Franz Schweizer (magician)

Franz Schweizer (born April 12, 1886 in Sankt Martin , Kingdom of Bavaria , German Empire , † October 4, 1969 in Sankt Martin , Rhineland-Palatinate , Federal Republic of Germany ) was a German magician. He performed under the names Bellachini and Garvin .

Life

When Swiss was 15 years old, he went to Frankfurt. Three years later he came into contact with sorcery . He became an assistant to a magician in the Romanian Sidoli Circus . Shortly afterwards, Schweizer initially called himself Franzardi. When he met the magician Strack-Bellachini (1861–1930), also known as Der Marburger Bellachini , he became his assistant and traveled with him. He later received permission from Strack to continue using the Bellachini name. In 1919 he traveled through the country with a full-length show. When he returned to his hometown for the first time in 1921 after a 20-year absence and gave presentations for the benefit of welfare for three days in the afternoon and in the evening, the enthusiastic compatriots from the Palatinate erected a fountain with a memorial stone bearing his name. In 1937, Swiss people were forbidden to continue using the Bellachini name, as the original Bellachini was Jewish. Schweizer then called himself Garvin, after a character from the film Truxa , which was produced by Kalanag . After the Second World War, Schweizer used the name Bellachini again. Schweizer-Bellachini was one of the best-known Bellachinis. His final flower production is said to have been immense.

literature

• Gisela Winkler, Dietmar Winkler: The big hocus pocus , Henschelverlag, Berlin 1981
• Friedrich Sturz: Franz Schweizer - Bellachini 75 years , Organ MAGIE, issue 4, 1961
• Erwin Haarz: Thoughtful Forays , Organ MAGIE, Issue 2, 1969
• Karl-Heinz Gimbel: The Marburger Bellachini, memories of Lucas Strack-Bellachini (1861-1930) , Marburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-89703-793-9