The Magic of Robert-HoudinContents
- INTRODUCTION Jacques Voignier
ACT I
1700-1805: From Louis Robert to Jean Eugène Robert
1805-1823: A Confiscated Childhood and Adolescence
1823-1825: From Dr. Carlosbach to Maître Pardessus
1825-1828: From Maître Roger to Jean-Martin Robert
1826-1828: The Apprenticeship of the Artisan Watchmaker and the Aspiring Magician
The Mysterious M. David of Bordeaux
1828: The Count de Grisy, French Conjurer, known as Torrini
1828-1829: Return to Blois, Mademoiselle Houdin
Notes to Act I
ACT II
1830: Paris, Here I Come
1830: Father Roujol
1809-1833: M. Comte, The King’s Conjurer
1800-1832: Olivier, Conjuring Professor of Paris
1830: A Marriage of Love During the July Revolution
1831: The First Son
1831: 1832 – The Componium
1832-1835: A Long Depression
1833: Giovani Bartolomeo Bosco
1835-1836: The Fall of the House of Houdin
1837-1844: The Mechanician and the Watchmaker
1837-1844: The Salon Conjurer
1842: The Little Parisian Curiosity Shows
1843: Philippe Talon, known as Philippe
1840-1846: Vaucanson’s Duck, Von Kempelen’s Chess Player, and
Robert-Houdin’s Writing and Drawing Automaton
1843-1844: A Cascade of Mourning and A New Marriage
1844: The Exposition and Phineas Taylor Barnum
Notes to Act II
ACT III
1844-1845: The Big Leap
1845: The Secret Machinery of the Theater
1845: Robert-Houdin’s Soirées Fantastiques
1845-1846: Second Sight and The Inexhaustible Bottle
1846: First Foreign Tour and the Conjurer Louis Courtois
1845-1852: Promotion and Advertising
1847: The Fortune-Teller Alexis Didier
1847-1848: The Ethereal Suspension
1848: Moreau-Sainti – André Voisin
1848-1849: Revolution in France and Triumphs in England
1849-1851: Return to Paris; Pierre Etienne August Chocat, known as Hamilton
1850: The English Connection or the Legrand Trial
1851: Letter on Education; Shows and Children
1851: Roberti de Brescia, De Linsky, Deveaux, Berneuil, and The Electric Light
1852: Farewell, My Dear Parisians
1852-1853: The Final Flames
Notes to Act III
ACT IV
1852-1854: Hamilton: From Palais-Royal to Boulevard des Italiens
1854: The Photographer André Adolphe Disdéri
1854-1855: Emile and Eugène Robert-Houdin – The Exposition of 1855
1856: The Electric Clock of Blois — Robert-Houdin Becomes a Patronym
1856: Robert-Houdin’s Algerian Saga
1856: Goodbye to the Stage in Marseilles
1857-1858: The Writing of Confidences d’un Prestidigitateur
1858-1859: Raphaël Macaluso, Alfred de Caston, Klosloge, and De Lille
1854-1871: The Myth of “Rest at The Priory”
1859-1871: Les Tablettes journalières of Robert-Houdin
1859-1861: Small and Large Magic Activities in Saint-Gervais
1859-1861: The “Geraud affair” and The “Lassaigne affair”
1860: Mlle. Benita Anguinet
1859-1860: Robert-Houdin and Amateurs Magicians
1860: Alexander Heimbürger
1861: Card-Sharping Exposed and Les Figures du temps
1862: Hamilton and Pierre Edouard Brunnet
1862-1863: The Shop and Wedding of Emile Robert-Houdin
1862: An Unexpected Comeback
1863-1864: François Eugène Lahire, known as Cleverman
1864: Return to The Priory and Robin’s Mythomania
1865: The Davenport Brothers and The Stacey Brothers
Notes to Act IV
ACT V
1864-1866: The Common Clock, The Electric Light Bulb with a Vegetal Filament, The Musical Telegraph, and Ophthalmology
1864-1866: The Harpsichord or Tympanum Player
1866: A Peaceful Year – The Sphinx and The Talking Head
1866: Hamilton, Cleverman, and Plantet – Tufferau, Littson, Varner, Lynn, and Alfred Stodare
1867-1868: The Chess Player or La Czarine, and Les Secrets de la Prestidigitation
1869: The Grand Affair, The Odometer, and Dr. Epstein
1870: The Year of All Sorrows
1870-1871: The Occupation of Saint-Gervais and Blois during
the War of 1870 Described Daily by Robert-Houdin
1871: The Master’s Last Days
1871: Last Farewell Performance
Epilogue
Notes to Act V
Appendix I: The Priory by Robert-Houdin followed by notes taken from a lecture by Eglantine Lemaître Robert-Houdin
and complementary notes by the author
Appendix II: Texts and biographies written by Robert-Houdin and published in Le Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle by Pierre Larousse
Genealogical Chart
- INTRODUCTION Jacques Voignier