In reality,
it was a man by the name of H. J. Burlingame. The following throw-out card is a
favorite of mine for a couple of reasons. His name looks like it is hand
written across the face, but it is actually printed on there. The back of the
card is extra special, as it is a rare blue Bicycle “Pedal” back, first issued
in 1899. I have never seen another one except for in the Bicycle checklist that
was written by Mrs. Joe Robinson in 1955.
Burlingame’s
full name was Hardin Jasper Elroy Burlingame, and he was born on June 14, 1852,
in Manitowac, Wisconsin. As a teenager, his family moved to Chicago. After
graduating from Business College, he worked for many firms over the years in
clerical positions. He lost one such job when the firm he worked for was
destroyed in the “Great Chicago Fire” of 1871. He decided to go to Europe in
1872 to continue his education. While in Holland, he became interested in magic
and studied under the great magician Okito’s father, David Tobias Bamberg.
Evidently with Bamberg’s permission, Burlingame took the name Jasper Bamberg
and used that as a stage name for a while.
 |
| From the cover of Mahatma for December of 1898. |
On his
return to America, he became involved in many aspects of magic. Besides
performing, he started several magic businesses. He did not want to use his
real name so the magic concerns had names like George L. Williams and Co., and
Ralph E. Sylvester & Co., both of which sold spiritualistic and bogus
medium effects. His main business in magic he called C. L. Burlingame.
But there
was more to H. J. Burlingame besides being a magician and magic dealer. He has
been considered by some as one of, if not the first magic collector in America.
He compiled many scrapbooks of early magic memorabilia, and put together a
large library of magic, that was the seed that grew into what is considered the
largest conjuring library in private hands.
With all of
this wealth of magic history, it only made sense he would put it to use.
Burlingame went on to write a number of magic and especially magic history
books. In 1891 he wrote Leaves from Conjurers’ Scrapbooks, and in 1897 after
the death of Alexander Herrmann, he authored the book Herrmann the Great, The
Famous Magician’s Tricks.
 |
| From the author's collection. |
In 1907,
Burlingame had a nervous breakdown and settled in Syracuse, Indiana. He passed
away on August 27, 1915 at the age of 63. Many magic collectors of today will
have copies of the history books that he wrote.
Attempting
to figure out the timeline of when Burlingame owned his different businesses
has been a real challenge. The letterhead above with the Chicago address says
it was founded in 1872. But wasn’t he supposed to be in Europe at that time?
Another thing, look at the rubber stamp with the overprinted name Edwin Neale
as successor to the business. The date on the letter is 1889. Was Burlingame no
longer the owner of C. L. Burlingame? Some collectors out there have Burlingame
catalogs that also have the Neale overprint on the cover. So who was Edwin
Neale?
There is
very little information that I can find on Neale in the magic magazines. One
thing I do know however is that he also called himself a “Manufacturer of
Conjuring Apparatus”. I know this because I also have one of his throw-out
cards. It has a red Bicycle “Old Fan” back which was first issued in 1885.
While the
history of these two magicians is still somewhat of a mystery, they both had
great throw-out cards to remember them by.
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