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Servais Le Roy
Servais Le Roy (4 May 1865 – 2 June 1953 ) was a Belgian magician, illusion designer and businessman. He is known for the act ''Le Roy, Talma and Bosco'' and as the inventor of the classic levitation illusion '' Asrah the Floating Princess''. Le Roy was born in Spa, Belgium. He began his career in Belgium but later moved to London, where he established a supply house for illusions and scenery. At one time he performed with German-born illusionist Imro Fox and Frederick Eugene Powell as ''The Triple Alliance''. However he is best known as a performer for the long-running act he developed with his wife Talma and Leon Bosco. Working as "Le Roy - Talma - Bosco" they were sometimes also billed as ''The Comedians de Mephisto Co''. Talma (whose real name was Mary Ford), specialised in sleight of hand and was known as a brilliant manipulator of coins. Bosco, who was a rotund man, played a buffoon character. Although the act was very much a partnership to which all three contributed as m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Flying Visit By Servais Le Roy LCCN2014635611 (cropped)
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magic (illusion)
Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It is to be distinguished from paranormal magic which are effects claimed to be created through supernatural means. It is one of the oldest performing arts in the world. Modern entertainment magic, as pioneered by 19th-century magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, has become a popular theatrical art form. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, magicians such as Maskelyne and Devant, Howard Thurston, Harry Kellar, and Harry Houdini achieved widespread commercial success during what has become known as "the Golden Age of Magic." During this period, performance magic became a staple of Broadway theatre, vaudeville, and music halls. Magic retained its popularity in the television age, with magicians such as Paul Daniels, David Copperfield ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asrah Levitation
The Asrah levitation, sometimes called Lighter than Air, is a classic levitation illusion. Effect The magician hypnotizes an assistant and commands them to recline on a table or couch. The assistant is then fully covered with a cloth and levitated under the cloth. The form of the assistant is still visible while levitating. Moments later, the assistant slowly floats down. As the magician pulls off the cloth, the assistant vanishes instantly. The assistant sometimes reappears in a different location, often in the audience. History This illusion is credited to Servais Le Roy and was first performed with his wife as assistant in 1902. Method The trick uses a form made of thin wire that is hidden behind the couch and suspended from above on fine wires. When the assistant lies down on the couch the form is quickly moved on top of her while the cloth cover is being deployed with a flourish. The form is then raised while the assistant escapes through a trap in the couch or the couc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imro Fox
Imro Fox (May 21, 1862 – March 4, 1910) was German-born American chef who became a headlining stage magician billed as the "comic conjuror". He was active between 1880 and 1910 and was known for the line, "Mahvelous! Everything I do is mahvelous." Early life and career Isidore Fuchs was born in Bromberg, Germany, (today Bydgoszcz, Poland) and immigrated to America seventeen years later aboard the steamship Suabia. Fuchs eventually settled in New York City where he became a citizen in 1888. He began working as a chef at hotels in New York City and later at a hotel in Washington D.C. popular with vaudeville players engaged at the nation's capital. It was at the latter that one day in 1880 he was approached by the head of a vaudeville company in need of a magician. Theirs was unfit to take to the stage and the hotel management had recommended Fuchs, then an amateur magician with no stage experience. The engagement proved satisfactory and within a short while Fuchs began performing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talma (magician)
Talma was the stage name of Mary Ann Ford (1861 – 13 July, 1944), the magician, who is best known for performing with her husband Servais Le Roy in the act "Le Roy, Talma & Bosco". Ford was born in England, while her husband was Belgian. As a performer, she adopted the name Mercedes Talma, but was generally known just as Talma. When Talma was an assistant to a mind reader in London, she met Servais Le Roy, who was a sleight-of-hand artist. Talma and Le Roy were wed in 1890. Talma became accomplished at performing sleight of hand and manipulation acts, especially coin manipulation, and she was often billed as "The Queen of Coins". Talma formed a long-running stage partnership with her husband and their colleague Leon Bosco. They named their act "The Comedians de Mephisto Co" but they were much better known as Le Roy, Talma & Bosco. Le Roy is credited with devising the Asrah levitation The Asrah levitation, sometimes called Lighter than Air, is a classic levitation illusion. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. It was invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700. Description The word "piano" is a shortened form of ''pianoforte'', the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument, which in turn derives from ''clavicembalo col piano e forte'' (key cimbalom with quiet and loud)Pollens (1995, 238) and ''fortepiano''. The Italian musical terms ''piano'' and ''forte'' indicate "soft" and "loud" respectively, in this context referring to the variations in volume (i.e., loudness) produced in response to a pianist's touch or pressure on the keys: the grea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Pierre Thiollet
Jean-Pierre Thiollet (; born 9 December 1956) is a French writer and journalist. Primarily living in Paris, he is the author of numerous books and one of the national leaders of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CEDI), a European employers' organization. Career He attended school in Châtellerault, before his studies in Poitiers classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles and his degrees in Parisian universities ( Pantheon-Sorbonne University, University of Paris III:Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris-Sorbonne University). In 1978, he was admitted to Saint-Cyr (Coëtquidan). During the 1980s and till the mid-1990s, he was a member of a French Press organization for Music-hall, Circus, Dance and Arts presided by a well known journalist in France, Jacqueline Cartier, with authors or notable personalities as Pierre Cardin, Guy des Cars, and Francis Fehr. From 1982 to 1986, he was victim of illegal wiretaps (organized by the French President François Mitte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horace Goldin
Horace Goldin (December 17, 1873August 21, 1939) was a stage magician who was noted for his rapid presentation style and who achieved international fame with his versions of the sawing a woman in half illusion. Early life Goldin was of Polish Jewish descent and was born Hyman Elias Goldstein in Vilnius, which was then part of Russia but is now the capital of Lithuania. Sources differ as to his date of birth, some give it as 17 December 1873 and some as an unspecified date in 1874. An accident when he was young left him with a speech impediment. It has been said he showed a talent for magic tricks when he was young after he began learning from a gypsy performer. When he was 16 his family emigrated to the United States and settled in Nashville, Tennessee, where they ran a store. Despite the combination of a strong accent and a speech impediment, young Goldstein managed to make a living as a salesman. His introduction to a performing career came when he was apprenticed to touri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sawing A Woman In Half
Sawing a woman in half is a generic name for a number of stage magic tricks in which a person (traditionally a female assistant) is apparently cut or divided into two or more pieces. History There remains a debate about the origin of sawing illusions, with some sources saying a magician named Torrini may have performed the first version in front of Pope Pius VII in 1809. However, it is more likely that the story is a fiction which has its roots in the writings of the famous French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. In his ''Memoirs'', written in 1858, Robert-Houdin described a sawing illusion performed by a magician named Torrini. Modern magic inventor and historian Jim Steinmeyer has concluded that there was probably no real Torrini and the story was merely a way for Robert-Houdin to play with ideas. It was suggested during a court case in 1922 that the trick can be traced back to ancient Egypt; however, this claim has not been substantiated.''Goldin v. Clarion Photoplays'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1953 Deaths
Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia. ** The Central Intelligence Agency, CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel first meets to discuss the Unidentified flying object, UFO phenomenon. * January 15 – Georg Dertinger, foreign minister of East Germany, is arrested for spying. * January 19 – 71.1% of all television sets in the United States are tuned into ''I Love Lucy'', to watch Lucy give birth to Little Ricky, which is more people than those who tune into Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration the next day. This record has yet to be broken. * January 20 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is First inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, sworn in as the 34th President of the United States. * January 24 ** Mau Mau Upr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1865 Births
Events January–March * January 4 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street, in New York City. * January 13 – American Civil War : Second Battle of Fort Fisher: United States forces launch a major amphibious assault against the last seaport held by the Confederates, Fort Fisher, North Carolina. * January 15 – American Civil War: United States forces capture Fort Fisher. * January 31 ** The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (conditional prohibition of slavery and involuntary servitude) passes narrowly, in the House of Representatives. ** American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief. * February ** American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina burns, as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces. * February 3 – American Civil War : Hampton Roads Conference: Union and Confederate leaders discuss peace terms. * February 8 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
