Alexander Hermann

Card-throwing finds its origins in Western stage magic. Western card-throwing techniques, as they are passed among performers today, are attributed to stage magicians in the late 19th century. The exact origins of "flying card" tricks are unknown, but Alexander is usually credited with first including card throwing in a major act. Alexander become so skilled that he could place a card in the lap of any spectator that raised their hand. He could also bounce cards off of the rear wall of the largest theatres. He developed a technique that is still copied today which allowed him to be able to scale the cards all the way to the back of the theater. This, of course, made a big impact on the people in the cheaper seats.

Sometimes his gags backfired on him. He was once having dinner with newspaper journalist and humorist Bill Nye (aka Edgar Wilson Nye). Herrmann found a large diamond in the lettuce of Nye's salad. Nye turned the tables on the great magician. He picked up the diamond and handed it to a passing waitress—"as a little present," Nye said. Herrmann had trouble getting his diamond back from the waitress. The girl refused to give it up. The proprietor of the restaurant had to apply pressure on her.

Upon return of the items, Herrmann poured the rice into the vase and placed the lid on it. He went into the audience, walked over to a bearded gentleman and borrowed his hat. He reached over to the gentleman's beard and produced an orange from it—"Thank you. Just what I needed for this trick"—eliciting a chuckle from the audience. He returned to the stage and placed the hat on a chair and the orange on one of the tables.

Herrmann picked up the hat and discovered many things inside—enough to fill a trunk. He thanked the owner of the hat as he returned it. As he did, he found a white rabbit inside of it. Herrmann stroked the rabbit. He pulled it apart and had two rabbits, one in each hand. He put the rabbits on the table. "If you notice," he said in his Parisian accent, "the rabbits are the same size, no?" He scooped them from the table and they melted into one.

One of the most dangerous magic tricks is the bullet catch. The bullet catch is a trick in which a magician has a spectator mark a bullet and load it into a gun. Then the spectator fires directly at the magician, who appears to catch the bullet—often in his mouth, sometimes in his hand. In their patter, magicians often refer to the legend of 12 magicians that have died doing the trick. ("Will I be number 13?") Even though most things magicians utter is hyperbole, there is real danger associated with the bullet catch.

Herrmann the Great performed his own version of the bullet catch. The bullet was still marked, but the danger of the trick was avoided. The gunpowder never came near the firing mechanism, with the result that the bullet never left the gun. The trick was safe—or so Herrmann thought; he would never live long enough to see his one-time assistant die from it.

In contrast, Adelaide Herrmann continued to perform as a successful solo magician for the next 25 years, and became known as "The Queen of Magic". Notably, she continued to perform the dangerous bullet catch trick. Adelaide retired at the age of 75. She died in 1932, and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery next to her husband.

Leon's show failed to draw audiences, and this decline led to Kellar taking over the mantle of the leading magician in America. Leon later trimmed his show to a short vaudeville act. While on a holiday trip to Paris, Leon died on May 16, 1909.

After Herrmann died in 1896, his widow Adelaide continued performing her husband's illusions. On January 11, 1897, she was joined by Alexander's nephew, Leon Herrmann. The Herrmann name still drew crowds, but because of clashes of temperament, Leon and Adelaide parted company after three seasons and continued separate acts.

However, he did make the most of the trick. Not a normal part of his act, the trick would be presented on special occasions. Herrmann announced in May 1896 that he would attempt the bullet catch for the seventh time on the stage of the Olympia Theatre as part of a fundraiser for the Sick Babies Fund.

On December 16, 1896, Herrmann was finishing a week engagement at the Lyceum in Rochester, New York. He invited an entire school to his matinee performance. That afternoon, the house was packed. Because the throng was so enthusiastic and gave him many ovations, Herrmann extended the length of the performance.

While on board a train to the next performance, Herrmann suffered a heart attack. The train stopped in Ellicottville, New York. Alexander whispered to Adelaide, "Make sure all in the company get back to New York." The local doctor arrived a few moments later, but it was too late. He failed to recover. On December 17, 1896, at the age of 52, Herrmann the Great was pronounced dead.

Leavitt handled both magicians. There was never any problem until 1888 when Kellar learned of Herrmann's proposed tour of Mexico. Kellar asked Leavitt to cancel his American tour so he could play the Mexican tour before Herrmann's arrival date. At first Leavitt objected, but Kellar had a strong personality and would not take no for an answer. Leavitt regretfully conceded. However, instead of letting Kellar win, he used Herrmann as a spoiler.

Alexander left Paris to go back to America, where he became an established institution. Two years later, while in New York, Alexander was shocked to hear the news of the death of his brother Carl, who died on July 8, 1887, in Karlsbad in Germany. Even with the rivalry between them, Alexander could not help but feel that he owed everything to him. "We've always had a warm and brotherly feeling towards each other," he told a newspaper.

Alexander met his brother Carl again in 1885 in Paris. Carl was still miffed at Alexander from his triumph at Egyptian Hall. Carl was planning on retiring again and was grooming their nephew Leon to be his successor. However, he did not intend to retire until he regained his fortune. So an agreement was made between the two brothers to split the world. Compars was to return to Europe and Alexander to the United States.

In 1885 Herrmann returned to America, receiving the best terms given to any star on the road. He lost a lot of money to outside investments. For the upcoming season, he estimated he would make $85,000 to $95,000 profit (about $2 million in today's money).

In 1883, after solidifying his name in the United States, Herrmann embarked on another world tour. His first stop was South America. Emperor Don Pedro II of Brazil attended nineteen performances in Rio de Janeiro. The emperor was so fascinated with Herrmann's magic that he presented him with the Cross of Brazil.

In New York, he wanted to purchase a home, but only a citizen of America could buy a home. So he became a naturalized citizen in July 1876 in Boston. Later, he bought a beautiful, dark red mansion in Whitestone, Queens in New York. An eight-foot-high, spiked wire fence enclosed the property. A herd of cattle and several goats grazing in the pasture could be seen along the winding, tree-lined road.

In Manhattan on March 27, 1875, the Mayor of New York performed the ceremony marrying Alexander and Adelaide. Herrmann was known to do spontaneous tricks. Even on his wedding day he could not resist; he produced a roll of bills from the mayor's beard.

Meanwhile, in 1874, Alexander returned to America. On the boat, he saw the young dancer Mademoiselle Scarcez that he had met in London. The titian-haired, bilingual Adelaide had been planning to marry an American actor. Before the ship docked, she changed her mind.

Alexander's record-breaking run would soon end. He was set to tour Europe after his triumph at Egyptian Hall. Then he returned to the United States and Canada and made several tours. Meanwhile, the financial panic of 1873 wiped out his brother Carl. On May 9, the Vienna Stock Exchange (Wiener Börse) crashed. They no longer were able to bankroll the corrupt mismanagement of the Deutsche Bank. A series of Viennese bank failures resulted. This caused a deflation of the money available for business lending. (See Panic of 1873.)

Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, Alexander and his wife Adelaide Herrmann performed together in elaborate stage shows. The great American impresario Michael B. Leavitt handled Herrmann's American and Mexican contracts. Leavitt always paid all transportation costs as well as advertising, salaries, and other expenses. "Whenever I open a new theatre, " Leavitt once said, "I want to insure of large crowds, I will have Herrmann the Great play the date." He was always a drawing card wherever he played, receiving fifty percent of the gross receipt and earning $75,000 a year (about $3 million in today's figures).

A few years later, they parted company. Alexander appeared on his own until he met up with Carl in Vienna in 1867. They formed their second co-partnership and returned to the U.S. to resume their tour there. According to Walter B. Gibson's book The Magic Masters, they "implanted the name Herrmann quite firmly there." The Herrmann name eventually became synonymous with magic. Eventually the two magic brothers would go their separate ways.

With the departure of Carl, Alexander began his independent career in 1862. Carl returned to play to the capitals of Europe. Alexander brought his own show to London in 1871 and began a three-year stretch at Egyptian Hall, which he called his "one thousand and one nights". Egyptian Hall was one of the first buildings in England to be influenced by the Egyptian style, inspired by Europe's new interest in the various temples on the Nile, the Pyramids and the Sphinx. By the end of the 19th century, the Hall was also associated with magic and spiritualism, as a number of performers and lecturers had hired it for shows. So when Alexander began his run there, it was already the hallmark of a professional magician's career.

When Alexander's skills increased, he became a more integral part of Carl's show. By the time they arrived in the United States in 1860, Alexander was seventeen. Audiences noticed his adroitness; his dexterity soon rivaled that of his famous brother. Jealousy brewed on that tour, but never surfaced.

Alexander's brother Compars Herrmann left medical school at an early age to pursue a career as a magician and served as a role model and inspiration for Alexander. When Compars (also known as Carl) returned to his parents' home in Paris in 1853, he was thrilled to find out that his eight-year-old brother Alexander was already showing an interest in magic. Without his family's consent, Carl 'kidnapped' his younger brother and took him to Saint Petersburg, Russia to teach him the art of magic. While there, he took his younger brother with him on a tour that started in Russia.

Alexander Herrmann (February 10, 1844 – December 17, 1896) was a French magician, better known as Herrmann the Great. He was married to Adelaide Herrmann, another magician known as the Queen of Magic.

Rumors emerged that Carl was Alexander's uncle, or that they were not related. A lawsuit claimed that Alexander's real name was Nieman. It went on to say that Carl adopted young Nieman and used him as an assistant so he could groom him to become his successor. The suit claimed that Nieman had adopted the name Herrmann. In 1895, Alexander printed a statement to a San Francisco newspaper that contradicted everything in the lawsuit. He told the newspaper that he had been born in France on February 11, 1843, of German parentage. (His date of birth given here contradicts records that show that he was born February 10, 1844, according to Herrmann expert James Hamilton). He stated that his father was a physician in Germany and had moved to Paris before Alexander was born. Nevertheless, the rumors persisted even after his death; Alexander's widow had to disprove them many times.

With the birth of his eldest son, Compars, in 1816 in Hanover, Germany, he decided to settle down to continue his practice. Samuel Herrmann played small towns around from 1817 in Germany and moved his family to France. He played the institutes and lyceums of Paris and gave performances until 1855. He taught his skills to his oldest son Compars, also known as Carl. He played in colleges in Paris and Versailles. Samuel entertained the pupils of the grandes écoles near Versailles. With this performance, his son Carl was admitted to the school tuition-free. Samuel Herrmann continued even after his son Carl succeeded him as a magician. Samuel retired about 1860.