The Online Magic Store Blog: Famous Magicians

An empty Victorian American theatre stage with a carved wooden throne-like chair and a small table, lit by gaslight

Who was Harry Kellar?

Harry Kellar went from boy assistant to touring star, known for his levitation, and handed his show to Howard Thurston in 1908.

Who was Harry Kellar?
A lit candle beside a silk handkerchief and a wand

Who was Wiljalba Frikell?

Wiljalba Frikell was the Prussian magician whose name is on Hanky Panky and Magic No Mystery, and whom Houdini travelled to Germany to meet.

Who was Wiljalba Frikell?
An antique coin purse spilling silver coins onto velvet

Who was T. Nelson Downs?

T. Nelson Downs was the Iowa railway telegrapher who became the “King of Koins”, famous for the Miser’s Dream and the book Modern Coin Mani…

Who was T. Nelson Downs?
A mirrored dressing-room table with light bulbs around the mirror

Who was Carl Hertz?

Carl Hertz was a San Francisco-born magician known for the vanishing bird cage, who took one of Robert Paul’s film projectors on tour in 18…

Who was Carl Hertz?
A shelf of old magic books with worn spines

Who was Jean Hugard?

Jean Hugard was an Australian-born magician who performed at Coney Island and wrote Expert Card Technique and The Royal Road to Card Magic …

Who was Jean Hugard?
A padlocked wooden box with an envelope on top

Who was Joseph Dunninger?

Joseph Dunninger, “The Amazing Dunninger”, was an American mentalist who brought mind reading to radio and TV and campaigned against fake m…

Who was Joseph Dunninger?
Rows of empty velvet theatre seats seen from the stage

Who was Horace Goldin?

The life of Horace Goldin, “The Whirlwind Illusionist”, who presented his own sawing-through-a-woman illusion in 1921 and patented it in 19…

Who was Horace Goldin?
An antique magician’s trunk with brass corners on a stage

Who was P. T. Selbit?

The life of P. T. Selbit, the London magician who presented sawing through a woman at the Finsbury Park Empire in 1921.

Who was P. T. Selbit?
Folded paper billets in a small brass bowl

Who was Ted Annemann?

The life of Ted Annemann, the American mentalist who founded The Jinx in 1934 and wrote 202 Methods of Forcing.

Who was Ted Annemann?
A black-and-white magic wand lying across an open book

Who was Okito?

The life of Okito, Theo Bamberg of the Dutch Bamberg magic family, Thurston’s hand-shadow artist and the name behind the Okito box.

Who was Okito?
A stage illusion cabinet painted black and gold under lights

Who was Servais Le Roy?

The life of Servais Le Roy, the Belgian illusion designer behind the act Le Roy, Talma and Bosco and the Asrah levitation.

Who was Servais Le Roy?
A 1920s magic poster wall, posters too blurred to read

Who was David Devant?

The life of David Devant, the English stage magician who partnered John Nevil Maskelyne, showed some of Britain’s first films and was the f…

Who was David Devant?
Three brass cups stacked on a dark table with a small ball

Who was Bartolomeo Bosco?

The life of Bartolomeo Bosco, the Italian conjuror from Turin who survived Napoleon’s Russian campaign and became famous across Europe for …

Who was Bartolomeo Bosco?
A 19th-century parlour with a round table set for a séance

Who was Isaac Fawkes?

The story of Isaac Fawkes, the 18th-century London fairground conjuror known for the egg bag and his shows with clockmaker Christopher Pinc…

Who was Isaac Fawkes?
A vaudeville-era theatre balcony in warm sepia light

Who was John Henry Anderson, the Great Wizard of the North?

The life of John Henry Anderson, the Scottish showman billed as the Great Wizard of the North, from Aberdeenshire to theatres around the wo…

Who was John Henry Anderson, the Great Wizard of the North?
A vintage Victorian magic theatre interior with empty seats and gas lamps

Who was Adelaide Herrmann? The Queen of Magic

The life of Adelaide Herrmann, who assisted Alexander Herrmann for two decades, then led her own show as the Queen of Magic.

Who was Adelaide Herrmann? The Queen of Magic
A Victorian magic theatre setting

Who was John Nevil Maskelyne?

The Cheltenham watchmaker who exposed the Davenport Brothers, ran the Egyptian Hall for 31 years, wrote Sharps and Flats and started a magi…

Who was John Nevil Maskelyne?
An empty Edwardian theatre stage seen from the wings, with footlights and an ornate prop table

Who was Chung Ling Soo? The magician behind the mask

The life of William Ellsworth Robinson, the American who performed as Chung Ling Soo, his rivalry with Ching Ling Foo and his death during …

Who was Chung Ling Soo? The magician behind the mask
An empty vaudeville stage with a long painted illusion box on trestles and an antique crosscut saw

The history of sawing a woman in half

How P. T. Selbit, Horace Goldin and Robert Harbin turned sawing a woman in half into one of magic’s most famous stage illusions.

The history of sawing a woman in half
Hundred Fingers performing on America’s Got Talent 2026

Korean Magicians Are Taking Over: Hundred Fingers, AGT and the Rise of K-Magic

From Hundred Fingers' two Golden Buzzers on AGT 2026 to the creators behind today's best-selling tricks: why Korean magic is taking over.

Korean Magicians Are Taking Over: Hundred Fingers, AGT and the Rise of K-Magic
Young & Strange: British Comedy Magic Duo on AGT 2026 (Bio, Facts and Career)

Young & Strange: British Comedy Magic Duo on AGT 2026 (Bio, Facts and Career)

Who are Young & Strange? The British comedy illusion duo behind Champions of Magic, from Fool Us to the AGT 2026 semifinals.

Young & Strange: British Comedy Magic Duo on AGT 2026 (Bio, Facts and Career)
Kameron Marshall: Canadian Magician on AGT 2026 (Bio, Facts and Career)

Kameron Marshall: Canadian Magician on AGT 2026 (Bio, Facts and Career)

Who is Kameron Marshall? The Pickering, Ontario close-up magician who reached the AGT 2026 semifinals with interactive card magic.

Kameron Marshall: Canadian Magician on AGT 2026 (Bio, Facts and Career)
Geno Ploeger: AGT 2026 Runner-Up Magician (Bio, Facts and Career)

Geno Ploeger: AGT 2026 Runner-Up Magician (Bio, Facts and Career)

Who is Geno Ploeger? The AGT 2026 runner-up's story, from a Thanksgiving card trick to two IBM championships and the AGT finale.

Geno Ploeger: AGT 2026 Runner-Up Magician (Bio, Facts and Career)
In A Flash by Felix Bodden, who appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool Us

Magicians on TV: AGT, Britain's Got Talent and Fool Us (2026 Guide)

Every magician who has won AGT and BGT, the magicians who took 2nd and 3rd on AGT 2026, and how Penn & Teller: Fool Us works.

Magicians on TV: AGT, Britain's Got Talent and Fool Us (2026 Guide)