Difference between revisions of "Hadji Ali"

Latest revision as of 12:38, 16 January 2016

Hadji Ali (fl. l920s-30s), known as the Egyptian Enigma, was a famous for his regurgitation act he performed during the 1920s and 1930s in the U.S. vaudeville circuit.^[1]

Biography

A 1913 Friedlander poster showing a water-spouter billed as "Aly" from Egypt is probably of him.^[2]

A short-subject color film of his act was shown in U.S. movie houses in the late 1930s.^[3]

Ali, who acted with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in "Scarlet Dawn" (1932), performed in the Spanish film "Politiqueri" spouting kerosene on a flaming pyre and putting it out by then spouting gallons of water.^[4]

The medical fraternity was interested to the point of investigation and several of the doctors from Johns Hopkins and Maryland University examined Ali to see if there was a possibility of fraud. The doctors also felt that it was necessary to have expert assistance and asked a the Society of Osiris for help. A committee was appointed and the examination took place with the final result finding that no trickery was discovered.^[5]

He died in the United States some time in the 1940s. His wife tried unsuccessfully to sell his body to Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore.

References

1. ↑ The Illustrated History of Magic by Milbourne Christopher (1973)
2. ↑ Who's Who in Magic: An International Biographical Guide From Past to Present by Bart Whaley (1990)
3. ↑ Magic a pictorial history of conjurers in the theater by David Price (1985)
4. ↑ Magic magazine, December 1996, page 46
5. ↑ THE SPHINX, February, 1926, page 454