Graupner – Gone But Not Forgotten

An interesting aspect about throw-out cards of magicians of the past is that the card may be the only surviving memento of the performer. When I decided to do some research on this particular magician named Graupner, it became quickly apparent that there wasn’t much to go on except for this simple, yet stylish throw-out card. 

Theodore Graupner was born on March 11, 1870 in Saint Louis, Missouri. From what I have been able to find, it looks like he may have had his ups and downs in his pursuit of being a magician.

In the magic magazine Mahatma for July of 1900, we find the below ad where he wants to sell some of his “Magical Goods”.

However in August of the next year, he has an even bigger ad offering a large amount of goods, and states, “Am going to quit the business”. It does not look good for Graupner.

Moving forward to September, 1904 a small blurb in The Sphinx shows he is back at it in St. Louis. It is hard to give magic up once the bug has bitten.

I found an interesting reference to Graupner from a book entitled Punch and Judy in 19th Century America: A History and Biographical Dictionary by Ryan Howard. Apparently Theodore Graupner was working as the “side show manager, orator, magic, ventriloquism, and fire act” for George W. Hall’s Two Ring Circus, Museum, and Menagerie. There is a quote: “We are in our sixth week of success. Everything is lovely around the show, and we have lost but one night on account of rain”. It looks like this quote was from The New York Clipper from June 14, 1902.

I found several more appearances in The New York Clipper of Graupner working in circus shows, even as far back as 1893. How long Graupner did side show work is anybody’s guess. However, in April, 1917 he ran another ad in The Billboard advertising “Six Side-Show Banners – Used three days: Fire King, Magician, Punch, Ventriloquist, Mind Reader, Snake, and Annex Door: complete with guy ropes, etc. They pack in a large trunk that is used for ticket stand. Price, $30, $10 cash, balance C. O. D. THEO. GRAUPNER, Valley Park, Missouri.”

Outside of these occasional advertisements in which Graupner was selling off his apparatus and effects and a few reports of his circus days, I have been able to find little else concerning his involvement with magic.

Theodore Graupner died on December 27, 1945 at the age of 75. He was buried in St. Charles, Missouri. If it had not been for Graupner’s throw-out card in my collection, it is possible that he might have been completely lost to magic’s history. I for one am glad that he was not.
 

Where’s Waldo?

What? Are readers of this blog now being asked to find this favorite children’s character in his red-and-white-striped shirt, bobble hat, and glasses, hidden among throwing cards? No, but that’s not a bad idea. Rather our subject in this post is Waldo the magician and wonder worker. And the question is not “Where’s Waldo?” but “Who’s Waldo?”

Waldo was obviously a magician and proud member of the Society of American Magicians as evidenced by his scaling card above which includes the S.A.M. logo. In addition to working wonders, he also offered, “Merry Moments of Modern Magic, Mirth and Mystery.” The reverse side of his card features the Mahatma design as sold by Martinka. So, in coming upon this card in the “W” section of my accumulation, I wondered whether Waldo was his real name or stage name. It appears to be the later.

A search through Ask Alexander turns up a number of Waldo’s in early reports of the S.A.M. There’s Waldo E. Holbrook and Waldo O. Ege, but none really from the New York metropolitan/state area. And, there were hundreds of references to some guy named Ralph Waldo Emerson. The clue, I believe to Waldo’s identity lies in his business agent, George W. Quirk, 41 Sarah Ann St., Tompkinsville, Staten Island, N.Y.

I found a George Washington Quirk being recommended for membership at the seventy-fifth monthly meeting of the S.A.M. in September 1908 at Martinka’s Magical Palace in their renovated and redecorated little theater. A few minutes after his membership recommendation, the society elected a new vice president to replace Harry Houdini who had resigned. Houdini’s replacement was William A. Ransom who was elected without opposition. No further mention of Waldo nor his S.A.M. membership number was published.

Now, if the conjuror in question had simply been “George W. Quirk,” it might have been difficult to find out more information, but with “Washington” as his middle name, a search on Ancestry.com uncovered our guy. He was born June 23, 1886 in Tompkinsville, Staten Island, NY. This would have made him 22 years old when he joined the S.A.M. Quirk joined the U.S. Navy during World War I, and was trained at the Naval Training Station at Pelham Bay Park, in New York. The training lasted from April 24, 1918 to November 11, 1918, when the war officially ended. He was a Seaman Second Class and Ship’s Cook. The only other information available on Quirk is the fact that at one time he worked on the New York Stock Exchange at 11 Wall Street.

He must have performed magic in his early years though because his scaling card indicates he could be secured for, “Churches, Clubs, Societies, Lodges and Entertainments of all kinds.” No obituary could be found on him and no further references in magic periodicals. 

Update 

Some years ago magic collector and historian Sal Perrotta discovered Waldo's trunk in an attic on Staten Island. The owner told Perrotta that Waldo's actual name was (as noted above), George Washington Quirk. There was some nice equipment but only a few newspaper clippings regarding his shows. Included among the items in the trunk was Quirk's WW I dog tag. 

Also, Perrotta found a wonderful decorated set of Passe Passe Bottles from the early part of the past century. Given Quirk's induction into the S.A.M. taking place in Martinka's Palace of Magic, it is almost entirely certain the set of bottles came from Martinka's. 

Thanks for Sal Perrotta for sharing this new information on Waldo/Quirk. What a great and sharing world is found among magic historians and collectors. 

Tom Ewing

The Mahatma Mystery Solved!

Advertisement appearing in Mahatma in 1895.

From 1895 through 1906, Mahatma, the first U.S. newspaper catering to magicians, was published at Martinka's magic shop in New York City.  Another thing Mahatma published, as indicated in the print ad seen here, were "Playing Cards With Your Advertisement Printed on Them," at a rate of $1.50 per thousand or $6.00 for 5,000.   These ads appeared from time to time in the periodical's decade-long run, but alas, without ever including any images of the cards.

Ad from 1905

The first reference I encountered about cards printed by Mahatma was the June 1944 article by John Mulholland, which is excerpted on our Back Story page.  "Scores of magicians had cards made with a back design, 'The Mahatma' magazine had
drawn," Mulholland wrote. "This design pictures a number of different pieces of magical apparatus." Mulholland did not provide an image of this unique back design created by the folks at Mahatma.   I began thinking about the dozens of cards we had posted here on Propelled Pasteboards, but it was difficult to think of any that fit Mulholland's description . . . except for maybe one.

Indeed, my leading suspect was the back that I've referred to as the Roterberg Stock Card  as they were sold by dealer August Roterberg.  Examination of the back, as reproduced here, proves consistent with Mulholland's description: a custom-drawn back picturing various magical apparatus (including fans, birdcages, funnels, wands, hats, etc.)   And given that the ad for these cards appears in Roterberg's catalog circa 1915, the timeline seemed to fit.

But that was just a suspicion.  Before I acted on it, I decided to consult our friend, Jay Hunter.  In what seemed like minutes, Jay responded with an email containing images of throwing cards featuring the Mahatma backs in two colors.





























How can be be sure that Jay is right?   Well, just look closely at the design -- there's a signature: it says "Mahatma,"  As for the faces of these cards, they bear advertisements for magicians named "George Heller" and "M. Roberts."  Their stories will await another day.

But a third Mahatma card from Jay's collection sheds just a bit of light on another mystery.  Regular readers may recall the elusive Geo. Heir from our discussion of Bamberg Throw-Out Cards.  If you'll recall, Heir was one of our dedicated Men of Mystery, about whom we have been unable to locate any data even with the help of Ask Alexander.   Well, Jay found another Mahatma card, this one featuring Mr. Heir:

So, with that card, we add another data point to Mr. Heir's profile: he hailed from Jersey City, N.J.  That may lead to more....

Of course, only after Jay cracked the case, I found an ad for Mahatma cards with an entirely different "Mahatma" card back.   See below:

But before we leave the issue of magic magazines printing throwing cards, there's one more thing I'd like to cover.  In researching this piece, I happened across another ad -- this one in an old copy of The Sphinx from 1902, featuring nearly the exact same ad, this time attributed to The Sphinx rather than Mahatma:

Apparently, Mahatma wasn't the only magic magazine moonlighting in the throwing card business.  And if you'd like to see one of these backs on a card, check out the Leon Herrmann posting!

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Postscript: After reading this post, my co-contributor Gary Frank dove into his wonderful collection and turned up three more of these wonderful cards.  The story of these performers will await another day... but meanwhile, now appearing on Propelled Pasteboards are the magical styles of M. Roberts (whose back design appears above), Marvill and Burton the Magician.