1. David Tobias "Theodore" Bamberg was an itinerant magician who traveled with his full evening magic show from the early to mid part of the 20th century.
43 Facts About David Bamberg
1. 2.
David Bamberg was the sixth and final member of the David Bamberg Magical Dynasty, a Dutch family of conjurers whose magical lineage was passed from each of the first-born sons.
3.
David Bamberg was born in Derby, the eldest son of Tobias David Bamberg, who performed as "Okito", and his wife Lillian Poole, daughter of Charles William Poole, one of the brothers who ran the famous Poole's Myriorama traveling Diaroma show in England.
4.
David Bamberg's father was from the Bamberg Magical Dynasty, a Dutch Jewish family of magicians.
5.
David Bamberg continued to assist him, hiding her pregnancy through her Chinese robe.
6.
David Bamberg was named David, and would have one brother and one sister.
7.
David Bamberg stayed with his grandfather for a year, but was reunited with his father when he fulfilled the postponed contracts in Russia.
8.
David Bamberg signed a six-month contract to play the Orpheum Circuit in the United States.
9.
David Bamberg brought Lily and David to America to fulfill the dates.
10.
David Bamberg opened up a magic shop on the corner of Broadway and 28th Street called Bamberg Magic and Novelty Company with Joe Klein.
11.
David Bamberg performed his first trick in public when he was five years old at the Society of American Magicians meeting.
12.
David Bamberg constructed a toy theatre and envisioned being the world's greatest magician doing his big illusion show.
13.
David Bamberg had no doubt that one day he would be an illusionist with his own show.
14.
In 1911, David Bamberg's sister Dorothy was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and she was known as the Grand Rapids Baby.
15.
The David Bamberg family left the Thurston shortly after that and settled in Brooklyn, New York.
16.
In public school David Bamberg was known as "the white-haired boy" because of his travels around the world.
17.
David Bamberg joined Julius Zancig, the world-famous telepathist and worked in partnership with him after Zancig's wife, Agnes, died.
18.
David Bamberg completed his education in America and went to England to further his studies, although this did not pan out, and he instead concentrated on becoming a professional magician.
19.
David Bamberg attended performances at the Maskelyne family magic theatre at St Georges Hall and watched all of the magicians who played there at the time.
20.
In 1921, David Bamberg returned to the United States and appeared in various magical acts.
21.
David Bamberg worked as an assistant to a Professor Seward who was a board walk astrologer in Atlantic City.
22.
David Bamberg traveled with one of Selbit's Divided Woman company in vaudeville.
23.
David Bamberg met Hilda Seagle who joined him in a mindreading via Zancig; the couple married on 2 November 1923.
24.
David Bamberg presented his original comedy Shadowgraphy act in Vienna, then toured Europe.
25.
David Bamberg worked with his father, where he learned the "Chinese" act from the bottom up.
26.
David Bamberg wanted to tour with his own show, but his father tried to dissuade him from doing so, suggesting he continue with his shadow act and not invite the stress of the big show.
27.
David Bamberg was working as Syko again doing sleight of hand and the shadow act in Bulgaria.
28.
David Bamberg was asked to be his assistant for his tour through South America, and to bring a mechanic.
29.
David Bamberg tried to work with his shadow act, but to no avail.
30.
For David Bamberg it was a choice between doing a big show or nothing.
31.
David Bamberg saw how much money a big illusion could bring in.
32.
David Bamberg was able to use the Fu Manchu name in places like South and Central America, the West Indies, Spanish Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.
33.
David Bamberg was billed as "Fu Chan" when he played the Cervantes theatre in New York to a successful run.
34.
Bored with doing the same show every night, David Bamberg eventually wrote a musical comedy called The Devil's Daughter.
35.
David Bamberg wove into the script most of his illusions from past shows and reworked them into the plot.
36.
David Bamberg reworked this play, tweaking it here and there, always having trouble with the second act.
37.
David Bamberg made and lost many fortunes, always living for the moment and never able to save his money wisely.
38.
David Bamberg did regain much of it by keeping his show running until on 19 March 1966 in Buenos Aires, aged 61, he gave his last full evening show.
39.
In March 1972, David Bamberg was admitted to the hospital for ten days and had to be put on oxygen; he reportedly stopped smoking.
40.
David Bamberg had one son, Robert, who did not become a professional magician.
41.
On 28 February 1965, David Bamberg finished his first draft of his autobiography and sent it to many magician friends.
42.
Contento learned shadowgraphy from David Bamberg, and was the only person to fully do so.
43.
David Bamberg went on to tour worldwide with his own shadow act which he developed from what he learned from Bamberg.