This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/26/2022
Zanzic (Harry Robenstein?). The Great Zanzic. Zan-Zic’s Masterpiece. The Hindoo Mystery “Voudoo”. Cincinnati: Donaldson Litho, ca. 1894. Horizontal poster depicting Zanzic’s magical transposition of a man between two Moorish pagodas suspended above the stage. 20 x 30”. Borders over-colored (one chip), spots in image restored. B+. Rare. Zanzic had a checkered career filled with mishaps and ill-fortune. David Goodsell, writing in M-U-M (May, 2018) recounted one sordid affair at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair: “Calling himself Slater, he opened an elaborate séance parlor. His unlikely partner was Billy Robinson, formerly Alexander Herrmann’s chief mechanic and the future famed Chung Ling Soo, the “Marvelous Chinese Conjurer.” Robinson provided the creative means for hoodwinking a willing population, and Zanzic posed as the authentic, sincere spiritualist. The pair devised a number of excellent techniques for slate writing, voices from beyond, and ghostly images in darkened rooms. Their scam parlor came to a spectacular end suitable to Zanzic when they provided an opportunity for an older gentleman, a true believer, to have one hour with his materialized spirit wife. It was too much for the old fellow, who died of a heart attack. When they tried to dispose of the body by dumping him down the street they were caught and “invited” to leave town posthaste.”