Harry Kellar (born Heinrich Keller; July 11, 1849 – March 10, 1922) was an American magician who presented large stage shows during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

He was a longtime customer of the Martinka Magic Company, which built many of his illusions and sets, including the "Blue Room".

While working on a farm in Buffalo, New York, Kellar answered an ad in the newspaper that was placed by Hughes, who was looking for an assistant.

[6] Two years later, Kellar tried again with better results, but, as he was in poor financial condition, his early career often consisted of borrowing equipment for the show and avoiding creditors.

[7] Kellar spent several years working with them, until 1873, when he and Fay parted ways with the Davenports and embarked on a "world tour" through Central and South America.

[8] Then, on their way to a tour in England, Boyne, the ship Kellar and Fay were sailing on, sank in the Bay of Biscay.

[9] Desperate for money, Kellar sold his ring and parted ways with Fay, who left to rejoin the Davenports.

[10] After visiting John Nevil Maskelyne's and George Alfred Cooke's theater, called the Egyptian Hall, Kellar was inspired and liked the idea of performing in one spot.

With the money, Kellar started a "troupe" based on Masekylne's and Cooke's in England, even going so far as naming his theater the Egyptian Hall.

In 1878, Kellar returned to England and invested $12,000 into purchasing new equipment, including a version Maskelyne's whist-playing automaton "Psycho".

After a disappointing tour in South America, Kellar cancelled his remaining shows and returned to New York.

"[11] Kellar attempted to prove that his name had always been Keller with an "e" and that he had actually changed it years previously to try to avoid being confused with Heller.

[12] The public was still unreceptive to him, causing Kellar to eventually cancel his upcoming shows in the United States and return to Brazil.

After another world tour in 1882, Kellar was performing again in Melbourne and met a fan, Eva Lydia Medley, who came backstage to get his autograph.

Kellar started his version of Egyptian Hall in December 1884, after renting out an old Masonic temple on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

While he lacked sleight of hand, Kellar was so good in using misdirection, that he said a "...brass band playing at full blast can march openly across the stage behind me, followed by a herd of elephants, yet no one will realize that they went by.

Kellar supposedly developed this trick by abruptly walking onto the stage during a show by Maskelyne, seeing what he needed to know, and leaving.

The Buffalo writer John Northern Hilliard wrote that the levitation was a marvel of the twentieth century and "the crowning achievement of Mr. Kellar's long and brilliant career.

Inside the "princess"'s dress was a flat board she was resting on, which was connected to a metal bar going out the side into the backstage.

The other end of the bar connected to a machine to raise and lower the woman, blocked from view by the curtain and her own body.

[19] A variation of the trick was performed in front of United States President Theodore Roosevelt and his children, Ethel, Archie, Quentin and Kermit.

Kellar told the audience that each evening, the lamp would be returned to its purported, original owner in India at a specific time.