Magicpedia:Today's featured article: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:23, 20 February 2026

Previous featured articles are located in Category:Featured Article

Proposed candidates are listed in Category:Featured Article Candidate

John Northern Hilliard (1872 - 1935) was a Rochester newspaper man and clever amateur magician.

Biography

Hilliard was dramatic critic with The Chicago Herald and later on the staff of The Rochester (N. Y.) Post Express. After moving to New York, he met Howard Thurston while a reporter on The New York World and became interested in magic. John was credited with securing the master magician with his first engagement on the stage. Several years later Thurston induced Hilliard to give up his newspaper work and become his personal representative.

With the urging of Floyd G. Thayer, John starting writing for Thayer's Magical Bulletin magazine. In 1925, Hilliard became an advance man for The Thurston show. During this time he accumulated notes on what he was learning about magic. In 1932, Carl Waring Jones urged him to turn his notes into a book, offering to publish it. But Hilliard suddenly died of a heart attack in 1935 while in a hotel room in Indianapolis.

Read more about John Northern Hilliard…

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 {{clear}}
 </noinclude>
-[[The American Civil War]], also known as the '''War between the States''' or simply the '''Civil War''', was a war fought from 1861 to 1865 between the United States (the "Union" or the "North") and several Southern states that had declared their secession and formed the Confederate States of America (the "Confederacy" or the "South"). The war had its origin in the fractious issue of slavery, and, after four years of bloody combat, the Confederacy was defeated, slavery was abolished, and the difficult Reconstruction process of restoring unity and guaranteeing rights to the freed slaves began. [[File:HarryCooke.jpg|right|thumb|[[Professor Harry G. Cooke]], a veteran of the Civil War, took up as a profession and toured the country with marked success.]]
+[[File: JNHilliard.png|right|thumb|200px|[[ John Northern Hilliard]]]]
-There were many magicians around during the years of the Civil War. Magic effects performed by magicians during this time included: [[The Spirit Cabinet]],[[Second Sight]], [[Bullet Catching]], [[Levitation]]s, [[The Inexhaustible Bottle]], The [[Cups and Balls]], The [[Sucker Die Box]], The [[Devil's Hank]], [[Passe Passe Bottles]], The [[Genii Tube]], early versions of the [[Misers Dream]], [[Rising Cards]], and productions of flowers and flags.
+'''John Northern Hilliard''' (1872 - 1935) was a Rochester newspaper man  and clever amateur magician.
-The origin of mediumship is usually linked to the Fox sisters at Hydesville, New York in 1848, but believers date the unofficial beginning of Modern American [[Spiritualism]] to the Shakers and similar religious groups. By 1853 the movement had reached San Francisco and London, and by the start of the Civil War in 1860 it was worldwide.
-The period 1860 to 1910 is known as "The Golden Age" of [[Automata]]. During this period many small family based companies of Automata makers thrived in Paris. They exported thousands of clockwork automata and mechanical singing birds around the world.
+== Biography ==
+Hilliard was dramatic critic with The Chicago Herald and later on the staff of The Rochester (N. Y.) Post Express. After moving to New York, he met [[Howard Thurston]] while a reporter on The New York World and became interested in magic. John was credited with securing the master magician with his first engagement on the stage. Several years later Thurston induced Hilliard to give up his newspaper work and become his personal representative.
-From the early 1800s until the Civil War, professional gamblers plied their trade on the Mississippi River steamboats that traveled between New Orleans and St. Louis. Up to the time of the Civil War it was necessary to keep cards in card presses when not in use, to prevent their curling up.
+With the urging of [[Floyd G. Thayer]], John starting writing for [[Thayer's Magical Bulletin]] magazine. In 1925, Hilliard became an advance man for The Thurston show. During this time he accumulated notes on what he was learning about magic. In 1932, Carl Waring Jones urged him to turn his notes into a book, offering to publish it. But Hilliard suddenly died of a heart attack in 1935 while in a hotel room in Indianapolis.
-[[The American Civil War|Read more about magic during The American Civil War...]]
+[[John Northern Hilliard|Read more about John Northern Hilliard…]]

Magicpedia:Today's featured article: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:23, 20 February 2026

Biography

Navigation menu

Search