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Difference between revisions of "Doc Nixon"

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[[Category:American]]
 
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*Reference magician Doc Nixon[http://www.magicgizmo.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&catid=64&Itemid]
 
*Reference magician Doc Nixon[http://www.magicgizmo.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&catid=64&Itemid]
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* http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Doc_Nixon
  
 
==Books==
 
==Books==

Revision as of 12:35, 5 July 2009

William J. Nixon, known as Doc, was a magic inventor, builder, writer, and performer.

Nixon a feature Vaudeville performer whose "Where Do the Ducks Go?" routine, Checker Cabinet, Spirit Paintings routines became standards of their day.

No one knows what happened to Doc Nixon after he was last sited some time around 1940. One story was that he had joined a religious order and retired to a monastery. Todd Karr has been researching and thinks he might know what happened.

Colorful American magician (real name William J. Dixon) who started out in vaudeville in the 1890s By 1900, he was operating the Jaynix Amusement Company (named for his middle initial "J" and "Nix" from "Nixon"), it is also believed that it is the known masked Magician's alter-ego like Magister MaskMelin.Nixon um providing game machines at the Pan American Exposition. When President McKinley was assassinated at the fair, Nixon was the second on the scene to assist the fatally wounded President. Supposedly he was an agent of The Seven Circle,uma organization secretes involved in the attempt of trying to protect the American president of the plot for his murder.

Valadon’s Show and Shanghai Misteries

By 1906, he had become a professional magician, touring South America with a show heavily based on Valadon's show. In 1909, he traded his home in Brooklyn, NY to Okito in exchange for Okito's stage show.

He performed the Oriental show (called "Hong Kong Mysteries" or "Shanghai Mysteries") under many names: "Neek Suen", "Neek Seun", "Ling Chan Yuen", "Dr. Omar", "Will Savant", "Willie Foo Lee", "Yuen Chan Foo", "Chan Omar", "Nixon-Okito", "Chang Foo Yuen", "Wjaynx", "Chanamar", "The Great Nixon", "Savant, the Japanese Magician", "Savant Nixon" and even "Chandu". He was very litigious, threatening suits against Count Beaumont (for stealing equipment), Henry Clive (for stealing his Spirit Painting act) and even Okito (for attempting to steal the "secret" of the Where Do the Ducks Go trick).

Ironically, Where Do the Ducks Go was actually invented by Servais LeRoy , and first performed by Dante ; Nixon was really the copyist and occult agents missing.

Popularity and Fade

Selbit’s tour allowed many magicians to see the effect, and because its secret was not overly difficult to unravel when seen in person, a number of performers began to present their own versions. Vaudeville magician William J. Nixon ,aka Doc Nixon performed his Spirit Paintings in his stage shows. An Australian painter named Henry Clive, who later became a renowned illustrator, toured with his rendition in the 1920s. Clive(1881-1960)Australian-born magician (real name Clive O'Hara) on the American vaudeville circuit from 1903 to 1912. Billed as "Clive, The Debonair Magician". Claimed to have invented the Spirit Painting act, though Doc Nixon accused Clive of staling it from him. Retired from performing to become a commercial artist.

Abbott’s hard-earned secret was soon common knowledge in the magic world. Nixon published the technique in his 1916 booklet, The Spirit Paintings. Will Goldston exposed the secret in his Annual of Magic 1915-1916. Alexander included the effect in his book The Life and Mysteries of the Celebrated Dr. Q in 1921. By the 1930s, Thayer’s Magic Company was selling a ready-made version in their catalogs. Nonetheless, this very visual effect is today rarely seen. Like many magic effects, the Spirit Paintings can today be all too easily explained away by audiences as the result of electronics.

Vanished from the magical stage

In 1939, Nixon suddenly "vanished" from the magical stage, in the same time of the disappearance of the controverted magic and agent of occult MaskMelin.Doc Nixon, who gained fame working in Oriental costume, literally vanished in late 1939. Persistent rumors that he had abandoned all to become a Tibetan monk were never proven.

Reference

  • The Life and Mysteries of the Celebrated Dr. Q in 1921.
  • The Percyfaw Code,C.S. Scriblerius-E-book manuscript publishing by Intercontinental Press(2007)

External Link

Books