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| 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. |
| Nagel,
Charles (?-1951) American club magician and author. |
| Namreh
(?-?) American magician on the Lyceum and Chautauqua circuits. Real name Herman Weber ("Namreh" is "Herman" spelled backwards.) |
| Napolitana,
Horatio (?-?) Sixteenth century Italian magician who wrote one of the first books of magic tricks in 1585. |
| Nash,
Martin (b.1933) Canadian magician and gambling expert, billed as the "Charming Cheat". Prolific author and magic lecturer. |
| Neff, Bill (1905-1967)
(birthday September 1) American magician who later specialized in midnight spook shows, specifically his "Madhouse of Mystery", an enormous 2-ton stage spectacle. He got his start in high school performing magic with his friend (and later famous actor) Jimmy Stewart after being taught by the great Jack Gwynne. Featured in the comic book Red Dragon (the archenemy of Wonder Woman) as the "Ghost Breaker." |
| Nelms, Henning (1900-1986)
(birthday November 30) Author of the classic book Magic and Showmanship, a guide to professional magic presentation. He was also a lawyer, a theatrical director and a successful American novelist. |
| Nelson, Robert (1901-1973)
(birthday November 16) Perhaps the most prolific American author on the subject of mentalism, he gained much of his financial success from his mail order magic/mentalism business, supplying props and instructional booklets to magicians and mediums alike. He was also a stage performer (mentalist, of course) and performed on radio as telepathist/hypnotist "Dr. Korda RaMayne". Alexander sold his entire act to Dr. Nelson in 1943, and later Leon Mandrake bought it. Invented Multiplying Rabbits. |
| Newmann, C.A. George
(1880-1952) (birthday November
28) Colorful American stage magician who specialized in mentalism, and developed his own successful system of cold reading. Real name Christian Andrew George Naeseth. Author and prolific collector of magic books, he claimed to have the "largest collection in the Western hemisphere" and even wrote a book titled Newmann's Magical Library (1945) describing his collection of over 7,500 books. (It has been claimed that his real collection was only a fraction of what was described in the book). Opinionated, anti-Semitic, he was a great self-promoter, with several of his posters highly collected today. |
| Newton,
Ray
(?-?) American magician on the Redpath Chautauqua circuit around 1910. Billed as the "Mystic Entertainer". See one of his publicity pamphlets in entirety here. |
| Nickle,
Robert (1842-1889) (birthday May 2) American magician (real name John Newbanks) born in Troy, New York, who began his career when he purchased the show of another professional traveling magician named Jim DeBarr. Needing a stage name of his own, he took the name given to him by DeBarr, who noted that the new magician was inexperienced and "not worth a dime". His story is truly a rags-to-riches-to-rags saga. After purchasing the DeBarr show, he quickly learned the art of magical performance. Within a few short years, he was a resounding success, with bookings in the best clubs and theaters. He even reinvented his history: his birth name became "Charles Robert Nicholls", and he attributed his start to Alexander Herrmann. Unfortunately his success went to his head, and he literally callapsed in the street after a show at the Globe Theater in Washington, D.C., dying of a combination of heart failure, tuberculosis and alcoholism. Invented the Breakaway Fan. |
| Nicol,
Charles Albert (1871-1958) (birthday October 18) American stage illusionist (as "Von Arx"), stage pickpocket ("The Great Chalbert") and spook show performer ("Chasan"). Both his father ("The Great Nicoli") and his brother ("Nicola") were professional magicians. |
| Nicol,
William Mozart (1880-1946) (birthday December 14) American stage illusionist known as "Nicola". Traveled on a number of impressive world tours for three decades (from 1910 through 1939) until his entire show was lost in a Singapore shipwreck in 1939. Both his father ("The Great Nicoli") and his brother ("Von Arx") were professional magicians. |
| Nicola
See William Nicol. |
| Nicola,
Marion (?-?)
Assistant and wife of William Nicol. Maiden name Marion Eddings. |
| Nicoli
(?-?)
American illusionist (real name John McNicol). Father of magician brothers Charles Nicol and William Nicol. Photographer by trade. |
| Nielsen,
Norm (b. 1934) (birthday
February 17) Artistic and graceful American stage magician, noted magic collector and dealer. Famous for his incredibly beautiful Floating Violin and Floating Piano routines. Graduate of the Chavez School of Magic. |
| Nikola,
Louis (1878-1936) (birthday
March 14) British-born magician (real name Walter J. Obree Smith) who performed at Egyptian Hall during his heyday (1908-1927). Invented a version of the Card Castle and (with Roy Enoc) the Milk Pitcher. |
| Nixon,
Doc
(1884-?) (birthday February 23) Colorful American magician (real name William J. Dixon) who started out in vaudeville in the 1890s with a blackface act. By 1900, he was operating the Jaynix Amusement Company (named for his middle initial "J" and "Nix" from "Nixon"), providing game machines at the Pan American Exposition. When President McKinley was assassinated at the fair, Nixon was the second on the scene to assist the fatally wounded President. By 1906, he had become a professional magician, touring South America with a show heavily based on Valadon's show. In 1909, he traded his home in Brooklyn, NY to Okito in exchange for Okito's stage show. He performed the Oriental show (called "Hong Kong Mysteries" or "Shanghai Mysteries") under many names: "Neek Suen", "Neek Seun", "Ling Chan Yuen", "Dr. Omar", "Will Savant", "Willie Foo Lee", "Yuen Chan Foo", "Chan Omar", "Nixon-Okito", "Chang Foo Yuen", "Wjaynx", "Chanamar", "The Great Nixon", "Savant, the Japanese Magician", "Savant Nixon" and even "Chandu". He was very litigious, threatening suits against Count Beaumont (for stealing equipment), Henry Clive (for stealing his Spirit Painting act) and even Okito (for attempting to steal the "secret" of the Where Do the Ducks Go trick). Ironically, Where Do the Ducks Go was actually invented by Servais LeRoy, and first performed by Dante; Nixon was really the copyist. In 1939, Nixon suddenly "vanished" from the magical stage. He apparently abandoned everything to live and work in a Catholic religious order in St. Louis. |
| Norton,
C. Porter
(?-?) American magician on the Redpath Chautauqua circuit in the early 1900s. Started his career as assistant to Eugene Laurant. |
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