Edward Bamberg was a member of one of the world’s most famous magic dynasties but his tour of Australia in 1917 was little noticed.
Edward or Edouard was born in The Netherlands in 1889. He was the son of the famous magician David Bamberg, and the brother of Theo Bamberg, aka Okito. The family claimed to have been the court magicians to the Dutch monarchy for over six generations.
Eddie was the youngest of David Bamberg’s sons. He began his career in pantomimes in London and soon graduated to being part of his father’s act. He performed as the ‘Little Nelusco’, the world’s youngest and smallest conjuror, in the English music halls, before travelling to the United States with his brother Theo and his wife in 1907. He identified as an American resident from that date.
Eddie played vaudeville as a solo act, Nelusco, in the early 1900s before he met his wife, Hetty Horey, who he married in 1912. From that date he and Hetty performed as Nelusco and Hurley, a duo which combined shadowgraphy, magic and juggling. It seems that Hetty was the juggler of the pair.
In 1915 Eddie applied for US Citizenship giving several names, including Edward Nelusco, Edward Bamberg, and Edward Okito. He was listed as 5 foot 3 inches tall with brown hair and brown eyes.
In 1917, the couple were hired by the Tivoli circuit for a tour of Australia that lasted about three months. They arrived in Melbourne in July and were advertised as an American Novelty act.
Their performance was 15 minutes long and began with a short juggling turn, which became an exhibition of shadowgraphy. They used a screen and one hand to cast shadows representing animals towards the audience. The finale was a magic act, known as the Chinese mat trick. It may have been the same act later made famous by Eddie’s brother, Theo, who performed as the magician Okito.
The Australian newspapers described it as follows;
Arrayed as a Chinese conjurer, Nelusco dragged all sorts of things from a mat which he had folded cylindrically in full view of the audience. These included a live duck, a fowl, several bunches of flowers, a pot plant and a shower of arrows.
While in Australia Eddie claimed to be the inventor of this trick. A similar illusion has long been associated with Okito, his brother. That version of the trick was described by Theo in his books and later passed to his son, David, who performed as Fu Man Chu. A version of the trick , dated 1915,was auctioned in 2014. This apparatus may be similar to that used by Eddie during his Australian tour.
Their juggling was described as ‘neat and clean’. However there are no descriptions of what it involved. Most attention was focused on the shadowgraphy which was considered an old fashioned but fun trick.
It seems that Hetty was the juggler of the two, and she was described in the Australian press as the ‘World Champion lady club juggler.’, which implies she juggled quite well. This suggestion is reinforced by a story told by the couple to the Australian press. The story began with Hetty and Eddie trying to cross the border into Russia. As they tried to cross the border, the guards were concerned that their props had hidden explosives. The guards insisted that Hetty prove that the props were harmless. As the border guards kept their distance, Hetty was forced to juggle with her clubs and occasionally drop them to prove their safety. The pair were then allowed to pass. Russia was in the headlines at the time, as the first Russian revolution had just deposed the Tsar, so it was a very topical story.
They were a solid turn, but not a hit with Melbourne audiences. By the first week, Eddie was boasting to the press about his magical lineage, conveniently describing his illustrious ancestor Eliasir Bamberg as Eliasir Nelusco, and photos of Hetty appeared in the newspapers. However, the competition for attention was fierce and there were many similar acts which seemed to gain more press than Eddie and Hetty.
The pair remained in Melbourne for six weeks and may have been delayed by the great strike which froze the railway system on the east coast during August, they arrived in Sydney in September.
There they performed the same act. However, they varied the shadowgraphy turn by including a Shadow Seance. The Queensland press claimed that the shadow seance caused some debate in Sydney, and as the war was ongoing, it may have been considered bad taste. However, there are no contemporary reports from Sydney about any controversy and perhaps it was a publicity stunt for their subsequent Queensland stint.
In Sydney, Eddie said he designed all his props. He claimed to be the originator of the Chinese mat trick, and had transformed his dressing room into a workshop where he was producing illusions.
By September 22 the Sydney press were calling on the Neluscos to change their act, saying it had been 'the same for some time.’
They moved to Brisbane in October and stayed there for a few weeks. They apparently took the Sydney press criticism to heart and incorporated card manipulation into their turn. The comic shadowgraphy, juggling and the mat trick remained in the act.
After a short time in Queensland the pair left Australia via Sydney on November 1 for New York.
Upon their return to America the couple continued working in vaudeville. In the 1920s Eddie reviewed the shadowgraphy act and turned it into a complete turn, performing as Ed Rickards. In the 1930s, Eddie toured the halls with Syko, a magic/illusionist act. He continued working until the 1950s in various roles, both in theatre and movies and apparently did some stand in work.
The family remained in America. Eddie passed away in 1966 and Hetty in 1975. Their son did not continue as a performer and his cousin David remained the sole heir to the legendary Bamberg magic tradition.