Background
William Henry Palmer was born about 1830 in England. His father was a musician and is said to have served as an organist in Canterbury Cathedral.
William Henry Palmer was born about 1830 in England. His father was a musician and is said to have served as an organist in Canterbury Cathedral.
William Henry Palmer was given a thorough musical training. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music.
In 1848 William Henry Palmer saw the French magician, Robert-Houdin, and was fascinated by his performances. When he discovered that his years of practice on the piano had given his fingers a suppleness and dexterity that assisted him in duplicating the tricks of the magician, his interest in music became secondary to an interest in stage magic. Two of the greatest magicians of history played in London in the succeeding period, Compars Herrmann and John Henry Anderson. Studying the performances of these men and imitating their technique he boldly hired the Strand Theatre in London and advertised his program in 1851 or 1852. He hid his youthfulness and English blondness behind a black wig and beard that copied the appearance of Herrmann. He followed the metropolitan performances with a tour of the provinces with some success but competition was strong and he turned to America.
His first New York appearance was in the basement of the Chinese Assembly Hall on Broadway near Spring Street. Later he hired the hall above and played for several months. A tour of rural New England and New York state followed. Palmer was a poor business man and by 1855 he found himself heavily in debt. He reluctantly turned back to music for a living, played the organ for a church in Washington, D. C. , and taught music. For a time his show was backed by an enthusiastic young man who wished to have the privilege of appearing with him. Later he hired a handsome young woman to assist him who was billed as Miss Haidee Heller. In 1864 he took as his manager Hingston, the man who had managed the tours of Artemus Ward, and from that time he was most successful. He opened a Salle Diabolique at 585 Broadway, New York City.
Later he went on tour in the United States. In 1867 he reported that he had taken in $22, 400 in fifteen nights in San Francisco.
In 1868 Willian Henry Palmer played in England. On a later tour he went to Australia. In 1876 he returned to America, opening at the Globe Theatre in New York City. From the Globe he went to the Fifth Avenue Hall. In 1878 he played in Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.
After his first New York engagement Palmer abandoned the awesome wig and beard and the French accent, but he did not learn to utilize his natural charm until he came under the influence of Hingston. After his earliest performances he varied his programs by the use of puppets and piano numbers. He first offered classical music but the taste of his audiences, as well as his own prankishness, caused him to substitute comedy numbers. His most famous act in the field of magic was in "second-sight. " Although the trick was not new he developed it to an unusual degree. He used both the oral and silent codes and particularly mystified his audiences by using electrical devices. Had he chosen to give his mummery a religious cast his following might have been spectacular, but his lack of seriousness kept the impressionable from believing that his performances entailed anything beyond skilful deception. Dion Boucicault considered him a comedian of the first rank.
In Philadelphia he developed pneumonia and died within two days on November 28, 1878.
In 1855 William Henry Palmer married Annie Maria Kieckhoefer of Washington. Three children were born to the couple but the marriage was broken in 1862.