Students of magic history are probably familiar with Harry Keller (b. Heinrich "Henry" Keller 1849-1922), one of the great American illusionists. While his fame has since been eclipsed by that of Harry Houdini (with whom he was close), and his chosen successor, Howard Thurston, in his day, Kellar was the best known illusionist in the world. His fame was such that his advertising media, like the poster seen below, bore only his name "Kellar" -- there was no need to note that he was a magician or illusionist, as everyone knew. Kellar's lithographic posters, produced by Strobridge litho, are among the most beautiful and highly sought after magic collectibles.
Kellar's career has been written about extensively (including in an autobiography), such that I'll only provide a capsule summary here.
Kellar began his career as an apprentice to "The Fakir of Ava", the stage name of Isiaiah Harris Hughes, and beginning in 1869, Kellar spent a few years with a group of phony spiritualists made up of The Davenport Brothers and William Fay. Interestingly, on the passport application seen here, Fay served as the witness for Kellar. After he and the Davenports parted ways, Kellar began traveling the world with a large scale illusion show. His levitation featured in the poster above, inspired by and, in a sense, purloined from the work of British magician Nevil Maskelyne, became one of his most famous pieces, as was his demonstration of "Psycho," a sophisticated automaton. One of the most interesting aspects of Kellar's impact is the belief that the bald, midwestern magician was the original inspiration for L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz, which is discussed in a thoughtful post by my friend Dean Carnegie here. Kellar became an elder statesmen in the magic community, dispensing advice to Harry Houdini and eventually became known as "the Dean of American Magicians."
You're probably thinking: "This is a throwing card blog, right? So did Kellar have a throwing card?" Glad you asked. While, to my knowledge, Kellar never issued a throwout card in the traditional sense (though Jay Hunter could well prove me wrong), I am so very delighted to introduce you to the object of today's post: a playing card, produced by the U.S. Playing Card Company in 1896, featuring Kellar under his legal name "Henry," not Harry. This wonderful specimen, which can be quite hard to obtain (it's taken me a few years to get one), is part of a highly-collectible deck known as "The Stage, No. 65," featuring images of theatrical stars on the aces, court cards and jokers. You can read more about it on a playing card collectors' site here. That site discusses two variants of the deck, a main printing and an alternate printing. The card I've obtained appears to have the back associated with the alternate printing. Kellar is featured on the ace of clubs along with three other celebrities: actor-playwrite Joseph Holland, his brother, actor E.M. Holland and Albert Chevalier, an English music hall comedian, singer and musical theatre actor.
While not a throwing card as we often define the phrase, this marvelous keepsake commemorates a celebrated illusionist, and makes a fine addition to any collection of magic ephemera.
The joker of the Stage No. 65 deck was the dwarf humorist, Marshall P. Wilder. Mahatma, Dec 1900, tells us that "he is a very clever sleight of hand performer. He practises the art solely for his own amusement." So add that one to your collection as well.
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