Ivan Chabert
Ivan Ivanitz Chabert , also Julien Xavier Chabert , (* 10. May 1792 in Avignon , † 29. August 1859 in New York City ) was a French magician who as a human salamander and Fire King was known (Fire King), as he in exposed his performances to great heat.
In his demonstrations, he was in an iron oven, hot enough to cook a piece of meat that he hung over the fire in the middle of the oven - a thermometer near the fire measured 600 degrees Fahrenheit (about 315 degrees Celsius), in reality it was around 200 degrees Fahrenheit in the room (corresponding to 93 degrees Celsius). He himself spoke to his audience through a mouthpiece (through which he also breathed), lying in the oven in the cooler place near the floor on the edge and was covered with a cloak to protect against heat. In the end he stepped in front of the audience with the cooked meat in hand.
He also swallowed tablespoons of burning oil and bathed his feet in molten metal (choosing a special alloy with a low melting point). He also swallowed various poisons (such as phosphorus and hydrogen cyanide), and apparently no deception was involved. According to himself, he was taking a simple antidote.
Chabert attracted widespread attention with his demonstrations, especially in London, where he arrived in 1818. He performed in the Argyll Rooms and was the talk of the town in the 1820s when he won a bet against a Mister J. Smith who challenged him to swallow 20 grams of phosphorus. In 1829 the editor of the British Medical Journal Thomas Wakely publicly challenged him to consume cyanide under his control. Chabert evaded and only demonstrated this on dogs. A little later he moved to New York, where he was less successful and eventually made his living as a quack .
His story was recorded by Harry Houdini in his book The Miracle Mongers .
literature
- Ricky Jay Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women , Villard Books 1986
- Walter Gibson Secrets of Magic. Ancient and Modern , New York: Grosset and Dunlap 1967
- Joe Schwarcz The fly in the ointment: 70 fascinating commentaries on the science of everyday life , ECW Press, Toronto 2004
- Joe Nickell Secrets of the Sideshows , University of Kentucky Press 2005, pp. 210ff
Web links
- Ivan Chabert in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Chabert, Ivan |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Chabert, Ivan Ivanitz (full name); Chabert, Julien Xavier; Fire King |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French magician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 10, 1792 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Avignon |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 29, 1859 |
| Place of death | New York City |