Howard Thurston

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Howard Thurston

1914 promotional poster

Born July 20, 1869

Columbus, Ohio, United States

Died April 13, 1936 (aged 66)

Miami, Florida, United States

Nationality American

Occupation Magician

Howard Thurston (July 20, 1869 – April 13, 1936) was a stage magician from Columbus,
Ohio, United States. His childhood was unhappy, and he ran away to join the circus, where his
future partner Harry Kellar also performed. Thurston was deeply impressed after he attended
magician Alexander Herrmann's magic show and was determined to equal his work. He
eventually became the most famous magician of his time. Thurston's traveling magic show was
the biggest one of all; it was so large that it needed eight train cars to transport his road show. [1]
 Contents

 1Early life
 2Magical heritage
 3The King of Cards
 4Levitation illusion
 5Later years
 6Legacy
 7Publications
 8See also
 9References
 10Further reading
 11External links

Early life[edit]
Howard Thurston was born July 20, 1869, in Columbus, Ohio. He was the middle son of
William and Margaret Thurston. His father William Henry Thurston was a wheelwright and
carriage maker who served briefly as a private during the Civil War in the Third Ohio Regiment.
His mother Margaret (Cloude), was the daughter of an Ohio farmer. [2] He attended Mount
Hermon School for Boys in Northfield, Massachusetts, class of 1893. Among his fellow
students were Lee de Forest, "The Father of American Radio," and musical humorist Charles
Ross Taggart, "The Old Country Fiddler."[3]

Magical heritage[edit]
Thurston said, "The historian of magic can trace an unbroken line of succession from the Fakir
of Ava in 1830 to my own entertainment."

The King of Cards[edit]

He is still famous for his work with playing cards. According to legend, a Mexican magician
appeared at a magic shop owned by Otto Maurer in New York City. The enigmatic magician
demonstrated how he could make cards disappear, one by one, at his fingertips. [4]

Maurer showed Thurston the move, which he would later feature in his act. He added the
"Rising Cards" trick from Professor Hoffman’s Modern Magic, the book from which Thurston
had learned the rudiments of magic. For this trick, he would walk into the audience and ask
several people to choose cards from a deck of cards. The deck was shuffled and placed into a
clear glass. Thurston would then call for the chosen cards. One by one the cards would rise up
to the top of the deck.

Thurston arranged an impromptu audition with Leon Herrmann, nephew of Alexander

Herrmann. His performance fooled Leon. From that point on he called himself "The man that
fooled Herrmann" and used the publicity to get booked into top vaudeville houses in the U.S.
and Europe, billing himself as the King of Cards.[5]

Levitation illusion[edit]
Thurston became well known for performing a floating lady illusion known as the "Levitation of
Princess Karnac". The illusion was originally performed by John Nevil Maskelyne and most
famously by Harry Kellar.[6][7]

Magic historian Jim Steinmeyer has written that "In Thurston's hands, the Levitation of Princess
Karnac became a masterpiece. The beautiful trick was perfectly suited to Thurston's lyrical
baritone."[8] By 1908, the levitation illusion was sought by famous magicians. It was duplicated
by Charles Joseph Carter on a world tour and had interested the magician Chung Ling Soo.[8]

Later years[edit]
Thurston continued presenting the Thurston–Kellar Show following the retirement of Kellar. He
continued presenting for about thirty-five years until, on March 30, 1936, he suffered a stroke
from a cerebral hemorrhage. He died on April 13 at his Oceanside apartment in Miami Beach,
Florida. His death was attributed to pneumonia.[9][10][11] He is entombed at Green Lawn Abbey,
a mausoleum in Columbus, Ohio.[12]

Legacy[edit]
Thurston is quoted as a subject matter expert in Dale Carnegie's book How to Win Friends and
Influence People. He appears in Part Two, Chapter One ("Do This and You'll Be Welcome
Anywhere"), on pages 67-68 of the original text. [13]

Publications[edit]

Thurston performing a levitation illusion.

Articles

 Revealing the Mysteries of Magic, an exposure of the methods of the Egyptian conjuror
Tahra Bey. The Day (January, 1926)
 Thurston, Howard. The Truth About Indian Magic. Popular Mechanics (April, 1927)
 Thurston, Howard. Magic and How It Is Made. Popular Mechanics (October, 1927)
 Books

 Howard Thurston's Tricks With Cards (1903)

 50 New Card Tricks (1905)
 Thurston's Easy Pocket Tricks: The A-B-C of Magic (1915)
 The Mishaps of Magicians (1927)
 Fooling Millions (1928)
 Tales of Magic and Mystery (1928)
 My Life of Magic (1929)
 400 Tricks You Can Do (1940)

See also[edit]

 Biography portal

References[edit]
1. ^ Sevilla, Julio. "Howard Thurston (1869-1936)". All about magicians.com. Archived
from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
2. ^ Steinmeyer, Jim (2011). "The Last Great Magician in the World: Howard Thurston
versus Houdini & the battles of the American wizards". New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, a
member of Penguin Group.
3. ^ Boyce, Adam R. The Man from Vermont: Charlie Taggart, the Old Country
Fiddler.Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013. ISBN 9781626192119. Google
Books. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
4. ^ Steinmeyer, Jim (2004). Hiding the Elephant. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-7867-1401-8.

5. ^ "Howard Thurston (1869-1936)." Archived 2014-03-18 at the Wayback

Machinewww.all-about-magicians.com. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
6. ^ Pritchard, William Thomas. (1958). This is Magic: Secrets of the Conjurer's Craft.
Citadel Press. p. 98 "In America, the Maskelyne Levitation was staged by Harry Kellar, who
entitled it "The Levitation of Princess Karnac." Later, the illusion passed to Howard Thurston,
who brought it back to England when he toured this country."
7. ^ Price, David. (1985). Magic: A Pictorial History of Conjurers in the Theater. Cornwall
Books. p. 147. ISBN 978-0845347386
8. ^ Jump up to:a b Steinmeyer, Jim. (2006). The Glorious Deception: The Double Life of
William Robinson, aka Chung Ling Soo, the Marvelous Chinese Conjurer. Da Capo Press. p.
346. ISBN 978-0786717705
9. ^ "Leading American Illusionist Had Vast Repertoire, but Liked Card Tricks Best.
Headed Last Big Show of Kind Played Before Royalty. Studied for Ministry". New York Times.
April 14, 1936. Retrieved 2009-02-22. Howard Thurston, the magician, died here today at the
age of 66. Pneumonia, following a cerebral hemorrhage suffered on March 30, caused his
death
 10. ^ "Thurston Dies Of Pneumonia At Miami Beach". Washington Post. April 14, 1936.
Retrieved 2009-02-22. Howard Thurston, the man who produced living things from nowhere
and made them disappear again in thin air, passed through the curtain of death here today.
11. ^ "Thurston, Peer of Magic, Dies in Miami". Chicago Tribune. April 14, 1936.
Retrieved 2009-02-22. Howard Thurston, the magician, who died yesterday in Miami Beach,
Fla., ...
12. ^ Myers, David; Walker, Elise Meyers. (2015). Wicked Columbus, Ohio. The History
Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-1626199224
13. ^ 1888-1955., Carnegie, Dale, (2015-01-01). How to win friends and influence people.
Magdalene Press. ISBN 9781897384558. OCLC 936559159.

Further reading[edit]
 Steinmeyer, Jim (2011). The Last Greatest Magician in the World: Howard Thurston
Versus Houdini & the Battles of the American Wizards. New York: Jeremy P.
Tarcher/Penguin, a member of Penguin Group. ISBN 978-1-58542-845-
8. OCLC 646111788.
 Thurston, Grace; William L. Rhode; Charles Holzmueller (2006). My Magic Husband:
Howard Thurston Unmasked. [United States]: Phil Temple Publication. OCLC 70700027.
 Worthington, Thomas Chew. (1938). Recollections of Howard Thurston: Conjurer,
Illusionist and Author. (With an introduction by Henry Ridgely Evans). Baltimore.

External links[edit]

Wikimed