the honour of performing with the greatest possible approbation before all the potentates, high and low, of the four quarters of the world: and even in the fifth, a few weeks ago, before her Majesty Queen Obera, at Otaheite.
" 'He is to be seen every day, except Mondays and Thursdays, when he is employed in cleaning the heads of the honourable members of the Congress of his countrymen at Philadelphia; and at all hours, except from eleven to twelve in the forenoon, when he is engaged at Constantinople, and from twelve to one, when he is at his dinner.
"'The following are some of his one-dollar tricks; and they are selected, not as being the best of them, but as they can be described in the fewest words :
" ' 1 . Without leaving the room, he takes the weathercock off St. James Church and sets it on St. John's, and vice versa. After a few minutes he puts them back again in their proper places. N. B.—All this is without a magnet, by mere sleight of hand.
" '2. He takes two ladies, and sets them on their heads on a table, with their legs up; he then gives them a blow, and they immediately begin to spin like tops with incredible velocity, without breach either of their head-dress by the pressure, or of decorum by the falling of their petticoats, to the very great satisfaction of all present.
" '3. He takes three ounces of the best arsenic, boils it in a gallon of milk, and gives it to the ladies to drink. As soon as they begin to get sick, he gives them two or three spoonfuls of melted lead, and they go away in high spirits.
" '4. He takes a hatchet and knocks a gentleman on the head with it, so that he falls dead on the floor. When there, he gives a second blow, whereupon the gentleman immediately gets up as well as ever, and generally asks what music that was.
" ' 5 . He draws three or four ladies' teeth, makes the company shake them well together in a bag, and then puts them into a little cannon, which he fires at the aforesaid ladies' heads, and they find their teeth white and sound in their places again.
" '6. A metaphysical trick, otherwise commonly called Metaphysica, whereby he shows that a thing can actually be and not be at the same time. It requires great preparation and cost, and is shown so low as a dollar, solely in honour of the University.
" '7. He takes all the watches, rings and other ornaments of the company, and even money if they wish, and gives every one a receipt for his property. He then puts them all in a trunk, and brings them off to Cassel. In a week after, each person tears his receipt, and that moment finds whatever he gave in his hands again. He has made a great deal of money on this trick.
" 'N. B. During this week, he performs in the top room at the Merchants' Hall; but after that, up in the air over the pump in the market-place; for whoever does not pay, will not see.' "*
* English Eccentrics & Eccentricities, Timbs, London, 1875.
Portrait of Jacob Philadelphia
Engraved by Christoph Wilhelm Bock
Ink on paper
1 print : b & w ; 15.5 x 13.5 cm. (6 x 5.25 in).
Housed at the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary
The Latin phrase "in raris rarissimus" can be translated to "in the rarest of the rare".
Philadelphia made every effort to give the impression that he was a real dealer in black magic or a conjuror of witches. There was a belief among his more humble audiences that his effects were accomplished through a power to cause a temporary blindness to attack them, and he did everything he could to strengthen this belief.
(To be continued)
Originally pubished in the M-U-M in Vol. 10, No. 4, (Whole No. 90) in New York, August 1920.
[Copyright, 1920]
(Continued from September)
At one time he advertised to enter a certain city at both the east and west gates at the same moment and is credited with having made good his boast. I might be inclined to question the truth of this statement had I not accomplished the same feat myself. In the earlier days my face was not as well known to the public as at present, and at that time my brother Hardeen resembled me quite closely. It is now, I think, quite generally known that he has been the only legitimate imitator of some of my feats, and on this occasion while I was appearing at New York, he impersonated me and duplicated my stunts at Philadelphia, and, as it was advertised that I would appear at both theatres at the same time, each audience thought that the other was disappointed.
Philadelphia was without question an excellent showman, for, while a study of his program shows that he introduced some of the simplest tricks, still, by his clever and —for those days— extensive advertising, his making the most of his splendid personal appearance, and his natural aptitude for mathematics and physics, he brought himself into prominence at an early age and secured a lasting reputation.
Shortly after leaving America he renounced the Jewish religion and joined the Christian Church. It was then that he adopted the name of his native city.
He attracted the attention of Duke Henry of Cumberland by his mathematical proficiency and this acquaintance helped greatly to speed him along the road to success.
He toured through Europe, appeared before the Empress Catharine, and securred the favor of Sultan Mustapha Third at Constantinople. He won great success in Berlin and Vienna. At Potsdam he performed before Frederick the Great with marked success. After which, having amassed a considerable fortune, he retired to private life.
I have been unable to discover where or how he passed the remainder of his days, or the date of his death, but I find the imprint, Nurnberg, 1778, on the bottom of his portrait, from which I assume that he was still alive at that time.
The modern truism that "every knock is a boost" has been justified in the cases of many magicians. Houdin attacked Bosco and the result was decidedly to the advantage of the latter; Decremp tried his best to expose and belittle Pinetti only to succeed in immortalizing him, and the same is true of Philadelphia, for the ridicule of Lichtenberg only served to brighten the lustre of his name.
This reminds me that in December, 1898, at Kohl and Middleton's Museum, Clark Street, Chicago, I gave twenty-two complete acts every day, and on Saturday and Sunday the number was increased to about thirty. After appearing on the curio platform as a conjuror, I hurried down stairs to the theatre stage where I did a turn as handcuff expert and trunk escape mystifier in the big show, and by the time this was over I was due on the curio platform again.
Willmann, the well-known manufacturer of apparatus at Hamburg, Germany, informed me that he had searched for years without success for a portrait of this man. He did succeed, however, in securing a program, which I afterwards purchased from him, and which is, to the best of my knowledge, the only one in existence today. By this program, which is here reproduced, it will be seen that, in Germany, he used the name Meyer Philadelphia. I find no record of his having used this term elsewhere.
FROM THE HOUDINI COLLECTION
Originally pubished in the M-U-M in Vol. 10, No. 5, (Whole No. 91) in New York, October 1920.
