|
A hugely successful
comedy magician who performed from about 1902 until 1936, Carlton's stage personality was rather strange,
with bizarre makeup that made him appear stick-thin, and with a high-pitched, comical voice.
Looking more than seven feet tall, he billed himself as
"Carleton, The Human Hairpin". A skilled card manipulator,
he combined his magical skills with innovative comedy and mime to
create a variety act that brought him worldwide fame.
By 1910, he had
assembled a company of odd performers, including midgets, giants and
fat men. He brought the art of physical comedy to new heights.
His appearance,
however, was actually his downfall. When the natural aging process
caused him to gain weight in middle age, his character no longer
made sense, and he was forced to retire at age 55.
Interestingly, he got
his start in magic when he joined up with a pair of clever young men
who had decided to take John
Nevil Maskelyne's challenge and duplicate Maskelyne's famous Box
Escape illusion. The men built the illusion, and Carleton, with his
small frame, was the one who actually performed the effect. When
Maskelyne refused to recognize the successful duplication of his
trick, the men took Maskelyne to court. Since Maskelyne could not
(or would not) reveal the secret to the illusion in court, he lost
the case to Carleton and his friends. All parties involved, however,
were winners in terms of generating a lot of publicity.
As a child, he earned
money delivering telegrams, and long claimed that he was the first
to think of delivering telegrams by bicycle rather than on foot.
Enjoy
the facts here, but please
don't copy this information and post it
on your own web site without getting
our permission first. It took
many hours of research to compile. If
you are doing a paper or project for
school, we will be happy to give you
permission to use this material if you contact
us first.
|
