John Northern Hilliard
John Northern Hilliard (1909)
Born
John Northern Hilliard

August 18, 1872
Palmyra, New York, US
DiedMarch 14, 1935
Indianapolis, Indiana, US
Resting placeMont Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York
Notable workGreater Magic
SpouseIda Louise Harrison
Children3

John Northern Hilliard (August 18, 1872 – March 14, 1935) was an American newspaperman, poet, novelist, and playwright. Among his works is a best-selling book on magic, Greater Magic.[1][2][3]

Biography

Hilliard's "Ysabel of the Blue Bird" was the cover story in the May 1913 issue of The Argosy

John Northern Hilliard was born in Palmyra, New York, in 1872. His parents were Allen D. Hilliard (1829-1888) and Augusta B Bartells (1839–1902).[4] His wife was Ida Louise Harrison. They had three children.[5]

Through Eugene Field he obtained his first job as a reporter on the Chicago Press at the age of 17. He covered the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, the surrender of Sitting Bull, and the bloody Johnson County War in Wyoming. On December 17, 1896, he was a dramatic critic for a Rochester newspaper. He was the last person to see magician Alexander Herrmann (also known as "Herrmann the Great") alive before his death on board a train heading to Bradford, Pennsylvania.[6]

Hilliard was a close friend, from the early 1890s at the New York World, with American poet, novelist, and short story writer, Stephen Crane, who wrote The Red Badge of Courage. Hilliard had letters written by Crane, one of which contained incidents in the life of the author.[4][7]

In the 1920s, Hilliard was living in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Mary E. Hand, president of the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club, helped build the Carmel Arts and Crafts Theater in 1922, where the Club put on their own theatrical productions. The formal opening of the theater was highlighted by the performance of two plays produced and directed by Hilliard, The Thrice Promised Bride and The Queen's Enemies.[8] In 1924, Hilliard was an actor in Ira Remsen's children's fantasy Mr. Bunt, where he played the role of Danny, a circus clown.[9] He left Carmel for New York in 1925. He wrote several books of verse, plays, and stories. One of his poems include Underneath the Bough and musical comedy, The Castaways.[4][10]

After moving to the New York Telegram he met magician Howard Thurston and became interested in magic himself. In 1925 he joined Thurston's magic show as an advance man and for the next 10 years toured America, meeting the most talented magicians of his day and recording their creations. He "edited" T. Nelson Downs's book The Art of Magic; he is generally considered to be its author.

Death

Hilliard died of a heart attack on March 14, 1935, while in a hotel room in Indianapolis, Indiana.[5]

After his sudden death in 1935, his book, Greater Magic, was finished by Jean Hugard and published by Carl Waring Jones in 1938.

References

  1. ↑ Harold Bloom (2009). Stephen Crane. Infobase Publishing. pp. 70–. ISBN 978-1-60413-432-2.
  2. ↑ John Northern Hilliard (July 1994). Greater Magic: A Practical Treatise on Modern Magic. Kaufman and Greenburg. ISBN 978-1-885366-01-6.
  3. ↑ Benyon, Lucy (2014-02-28). "Five things I can't live without: Paul Daniels on magic, spare rooms and his wife". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 Stanley Wertheim (1997). A Stephen Crane Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 153–. ISBN 978-0-313-29692-5.
  5. 1 2 J. N. Hilliard, Press Agent For Magician, Dies At Indianaplis. Muncie, Indiana. 15 Mar 1935. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-03-14. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ↑ The Master Magicians by Walter B. Gibson 1966
  7. ↑ Letter from Noted Author to John Hilliard Presented to Rochester Widow by Thurston. Rochester, New York. 14 Apr 1935. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-03-15. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ↑ Hale, Sharron Lee (1941). A Tribute to Yesterday: The history of Carmel, Carmel Valley, Big Sur, Point Lobos, Carmelite Monastery, and Los Burros. Santa Cruz, Calif.: Valley Publishers. p. 33. ISBN 9780913548738. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  9. ↑ "Forest Theater To Show Mr. Bunt". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. 17 Jun 1924. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  10. ↑ Days Before Yesterday. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. 20 Sep 1946. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-03-15. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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