Houdini, Halloween, and the Man Behind the Curtain

Everyone knows that today marks the death of Harry Houdini, the legendary escape artist who departed this world on Halloween. But did you know that his mentor, Harry Kellar, was really the first, great American-born magician?

International entertainer. Mentor to Houdini. Dean of American Magicians. It was the Golden Age of Magic and Harry Kellar was the famous, globe-hopping conjuror who could make things materialize, levitate and disappear.

By the close of the 19th century, Harry Kellar (1849-1922), a native of Erie, Pa., had become an icon of popular culture, courting audiences from coast to coast with his traveling, big stage illusion show. The father of American magic would later inspire L. Frank Baum’s wizard in the classic tale, The Wizard of Oz.

But the pioneering performer, revered by generations of magicians and beloved by audiences for more than 40 years, has all but vanished from the marquee of public history, and with it, a mirror of American culture at a formative stage in its development.

Lisa and Rich Gensheimer, the producers of American Mystic: The Magical Life of Harry Kellar will bring this untold story to life in a one-hour documentary for national television broadcast; a DVD for schools, museums and libraries; digital media, including an interactive web site; and a traveling exhibit of rare, 19th century lithographs and magic memorabilia mounted in several restored theaters and opera houses where Kellar once performed. Completion is expected in 2010.

In many ways, watching the documentary will be like attending a magic show in an old vaudeville theater— as layer upon layer of the story is revealed from behind richly appointed curtains.

Watch the trailer for American Mystic: The Magical Life of Harry Kellar.

Photos from the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

For more about Kellar, read my review of Kellar's Wonders, a comprehensive biography of Kellar by Mike Caveney and Bill Miesel