A MASTER ILLUSIONIST

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 October 1939, Page 8

A MASTER ILLUSIONIST

HAD WORLD GUESSING.

What will be the fate of closelycherished secrets of a. masterillusionist, whose amazing tricks baffled royalty and bewildered audiences the world over? This question is asked consequent upon the recent death of the renowned Horace Goldin, who for many years claimed to be “the world’s great, magician.” Goldin died suddenly following a heart attack in his London flat, at tho age of 65. His wife learned of his death when she arrived in New York to spend a holiday. Until the illusionist’s will is read, no one will know to whom he has left his secrets, states the “News of the World.” Some of the most valuable of them are said to be locked in the safe of the Magicians’ Club of Britain. A few hours before his collapse Goldin was performing at the Wood Green Empire, North London. Catching on a plate a bullet fired from a Service rifle was the highlight of the show. For a long time, it is said, Goldin was afraid to do this catch-the-bullet illusion at Wood Green.

He thought there was a “hoodoo” on the theatre, because his famous predecessor, Chung Ling Soo, trying to catch a marked revolver bullet on a plate there in 1918 screamed, “Oh, my God,” and fell mortally wounded. The trick had not been performed again there until the other day.

Goldin was the son of a Polish Jew r , and his real name was Horace Goldstein. He emigrated to America at the age of ten, and 1 was once a commercial traveller. After several years on fair grounds he came to the fore as a popular stage conjurer.

One of the best known of his repertoire of tricks was “Sawing a Woman in Half.” In this the audience was spellbound by the spectacle of a girl strapped to a table while a high-speed circular saw apparently cut through her body. A few seconds later, with a sigh of relief, onlookers saw the girl leap unharmed to the stage.

Among his many other illusions, Goldin claimed to have mastered the Indian rope trick, the secret of which he declared he obtained from one of the disciples of a Yogi in Rangoon. Less than two years ago he published his entertaining autobiography, “It's Fun to be Fooled,” in which he told how he performed before King Edward' VII. and Queen Alexandria, other members of the Royal Family, and the ex-Kaiser.

“The egg-in-the-bag trick was the high spot of the evening,” Goldwin wrote. “It seemed to me that His Majesty knew that it required great skill to deceive the audience at such close range. It was the King himself who held my bands for the trick, and I introduced one or two now touches. 1 asked the King to feel inside the bag. and while his hand was still in-

side I produced the egg.” Goldin also told how he had the assistance of the Duke of Connaught and Queen Alexandria in performing a card trick. Three years later, when he was giving an entertainment at the Duke of Marlborough’s home, the Queen asked if she might take part again.

“Queen Alexandra thought it was probably the same card every time

the trick was performed, but it wasn’t,” he wrote. « In his book Goldin stated he had submitted to the War Office a method of camouflage by which he claimed soldiers could be rendered invisible. “I am now negotiating with the British War Ministry,” he wrote, “and I hope that if the British Empire should ever be plunged into ■war again this invention of mine will be of some use. “I could make a motor-cycle invisible so that you could hear the noise, but never see the machine. Because of this invention men could be shot at and yet never know where the bullet had come from.” Several years ago a practical joke in New York nearly got Goldin into trouble. He clumsily picked the pocket of a young man, taking his watch, and found himself at the police station. When he was searched nothing was found upon him. but upon his accusers were found a policeman's badge and a pistol which had mysteriously disappeared—and the watch.