pages: unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf, 345
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unmaskingrobert00houdgoog.pdf | 345 | THE UNMASKING OF ROBERT-HOUDIN and noblemen admiring his abilities as a conjurer. But, alas, Robert-Houdin had played only before English and French monarchs, not before the other crowned heads of Europe, including the Czar of Russia and the German Kaiser! It required weeks and months of browsing in old book- and print-shops, national libraries, and rare collections on my part to prove that Anderson had really played these engagements, when his bitter rival, Robert-Houdin, his heart eaten with jealousy until his sense of honor and truth was hopelessly blunted, was claiming that Anderson had just returned from a trip in the English provinces. It will be noted by reference to the Anderson pro- gramme that he had been engaged only for the Christmas holidays, but despite Robert-Houdin's claim that he was a failure and was obliged to close and seek new fields of conquest in the provinces, Anderson's engagement was extended. He remained at the Strand until January IIth, 1848, then after a brief provincial tour he actually returned to London and played to big receipts. Again and again he appeared in London. Far from being the unpopular, forgotten ex-magician pictured by Robert- Houdin, he performed with great success at the St. James Theatre, London, in 1851. Robert-Houdin appeared in London for the last time in 1853, but in 1865 "the de- spised and forgotten Anderson" was there again, creating a furor in his exposure of the Davenport Brothers. Robert-Houdin might have been justified in criticising Anderson's sensational advertising methods, for these were entirely opposed to the more elegant and conserva- tive methods employed by the French conjurer. But [316] |