Horace Goldin appeared at the Detroit Opera House and gave one of the finest magical performances Nate had seen. One evening at Geese’s restaurant, Nate was introduced to Goldin as the “local Magician” by one of the city’s leading merchants. Asked by Goldin what he could do, Nate performed a coin roll, then went on to show some of his pet card tricks. In return, Goldin did a few pocket tricks extremely well, but then Nate had the great satisfaction of fooling him completely. In Nate’s own words,
“He was deadly sure and every trick he did. Every trick he performed had been carefully analyzed, if weak points concealed as to seem like strength—nothing was left to chance.”As an example—Leipzig never fan-forced a card in his life. The only force Nate used in his public performance was one where in he kept a break, riffled the pack, and had a spectator put his finger into the pack as a riffled. Leipzig shoved the opening in the pack onto the spectator’s finger,
“To that alone, I attribute my success, since for many years my peculiar methods remained unknown and I was able to fool the magicians as the public. Many years later, when I had become a professional, my brother artists called me
the magician.”
Though he performed some paid shows, his greatest pleasure came from joining the fellows at the Local Tavern for a few beers, entertaining them with his tricks. He recalls seeing one magic trick performed there by a gypsy woman he never figured out. The woman asked the bartender for a thin-walled beer glass. She took it, showed it around, and covered it with a handkerchief, twisting the excess cloth around the bottom of the glass. Holding it upside down, a strange thing happened. There was a hissing sound, like the bubbling of an Alka-Seltzer, but much louder, and the glass begin to vibrate violently. When the hissing at vibration stopped, the handkerchief was flicked open, and the glass had vanished! Nate took every opportunity to watch professional magicians work, and usually went backstage after the show in the hope of meeting them. Once he had shown a trick or two of his own, to prove he was a magician, those magicians usually opened up to him, and many friendly acquaintances were made. His own magic education was expanded through the sharing of Secrets. Because Nate had devised many of his own moves, especially with cards, which was his favorite magic, he was readily accepted. Nate Leipziger became well known in Detroit he was invited to watch entertainment from backstage at the major theaters. In this way, Nate many famous magicians, such as Harry Keller, Howard Thurston, Carl Jermaine, or is golden, Leon Herman, Houdini, Le Roy, Talma and Bosco, and many others. It was in this way he learned the double lift, a new and Innovative Concept in 1900, and one of his Fondest Memories was meeting and becoming friends with the famous Japanese magician, Ten Ichi, who traded his classic thumb tie for Leipzig method of working the ring on the stick. He learned a powerful
lesson in misdirection
from watching the Ten Ichi show. At one point in the show a Japanese girl came on stage with a drinking glass, which she showed empty and placed on a small stool. She then went into the audience, produced a coin from a coin one, and apparently tossed it toward the stage, where it was heard to land in the drinking glass. This was repeated five more times. She then went back on the stage and slowly poured six coins out of the glass. This magic trick fooled Leipzig badly the first time he saw it. The second time, you learn the subtle secret. When the girls first went into the audience, followed by the spotlight, all eyes were on her. At that moment, and assistant walked slowly by the stool and drinking glass and loaded 6/2 dollars into it into the glass. He then stood off stage with another glass and six more coins, which he dropped one at a time into the glass each time the performer supposedly tossed a coin toward the stage. Though equally important were the lessons he learned from non-magic performers. In a short article in the January, 1939 Sphynx, written while he was president of the SAM, Nate wrote he strongly recommended to those who wanted to make magic a career they study voice, pantomime, and stage deportment. He, himself, had learned such skills from Henry E. Dixie, one of America’s outstanding actors in the 1890s, and singer Herbert Watrous, who taught him how to make his voice carry to the top gallery. Nate wrote:
“I learned from actors presentation, and without proper presentation the best sleight-of-hand is nothing but a juggling feet.”
Indeed, Fred Keating, Leipzig’s protege, was to say of Leipzig:
“Nate neither juggled nor manipulated. He caressed the cards, he whispered to them, he enchanted them, and thereby drew from them mystery, drama—never card tricks.”
Nate always claimed that those lessons prepared him for success on the stage. During these formative years in Detroit, he became friends with Merril Day, a youngster about his own age, who performs some of the prettiest coin work that Nate had ever seen. The two decided to meet weekly, and each was charged with coming up with something new and original every time. Wrote Nate, “It was at this time I figured out my best effects, which I have been doing ever since. One day while holding a vest button in my hand, I tossed it in the air and caught it on the back of my hand, which being rounded on one side caused it to roll accidentally across my fingers. I was surprised I tried to do it again, but without success until I placed it on the back of my hand by moving my knuckles made it roll over and over.” For three years Nate Leipzig worked New York City on the east coast, in Vaudeville, and for private parties he worked his card magic and other bits. His list of friends grew as he frequented SAM meetings at Martinez, including Theo Bamberg, Clement de Lion, and many others. Then he moved to London with a four-week engagement at The Palace Theater. In London, he spent as much time with the members of the magic circle of London as he had with the Saturday nighters at Martinka’s in New York.
“I reveled in the performances of David Devant, one of the finest entertainers in magic I ever hope to see. Even more than his magic, his style of presentation stood out. He had magnificent stage presence.”
Dai Vernon’s Tribute tells us that, always, Leipzig studied the performance style of magicians and other entertainers. That was the to his own success.
Side Steal. Enough, a few years later, Nate performed this trick for Alan Shaw, who was second only to T. Nelson Downs as the foremost coin man in the world. The following year, Horace Goldin, visiting Detroit for the second time, told Nate Howe Allen had perform the coin roll for him, but did not have Nate skill. Alan had claimed it as his own origination, but golden stopped him cold by saying, oh, I see you have met Nate Life sticker in Detroit! By the time he was in his mid-twenties, Nate’s reputation as an excellent sleight-of-hand artist had spread far and wide. One evening, Nate was backstage performing his coin roll for a friend and another performer Nate did not know stopped and said, you are that fellow I heard about in London. Tommy Downs was telling me about you. Nate had not as met T. Nelson Downs! At 29 years of age, Nate was persuaded by Felix Berol to go into partnership with him to continue a rag picture act that Felix and his brother had performed with some success. The brothers had quarreled and split up, and Felix was looking for a partner. Felix claim that the actress saved $150 a week, which was good money then. In 1902, Nate Leipzig—the name he took for stage work—moved from Detroit to New York City. Felix soon and introduce Nate to Sargent the magician, the same John William Sargent who helped found the Society of American Magicians in that year. Sargent spread the word about Nate Leipzig, and Nate soon found himself the center of attention in Martinka’s little back room on Saturday nights. It was there that the S.A.M. Was founded in May of 1902. The act did not do well. Felix’s brother continue the act, under the same name, and there wasnot enough work for two such acts. Leipzig had a difficult time of it for several months and was finally down to his last two dollars. Through the S.A.M., Leipzig had met a New York architect an amateur magician, Alfred Guissart, who invited Nate to be as guest at an Elk’s Club dinner. The Exalted Ruler of that club have not arranged for a lot of talent, and ask Guissart if he could impose on Leipzig to do a few minutes. Leipzig di. And was a tremendous success. The Elk’s Club offered him fifteen dollars for his services, and Leipzig’s career as a society magician was born. Through his society engagements he gained a considerable reputation for skill and ingenious presentation, and was asked to take Warren Keane’s place at Proctors 5th Avenue Theater for the final two days of that performers contract. He did happened to be observed by several Vaudeville agents, including William Morris, one of the biggest agents even in those days. That led to six weeks on the Keith circuit at $50 a week, which was more than most performers received for their first Vaudeville bookings. Leipzig explained to William Morris he, Leipzig, had not sought out Vaudeville, and he earned more than $50 a week doing private parties. As much as they liked him, magicians In 1902 predicted that Nate would fail on the Vaudeville stage. No one has ever attempted big-time theater with a card magic act! Nate’s approach was to invite a committee from the audience to be the eyes for everyone in the theater. Know the audience cannot see the cigarette paper or the face of the cards, they were amused by watching the reactions of the few people on the committee. His major secrets were his charm, personality, and the complete hold he had over his audience. These one him constant a claim, and Morris raised his salary twice during that first year. Nate Leipzig was possibly the first performer to use motion pictures in his act. At the close of his show, he will perform the coin roll, accompanied by a film showing his hands in close up, thereby making it possible for everyone in the theater to see his artistry. While in London, Nate Leipzig became a popular society performer, when he was not turning a cigarette paper into a butterfly and working the music Halls, and in 1906 he was invited to be one of the acts on the magic circle’s first Grand magic science, which was held in St George’s Hall courtesy of the Maskelynes. A year later, he was awarded the first gold medallion ever presented by the magic circle, a testament to his skill as a performer. Many other honors came to Nate Leipzig during these early London years. He performed both on the continent and in London for royalty, including Edward VII and queen Alexandria and George V and Queen Mary of England, Empress Eugenie of France, the king and queen of Spain, and the king and queen of Denmark. The magician’s talents took him to Europe, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and San Francisco, before he returned to the United States to settle with his wife, Leila, whom he had met the first day he stepped off the boat in England, back in 1903. Though he continued to play both sides of the Atlantic into the 1920’s, New York city became Leipzig’s primary performing area, and he and Dai Vernon, 20 years his Junior, became the preferred society magicians, booked to perform for New York’s rich and famous by Francis Rockefeller King, perhaps the foremost private booking agent in New York. Nate continued to be heavily involved in both professional and amateur magic throughout his life, and by 1932 became one of the five original members of the New York Inner Circle, the others being Al Baker, Arthur Finley, S. Leo Horowitz, and Dai Vernon. In 1938, he was named one of the 10 living Card Stars, the others being Annemann, Al Baker, Arthur Finley, Cardini, S. Leo Horowitz, Stewart Judah, Bill McCaffrey, Paul Rosini, John Scarne, and Dai Vernon. Because of his long-standing affiliation with performers in all areas of show business, Nate Leipzig became a valued member of the famous line Lamb’s Club in New York; he was the only professional artist who was not a member of the legitimate stage to be accepted into that club. He frequently went to the club, sharing beer and card tricks at the bar with old friends; this became a enjoyable part of his of his life. Nate Leipzig took pleasure and helping others. He was instrumental in the professional growth of Fred Keating, who became an exceptional performer in the 1930s, 1940’s, and 1950s, and magic and on the legitimate stage, and the famous cardmaster, John Scarne, publicly and not acknowledged Nate Leipzig, saying:
“Whatever I can do, is because Nate Leipzig showed me how to do it.”
In May of 1938, Leipzig became the popular president of the Society of American Magicians in magic history. Part way through his term he began to show the effects of the cancer which was to take his life. He still performed at the National Conference of the S a.m. In New York City on May 29th, 1939, two days after he passed the presidency on the Shirley Quimby. On October 13th, 1939, he passed from this life. And, then, obituary, John Mulholland, the esteemed editor of the Sphinx, wrote: “Nate Leipzig was a cultured gentleman, a clever raconteur, most loyal friend, and the wise and helpful advisor of countless young magicians. He never spoke or thought in an unfriendly manner of anyone. He was never busy to give his valuable services to a worthy charity, nor aid and counsel to one in need, nor give advice for magicians
