9th May 1911, The Palace Empire Theatre in Edinburgh:
The Sphere, 20 May 1911:
“The partial destruction of the Empire Music Hall at Edinburgh involving the loss of eight lines, including that of the Great Lafayette must be classed among the more serious of the theatrical disasters recorded in Great Britain during recent years. By the prompt lowering of the safety curtain the fire was confined behind the scenes. Lafayette was burned to death in an attempt to save his horse and pet dog. The white lines indicate the extent of the damage caused by the fire. Owing to the curtain not quite reaching the stage level the flames scorched the front rows of the stalls and swept over the heads of the orchestra while they played the National Anthem.”
The Sketch, 17 May 1911:
“The Great Lafayette had an intense love for animals. His last words are believed to have been, ‘I have to go in and get my horse.’ When Beauty, his dog, died recently, h e was inconsolable, and said, ‘Now that my mascot is gone I am not long for this world.’ Let into the front wall of his house in Tavistock Square is a coloured medallion-portrait of Beauty, and on the front door is a bronze tablet inscribed, ‘The Great Lafayette and Beauty.‘
“On his cheques, designed in heliotrope his favourite colour, was a photograph of Beauty guarding bags of gold, with the words, ‘My two best friends.’ His income was estimated at £40,000 a year. He spent £300 on Beauty’s funeral. It was one of his eccentricities to interview most important business callers from the first floor of his house, with the staircase between. The flowers on the trellis-work were imitation, but very realistic, and on special occasions were scented. Roses were made to grow all about the house, from the floor and the walls.”
The Magical Life and Curious Death of the Great Lafayette by Miriam Bibby [click on link to get the full article]
On 9th May 1911, The Palace Empire Theatre in Edinburgh was packed with an audience of 3,000 people. They were there to see the spectacular illusions of the world’s most talented and famed magician, The Great Lafayette.
A friend of Harry Houdini and a much-copied illusionist, offstage The Great Lafayette was a private individual who shunned social events and had little to do with his fellow magicians. Houdini was an exception. In 1899, he had given The Great Lafayette the dog that the magician adored above everything and everyone else in his life. Her name was Beauty.
Born Sigmund Neuberger in Munich in 1871, The Great Lafayette had emigrated to the USA with his family, as did Harry Houdini. Both Neuberger and Houdini had the fortune to be born into an age when the fame of great illusionists could spread quickly around the globe, thanks to emerging technologies as well as great demand from audiences to be amazed and entertained.