John Henry Anderson

Orphaned at the age of ten, he started his career appearing on the stage with a travelling dramatic company in 1830.

[2]: 38  The Wizard was committed to philanthropy and expert showmanship, making him one of the earliest magicians to attain a high level of world renown.

[2]: 38  Although he did not invent the trick, he made it widely popular and several of his rivals copied Anderson's version in their own shows.

Anderson would also have two daughters – Helen and Alice – who assisted in their father's show and later became successful magicians, and a second illegitimate son with a member of his touring troupe.

[2]: 39  Through the aid of his show business friends, Anderson was able to launch a new show at London's Covent Garden Theatre in 1846 and then toured Europe the following year, travelling to Hamburg, Stockholm, and St. Petersburg, where he met Czar Nicholas I, who arranged a command performance for Anderson after an awkward chance meeting.

Upon returning to Britain, Anderson found that he had a rival in fellow magician Robert Houdin.

[2]: 40 Robert-Houdin's inventions were pirated by his trusted mechanic Le Grand who was arrested for making and selling duplicate illusions.

Many of those illusions fell into the hands of his competitors like The Great Wizard of the North, Robin, and Compars Herrmann.

An illusion involving Anderson's dispensing of various alcoholic beverages to the audience caused a legal controversy regarding temperance in that city.

In 1862, at the age of eighteen, John Henry Jr. left his father's troupe and began his own independent career as a conjuror.