Samri Baldwin
| Samri Baldwin | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Occupation | Magician |
Samuel Spencer Baldwin (January 21, 1848 - March 12, 1924), or Samri Baldwin, most well known as "The White Mahatma" was an American magician.[1]
Biography
Baldwin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He became interested in magic whilst watching the Davenport brothers perform séances. He began to duplicate the tricks of fraudulent mediums such as Anna Eva Fay.[2] He was the first to take the "question and answer" mentalism act to the stage.[3]
Baldwin exposed the tricks of fraudulent mediums and claimed to have learned the tricks of the fakirs of India.[4] He was married to the stage mentalist Kitty (1853-1934) would assist him in his performances, they had one daughter Shadow.[5]
The magician Fulton Oursler when writing on the subject of magic and spiritualism, used the name Samri Frikell. He made it by combining the names of Samri Baldwin and another magician, Wiljalba Frikell.[6]
Handcuff act
Baldwin was one of the first magicians to have practiced a stage escape from handcuffs.[7] He had performed this feat as early as 1871.[8]
Early in his career the magician Harry Houdini demonstrated a handcuff escape at the Alhambra Theatre. The manager noted that Baldwin had performed the trick many years before Houdini.[9]
Publications
- The Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained (1895)
- Spirit Mediums Exposed (1879)
Quotes
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
I have attended at least two thousand spiritual séances, and I am more convinced now even than I was in my earlier days, that under no circumstances do disembodied spirits return to this world to produce manifestations of any character. Samri Baldwin (1895) The Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained
References
- ↑ Mulholland, John. (1938). Beware Familiar Spirits. C. Scribner's Sons. pp. 197-200. ISBN 0-684-16181-8
- ↑ Christopher, Milbourne. (1975). Mediums, Mystics & the Occult. Thomas Y. Crowell. p. 176. ISBN 978-0690004762
- ↑ Polidoro, Massimo. (2001). Final Séance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle. Prometheus Books. p. 59. ISBN 978-1573928960
- ↑ Siegel, Lee. (1991). Net of Magic: Wonders and Deceptions in India. University Of Chicago Press. p. 396. ISBN 978-0226756875
- ↑ Kitty Baldwin (1853-1934)
- ↑ Mulholland, John. (1938). Beware Familiar Spirits. C. Scribner's Sons. p. 138. ISBN 0-684-16181-8
- ↑ Woog, Adam. (1999). Magicians and Illusionists. Lucent Books. p. 60. ISBN 978-1560065739
- ↑ Gresham, William Lindsay. (1959). Houdini: The Man who Walked Through Walls. Henry Holt & Company. p. 82. ISBN 978-0030272608
- ↑ Randi, James; Sugar, Bert Randolph. (1976). Houdini, His Life and Art. Grosset & Dunlap. p. 43. ISBN 978-0448125466 "The manager, C. Dundas Slater, gave Houdini a trial, but was not impressed with his handcuff act, having witnessed these tricks as far back as 1871, when Samri Baldwin, the "White Mahatma, performed them. What interested him, though, was Houdini's innovative addition of the "challenge" to the audience."
