Search found 135 matches

by Zenner
February 23rd, 2020, 7:03 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Are you saying that Benedict's business relationship with McKinney constitutes direct evidence that Benedict was Erdnase? No. What I'm saying is that Benedict's name appearing in the McKinney bankruptcy files constitutes direct evidence that Benedict was a customer of the McKinney printing company....
by Zenner
February 21st, 2020, 8:01 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

A customer who brings a job in for printing, pays, then picks it up a month later has almost no relationship with the printer. On the money. Who knows what things were like when whoever-Erdnase-was was putting the book together. The experiences I've had with printers is that unless it's a one-man b...
by Zenner
February 19th, 2020, 8:19 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

I'm not as convinced as you are that the Benedict who Herrmann was not better than is the same Benedict who dealt with McKinney. The Benedict you've been advocating was born in Ohio (per the genealogy book you've linked); "Benedict the Magician" is the only performer who used that billing...
by Zenner
February 19th, 2020, 9:46 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

On other hand, maybe he wasn't that good after all . . . Who says he was? We all know poor performers who write books; indeed, even non-performers write books! The Salt Lake Tribune , 22 Nov 1891, Page 4 - "Benedict, the magician, gave a performance at the Opera House on Friday night which att...
by Zenner
February 19th, 2020, 7:36 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Edwin S. Andrews was related (by marriage) to Louis Dalrymple. Credit to Richard Hatch for much of this research. I must admit that I don't remember that particular post, but I do have a copy of Erdnase Unmasked , which contains Richard's essay 'Reading Erdnase Backwards'. On page 27 we get the par...
by Zenner
February 18th, 2020, 6:06 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

He has no known reason to use the name "Erdnase"; You haven't been reading the latest posts, Bill. I have explained how Benedict knew E.C. Andrews, who signature read "E.S. Andrews". Don't forget, Peter, that you're talking to the guy who found that signature. You hadn't even he...
by Zenner
February 16th, 2020, 9:58 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

I did say that I was going back into hibernation but I feel that I must respond to a few of Mr Mullins' comments. If you discount Benedict's day job (as I think you should), all you are left with is that he is a magician in Chicago who may resemble the man Smith remembered. Somebody had to distribut...
by Zenner
February 15th, 2020, 9:05 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

What motive would Benedict have to write pseudonymously? In most reasonable scenario, he wishes to write magic book. Why not use real name? He is already public figure (performing magician) and contemporary audience may even recognise his act. Perhaps he didn't want other magicians to know that he ...
by Zenner
February 15th, 2020, 7:10 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

An omission and a couple of answers. In my hurried posting yesterday I forgot to mention the first indication that Benedict might be a candidate worth researching. There was a Dalrymple family linked to a Benedict family in the genealogy book I downloaded. So there was a reason that Benedict might h...
by Zenner
February 14th, 2020, 10:49 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Whew! I have just been doing some catching up on the Forum. I am just as eager as anybody to see what Messrs Forte and Karr have to say but I am not spending that kind of money on a whim. I still feel sure that Edward Douglas Benedict was "Erdnase" and will be very surprised if he turns ou...
by Zenner
March 12th, 2019, 8:41 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Yes, a footnote acknowledging the source would have been appropriate. Thank you. But a simple statement that reiterates your conclusion hardly rises to the level of plagiarism. To an academic, plagiarism is a mortal sin, and can be a career-ender. You shouldn't fling that word around when it isn't ...
by Zenner
March 12th, 2019, 8:07 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

And since the linked article didn't copy any of Wasshuber's or your own work, or anything that appeared on the forum, I can't see how plagiarism is even considered here. Since I have not published anything about Benedict anywhere else but on this Forum, they have obviously obtained their informatio...
by Zenner
March 11th, 2019, 11:31 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Hmmmm - I have just come across this on the Internet - https://iase-web.org/icots/10/proceedings/pdfs/ICOTS10_C278.pdf So, students have obtained grants to study The Expert at the Card Table . Messrs Galloway and Benedict are included and yet neither The Genii Forum, Chris Wasshuber or myself have b...
by Zenner
September 30th, 2018, 9:57 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Since I posted the earlier picture, Scott has asked for some assistance with posting some more detailed views. Here they are. (SNIP) Scott has a very vivid imagination :) Houdini was Erdnase? Are we expected to believe that it was Houdini who demonstrated the tricks for Smith and then posed for the...
by Zenner
September 29th, 2018, 5:07 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

I see what could be construed as "lade" on the paint palate. I also see a "G" on the base the magician is standing on, but I see no other letters on that same surface. Beyond the two things above, I seen nothing else that Scott makes note of in his post. The G is obviously for G...
by Zenner
September 26th, 2018, 6:45 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Who did the Hofzinser translations that appeared in the Sphinx in 1922? "To Mr. Fred T. Singleton, formerly of Kansas City, now a prominent artist and designer of New York City, is due the credit of translating Prof. Hofzinser's book. The entire book will be published in monthly installments o...
by Zenner
July 29th, 2018, 7:35 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

He says that was the case in the "Professional Secrets" section when he says that he "bucked the tiger voluntarily" and "began to imbibe wisdom in copious draughts at the customary sucker rates..." and also in the "Short Deck" section where he confesses that ...
by Zenner
July 27th, 2018, 9:47 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Folks really need to let the "he needed the money" thing go for good. It was a sarcastic statement, made as a passing joke by the author. Anybody reading that comment in the context of the sentences that surround it should get that immediately. Even in 1902, anybody selling a book for $2 ...
by Zenner
July 24th, 2018, 5:31 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

I have extremely strong doubts about the unnamed candidate, but I assume eventually he will be named. To have any credibility, he will have to have done business with McKinney in 1902; he will have to have knowledge of sleight of hand; there will have to be a link with the name Dalrymple and he wil...
by Zenner
July 23rd, 2018, 8:08 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Perhaps people have just run out of things to write ABOUT ERDNASE. There will be a new candidate announced later this year that will throw everyone into a tizzy. It's not coming from me, but from someone else. Whether it is true or not, time will tell. We are all still waiting with baited breath! :?
by Zenner
June 8th, 2018, 7:08 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

You guys are funny. Cheap but funny. The information is the first time anybody knows where M.D. Smith is buried... We know where Houdini is buried. Thurston, Don Alan, Blackstone, etc all have grave sites, but where is M.D. Smith? As far, as the 'secret', if you are interested in EATCT, then you wi...
by Zenner
June 6th, 2018, 7:27 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Nothing I can see on eBay related to any secret M.D. Smith documents or grave site? Link? Well, that's strange. I copied and pasted the wording exactly. There appears to be nothing there now. Perhaps one of our contributors has purchased it and will post their findings. If I had believed the advert...
by Zenner
June 6th, 2018, 10:44 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Have you seen this advertised on ebay? Product Description Never before discovered! Photographs of M.D. SMITH illustrator of Expert at the Card Table grave site. Location, Head Stone, Documentation, contracts, permit numbers, much more....100% correct or double your money back! You will receive plot...
by Zenner
May 30th, 2018, 5:59 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

I would think, if anything ... confirming by consensus who the actual author was would allow us to investigate in detail what kind of amazing life Erdnase lead between roughly 1892 and 1902 ... I don't think he was doing anything amazing between 1892 and 1902, Roger. By 1892 he had retired as a pro...
by Zenner
May 22nd, 2018, 7:21 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

So who do you know who was skilled at card magic and around at the time and who lived in Chicago? Figure that out and you have your man. We have more clues than that, Mark. We have a link to the name Dalrymple. He did business with James McKinney. He was about 40. He was well educated and wrote did...
by Zenner
May 21st, 2018, 10:12 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Some of the moves he developed himself are specifically for magic. So obviously he was a magician of some sort. I'm just saying he seems to have been an amateur magician. I see no reason to think he was a professional or full-time magician, as some have been saying. WHO SAID THAT? I said that all t...
by Zenner
May 19th, 2018, 8:05 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Erdnase was neither a gambler nor a card cheat. He was a magician. That is a definitive statement from which I will not be shaken. There is much evidence in the text of the book to back this up. And yet, Erdnase mentions on several occasions having played cards for money (often losing), but never o...
by Zenner
May 12th, 2018, 5:43 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Erdnase was neither a gambler nor a card cheat. He was a magician. That is a definitive statement from which I will not be shaken. There is much evidence in the text of the book to back this up. Gambler's do not invent moves for their own enjoyment and publish them with their names appended to the ...
by Zenner
May 1st, 2018, 6:42 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Just for a change from the quibbling about Messrs Sanders and Gallaway — On April 12, 1900, an advert in The Chicago Tribune indicated that E.D. Benedict was operating from an office at 1050, The Monon Building. The Monon Building was at 320-326 Dearborn Street, according to Rand McNally’s Bird’s Ey...
by Zenner
May 1st, 2018, 6:30 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

I must be missing something somewhere. Probably because you still haven't read Bob's essay on the writing similarities between Sanders and Erdnase. Perhaps I should be speaking to the organ grinder rather than his monkey. I read the Marty Demarest article in the Genii again last night. A very good ...
by Zenner
April 30th, 2018, 9:28 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

After reading Bob's updated analyses of the writing similarities between Sanders and Erdnase, I can't possibly accept that he was not the author of The Expert. There is such a vast array of similarities in the writing that to adamantly believe Sanders is not a viable candidate is to be in denial. W...
by Zenner
April 28th, 2018, 6:18 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

A name reversal is a simple anagram. And yet he purchased six decks of playing cards in one transaction. Laymen don't purchase six decks of cards in one transaction. People who play cards might well - especially if they are going away on a trip. No computers, no TVs. There is no evidence that Sande...
by Zenner
April 28th, 2018, 10:41 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

This is a significant find by Bob. It tells us that Sanders still had anagrams in his mind well into adulthood at 35 years of age. It's another piece of circumstantial evidence on top of the substantial list of evidence favoring this remarkable man. "Erdnase" didn't use anagrams; he merel...
by Zenner
April 25th, 2018, 7:07 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

One thing has always puzzled me about the "... he needs the money" statement and Gallaway. Since Gallaway knew the publishing industry and if he really needed money why would he self-publish a book? If someone needs money it seems like it's going to take some time before one sees a return...
by Zenner
April 24th, 2018, 8:15 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

In some lecture notes by Jim Steinmeyer, he mentions that it is commonly thought that Thurston met Erdnase. Interesting. I don't know if Erdnase (i.e., Edward D. Benedict) met Thurston, but his son Hal did in 1920 - July 2. In today’s Film Daily -- “Thurston at Work. Howard Thurston, the magician, ...
by Zenner
April 24th, 2018, 7:11 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

It doesn't seem too long ago that nobody knew what Marshall D. Smith's middle name was. The books don't mention it and neither do the Census returns. Yet when I decided to do a Google today, it seemed that everybody was saying it was "Dennison". I wondered where that had come from and carr...
by Zenner
April 14th, 2018, 5:32 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

I agree that based on Marshall Smith's eyewitness testimony concerning the author's age and lack of a foreign accent, we can probably rule him out. He did say "back east" -- do you suppose he meant as far east as England? He was from Somerset and there they have a distinct regional accent...
by Zenner
April 13th, 2018, 7:32 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Magic and gambling collector Tom Blue has posted a video championing a candidate for Erdnase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ol6T_Ne35U& I am sure that William Symes Andrews has been proposed before. "Andrews, William Symes, was born on September 10, 1847, in Saltford Somersetshire, Engl...
by Zenner
April 10th, 2018, 6:40 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

Are you unaware that my opinions support your candidate? While I do believe that Gallaway was instrumental in the publication of EATCT, I think Benedict is the most reasonable choice amongst the proposed authors. Thankyou! I was unaware - I thought that you supported the Benedict theory for a while...
by Zenner
April 10th, 2018, 11:06 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12032403

Re: ERDNASE

jkeyes1000 wrote:I think it very likely that Smith's drawings were traced from photographs.


From The Gardner-Smith Correspondence, page 8 -
"10. Smith (who was about 25 then, he says) sketched his hands in pencil, then took them home to ink them in."

Somebody needs to do their homework!

Go to advanced search