Charles Morritt
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Charles Morritt | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1860 |
| Died | 1936 (aged 75–76) Saxton, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation(s) | Magician, hypnotist, mentalist and inventor |
Charles Morritt (1860 – 1936) was an English magician, hypnotist, mentalist and inventor.
Life and career
Morritt was the son of an elderly gentleman farmer, William, and his young gypsy housekeeper whom he had married at the age of 51. As a teenager Charles worked as a packer in a woollen warehouse in Leeds. He taught himself card tricks and hypnotism in his spare time.
Aged 18, Morritt gave a two-hour show at the Public Hall in Selby featuring mind-reading and rabbit tricks as well as a disappearing act using a cabinet he had built himself.[1] On stage, Morritt performed as "The Professor".
He was something of an impresario, having taken over the lease of two theatres and the management of several more in the North of England by 1881.[2]
He later honed his magic under the tutelage of John Nevil Maskelyne.
In 1915, Morritt presented his latest invention, the Tally Ho! trick. An "entire fox hunt": two huntsmen with rifles, a hunting dog, and a lady in green velvet riding on the back of a live horse, were produced from a cabinet.
Morritt knew Harry Houdini well, selling him several tricks, including adapting his own Disappearing Donkey routine into a vanishing elephant trick for Houdini.[2][3]
Trial
In 1928, Morritt appeared at Halifax court charged with obtaining money by false pretences over his "Man in a Trance" trick. The magicians P. T. Selbit and Will Goldston helped to fund Morritt's defence and he was eventually acquitted.[3]
After the trial, the then 68-year-old magician moved to Morecambe with his assistant Bessie and never worked again.[1][2] He died of tuberculosis in 1936.
References
- ^ a b Moore, Victoria (2007-07-31). "The Yorkshire man who taught Houdini to make an elephant disappear". London: Daily Mail. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
- ^ a b c "Curtain down on the magic of Charles Morritt". Halifax Courier. 2008-03-20. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
- ^ a b Steinmeyer, Jim (2003). Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible. William Heinemann/Random House. pp. 301–302, 241–265. ISBN 0-434-01325-0.