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N Biographies

Magicians' Biographies - Letter N

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Nicola Poster
 
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." 
 
Nelly, Miss
(?-?) French mentalist, performing with the Max Reywils show.
 
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, Larry
(1900-?) Brother and partner with Robert Nelson in their Alla Rageh & Co. mentalism act. He played "Alla Rageh".
 
Nelson, Robert
(1901-1973)(birthday November 16) Prolific American author on the subject of mentalism. Nelson Enterprises was a successful mail order supplier to mentalists and mediums alike. Performed on radio as telepathist/hypnotist "Dr. Korda RaMayne". Bought Alexander's show in 1943. 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 however 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".
 
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.
 
Nicolay, Faure
(?-?) Younger brother of Gaetano Nicolay, Faure took over his borther's successful show in the 1870s. Keeping the same routines, he changed his stage name to "Dr. Nicolay" and added a young female assistant named "Enelita".
 
Nicolay, Gaetano
(?-?) European illusionist who performed mainly in the 1860 and 1870s. Older brother of Faure Nicolay.
 
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.
 
Nix, Dr.
(1854-1925) British magician, real name John B. Nix. Got his start in 1865 at age 11 as assistant to John Henry Anderson. Was such a sensation in the Anderson act that within a year, he had his own stage act, billed as "The Boy Conjurer". As he matured, he changed his billing to "The Royal Conjurer" and then to "Dr. Nix". He also performed as "Paul LeMare".
 
Nixon, Doc
(1884-?)(birthday February 23) Fascinating 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.
 
Norton, Mac
(1876-1953) French magician (real name Claude Louis Delair) who was billed as "The Human Aquarium". As a child, he developed the amusing ability to swallow and then regurgitate small quantities of water. As an adult, he saw that other magicians were making a good living as regurgitators, so he developed his own act, learning to swallow great quantities of water and bread, and even live animals. On one of his show posters, he proclaimed, "I say I am an extraordinary scientific phenomenon like the quadruped mammal with four stomachs (the cow). I drink a punch bowl(?) of water containing 220 liters in 2 hours 30 minutes. 100 glasses of beer in 10 minutes. I eat 208 loaves of dry bread of 1 pound each in 48 hours. I swallow fishes, turtles, frogs, water snakes alive by the dozens. I keep them not more than 2 hours in my stomach, just as Jonah in the whale,then I return them alive, even more alive than ever in their respective aquariums.
 
Norworth, Jack
He wrote the lyrics to "Take Me Out To the Ballgame"
Read the biography of Jack Norworth - see images!
 
 
 
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