Memphis Magic Club Ring 16

Don’t forget…the party is Tomorrow! 🎩

“MAGIC: Up Close & Personal”
Jeffrey Day, Magician

WHERE:
Woodruff-Fontaine House Museum
680 Adams Ave
Memphis, TN. 38105

WHEN:
FRIDAY, DEC 20, 2024 7:00PM

This show is a special kind of show that includes CLOSE-UP MAGIC where the audience gets to sit as close as they want to where all the action takes place. My favorite kind of magic is ‘Close-Up’ magic because it challenges me, due to how close the audience is to me.

SEATING: Due to the kind of show this is, there are only 12 SEATS available. So, if you like MAGIC and want to witness the conjuring skills that it requires, get your seats early! Most of the magical effects are from the early 1900’s up to about the 1950’s. Come see why MAGIC has lasted so long!

TICKETS:
www.Woodruff-Fontaine.org

DIED TODAY:
HARRY HOUDINI
(aka Erik Weisz)
(Oct 31, 1926)

Harry Houdini's voice:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harry_Houdini%27s_voice.ogg

Houdini made the only known recordings of his voice on Edison wax cylinders. He recites the follows: “Harry Houdini, October 29, 1914, Flatbush, New York”. On them, Houdini practices several different introductory speeches regarding the Chinese Water Torture Cell. He also invites his sister, Gladys, to recite a poem. Houdini then recites the same poem in German. The six wax cylinders were discovered in the collection of magician John Mulholland after his death in 1970. They are part of the David Copperfield Collection.
♥️♣️♦️♠️♥️♣️♦️♠️♥️♣️♦️♠️

Houdini died on October 31, 1926 at the age of 52 from peritonitis (swelling of the abdomen), possibly related to appendicitis and possibly related to punches to his abdomen he had received about a week and a half earlier.

Witnesses to an incident at Houdini's dressing room in the Princess Theatre in Montreal on October 22, 1926, speculated that Houdini's death was caused by Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead (1895–1954), who repeatedly struck Houdini's abdomen.
The accounts of the witnesses, students named Jacques Price and Sam Smilovitz (sometimes called Jack Price and Sam Smiley), generally corroborated each other. Price said that Whitehead asked Houdini "if he believed in the miracles of the Bible" and "whether it was true that punches in the stomach did not hurt him". Houdini offered a casual reply that his stomach could endure a lot. Whitehead then delivered "some very hammer-like blows below the belt". Houdini was reclining on a couch at the time, having broken his ankle while performing several days earlier. Price said that Houdini winced at each blow and stopped Whitehead suddenly in the midst of a punch, gesturing that he had had enough, and adding that he had had no opportunity to prepare himself against the blows, as he did not expect Whitehead to strike him so suddenly and forcefully. Had his ankle not been broken, he would have risen from the couch into a better position to brace himself.
Throughout the evening, Houdini performed in great pain. He had insomnia and remained in constant pain for the next two days, but did not seek medical help. When he finally saw a doctor, he was found to have a fever of 102 °F (39 °C) and acute appendicitis, and was advised to have immediate surgery. He ignored the advice and decided to go on with the show.
When Houdini arrived at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, Michigan, on October 24, 1926, for what would be his last performance, he had a fever of 104 °F (40 °C). Despite the diagnosis, Houdini took the stage. He was reported to have passed out during the show, but was revived and continued. Afterwards, he was hospitalized at Detroit's Grace Hospital where he died from peritonitis on October 31, aged 52.
It is unlikely that the dressing room incident caused Houdini's eventual death, since the effects of sustaining blunt trauma alongside appendicitis is debated in medical literature. Although rare, acute appendicitis which follows after direct abdominal trauma has been observed. One theory suggests that Houdini was unaware that he was suffering from appendicitis, and he might have taken his abdominal pain more seriously had he not coincidentally received blows to the abdomen. According to Adam Begley, it is more likely that Houdini was suffering the effects of appendicitis prior to the punch, and his reluctance to seek medical care delayed potential treatment.

After taking statements from Price and Smilovitz, Houdini's insurance company concluded that the death was due to the dressing-room incident and paid double indemnity.

BORN TODAY:
Von Arx (Oct 17 (18?),1871-1958)
(CHARLES ALBERT NICOL)

Born in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and was the brother of The Great Nicola and a successful performer himself.

Career:�Von Arx was a world-renowned illusionist who spent most of his career touring abroad. He performed in many countries, including India, China, Egypt, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
He did not want to commercialize on the stage the name of his brother Will, so used a number of stage names. Both Charles and Will traveled with their dad, then known as Nicoli. In 1912 he assumed the name of "Von Arx". He later changed to "The Great Chalbert" around 1918.

Early life:�Von Arx began his career at the Egyptian theater and then on the Lyceum circuit in the United States. He made his first world tour in 1910.
Chasan (from his birth name Chas. A. N.) was the last of a number of his stage names. The Chasan act was a Spook Show with magic and ventriloquism.

Imprisonment:�While performing in India during World War I, Von Arx was imprisoned in Burma for nine months for unknown reasons. The British authorities may have made him feel unwelcome because they thought he was German.

* World tours:�Von Arx's first major United States tour was in 1926. His last world tour was in 1939, when his ship, the SS Sirdhana, sank in Singapore harbor due to a mine. ��
* Illusions:�Some of the illusions Von Arx is said to have created include the "Elastic Lady," "Aerial Fishing," "Chinese Water Jar," and "Dream of the Chinese Chop Suey Restaurant Keeper".� After returning home from his last world tour, Von Arx built a smaller show and offered his services to the USO for free�
He died on December 7, 1958 at his home in Monmouth, Illinois.