Nate Leipzig

Nate Leipzig
Born	Nathan Leipziger May 31, 1873 Stockholm, Sweden
Died	October 13, 1939 (age 66) New York
Resting place	Mount Hope Cemetary, Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York Map

Nate Leipzig (b.1873-d.1939) was one of the early pioneers of performing simple straight forward magic with normal objects and passing on the use of fancy boxes and gadgetry. His work influenced people like Dai Vernon, Roy Benson, and John Scarne. He also created the Leipzig Pass.

Biography

In the late 1800's Nate Leipziger saw a magician at a child's party and wanted to learn more about magic. He learned his craft from books and had the belief that magicians were supposed to develop their own techniques. So rather than perform the effects he learned from magic books he developed his own methods. Because of this, Nate Leipzig was amazing both lay audiences as well as magicians. One of his early creations was the Coin Roll, where a coin rolls over the back of the fingers. Nate's original version however had the coin not only rolling over the backs of the fingers, but the hand would be turned over and the coin would continue to roll on the palm up fingers as well.

Around 1901 Nate left his job as an optician and went into a partnership with William and Felix Berol, who made rag pictures on a large easel. For a time he was known as "Nate Berol". This was not a magic act however and lasted for only two years. After this time, Nate got his own break into Vaudeville by filling in for magician Warren Keane at Proctors in New York. Audiences and agents were so impressed after his two days at Proctors that the famous agent William Morris arranged a tour for Nate to work the entire Keith Vaudeville Circuit.

It wasn't long before overseas contracts were coming in and Nate Leipzig would travel the globe with his act of sleight of hand magic and manipulation. When he went to Europe in 1906 he added technology to spice up his already amazing act. He used a Vitascope, which was an early movie projector to project a film on a screen of his hands presenting intricate manipulations. In this way, his audiences could see on a grand scale the amazing magic that came from his hands. One of the key moments on the film was when Leipzig demonstrated a move that he created, the coin roll over the fingers. No known copy of that film is known to exist today.

His stage act consisted of manipulation with Thimbles, Balls and Cards. He also presented card tricks like the Rising Cards. In addition, Nate presented magic with knives, canes, cigars, his Vest and other common and everyday objects. He was not a comedic performer but rather a gentlemen who presented magic to mystify his audience. His career lasted over 30 years. He died from cancer in 1939.

Possibly invented the Side Steal and was recognized as one of the ten Card Stars of the U.S.A. in 1938.

Books

• Thanks to Leipzig ! written by Victor Farelli (1948)
• Dai Vernon's Tribute to Nate Leipzig written by Lewis Ganson (1963)
• Roy Benson by Starlight written by Levent and Todd Karr

References

• The Old and the New Magic, 1906, Magicians I Have Met, by Henry R. Evans, Nate Leipzig, page 274
• Magazine of Magic, Vol. 3, No. 2, November 1915, Nate Leipzig, page 60
• The Sphinx, Vol. 31, No. 11, January 1933, WHO'S WHO IN MAGIC, NATE LEIPZIG, page 459
• The Jinx, No. 63, October 1933, NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1939, Nate Leipzig, Sleight of Hand Master, Is Dead, page 445
• The Sphinx, Vol. 33, No. 8, October 1934, Cover
• The Sphinx, Vol. 37, No. 11, January 1939, Cover, Nate Leipzig, page 288
• The Sphinx, Vol. 38, No. 9, November 1939, IN MEMORY OF NATE LEIPZIG — A GREAT ARTIST, page 277
• Genii Magazine, Vol. 4, Nr. 3, November 1939, NATE LEIPZIG MEMORIAL SUPPLEMENT (Center of Magazine)
• The Linking Ring, Vol. 19, No. 9, November 1939, Nate Leipzig Paces On, page 671
• The Linking Ring, Vol. 19, No. 10, December 1939, RESOLUTION PASSED BY THE NATIONAL COUNCIL S.A.M., page 759
• The Magic Wand, Vol. 28, No. 184, December 1939, Obituary, page 156
• The Sphinx, Vol. 50, No. 5, September 1951, Cartoon of Nate Leipzig drawn by his brother (Fred), page 175
• M-U-M, Vol. 43, No. 4, September 1953, Spotlight, NATE LEIPZIG'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, page 125
• M-U-M, Vol. 43, No. 5, October 1953, Spotlight, NATE LEIPZIG'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, PART 2 OF THE SAGA OF A MASTER MAGICIAN, page 169
• M-U-M, Vol. 43, No. 6, November 1953, NATE LEIPZIG'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, PART R – Breaking Into Vaudeville, page 215
• M-U-M, Vol. 43, No 7, December 1953, Spotlight, NATE LEIPZIG in Europe, PART 4 – LEIPZIG’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, page 263
• M-U-M, Vol. 43, No 8, January 1954, Spotlight, NATE LEIPZIG'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, PART 5. The SAGA OF A MASTER MAGICIAN, page 331
• M-U-M, Vol. 43, No 9, February 1954, NATE LEIPZIG'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, PART 6. The SAGA OF A MASTER MAGICIAN, page 364
• Genii, Vol. 31, No. 11, July 1967, Bagdad, page 489
• M-U-M, Vol. 86, No. 9, February 1997, Nate Leipzig, page 27
• Bio-bibliographisches Lexikon der Zauberkünstler Edition Volker Huber, April 2002, Leipzig, Nate (Nathan) = Nate Berol, schwed.-USA Zauberkünstler (*31.05.1873 Stockholm; †13.10.1939), page 202
• Nate Leipzig's Autobiography (via Wayback Machine)
• Obit, NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, October 14, 1939
• http://magicpostcards.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/nate-leipzig/