Help us get to over 8,770 articles in 2026.

If you know of a magician not listed in MagicPedia, start a New Biography for them. Contact us at magicpediahelp@gmail.com

Magicpedia:Today's featured article: Difference between revisions

From Magicpedia, the free online encyclopedia for magicians by magicians.
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
No edit summary
Tag: Manual revert
 
(39 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 2: Line 2:
<div style="border: 1px solid; width: 96%; color: black; padding: 1em; float: left; background: #EFEFEF">
<div style="border: 1px solid; width: 96%; color: black; padding: 1em; float: left; background: #EFEFEF">
Previous featured articles are located in [[:Category:Featured Article]]
Previous featured articles are located in [[:Category:Featured Article]]
Proposed candidates are listed in [[:Category:Featured Article Candidate]]
Proposed candidates are listed in [[:Category:Featured Article Candidate]]
</div>
</div>
Line 7: Line 8:
{{clear}}
{{clear}}
</noinclude>
</noinclude>
[[File: JNHilliard.png|right|thumb|200px|[[ John Northern Hilliard]]]]


[[File: MysticCraig1.png|right|thumb|200px|[[Mystic Craig]]]]
'''John Northern Hilliard''' (1872 - 1935) was a Rochester newspaper man  and clever amateur magician.
 
 
'''Mystic Craig''' (1900-1987), a professional magician who later owned a model railroad shop, was known for taking early movies of many magicians.


== Biography ==
== 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.


Bitten by the magic bug by the age of nine, he started working a few school shows.  By the time he was 13 he quit school and decided to become a semi-professional. He joined a small carnival where he did his act and then sold slum magic afterwards.  He learned to lecture in the sideshow, tried [[vaudeville]], spent time with a medicine show and then with [[Chautauqua]].
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.
 
He had hired Walter Plummer as his personal manager who gave him the name, "Mystic Craig."
 
[[Max Holden]], who  bought out the [[Al Baker]] Magic Company and opened a shop in New York, hired Craig as  demonstrator. There he met [[Todd Petrie]], of Petrie-Lewis, who hired him to demonstrate the P&L Magic Sets at Saks Fifth Avenue during the Christmas season.  


[[Mystic Craig|Read more about Mystic Craig...]]
[[John Northern Hilliard|Read more about John Northern Hilliard…]]

Latest revision as of 10:23, 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…