Zera Semon

Zera Semon
Born	Zera Babel Semon 1847 Richmond, Virginia
Died	April 9, 1901 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Resting place	Mikveh Israel Cemetery #3, Philadelphia

Zera Semon (1847-1901) was a prominent American magician and ventriloquist who toured the east coast of the United States and Canada.

Biography

Making his home in Richmond, Va, as was perhaps the leading conjurer at the time in the States making gifts a feature of his show. His program consisted of the usual effective tricks that are found in the repertoire of the better class of magicians and included a full stage set of life-size marionettes. Accompanied by his wife Irene (1850 - 1906), they would perform a spiritualistic canopy act, similar to Robert Heller.

Zera Semon's prizes would range from hams, lamps, and butter knives, to a fifty-six items set of French chinaware and a three piece living-room suite.

He always won the sympathy of the audience because of his being a cripple—one leg being shorter than the other.

Kit Clarke reported in MUM that when he last heard of Zera he was located in Halifax, Canada engaged in the fish industry.

After his death, his son Lawrence (sometimes confused as the son of Baron Seeman) was a cartoonist of the Evening Telegram, performed as a comedian and later as a magician. Also known as Larry, he exposed some magic tricks in local papers while employed at a cigar store in Philadelphia in 1909.