05 - Unmasking of Robert-Houdin by Harry Houdini

In Unmasking of Robert-Houdin, Harry Houdini embarks on a provocative journey to challenge the legacy of the man he once idolized, the esteemed magician Robert-Houdin. Initially inspired by Houdins brilliance, Houdini adopted his name, adding an i to pay homage. However, feeling slighted by the Robert-Houdin family, he penned this work as a means to dismantle their revered image. Ironically, Houdinis efforts to discredit his predecessor backfired, leading to unexpected revelations. Join us as we explore the intricate relationship between two of magics greatest figures. - Summary by Cavaet

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section five of The Unmasking of Robert Houdin. This is
a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Read by Caveat The Unmasking of Robert Houdin by Harry Houdini,
Chapter four, The Pastry Cook of the Palais Royal. Concerning

(00:25):
this trick, which Robert Houdin claims as his invention, he
writes on page seventy nine of his Memoirs American Edition.
The first was a small pastry cook, issuing from his
shop door at the word of command, and bringing, according
to the spectator's request, patties and refreshments of every description.
At the side of the shop, assistant pastry cooks might

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be seen rolling paste and putting it in the oven.
By means of handbills, programmes, and newspaper notices of various
magical and mechanical performances. This trick, in various guises, can
be traced back as far as seventeen ninety six. Nine
reputable magicians offered it as part of their repertoire, and
at times two men presented it simultaneously. Showing that more

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than one such automaton existed. The dates of the most
notable programs or handbills selected from my collection are as follows. One.
Haddec seventeen ninety seven, two Garnerin eighteen fifteen, three Gingal
eighteen sixteen and eighteen twenty three, four, Bolognia eighteen twenty five,

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Honri eighteen twenty two, six, Schmidt eighteen twenty seven, seven,
Roveri eighteen twenty eight, eight, Charles eighteen twenty nine, nine
Philippe eighteen forty one. In eighteen twenty seven schmidton Gingal

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joined forces. Yet both before and after this date, each
performer had the wonderful little piece of mechanism on his program.
In eighteen forty one, four years before Robert Houdin appeared
as a public performer, Philippe created a sensation in Paris, presenting,
among other automator the Coffersieur Gallant. In eighteen forty five,

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when Robert Hoddan included the pastry cook of the Palais
Royal in his initial programme at his own theater in Paris,
Philippe was presenting precisely the same trick at the Saint
James Theatre London of this goodly company. However, Roveri when Philippe,
deserved more than passing notice, as both were contemporaries of
Robert Houddin and Roveri was his personal friend. Both also

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appeared in Robert Hoddan's memoirs. The trick appears first not
as a confectioner's shop with small figures at work, but
as a fruitery, then again as a Dutch coffee house
and a Russian inn from which ten sorts of liquors served. Finally,
in eighteen twenty three it is featured under the name
that later made it famous, the confectioner's shop. Haddock, the

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Englishman who had the writing and drawing figure in his
possession for some time, featured the fruittery of in his
programmes dated seventeen ninety six. One of his advertisements from
the London Telegraph is reproduced on page one hundred and
six in connection with the history of the Writing and
Drawing Figure, but for convenience, I am quoting it here.
Haddick's own description of the fruitary trick, which was even

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more complicated than the famous pastry cook of the Palais Royal,
a model of the neat rural mansion and contains the
following figures. First, the porter, which stands at the gate,
on being addressed, rings the bell. When the door opens,
the fruitress comes out, and any lady or gentlemen may
call for whatever fruit they please, and the figure will

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return and bring the kind requested, which may be repeated,
and the fruit varies as often as the company orders.
It will likewise receive flowers or any small article, carry
them in, and produce them again as called for. As
the fruits are brought out, they will be given in
charge of a watch dog which sits in front of
the house, and any person taking or touching them will
begin to bark and continue to do so until they

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are returned. The next figure belongs to this piece is
the little chimney sweeper, which could be seen coming from
behind the house. Will enter the door, appear at the
top of the chimney, and give the usual cry of
sweep several times to send the chimney, and come out
with his bag full of soot. In eighteen twenty, Addeck's
program included the fruitery appears with a few minor changes

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of the repertoire of Bologna, a very clever conjurer, who
afterwards became the assistant of Anderson, the Wizard of the North,
and who made most of the latter's apparatus. On the
Bologna program for a performance to be given at the
Great Assembly Room, three tons, Tavern, the shop trick is
described thus a curious mechanical fruiterer and confectioner's shop kept

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by Kitty Comfitt, who will produce at command such variety
of fruit and sweetmeats as may be asked for. The
marvelous little shop does not appear again on programs of
magic until eighteen fifteen, when Garnering features it as the
Dutch Coffee House. On the programme used by Garnering in
that year for a benefit which he gave for the
General Hospital of Birmingham, England, it is featured as number

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ten A Dutch coffee House, a very surprising mechanical piece
which there is a figure of a girl six inches high,
which presents, at the command of the spectators ten different
sorts of liqueres. This program is of such historical value
that I reproduce it in full. It will show that
this particular mechanical trick is by no means the most
important feature of Garloon's repertoire. In fact, his fame is

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based on his ballooning, and he is said to have
been the inventor of the parachute. The ascension of the
Nocturnal balloon, also scheduled on this program, is an imitation
of the one which Garnering arranged in honor of Buonaparte's
coronation in eighteen o five. On that occasion, the balloon
started at Paris and descended in Rome, a distance of
five hundred miles, which was covered in twenty two hours.

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Garnering was a contemporary of both Pinnetti and Robertson, and
whilst with them in Russia when Pinetti dissipated his fortune
in balloon experiments. In their correspondence, both Pinetti and Robertson
spoke slightingly of Garnerin, but the Frenchman's programs all indicate
that he was not only a successful aeronaut, but a
magician who could present a diverting entertainment. In eighteen sixteen,

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the Elder Gingall featured the trick on his programs as
the Russian Inn, and in eighteen twenty three he changed
it to the Confectioner's Shop These programs are reproduced as
the most convincing evidence against the claims of Robert Houdin
the Gingal family as one of the most interesting in
the history of magic. The Christian name of the founder
of the family I have never been able to ascertain,
though his programs give the initial as g. He was

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celebrated as a Bartharieu fair conjurer. His career started about
seventeen eighty eight, and his contemporaries were Laine boaz Ball,
Jonas Breslau, and Flockton. At one time, Gingle and Flockton
worked together, and Thomas Frost, in his book The Lives
of the Conjurers, claims that at Flotton's death, Gingall received
a portion of the former's ward. Associated with him and

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his performances were his brother, two sons, and a daughter.
The latter was not only a clever rope dancer, but
a musician of more than ordinary ability, as she often
constituted the entire orchestra on Gingle's program, offered in eighteen
twenty seven, he proves himself a great showman, for he
features Herschmidt's mechanical automatons, phantasmagoria, a laughing sketch entitled Wholesale

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Blunders his son on the Flying Wire, during which he
would throw a somersault through a balloon of real fire,
a broadsword dance by Miss Louise and Master Gingall, and
Miss Louise's performance on the tightrope clowned by Master Lionel.
On a program used in Hull October twenty ninth, eighteen
twenty seven, a lottery was featured as follows, on which

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occasion the first hundred persons paying for the gallery will
be entitled by ticket to a chance of a fat goose,
and the same number to in the pit to have
the same chance for a fat turkey to be drawn
on the stage, in the same manner as the state lottery.
According to Thomas Frost, Gingall died in eighteen thirty three

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and was buried in the parish church Camberwell. His children, however,
continued the works so were excellently planned by their father.
The programs herewith reproduced I purchased from Henry Avignon, who
secured them directly from the last the Gingall family. As
the accompanying letter now part of my collection will show
Dover February tenth, eighteen sixty seven mister Evignon, Dear sir

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yours of the fifth Instant. I received just as I
was leaving Folkeston, and it was forwarded from Guildford. I
am sorry that I have not one of my old
bills with me, neither do I think any of my
family could find one at home. I may have some
among my old conjuring things, and when I returned to Guildford,
I will look them over and send you what I
can find. I was sorry I was not at home

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when you were in Guildford, for I feel much pleasure
in meeting a responsible professional. Not certain when I shall return,
but most likely not for six weeks. I will keep
your address, so should you change your residence, write to
me about that time. I was looking over some old
papers some time last summer and found a bill of
my father's nearly sixty years ago, when his great trick

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was cutting off the cock's head and restoring it to
life again, and a great wonder it was considered and
brought crowded rooms. I was master Gingle the wonderful before
ern slack wire, and now in my seventy first year,
I am lecturer, pyrotechnist and high rope walker. For I
did that last summer. My life has been a simple one,

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one of ups and downs. I am dear Sir judious J. D. G. Gingle.
The signature of this letter J. D. G. Gingle clears
up considerable uncertainty regarding the names of the two Gingles sons.
At times the clever young type rope performer have been
spoken of as Joseph and at others at Gelini. It

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is quite probable that the two names were really part
of one, and the full baptismal name was Joseph D. Gillini.
It was as Jelini Gingle that he met Henry Avignon
at Deal February the twentieth, eighteen sixty two, when the
latter was performing as a magician at the Deal and
Warmer Institute, while Gelini Gingle gave an exhibition of fireworks

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and a magic lantern display on the South Esplanade. A
fine notice of both performances was published in the Deal
Telegram of February twenty third, when the hope was expressed
at Gingle's collection taken among those who enjoyed his outpoor performance,
repaid him for his admirable entertainment. Gingle was landlord of
the Bowling Green Tavern at this time, and traveled as
an entertainer only at intervals. The next apperiance of the

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trick is in a book published by m Henry, a
ventriloquist who played London and the Provinces from eighteen twenty
to eighteen twenty eight. During an engagement at the Adelphia Theatre, London,
which according to the program, was about eighteen twenty two,
Henry published a book entitled Convetzione, or Mirth and Marvels,

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in which he interspersed witty conversation with descriptions of his
various tricks. On page eleven, he thus describes the automaton
under consideration illusion third, a curious mechanical trick, an inn
from which issues the hostess for orders, upon receiving which
she returns into the inn and brings out the various
liqueurs as called for by the audience, and at last

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waiting for the money, which, having received, goes in and
shuts the door. Mister Henry says he produced the inn
in his preference to palaces, though more stupendous and magnificent thinking,
as a certain author wrote, the heartiest welcome is to
be found at the Inn. In the same year, Henry
issued a challenge open to the whole world, defying any

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performer to equal his manipulation of the cup and ball trick.
He also employed as an adjunct of his conjuring performances
Signor de Ferradori of Rome, an armless wonder who used
his feet to play the drum, island and triangle. A
contemporary of Henri was Charles the Great Ventriloquist, who various performances,
as did all ventriloquists of his day, by presenting philosophical

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and mechanical experiments to make up a two and a
half hour performance. Charles made several tours of the English
provinces and played in London at intervals. On the London Programme,
which is undated, but which announces m Charles as playing
at mister Wrigley's Large Room, Spring Gardens. The second automaton
on his list is described as the Russian Inn, out

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for which comes a little woman and brings the liqueur
demanded for two of his performances, dated Theatre Royal Hull,
April eighteen twenty nine. Now in my collection carry a
pathetic footnote written in the handwriting of the collector through
whom they came into my possession. The audiences on both
the evenings were extremely small, and the money was refunded

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by referring to the chapter on the writing and Drawing
figure chapter three, page one hundred and thirteen. Schmidt programme
of eighteen twenty seven will be found, in which he
features the enchanted Dutch coffee house, an elegant little building.
On the traveler ringing the bell, the door opens, the
hostess attends and provides him with any liqueur he may
call for. Schmidt seems to have confined his exhibitions to

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London and the provinces, and was often connected with other magicians,
including Gingol and buck The latter was an English conjurer
best known as the man who was horribly injured when
presenting the gun delusion. This consisted of having a marked
bullet shot at the performer, who caught it between his
teeth on a plate or on the point of a
needle or a knife. Some miscreant loaded the gun with

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metal after Bucket prepared for the trick, and the unfortunate
performer's right cheek was literally shot away. In eighteen twenty eight,
Jules de Rouviere, whose fame rests principally on the fact
that he coined the new title Pressed Digitator, appeared at
the Haymarket Theater, London, and also toured the English provinces.
A clipping from the Oxford Herald of that year includes

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this description of his automaton. One of the clowns vanishes
from the box and instantly at the top of the hall,
And a little lady in a little hotel, brilliantly illuminated,
gives up wines and liqueurs to them who ask for them,
without any apparent communication with the artiste. Yet the lady
is only six inches high. In the late thirties, Rovier

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made his headquarters is in Paris, and there he and
Robert Houdin met. The latter refers to this meeting on
page one hundred and fifty three of his memoirs when
writing of the misfortunes which had overtaken father Rajoule, whose
shop had once been the headquarters for conjurers. Still I
had the luck to form here the acquaintance of Jeu

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de Royer, the first to employ a title now generally
given to fashionable conjurers. After Rovier, Philippe, who is by
far the most important presenter of the pastry cook of
the Palai Royale. As bearing upon Robert Houdin's claims. For
Philip's early history, we must depend largely upon Robert Houddain's memoirs.

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According to these, Philippe started life as a confectioner or
maker of suites, and his real name was Philippe Tallons.
According to an article published in an Illusionist in January
nineteen o two, he was born in Elias, near Nimes
December the twenty fifth, eighteen o two, and dined in Boccara, Turkey,
June twenty seventh, eighteen seventy eight. Like many a genius

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and successful man, his early history was in a minor Key.
According to Robert Houdin, his suites did not catch the
Parisian fancy, and he went to London, where at that
time French bonbonds were in high favor. But for some
reason he felled in London and went to Aberdeen, Scotland,
where he was very soon reduced to sore straits. In
his hour of extremity, his cleverness saved the day. In Aberdeen,

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at the same time was a company of actors almost
as unfortunate as himself. They were presenting a pantomime which
the public refused to patronize. The young confectioner of pres
to the manager of the pantomime and suggested that they
joined forces. In addition to the regular admission to the pantomime,
each patron was to pay sixpence and receive in return
a paper of mixed sugar plums and a lottery ticket

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by which they might gain the first prize to the
value of five pounds. In addition, Talant promised not only
to provide the sweet free of cost to the management,
but to present a new and startling feature at the
close of the performance. The novel announcement crowded the house.
The pantomime and the bombards alike found favor, but the
significant feature of the performance was young Talon's appearance in

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the finale in the role of Punch, for which he
was admirably made up. He executed an eccentric dance at
the finish, with which he pretended to fall injure himself.
In a faint voice, he demanded pills to relieve his pain,
and a fellow actor brought on pills of such enormous
size that the audience stopped sympathizing with the actor and
began to laugh, but the pills all disappeared down the

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dancer's throat. For t Land was not only an able
confection and an agile dancer, but a sleight of hand performer.
From that hour he exchanged the spoon of the confectioner
for the wand of the magician. The fortunes of both
pantomime and Philippe, as he now called himself, improved quite probably.
He remained with the pantomime company until the close of
the season and then struck out as an independent performer.

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Another story, which has gleaned from a biography of John
Henry Anderson, The Wizard of the North, tells how Philippe
started as his career as a pastry cook in the
household of one Lord Panmueur. And I quote this literally
from the Anderson book because I believe it to be truthful,
as material gathered from anderson literature has proved to be.
It was at this time that he came in contact

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with the person who, after it, under the designation of
Monsieur Philippe, became celebrated in France as a magician. Philippe,
for so he was named in Scotland, was originally a
cook in the service of the late Lord Panmueur. Leaving
that employment, he settled down and remained for a number
of years in Aberdeen. He heard of the fame of
the youth magician, was induced to visit his temple, and

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was struck with his performances. And having made the acquaintance
of mister Anderson, he solicited from him and obtained an
insight into his profession and facsimiles of his then humble apparatus.
Philip improved to such a degree upon the knowledge he
thus acquired that leaving England for France, he earned a
reputation of being one of the most accomplished magicians ever
seen in the country. Date of his initial performance is

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not known, but he must have remained in Scotland performing
his act for the earliest Felipe programme in my collection
is dated February third, eighteen thirty seven, when he opened
at the Waterloo Rooms, Edinburgh and announced the high character
which Monsieur Philippe has obtained from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Greenock and Paisley.
Press being the only four towns of Britain where his

(18:49):
made disappearance, is a sufficient guarantee to procure him a
visit from the inhabitants of this enlightened metropolis, where talent
has always been supported when actually deserved. Evidently, however, Philippe
made rapid progress. For a program dated Saturday April twenty first,
eighteen thirty eight, showed that his last daytime all matinee

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performance in Waterloo Rooms was given under the patronage of
such members of the nobility as the Right Honorable Lady Gifford,
the Right Honorable Lady h Stuart Forbes, et cetera. In
an Edinburgh program dated probably eighteen thirty seven, he has
shown as performing his tricks clad in peculiar evening clothes
knickerbockers and waistcoat, matching with a mere suggestion of the

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swallow tailed coat. In his eighteen thirty eight bill he
has shown clad in the flowing robes of the old
time magician, and he advertises the Chinese tricks, notably the
goldfish trick, which demanded voluminous draperies. According to Robert Houdin,
Philippe bought a small wooden theater in Glasgow. Humble as
this building was, however, it brought a significant factor into

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Philippe's life. This was a young bricklayer named Andrew McAllister,
who had a natural genius for tricks and models, and
it became Philipe's apprentice, later appearing as Domingo, his assistant
on stage wearing black make up. Neither Edinburgh or Dublin,
Philippe met the Chinese juggler or conjurer, who taught him
the Goldfish trick and the secret of the Chinese rings.

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Armed with these two striking tricks, Philippe determined to satisfy
his yearning to return to his native land, and in
eighteen forty one he appeared at the Salle Montesquieu, Paris. Later,
the Bonne Nouville, a temple of magic, was opened for
Philippe in Paris, and there he enjoyed the brilliant run
to which Robert Houdin refers in his memoirs. Philippe was

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an indefatigable worker and traveler, and one brilliant engagement followed another.
During the forties he appeared, according to my collection of programs,
all over continental Europe, and in most of his programs
this paragraph is featured. Part three An unexpected present, at
once gratuitous and laughable, composed of twelve prizes, nine lucky,

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three unfortunate in which the general public will participate. He
also continued to distribute bob bombs from his inexhaustible source,
probably a chnacopia, calling this trick a new system of
making sweetmeats or the court Foustieu Modain. During his first
engagement in Vienna, he had painted, for advertising purposes a

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pastoral portrait showing him clad in his magician's robes at
the finale of the Goldfish Trick. From this picture, his
later cuts were made by some mistake. He left the
original pastor in Vienna, where I bought it as a
special sale for my collection. It remains an exquisite piece
of color work even at this day. So far it
is the only real likeness of Philippe I have been

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able to unearth. In eighteen forty five forty six he
was at the height of his popularity in London, where
he had a tremendous run. In June eighteen forty five
we find him playing at Saint James Theatre and the
Mitchell's direction, and on September twenty ninth, under his own management,
he moves to the Strand, where he is still found
in January eighteen forty six. During all this time, he

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featured the Pastry Cook of the Palais Royale under the
title of the Confosieur Gallant as proofs that Phelippe used
the pastry cook trick both before and during Robert Houdin's
career as a magician. I offer several programs containing accurate
descriptions of the automaton, and also a page illustration from
the current publication dated Paris eighteen forty three, which shows

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the confectioner or pastry cook standing in the doorway of
his house while the key explaining that various tricks reads
number nine. The Confosieur Gallant et les li curiste Impromptu.
Robert Houdin devotes nearly an entire chapter to the history
of Philippe and a description of his tricks and automata,
yet curiously forgets to mention the pastry cook, which he

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later claims as his only invention. Ernest Bash, formerly of
the Bash Brothers conjurers and the richest manufacturer of illusions
in the world, claims that the original trick is now
in his possession. Bash is located in Hanover, Germany, where
he builds large illusions. Only the Wonderful Mechanical House passed
by Bash by a request on the death of Baron

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von Sandoval, a wealthy resident of Amsterdam. Holland von Sandoval
had bought the trick from the heirs of Robert Houdin
on the death of the latter, because he believed it
to be the brain and handiwork of opri a Dutch
mechanism of great talent. Ernest Basch shares this belief and
with what other well read conjurers thinks that Opriy was

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Robert Houdin's assistant and built most of his automata, including
the pastry cook of the Palais Royal, the windmill or
Dutch inn Auriel and de Bourreaux, the French gymnasts, the Harlequin,
and the Chasseur. Opriy was a man of ability, but
lacked presence and personality properly to present his inventions. So far,

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I have found his name in three places only on
the frontispiece of a Dutch book on magic published in Amsterdam,
in Ernest bash correspondence about Conjurers, and on page seventy
seven of Robert Houddain's memoirs, where he speaks of opri
as the maker of the Harlequin, figure which Tarhini asked
Robert Houddan to repair during their travels. With such convincing proof,

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some of which was contemporary, that other men had exhibited
the pastry cook of the Palais Royal in its identical
or slightly different guise, it was daring, indeed, of Robert
Houdan to claim it as his own invention. The most
direct information regarding Opri comes through that eminent family of
conjurers known as the Bambergs of Holland. At this writing,

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Papa David Bamberg of the fourth generation is prominent on
the Dutch stage, and his son Tobias David, known as
Aquito of the fifth generation, as a cosmopolitan magician presenting
a Chinese act. According to the family history traceable by
means of handbills, programmes and personal correspondence, the original Bamberg

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al Aliazar had a vaulting figure in his collection of
Autometa in seventeen ninety, fifty years before Robert Houdin became
professional entertainer. This figure was made by opriy to whom
all conjurers of that time looked for. Automator and apparatus.
David Lean Dirt Bamberg of the second generation, who also
had the vaulting figure, was the intimate friend and confidant

(25:13):
of oprie and was authority for the statement that Opriy's
son sold in Paris the various automator made by his father,
which later Robert Houdin claimed as his own invention. May
be noted that Robert Houdin never invented a single automaton
after he went on stage in eighteen forty five, and
as opri had died in eighteen forty six, the coincidence

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is nothing if not significant. End of Section five