Belzoni
MAGICIAN, BARBER, MONK, STRONG-MAN, EXPLORER, EGYPTOLOGIST, AUTHOR and FINALLY WORLD-FAMED SAVANT
By HARRY HOUDINI and HENRY R. EVANS
Copyright 1918 by Harry Houdini
This article is based on a rare brochure by Richard F. Burton, and accounts in Chambers' Book of Days, Willis' Current Notes, London, 1851, The European Magazine, August, 1822, Old Showmen and the Old London Fairs, by Thomas Frost, and various encyclopedias.
FROM THE HOUDINl COLLECTION.
A vision of ruined temples bathed in moonlight; the darkly flowing Nile; the Sphinx enveloped to the neck in the shifting sand of the desert; a party of explorers resting after their labors around a camp fire, listening to the adventures of a colossus of a man. He speaks in fluent Italian and tells of the wonders of Egypt, when men worshiped the solar disk, and believed in incantations and magic. But of his own exploits as a magician he is as silent as a mummy in a sarcophogus. The speaker is Signor Belzoni.
It will, perhaps, astonish the reader to learn that the famous Egyptian archaeologist, Belzoni, was at one time in his career a barber, and later a mountebank who performed as a strong man and executed feats of legerdemain at country fairs. But like many other men who have achieved unexpected distinction, Belzoni despised the steps by which he rose. His lowly origin was a matter of mortification to him when he became the much-vaunted Italian savant, whom the scientific world applauded and honored: nevertheless, it was the experience and knowledge of showmanship acquired in those early days of struggle and disappointment that enabled him to win public approval for his archaeological exhibitions, and lasting fame for himself.
Giovanni Battista Belzoni was born November 5th, 1778, in the ancient city of Padua. His father was a barber in humble circumstances. The family was originally Roman, and the name Zolzon, or Bolzom, was softened to Belzoni, by Giovanni's father. Giovanni learned his father's business, and subsequently set off for Rome with the idea of improving his fortune. There a love disappointment caused him to enter a Capuchin monastary, where he remained until the arrival of the French army under Napoleon. The monks were thrown homeless and houseless on the world by the soldiers of the French Republic.
Belzoni, however, did not follow the example of his former associates who led a vagabond life not far removed from that of the lazzaroni of Italy. He was too ambitious a man for that. Having studied the natural sciences while in the monastary, particularly hydraulics and mechanics, he started out to seek his fortune, traveling through Germany, Holland and to England, which latter country he reached in 1803.
Portrait of Giovanni Baptista Belzoni, half-length, an Egyptian landscape below with pyramids and temples and statues including the head and arm of Amenhotep III by M. Fabroni in 1824.
Housed at The Met
A posthumous portrait of Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1788-1823), the celebrated Egyptologist of the nineteenth century. Belzoni made many important contributions to the field in his own time, including the discovery of the Nineteenth dynasty tomb of Seti I, located in the Valley of Kings near Thebes, around 1820. In one of the first attempts ever to move large Egyptian artifacts out of context, he successfully transported a large obelisk from Philae to Alexandria in 1819.
While in London, chance or destiny led Belzoni to Bartholomew Fair, where Gyngell, the conjuror was performing. His gigantic stature and splendid physical development attracted the attention of the magician, who induced him to join the Gyngell company and exhibit feats of strength as the Young Hercules. Later in the same year he appeared at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, with great success, under the guise of the Patagonian Samson. A newspaper of the period thus describes him: "Signor Belzoni's performance consisted of carrying from seven to ten men in a manner never attempted by any but himself. He clasps round him a belt, to which are affixed ledges to support the men, who cling round him; and first takes up one under each arm, receives one on either side, one on each of his shoulders, and one on his back; the whole forming a kind of pyramid. When thus encumbered he moves as easy and as graceful as if about to walk a minuet, and displays a flag in as flippant a manner, as a dancer on the rope."
In the year 1808 he performed in Sander's Booth, at Bartholomew Fair, in the character of the French Hercules. In 1809 he was at the Crow Street Theatre, Dublin, as artist to superintend the last scene in a pantomime, a sort of hydraulic temple, which failed to work at the critical moment and nearly inundated the orchestra. In 1810 he sustained the character of Orson at the Edinburgh Theatre, which he was hissed for not being sufficiently demonstrative in his attentions to the maternal bear. While the latter ventures were failures, they show the aspirations of the man toward something higher than his purely physical performances as strongman. It is truly said that by our failures we rise, nnd such seems to have been the case with Belzoni. It was about this time that he came under the notice of Mr. Salt, through whose kindness he secured an engagement at Astley's. From that time forward his circumstances continued to improve, and Mr. Salt remained his patron until the day of his death.
Meanwhile he continued his scientific studies and gave numerous hydraulic exhibitions in the populous towns throughout the kingdom. Eventually he tried his hand at magic, of which art he must have acquired a considerable proficiency while in the company of Gyngell.
In 1812 he took his magic show to Ireland, and the following is a copy of one of his handbills used in Cork early in that year.
Theatre, Patrick Street.
A Man's Head Off ! !
And Put it on Again ! !
This Present Evening, Monday, Feb. 24, 1812,
And positively and definitely the LAST NIGHT,
SIG. BELZONI
Respectfully acquaints the Public, that by the request of his Friends, he will Re-open the above Theatre for one night more—i. e., on Monday, Feb. 24, and although it has been announced in former Advertisements, that he would perform for Two Nights—he pledges his word that this present Evening, will be positively and definitely the last night of his Representations, and when he will introduce a feat of Legerdemain, which he flatters himself will astonish the Spectators, as such a feat never was attempted in Great Britain or Ireland. After a number of Entertainments, he will cut
A Man's Head Off !!
And Put it on Again ! !
Also the Grand Cascade.
Sig. Belzoni takes this opportunity to return his most sincere thanks to the Public, and assures them that no trouble or expense will be spared for the gratification of a generous Public.
To be continued
Originally pubished in the M-U-M in Vol. 8, No. 70 in New York, January 1919.
(Continued)
Belzoni married during his sojourn in Ireland. Leaving the Emerald Isle, he visited in succession France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. From the Peninsula he passed to Malta and from there to Egypt, where he arrived in the year 1815. It was at the behest of Mehemet Ali that he visited the land of the ancient Pharaohs, in order to lay before the Khedive a hydraulic machine for raising water from the Nile, for irrigating purposes, by means of a kind of tread-wheel, known to English mechanics as the monkey. It is a dangerous method and has long since been abandoned. This was in June, 1815. The athlete-conjuror failed in his attempt to displace the cumbersome shadoof of the Egyptian fellahs, so, through the advice of his friend, Mr. Salt, then British consul to Egypt, he turned his attention to searching for antiquites. In this project he was eminently successful. He seemed to have a peculiar penchant for unearthing the treasures of ancient Mizraim. He went to Thebes and there shipped on board a barge and floated down to Rosetta, the colossal statue commonly called Young Memnon, which now occupies an important place in the British Museum. He and his workmen were frequently attacked by Arabs led by rival explorers. On one occasion Belzoni defended himself by knocking down an assailant, seizing his ankles, and using him as a club upon his foemen’s heads. It will be remembered that the redoubtable Italian was a perfect Samson in strength. In 1817 he made excavations in the lonely valley of Biban-el-Mulock, the gates of the Kings, or rather the Tombs of the Kings, not far from Thebes. He discovered the sepulchre of Seti I, and secured the splendid sarcophagus of semi-transparent Arragonite, known to Egyptologists by the above name, but popularly called Belzoni’s Tomb. He also discovered the ancient emerald mines at Zubara, which had been abandoned.
Four years spent in Egypt made him comparatively wealthy and famous. He was no longer Belzoni, the traveling mountebank, but Signor Belzoni, the learned savant.
According to Chambers’ Encyclopedia, an attempt on Belzoni’s life caused his departure from Egypt, but this does not appear in any other authority. There was a hostile feeling toward him in many villages where no Christian had ever been seen before, and one native acknowledged that he had intended to shoot the explorer when he kneeled to drink at a spring, but it does not appear that these things interfered with Belzoni’s plans or hastened his departure from Egypt.
He returned to England in 1819, and on his way visited Padua, being received with princely honors. He was met at the gates by the civil authorities, and presented with an address, and a medal was struck in his honor.
Arriving in London be became the fashionable lion of the day, and his exhibition at Egyptian Hall was extremely successful.
He published a work in 1820, giving an account of his explorations, entitled, Narrative of the Operation and Recent Discoveries in the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, and Cities of Egypt and Nubia.
This book proved to be an instant success. In 1823 he set out for Africa, intending to penetrate to Timbuctoo. When he reached Benin, however, he was seized with dysentery, the great enemy of Europeans who visit that locality, and after a short illness, he died at the village of Gato, on December 3rd. Before his death he sent his ring to his wife with expressions of love and affection.
Portrait of Giovanni Baptista Belzoni, full-length, slightly turned to the left, one arm behind his back and the other tucked into his waistband, dressed in his strongman's costume of a fur loincloth with an ostrich feather headdress on his head and Roman sandals on his feet, illustration to a broadside descriptive of his circus performance as the Patagonian Sampson
Etching
Print made by Benedictus Antonio van Assen and Published by J Parry in 1804.
Housed in The British Museum
Lettered below image "J. Parry del.t" "A. Van Assen Sculpt." "Giovani Baptista Belzoni" "London. Published Dec. 6, 1804, by J. Parry, No. 5, Bentinck Street" And lettered to the broadside "Giovani Baptista Belzoni. The celebrated Patagonian Sampson." and "Is descended of a good family at Rome, of which place he is likewise a native, at this time is about twenty-two years of age, measures in height six feet seven inches, and everyway so perfectly formed, that he is considered by artists as the finest model ever seen, he was for a short time in the Prussian service, and held the rank of a Subaltern, disliking a military life, he visited Holland, where he first exhibited his wonderful strength in public; he afterwards came to England, and was engaged at Sadler's Wells in the year 1803, his performance consists wholly in carrying from seven to ten men in a manner never attempted by any but himself. He clasps round a belt to which are fixed ledges to support the men who cling round him, and first takes up one under each arm, receives one on either side, one on each of his shoulders, and one on his back, the whole forming a kind of Pyramid, when thus encumbered he moves as easy and graceful as if about to walk a minuet; and displays a flag in as flippant a manner as a dancer on the rope. The various performances of strong men would induce many who have not seen Belzoni to imagine many who have not seen Belzoni to imagine there could be nothing so extraordinary in his powers, but it should be remarked he has no auxiliary from art, or deception. We have often witnessed a man by the assistance of a table, balance with his hands and feet, a number of persons, but in this case the performer must have derived considerable advantage by a fixed position. Topham the amazing strong man of the last century, is represented to have used machines and various tackle to assist his undertakings;- but Belzoni seeks no assistance from art, and exerts his powers from native strength alone."
Belzoni at Sadler's Wells as the Patagonian Samson
He was buried under a giant tree, fitting memorial for an Italian colossus. Funeral services were read over the grave by Captain John Hodgson, of the British brig, Providence.
Apparently the fortune which Belzoni had accumulated must have been dissipated, for we learn from Horne’s Everyday Book, that a public subscription was raised for the archaeologist’s widow only two years after his death.
THE WHOLE ART OF HOCUS POCUS, 1830. Engraved fold-out frontispiece illustration
(Houdini’s original article uses a 1826 version)
The Whole Art of Legerdemain, or Hocus Pocus Laid Open and Explained, by those Renowned Masters Sena Sama, Hamed Ben-Ali, and all the Celebrated and Mysterious Professors in the Art of Natural Magic; with Full Instructions How to Perform the Various Tricks On Cards, Dice, Birds, Eggs, Rings, &c. Before their sublime Majesties, the Emperor and Emperss of China, the crowned Heads of Europe, and the President and people of the United States. Baltimore: Engraved, Printed and Published by C. V. Nickerson, 1830. 16mo (6in. x 3 7/8in.). Blue pictorial printed paper over boards, beige cloth spine.
And so ends the romantic story of Belzoni. The curious reader who visits Padua will find in the great hall of Palazzo della Ragione, a superb medallion of Carrara marble by the sculptor Rinaldi. The head of the turbaned and long bearded explorer appears in alto-relievo, and is girded by the serpent of immortality, symbol of the priest-kings of Misraim. No history of Egyptian archaeology is complete without an account of the labors of Belzoni. He earned for himself undying fame. Had he entered the shadowy land of Amenti as a mere exhibitor of theatrical marvels, his name in this world would have been utterly forgotten. Conjurors, as a rule, write their names in water. Only a few, like Pinnetti, Bosco, Comte, Houdin and Maskelyne are honored with brief mention in the great encyclopedias of Europe, while American Magicians of great ability are conspicuous by their absence. Let us hope that future encyclopedists will find a place in their pages for recognized artists in this profession, and accord to them that measure of dignity to which they are entitled, so that men like the savant-conjuror-explorer, Belzoni, instead of trying to conceal the fact, may point with pride to a connection with the mystifying brotherhood.
Originally pubished in the M-U-M in Vol. 8, No. 71 in New York, February 1919.
