John Nevil Maskelyne
John Nevil Maskelyne ( born December 22, 1839 in Cheltenham, † May 18 1917 in London) was a British stage magician and inventor.
He was a grandson of the court astronomer Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811); Nevil Maskelyne, his son (1863-1924) and his grandson Jasper Maskelyne (1902-1973) were later also active as a stage magician.
Magician
J.N. Maskelyne first completed an apprenticeship as a watchmaker. In 1865, the then 26 -year-old Maskelyne was with George Alfred Cooke ( 1843-1926; cabinetmaker ) known as the Davenport Brothers they, who represented themselves as " spiritual media " debunked as a fraud. In 1873 the two as Maskelyne & Cooke has its own theater in the Egyptian Hall in London. Due to the permanently recordable theater Maskelyne used as the first stage and the capacity of invented the genre Great Illusion, by letting people disappear into boxes. So let Maskelyne float the first one people through a hoop. The secret was spied by Harry Kellar. The Maskelyns staged their shows often in the style of plays. The duo continued to this time setting new standards in the art of illusion and influenced many later stage magicians, including David Devant and the later film pioneer Georges Méliès.
As one of the first people ever Maskelyne was filmed in 1896, although he did not conjured, but only juggled.
When Cooke died in 1904, took over David Devant (1868 - 1941) whose role. This also met with John Maskelyne Jasper Maskelyne grandchildren as " random boy from the audience," and wrote with John's son Nevil the book Our magic. The duo Maskelyne & Devant was very successful until Devant in 1914 withdrew; then John worked with his son Nevil on. In 1917, Nevil Maskelyne John died in London.
Maskelyne has a place in the Hall of Fame of the Society of American Magicians today.
Antispiritist
Maskelyne and Cooke saw themselves publicly as Royal Illusionists and Anti- Spiritualists and made Spiritistentricks as the Davenport Brothers. Maskelyne doubted in the press reports on the long-term the legendary Indian rope trick, but failed from explaining the effects of the floating spiritualists Daniel Dunglas Home. Also known as the author of a book on unveiling the tricks of sharps ( sharps and flats ), he made a name for himself.
Inventions for everyday life
In addition to his work with the stage John Nevil Maskelyne was also active as an inventor. His most significant invention is the first fabricated in England typewriter in 1889 by the British Maskelyne Typewriter & Manufacturing Co. Ltd.. of London was created. Its peculiarity was that the letters in the book printing and unlike most typewriters were similar to different widths. In addition J.N. held Maskelyne about 40 other patents, inter alia, in the field of telegraphy and railway signals. Maskelyne also invented the münzgesteuerte toilet lock.
Swell
- John N. Maskelyne: " Sharps & Flats". A complete revelation of the secrets of cheating at games of chance and skill. Gambler's Book Club, Las Vegas, Nev. 1971 ( Nachdr d ed London 1894).
- Jasper Maskelyne: White Magic. The story of Maskelyne etc. Stanley Paul, London, 1936.
- Jim Steinmeyer: Hiding the Elephant. How magicians invented the impossible and learned to disappear. Carrol & Graf Pub, New York 2003, ISBN 0-7867-1401-8.
- Peter Lamont: The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick. The biography of a legend. Little Brown, London 2004, ISBN 0-316-72430-0.
- Peter Lamont: The First Psychic. The pendulas mystery of a notorious Victorian wizzard. Little Brown, London 2005, ISBN 0-316-72834-9.