46 | JULY 23 • 2020

I

read in the JN about Michael Jacobson passing
away on June 14, 2020. Jacobson was a well-
known Jewish musician and entertainer from
Detroit, who spent the last 30 years of his career
performing thousands of magic shows for a wide
range of audiences, for children in
particular. He is missed.
Thinking about Jacobson the
magician led to a question: Is there
a historic connection between
magicians and Detroit’
s Jewish
community? After all, the word
“abracadabra” comes from the
Hebrew ebrah k’
dabri, meaning “I
will create as I speak.”
Of course, I decided to seek an answer in the
William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit
History. Just making a simple search for “magician”
yielded 3,523 pages where that term was used. In
short, there is a wealth of information on Jews,
magicians and Jewish magicians in the Archive.
There are citations regarding magicians in
the early years of the Detroit Jewish Chronicle.
Generally, these are references to magicians
performing in Detroit, such as the famous
“Thurston,” who brought his act to Detroit
many times in the 1920s. Or, sometimes, there is
reference to a literary work. In the April, 26, 1929,
issue of the Chronicle, for example, one finds a
story by J.L. Peretz, “The Wonderful Magician: A
Passover Story.”
Over the years, there have also been many stories
about well-known Jewish magicians such as Harry
Houdini, perhaps the most famous magician/
escape artist in history. Houdini, a.k.a. Hungarian-
born Erik Weisz, is cited on 192 pages in the
Davidson Archive. He had one direct connection
to Detroit: He died here on Oct. 31, 1946.
Since the 1930s, magicians greatly increased the
practice of their art form in Detroit, performing
for children and adults, for clubs, for birthdays,
at synagogues and other venues. The pages of the
JN from the 1950s to the present are filled with
announcements of performances by and stories
about local magicians. It would be a rare Jewish
Detroiter who has not experienced the thrill of a
live magic act.
It is the home-grown Jewish magicians, like

Jacobson, who really interested
me. In the Oct. 20, 1939, issue of
the Chronicle, for example, editor
Philip Slomovitz wrote about “Nate
Leipzig – Greatest Prestidigitator.”
Yes, I had to look-up the meaning
of that word — a prestidigitator is a
great sleight-of-hand artist.
More recently, along with
Michael Jacobson, a number of
Jewish magicians have local roots.
First, there is Jacobson’
s son,
Matthew, an accomplished magician at an
early age. The Nov. 24, 1989, issue of the
JN has a story about 18-year old Matt and a
photo of him in action. I
found a photo of “Wild”
Bill Schulte in action
in the Feb. 14, 1997,
issue of the JN. Another
favorite local magician,
Howard Faber, was
featured in the Aug. 31,
2001, issue of the JN.
And, it’
s not just
men who have been
magicians. See
“
Abracadabra” in the
March 3, 1987, issue
of the JN about June
Warsaw Horowitz, who
had been practicing
magic for 73 years at that
time. She was the first female
president of the International
Brotherhood of Magicians.
Jewish magicians have a
long and rich tradition in
Metro Detroit and Michigan.
If only one of them would tell
me the magic word that would
make me rich, I would be very
grateful.

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN
Foundation archives, available for free at
www.djnfoundation.org.

Abracadabra

Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair

Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

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