In researching the life of American magician Carl Hertz (a Hertz scrapbook, most likely compiled by J.B. Findlay will be sold in our next auction on May 16th), I came across the following image, in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, through the always-handy Google images search:

It's captioned as follows:

This caricature is of Carl Hertz, or Leib Morgenstern, when he was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 9 January 1905. He was billed as ‘The Famous Carl Hertz. In his gigantic show of Marvellous Illusions and Surprises. The most elaborate and sensational conjuring show ever presented. Assisted by Mlle. Dalton’. His acts at Hanley included making a birdcage and canary disappear and discovering the canary in the pocket of an audience member. He also performed there the ‘mystifying movements of a clock dial, which stops at any time spectators may desire, and records the numbers of a throw of a dice before the dice have actually been used’. This is one of the many superb caricatures of Edwardian music hall performers that were drawn by the artist George Cooke when he was based at the Grand Theatre, Hanley. He compiled them in a series of albums.

Born in San Francisco in 1859, Hertz worked in the USA before coming to Great Britain in 1884. Here he was one of the first to perform the Vanishing Lady trick, which had been introduced in Paris by Bautier de Kolta. Hertz was a success in Europe and Australia, where in 1896 he amazed audiences by incorporating film, or ‘animated magic and motion’, in his act. When he appeared at the Holborn Empire in 1907 he was billed as ‘the World-Famous Illusionist’. He died in 1924.

If you think that's great, there are others drawn by Cooke in the V&A collection. Search the site for images of Horace Goldin, another of Hertz, and a great Carlton caricature. Or, if you're feeling lazy, check out this Cooke caricature of Chung Ling Soo, also at the V&A: