New book about a member of the Herrmann Family

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Richard Hatch
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New book about a member of the Herrmann Family

Postby Richard Hatch » January 15th, 2021, 11:36 pm

A book of correspondence from Blanche Corelli, the daughter of Compars (Carl) Herrmann and his first wife, the opera singer Róza Csillag, to a young American has just been published. There are surprising number of magical references. Obviously to her father, her uncle Alexander and Aunt Adelaide, but also to her "cousin" Houdini, and even to Dante, whom she befriended when he performed in Berlin in August 1939, just before the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 forced him to flee. Did you know that Compars Herrmann's hobby was fly fishing? I didn't. Anyway, the book is very inexpensive and I'm enjoying it. Here's a link:
https://www.amazon.com/Madame-Blanche-Corelli-Correspondence-1931-September/dp/B08SH41YT6

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: New book about a member of the Herrmann Family

Postby Richard Kaufman » January 16th, 2021, 11:15 am

Thanks for the tip!
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Marco Pusterla
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Re: New book about a member of the Herrmann Family

Postby Marco Pusterla » January 16th, 2021, 2:31 pm

Many thanks, Richard (H.). I've bought the book and I'm waiting for it, but I was wondering whether the letters are transcribed or only presented as they are... you can see some in the sample pages.
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Richard Hatch
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Re: New book about a member of the Herrmann Family

Postby Richard Hatch » January 17th, 2021, 2:43 am

Marco, the first 133 pages are typeset transcriptions of the letters (following a few pages of introductory material). The remaining 200 plus pages are reproductions of the original handwritten letters. The originals are very hard to read in this format (and likely in their original state), so the transcriptions are most welcome!

According to his daughter, Compars Herrmann supposedly spoke 9 languages fluently, but could neither read nor write. Since his official biography says he was educated for a time at Carnot's Grande Ecole near Versailles, this sounds unlikely, but in fact it is confirmed by Hofzinser who voiced the same suspicion in recounting how he introduced Herrmann to the opera singer Rosa Csillag (who became his first wife and Blanche's mother) and had to write down her address for him!

Blanche Corelli takes credit for having convinced (after 4 months of cajoling) her uncle Alexander to marry Adelaide (who was six months younger than her niece Blanche).

I won't spoil the other nuggets in this book!
PS: Hofzinser is not mentioned in the Corelli book. That anecdote is from another source...

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Marco Pusterla
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Re: New book about a member of the Herrmann Family

Postby Marco Pusterla » January 17th, 2021, 3:32 am

Thank you, Richard, very appreciated! About the "fluency" in speaking other languages, I think we should take it with a grain of salt: most international conjurers could present their show in other languages with almost no accent (and this still happens today), but they would struggle in carrying out a conversation that is outside their vocabulary. I'm pretty sure Compars would have been able to speak a fluent German, French and Spanish, and then a relatively good English and Russian, but we will never know for sure!
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Richard Hatch
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Re: New book about a member of the Herrmann Family

Postby Richard Hatch » January 17th, 2021, 3:48 am

I'd add Portuguese as likely a language had a good command of. He did well in Brazil. According to contemporary reports, his German and English were heavily accented, which probably added to his unique charm.


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