The Great Lafayette

Born Sigmund Neuberger in Munich in 1871, this gentleman was determined to become a succssful performer and boy did he succeed.

When he and his father emigrated to the US in 1889 this was his chance to hit the big time and he tried various different acts, none of them successful. It wasn't until he saw the Chinese magician Ching Ling Foo, the man who influenced William Robinson and began his own impersonation act that he began to be successful.

Along the way he changed his name to The Great Lafayette and eventually had it legally changed. This is the name under which he is buried. Magicians of his day had a great deal of competition and so he constantly reinvented his act to keep it fresh and exciting. It must have worked as he commanded the highest fees of any performer of his time, some £15 million per year in todays money.

His best friend was his dog Beauty (shown in the photo) and he lavished an extraordinary amount of love and money onto her. When she died (In Edinburgh in 1911) he insisted on having her treated like a human being (she was no mere dog) and had her embalmed and interred in a cemetary. The conditions under which the cemetary allowed burial was that The Great Lafayette had to be buried there too. No matter where he was in the world his body had to be carried back to Piershill, Edinburgh.

As it turned out, this wasn't necessary as only a few days later, during a performance in the Empire Theatre (which is now the Festival Theatre) on the 9th of May 1911, a curtain caught alight and Lafayette and many of his performers and animals were killed. HIs body was found and cremated, only for a second body to be found which was positively identified as Lafayette's. The first was his body double, Richards. Lafayette's friend Harry Houdini was thrilled as he believed Lafayette would have really enjoyed this final illusion. He would almost certainly have enjoyed his lavish funeral as the streets of Edinburgh were lined with so many people that it eclipsed the visit of King Edward VII in 1903. Lafayette's ashes were laid to rest in Beauty's casket, between her paws.

Lafayette's ghost is said to haunt the Festival Theatre and I would like to think that he would also have enjoyed the festivities being carried out in his memory 100 years after his death. We may well find out as a seance is to be held in the theatre tomorrow evening. It will be done as a magical act but who knows, maybe Lafayette really will turn up?