Herbert Albini

Herbert Albini
Born	Abraham A. Laski October 23, 1859 Poland
Died	May 28, 1913 (age 53) Chicago,Illinois
Resting place	Evergreen Cemetery, Chicago

Herbert Albini (b.1859-d.1913), born Abraham Laski in Poland, had one of the largest illusion acts in Vaudeville.

Biography

Albini began performing in Britain, but moved to United Statses in 1891 where he appropriated the stage name of Lieutenant Albini (Frederick Baxter Ewing) from the British Isles.

By 1911, as Albini the Great, he owned one of the largest illusion acts in vaudeville and had twelve assistants. He was noted for his Egg Bag routine and for using a brand new deck of cards for each card trick scattering them to the floor. The stage would be filled with cards by the end of the show.

Albini died at the age of 53 in his Chicago hotel room.

Harry Blackstone, then Harry Boughton, bought several pieces of Albini's equipment and later performed several of Albini's illusions.

References

• The Magical World, New Series, No. 4, June 1913, "Albini The Great" is Death, page 58
• Genii Magazine, Vol. 21, No. 12, August 1957, Dave Price writes from Egyptian Hall Museum, page 457

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=laski&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1913&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=52159972&df=all&