LAFAYETTE (Sigmund Neuberger, 1871 – 1911). Theatrical Sound Effect Device from the Illusion Show of The Great Lafayette. Being a pair of carved wooden cups connected by a handle, the underside of each loosely holding a horseshoe. When manipulated backstage by rapping the shoes alternately on a hard surface, the effect of a galloping horse is produced. 11 ½ x 3 ½ x 2”. Minor repair and refinishing evident, but very good condition overall.
Accompanying the device is a cache of documents tracing its ownership, from the newspaper reporter (and later Member of Parliament) John S. Clarke, who recovered the object from the fire, and subsequent owners. Included with these documents is a program for Lafayette’s fatal appearance in Edinburgh, various newspaper clippings, a short publication on Lafayette’s “last act,” by Brian Lead, and a RPPC showing the remnants of the fire taken from the balcony of the theatre, with the stage in ruins. At the center of the picture on the ruined stage stands Mr. Clarke, and on the verso of the card is his own handwritten and signed message, indicating he is sending home “relics” from the tragedy.
A unique memento from the career and stage production of the ill-fated illusionist who was one of the top variety artists of his day. Lafayette’s death on March 9, 1911, in Edinburgh has been chronicled by many writers, as his end came so unexpectedly. But prior to the tragedy that claimed his life, Lafayette enjoyed a career as one of the best paid stage performers of the era. His show was a combination of spectacles, quick-change, and illusions all elaborately outfitted and requiring a large company of assistants, both human and animal, to produce.
Bayard Grimshaw was a noted magician and also a journalist. For years, he wrote a column, “…About Magicians” for The World’s Fair, a British trade paper. The August 26, 1967 issue carried Grimshaw’s story about this very prop:
“The Great Lafayette used the sound of horses as an off-stage effect in the big show he was doing at the time of his tragic death but he did not use anything as mundane as coconut shells [to imitate their sound]. He had two replicas of horses’ hoofs nicely carved from wood, and shod with proper horseshoes; they were connected by a handle, set at a slight angle to one another for easy manipulation.
“How do I know? Well, the actual prop is on my desk as I write. The varnish is blistered by heat and one end of the handle where it was damaged either by charring, or by accident prior to the fire, has been neatly been made good by composition. The memento of a famous magician, and a famous magical tragedy, came to me as a welcome gift from a long-time reader of this page, Mr. Edward Campbell of Sevenoaks.”