Germain the wizard

              Germain the Wizard



figure




Management COIT LYCEUM BUREAU






A CONJUROR, it is said, must be able to show a varied pedigree.  On his mother's side he must be a direct descendant of the Witch of Endor; on his father's of the magician Merlin; he must have had Zornebogh and Zykorax for godfathers, and count Faust's witch among his cousins.  In other words he must be born to his profession.




Germain, the Wizard, who comes before the American public again after a prolonged absence, truly possesses this qualification.  A deep student of the occult from boyhood, he has spent all his life in exploring those enchanted realms of marvel and of mystery which remain to most mortals only the subject of vague speculation and wondering fear.  He now presents the result of years of studious application, ingenious invention and daring research in the form of a charming entertainment entitled 
Enchanted Hours.




Returning, as he does, from a highly successful tour of all the principal cities of the United Kingdom and a protracted engagement of a year at Maskelyne and Devant's St. George's, formerly Egyptian Hall, London, for the past three generations the world's home of mystery, we feel any encomiums we might add to be entirely superfluous.  Suffice it to say that in the hundreds of American cities where he has appeared in former years he is remembered as the peer of all wizards.




Since his debut in the Lyceum in 1898, Germain has toured under almost every representative bureau management in this country and appeared in all the larger towns and cities from Florida to Vancouver, California to Maine.




Germain will be accompanied by an excellent piano soloist as well as an assistant in charge of his elegant and elaborate stage settings.




THE SELECT FOLKS




QUALITY SEAD




ARTHUR C. COIT President

LOUIS J. ALBER General Manager
THE COIT LYCEUM BUREAU CLEVELAND O.





Concensus 
of
 Opinion 
of the
 Press 
of the
 United Kingdom



MANCHESTER, July 10, 1906 — The most bewitching wizard we have ever seen, a man of mystery truly.—


Courier
.




WOLVERHAMPTON, August 21, 1906 — Germain, the Wizard, thoroughly mystifies his large audience by his exceedingly clever deceptions.  He is a most accomplished artist, the like of which can rarely be seen, and met the cordial reception he so well deserved.—


Chronicle
.




DUBLIN, February 19, 1907 — Germain, the celebrated American wizard, such a prime favourite here last year, showed he has lost none of his almost hypnotic charm nor yet forgotten how to be nimble and elusive.  His is a really admirable and wonderfully clever performance which leaves every audience puzzled, bewildered and amused.—


The Daily Express
.




MAGIC




LONDON, May 8, 1907 — Mr. Karl Germain is one of the cleverest and most entertaining conjurors it has ever been our good fortune to see.—


The Bystander
.




DUBLIN, February 19, 1907, We have seen many conjurors but must pronounce Germain peerless; none more strikingly clever, it is safe to say, has been seen on a Dublin stage.  He performs his 
experiments
 with that ease, grace and refinement which characterizes the true artist.  His efforts well merited the generous applause accorded him.—


The Freeman's Journal
.






BELFAST, July 7, 1906 — A conjuror, whom we without hesitation pronounce the greatest that has touched this city, is Germain.  His tricks and illusions are perfectly novel and mystifying, and their working so cleverly and clearly accomplished as to puzzle the most astute.—


Ireland's Saturday Night
.




BELFAST, July 3, 1906 — Germain, the American Wizard, who made his initial bow at the 
Palace
 last night, was one continual surprise, he delighted all by his versatility and cleverness, certainly his feats are most mystifying and found great favour with a capacity audience.—


The Northern Whig
.




BELFAST, July 3, 1906 — Germain is simply wonderful.  His legerdemain completely mystified the audience.  With what he describes as his 
materialization process
 he outdoes the far-famed Hindoo Fakirs and makes the legends of the Arabian Nights more probable.—


Evening Telegraph
.




EASTBOURNE, September 11, 1906 — If the Mephisto of the other world proves as charming and amusing as did his impersonator in the person of Mr. Germain last night we journalists may breathe a sigh of relief and keep the tenor of our way in pleasant anticipation of meeting with the 
Old Harry.
—


Eastbourne Times and South Coast News
.




BIRMINGHAM, December 4, 1906 — Germain, a new and wonderful wizard from that land of surprises, America, more than sustained the reputation which had preceded him and also that of his country.  Carlyle, who knew a thing or two, told the world that the greatest men are those who create something, and the Chelsea seer probably meant the making of something out of nothing.  This, as well as the reverse, is the business of Germain, and he carries it on with impunity under a strong light before one's very eyes, and then one cannot see how it's done.  In his branch of art, and art it is, Germain is certainly a great man.—


Daily Mail
.








Telepathy



MR. GERMAIN TRACES A DESIGN THOUGHT OF BY A SPECTATOR




As the most inexplicable feature of a performance replete with perplexing mysteries, Mr. Germain will present a series of tests in mind-reading such as have never been performed by anyone under the test conditions he submits to.




His incomprehensible demonstrations in this line gained for him instant recognition and made him the sensation of the season in the drawing rooms of English nobility, where he has appeared before a host of the world's most prominent men and women; among others, before Princess Christian, the Duke of Connaught, the Duke of Argyle, Lord Roberts, Alfred Russel Wallace, Pinero, etc.




Hitherto all demonstrators of telepathy have only performed tests during which they were in physical contact with their subjects, thus laying themselves open to the skeptic's accusation of 
muscle reading.
  Mr. Germain's test conditions do not allow of this explanation, as he does not, during the entire progress of his experiments, come into contact with his subjects.




With the supernatural in the material, objective world scientists have long since broken, and the days when authorities on physical science were hoodwinked and bamboozled by such impostors as a Cagliostro, Slade, a Keeley or Blavatsky are, like the Dark Ages, a thing of the past; but in the realms of the psychic, our most eminent investigators, including the Society for Psychical Research, of England and America, are still in quandary and hesitate to express any definite opinions.  It is for this reason that such tests as Mr. Germain performs are not only of the deepest interest to both the student and layman of the occult, but create the greatest sensation wherever performed.







I merely mean to say what Johnson said, That in the course of some six thousand years


All nations have believed that from the dead A visitant at intervals appears;


And what is strangest upon this strange head, Is that, whatever bar the reason rears


'Gainst such belief, there's something stronger still In its behalf, let those deny who will.




— 
Byron
.





Germain's Original 
and
 Wonderful Spirit Seance



MATERIALIZATION




In this, his latest and most weird creation, he positively out-herods Herod, by producing all those manifestations performed by the great mediums, not in a pitch-dark room or in his own apartments, but upon the brightly lighted stage of any auditorium.  Under conditions which he challenges any spirit medium on earth to comply with, he will cause all the usual manifestations, such as rapping, table lifting, slate writing, materialization of hands, faces, flowers and a 
full form
.




Says Carlyle in Sartor Resartus:  
Could anything be more miraculous than an actual, authentic ghost?  The English Doctor Johnson longed all his life to see one; but could not, though he went to Cock Lane, and thence to the church vaults and tapped on coffins.  Foolish Doctor.
  Had he but swept away the illusion of time, and lived in these days of Elbert Hubbard and Germain, he should have learned that 
the supernatural is but the natural not yet understood,
 and seen an actual, authentic ghost.




Those who view modern conjuring merely as a delightful diversion or fascinating form of entertainment, are surely very superficial observers, for its educational ethical value can, especially in its relation to fake faiths, hardly be overestimated; not only does it incite the imagination and sharpen the perception of the youthful spectator in a wholesome manner, but it has been and yet is, one of the most potent factors in dispelling the foul fogs of superstition which still enshroud so many otherwise intelligent men and women in this enlightened age.






Three Odd, Occult Wonders

Demonstrating the Fourth Dimension



GLASGOW, September 25, 1906 — It is a long time since Anderson, whom Scott styled the great wizard of the North.  delighted our boyish hearts with his now legendary marvels, but we do not think he would bear comparison with Germain, who simply held his audience spell-bound last night—truly, 
if this be magic, let it be an art.
—


Herald
.




SOUTHAMPTON, August 28, 1906—The celebrated American illusionist, Germain, made his initial appearance at Southampton last night with the most splendid performance in this line we have ever seen.  His illusions are literally bewildering.—


Southern Daily Echo
.




THE BLOCK




THE RING




THE GONG




LONDON, March 21, 1907 — Mr. Karl Germain is undoubtedly the cleverest of clever magicians and sleight-of-hand artists; his unique manner of working, delightful 
patter
 and graceful style seem especially adapted to the fashionable audiences he has to entertain.—


The Encore
.




LONDON, October 9, 1907 — Messrs.  Maskelyne and Devant aptly described their entertainment as 
mysteries
 and deep they are, too, as all who have witnessed them can testify.  Mr. Karl Germain is at present amusing, bewildering and puzzling large audiences nightly with his novel sleights and cleverly effected illusions.  To make roses grow before one's eyes; to read minds, to commune with the spirit world, are feats accomplished which must appeal to everyone, and needless to say the artist receives unstinted applause.—


Marylebone Times
.




LONDON, May 5, 1907 — Mr. Karl Germain presents a marvelous display of magic, mystery and illusion.  He is one of the most accomplished exponents of these arts that has appeared in London for many years.—


Weekly Times and Echo
.




DUBLIN, June 26, 1906 — Germain is the most remarkable wizard who has ever visited this isle.  His program of il- and de-lusions at the Theatre Royal last night proved him not only an artist of wonderful skill but a dissembler simply 
past finding out.
—


The IrishTimes
.




MANCHESTER, July 10, 1906 — Germain, a very clever and mystifying wizard made his first appearance in Manchester at the Palace last night.  His work as a magician is so far beyond our ken that we are dumb, but will nevertheless say that many artists in the legitimate theatre would benefit greatly by studying Germain's refined and subtle stage methods.  If applause and appreciation be an incentive this should not be Mr Germain's last visit here.—


The Standard
.





JAMES,
 ASSISTANT EXTRAORDINARY




LONDON, April 2, 1907 — Crowded houses are the rule at St. George's lately; Mr. Karl Germain, an American exponent of mystery, introduces a series of wonderful and novel experiments in sleight-of-hand and conjuring.  Exceedingly clever was his work with handkerchiefs, especially so the charming transformation of a cocoon made by them to a brilliant butterfly.  A live dove was extracted from a small glass of confetti in a most remarkable manner, leaving to the most critical eye no solution of the feat.  The bird is made to disappear in a very weird fashion, the conjuror apparently crushing it between his fingers, then tossing what is left of it to the audience, who find nothing.  He presents them with conjured coffee and with roses cut off a miraculously grown tree, altogether unnecessary, yet charming bribery.  Mr. Germain is a master of his art and such high class conjuring is rare.—


Morning Post




LONDON, May 5, 1907—Mr. Karl Germain is a past-master of sleight-of-hand and illusion.—


Daily Express
.




LONDON, May 20, 1907—Mr. Karl Germain is a most remarkable conjuror, astonishing and delightful in his novel sleight-of-hand and weirdly mystifying in his illusions.—


Morning Post
.




LONDON, March 7, 1907—Mr. Karl Germain proves himself a master of sleight-of-hand and illusionary effects at London's Home of Mystery nightly.  He accomplishes his tricks with an easy grace that completely conceals their art, and adds much charm to the program by his laughter-provoking 
patter
 and witty Americanisms.—


Westminster Gazette
.




LONDON, March 16, 1907 — Mr. Karl Germain styled the American Wizard, proved himself the most finished exponent of legerdemain seen in London for a long time.—


Graphic
.




LONDON, March 9, 1907 — It is not surprising that Maskelyne and Devant's charming theatre, St. George's, is filled with an appreciative audience at every performance, for here is an entertainment which remains unique in London.  Mr. Karl Germain, a celebrated American magician, presents an entirely novel program of very clever illusions.  His feats are described in the program as 
experiments in sleight-of-hand, optical and mechanical effects,
 but they are carried out with such extraordinary skill that the audience must invariably be at a loss to know by which of those expedients they have been deceived.  He accompanies his performance by a running fire of comment which adds greatly to the pleasure of being duped.  It is conjuring such as is only to be seen at St. George's and nothing better has been seen even here.—


Court Journal
.




LONDON, September 9, 1907 — England's New Home of Mystery, St. George's Hall.  Mr. Karl Germain has fulfilled a most successful engagement at this hall extending to nearly a year.  The audiences have been delighted, and they are not satisfied with anything but the best.  His performance is devoid of the bustle and ostentation which is usually in evidence where skill is lacking; his sleights are beautifully accomplished, with the most deliberate and natural movements, proving the untruth of the adage: 
The quickness of the hand deceives the eye.
—


J. L. Maskelyne
.




JAMES
 HAS A SLIGHT ACCIDENT






SPECIMEN PROGRAM








PART I



Mr. Germain assisted by 
James
 in a series of Mysterious Surprises


The Butterfly,


Magical Transportation,


Airy, Fairy, Silken Nothings,


Tea Extraordinary,


A Pupil in Magic,


The Man in the Moon.





MUSICAL INTERLUDE
.
PART II





Telepathy


A Psychical Enigma






A Seance—(a) Slate Writing, (b) 
Poltergeister,
 (c) Materialization, Spiritualistic Manifestations up to date and far beyond it.







MUSICAL INTERLUDE
.
PART III



More Mirth and Marvels,


The Gong, a Theosophic Phenomenon,


The Chameleon Masque,


East Indian Magic,


The Short and Precarious Career of Miss Confetti,


How to Get Rich Quick,


A Dinner from Nowhere.