Worse, the recorded story of Robert Heller’s journeys in Australia is limited to a very incomplete tribute in Charles Waller’s “Magical Nights at the Theatre”, and a more comprehensive but difficult to access set of articles by Will Alma in his “Magic Circle Mirror” (issues from 1972-1973). Heller’s tour of New Zealand is now documented by Bernard Reid in “Conjurors, Cardsharps and Conmen”. But for the most part, any reference to his major world tour, conducted over three years from 1869, seems to be limited to a passing mention. While it is understandable that access to detailed tour information is not easy to obtain, this period was one of Heller’s most triumphant, and deserves more attention than has been given.

So, this contribution to the full history of Robert Heller is a detailed record of his travels within Australia. Were writers in other countries to do the same, his life story would be far more complete.

At the fringes of Heller’s own performances we have already published extensive essays on his wayward assistant, William Adam Chapman, and H.B. Wilton, the author of a book purporting to expose Heller’s secrets. The life and true identity of his performing partner, Haidee Heller, is examined separately. A further essay on a later performer, George Waldo Heller, is a work in progress.

Robert Heller’s career in the 1860s was undergoing a re-boot. British-born, a man of considerable talent both in magic and music, he was not an inventor or creator and, in his first 1850s forays into the world of magic, he freely copied the illusions, presentation, and even the French characterisation of the great Robert-Houdin. As with most imitators, he failed to achieve full success because he was not putting forward his own personality to the audience. While he could have continued along these lines, Heller ultimately moved from Britain to the United States, where he would eventually drop his French character and revert to his own personality. He found considerable success there during the years up to 1855, but it appears (1) that from a speculative investment with an untrustworthy friend, he lost a large sum of money. Early histories also speculate that he may have lost some of his apparatus in a fire which consumed the Chinese Museum in Philadelphia. Ultimately, Heller withdrew from magic, moved to Washington, married Anna Marie Kieckhoefer in 1857, and directed his career towards teaching music and performing on piano and organ, in which field he could have easily made his name and fortune.

It seems that magic held a fascination, and he returned to performing at the Washington (D.C.) Theater from May 4, 1860 with his "Soirees Fantastiques". The years following cemented his reputation as a wonderfully comic presenter of magic with a relaxed wise-cracking style, while his enormous talent on the piano encouraged “quality” audiences to attend his performances, lending respectability to his magic. (9) His love of performing eventually overrode his devotion to family and, whether or not there had been any family disharmony, Robert left home and family behind without a word, and went off to travel the world. His daughter, Mary Blanchet, would write (4) that Heller much later expressed some regret over having run away, causing him to "lose so much of life, of love and happiness."

Heller was in England January 16, 1868 with "Diversions of the Drawing Room" which seems to have been mostly smaller magic. A highly successful stay at the Polygraphic Hall & Crystal Palace London right through to July, was followed by the Liverpool Prince of Wales Theatre and Queen's Hall in August - October, then 6 nights in Ipswich at Christmas prior to returning to the United States in January. In Britain he was frequently referred to as an American performer.
Although he had been performing the mind-reading "Second Sight" routine for years, this did not feature in his British shows. In May 1868 he introduced a feature illusion titled "The Girl of the Period", producing, from an empty hat, a full crinoline skirt, and a 'jupon' (petticoat) from which followed "a young girl of some fourteen or sixteen summers." While it cannot be confirmed, the probability is that Mr. Heller had just met and employed the young woman (aged 20) who would become known as his famous partner, 'Haidee Heller', though she was not a relative and her name was not Heller.

Another curious sidelight to his British trip is that Heller put himself before the British bankruptcy courts in May, citing debts of £3105, most of which belonged to creditors in the United States. The failure was ascribed to having been sued by the bankers Riggs & Co of Washington; and strangely his own father-in-law, Adolph Kieckhoefer, was a partner in the Riggs company, so there may have been both business and family problems involved. However, by July he had been discharged and life went on as normal.

By mid-1869, Heller was back in the United States, and enjoying a lengthy season at one of his favourite venues, the Metropolitan Theatre in San Francisco. Here, he was assisted by a clever and versatile performer named as “Willie”, with whom he had worked for some time, and on May 15 1869 he introduced for the first time Miss “Rosie Heller” on the stage of the Metropolitan Theatre, San Francisco.  Miss Heller, in all likelihood, had either accompanied Robert back to the U.S. following the end of their British trip, or joined him soon afterwards.
Both of these performers form an important part of Heller’s Australian story, though as we have elsewhere investigated the identity of Rosie (later “Haidee”) Heller, and revealed the history of William Adam Chapman  (see W.A. Chapman – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) there is no need to duplicate their stories here.

The early months of 1869 must have been used in teaching Miss Heller the secrets of Heller's deceptive two-person mindreading routine, which was advertised as 'wonderful second sight sensations.' Dean Carnegie (1) relates an anecdote that the Hellers had been in a quarrel behind the scenes, and she refused to come out for the Second Sight routine. Robert Heller announced to the audience, "Ladies and Gentleman, this is the part of the program where Miss Heller comes out, except tonight she refuses to do so. Let's wait and see." He then quietly took a seat on the couch and began to twiddle his thumbs, not speaking a word. A few moments later Miss Heller stormed on stage -  Heller said, "Ah! I thought so" and the show continued. (1C) Amusing as this is, the tale sets the scene for the major break-up which was to come, almost destroying the partnership of this most famous mindreading duo.

On June 6, Robert Heller, along with William and Rosie, departed from San Francisco aboard the Ashburton. They finally arrived at Melbourne on August 31 after what the Melbourne Herald described as "rather a tedious passage from California" having taken eighty-six days to make the journey. The intention was to then sail northwards to Sydney, where Heller would open at the School of Arts in Pitt Street, which was being refurbished for the occasion. It was in keeping with Heller’s style that he was not setting up in a traditional theatre, but in what was effectively a lecture hall, albeit one which was frequently used for both educational and entertainment purposes. However, the advertisements for his impending opening on September 20 promoted the installation of a new “elegant proscenium” and new drapes, carpets and gas fittings. The re-decoration was not without incident, Mr. John Fleming being seriously injured when his twenty-foot ladder collapsed and threw him to the floor, leaving him with a broken arm and under medical care but in  “a precarious state”. (2)

Robert and ‘Rosa’ Heller, Mr Willy Chapman, and Mr. George Coppin were listed as passengers aboard the steamer "City of Adelaide" destined for Sydney on September 8. However on its arrival two days later, the list of passengers did not include Chapman, and it appears that Chapman had remained in Melbourne, where he would set up as a solo performer, possibly attempting to ‘steal a march’ on Heller before he arrived in Melbourne for his season. The full details can be found in the essay on W.A.Chapman.

It is unclear what impact this breakup had upon the small Heller troupe. Chapman’s role as principal assistant had been usurped a few months prior by Rosie Heller, who was both highly capable in performing the “Second Sight” mindreading routine, and undeniably a feminine attraction for the audience. It may be that Heller had to substitute some of his routines which required more physical exertion, such as the rope-tying feats in imitation of the Davenport Brothers. There was certainly the issue that Chapman was probably intended to be the secret ‘third party’ (5) essential to some parts of Heller’s mind-reading routine, and his sudden departure may have left Heller temporarily unprepared. However, there was no indication of any problems or concern on Heller’s part, and in fact there is no sign that Heller ever allowed himself to be put out by competition, duplication of his tricks, or even the supposed exposure of his methods (see the essay on H.B.Wilton’s book, ‘The Somatic Conjurer’.) He went about calmly presenting himself to audiences on his own merit, never commenting on his competition, and succeeding because of his talents in both music and magic.

“Rosie” Heller now became “Haydee” during the Sydney and early Melbourne seasons, and later “Haidee” Heller, and she remained so for the rest of her public career. Australian newspapers could never quite decide which spelling to use, but "Haidee" was more common.

Preliminary advertising for “Heller’s Wonders” listed the School of Arts programme in four Parts – Somatic conjuring, Musical and Conversational, Supernatural (the ‘second sight’ routine) and ‘Sensational: Practical Paradoxical Puzzles. Reserved seating ranged from 2s. to 5s, but children in arms were priced at the deliberately discouraging rate of One Guinea.

Sydney was intrigued by the upcoming opening of the multi-faceted performer: [Empire Sept.16, 1869] “it would appear difficult … to decide which of his varied accomplishments may be considered chiefest of his attractions ... his illusions are all endowed with the freshness of novelty … he is more amusing than most conjurors in the words he addresses to the audience, and his manner appears to be a combination of the late Artemus Ward, and Mr. Alfred Wigan. He has a love of puns … and some of these puns are more mysterious than his tricks. Again, he is spoken of as one of the first pianists of the day. We understand that Mr. George Coppin has determined to place the forthcoming entertainments of Mr. Heller before the public in a manner to increase, if possible, his reputation as a manager ….”

The magician’s first evening was reviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald on September 20:

MR. ROBERT HELLER'S ENTERTAINMENT- “The hall of the School of Arts was crowded to excess last night by a fashionable audience who assembled to witness the first appearance of Mr. Robert Heller, about whose abilities as a conjurer and pianist the popular mind has been for some weeks past kept in a pleasant state of agitation. Mr. Heller's debut in Sydney was a decided success, and there is little doubt that, during the remainder of his stay here, the hall of the School of Arts will be filled every night as well as it was last night. Setting aside the attractions of Mr. Heller's entertainment, which is sufficiently amusing and piquant, the hall itself has been made to assume a more cheerful appearance than heretofore. The walls have been freshly coloured, the ceiling is now as white as whitewash can make it, and the galleries, &c., have been invested with a polish and gloss to which they have long been strangers. A handsome proscenium has been erected, fitted with an orthodox green curtain, and ornamented very prettily. The proscenium was painted by Messrs. Wilson and Habbe, and that being the case, to say that it is neat and elegant would be superfluous. The stage is well furnished, and is closed in at the back with crimson curtains depending from a gilt moulding, and with an opening in the centre to afford ingress and egress to the performers. The place is wonderfully improved. It is hardly recognisable in its renovated condition. Even the venerated busts of the wise old fellows whose effigies decorated the walls, have been touched up, and now appear as old friends with brand new faces. Every arrangement for securing the comfort of the audience and to prevent overcrowding, has been made, and visitors to the hall will have a better chance of enjoying an evening's entertainment there than they have had for a long time past. While Mr. Robert Heller remains as the purveyor of amusement to the public, the said visitors cannot but obtain plenty of enjoyment. Mr. Heller's sleight-of-hand is less remarkable than his quick wit and ability for extracting fun out of the dullest and most commonplace materials. His conjurations are not indeed the most surprising things in the world; but his conversational feats, the case with which he dallies with the audience, and the artistic manner in which he makes his jokes and impresses the points thereof upon his hearers, are really brilliant. His pianoforte playing is something altogether novel and surprising. The rapidity of his fingering and the extra-ordinary musical effects which he produces are more magical than the best trick in his wizard's repertory.

His magic is not very new. The tricks which he exhibits bear a strong family likeness - though possessing distinctive features - to the tricks which former wizards have already made familiar to the Sydney public. The same destruction and restoration of handkerchiefs were practised, and the same migratory characteristics were imparted to half-crowns and gold rings; and gentlemen's hats were as of yore made the receptacles of the strangest and most incongruous articles. All of Mr. Heller's tricks were well done, and it must be confessed that he was unassisted by any of the paraphernalia wherewith it has been the custom of magicians to surround themselves. He works with a clear stage, and certainly desires no favour from the spectators of his legerdemain. There is consequently an artistic finish about his performance which is wanting in other performances of the same class which have been given here, and though his tricks are not so startling and complicated as might be expected, they are done with singular ease and grace. The Cabalistic Clock and the Aerial Bell are old acquaintances, and call for no comment. The adventures of the borrowed handkerchief, which was dreadfully mutilated, which changed its size from little to big, and big to little in the most unaccountable way, which was washed and burnt, and after all discovered sound and clean in the centre of a lemon, caused a great deal of merriment and wonder. There were some good tricks with cards, among which may be mentioned the Witch's Pole as being the best. The Flowering Rose-tree was a very good trick, but from some cause or other was less neatly executed than the others. One of the most astonishing feats was the following: A hat was borrowed from one of the audience. Holding this hat in his left hand, the conjuror walked about the stage catching half-crowns in the air in the most mysterious way, and dropping them into the hat. Sometimes he slapped his knee and produced therefrom a coin; sometimes he stretched out his hand, made a snatch, and exhibited another half-crown between his finger and thumb; once he took a coin out of a spectator's beard; and as fast as he got them he threw them into the hat, until that receptacle contained quite a heap of money. Then all sorts of queer tricks were played with the half-crowns thus collected. Fifteen were given to one gentleman to hold, and five to another, and suddenly the five found their way into the hands which held the fifteen, much to the surprise of the owners of the said hands. Another good trick was the following:- Some bits of black rag were put into a glass vase and, being covered with paper, became hot coffee; some bits of newspaper being put into a similar vase, and also covered, became milk ; and a quantity of loaf sugar was by some mysterious means got out of an empty silk handkerchief. Something like clairvoyance was alto practised - Mr. Heller being careful to explain that it was not clairvoyance, and that he had no connection with spirits. Miss Haydee Heller was blindfolded and sat upon the stage with her back to the audience. Mr. Heller then walked about in the body of the hall, taking into his hands all sorts of articles which were held out to him by the people. Each of these articles was at once described by the fair Clairvoyante, who even gave the No. of a £1 note which was put into Mr. Heller's hand. The concluding trick was the best. A hat was borrowed, and out of it were taken, first a gown, next a crinoline, then a pair of socks, then a pair of stays, and lastly a young lady in a particularly lively condition. The whole performance was exceedingly clever and amusing. Mr. Heller's pianoforte playing was really marvellous, and there is no doubt his entertainments will be popular.”

This was a fair and balanced review, praising Robert Heller’s abilities, while not providing fawning commentary over magic which had been seen before. The fact of the matter was that George Coppin very nearly brought the debut of his star unstuck, before he had even been put in front of an audience.

On the Saturday before Heller was due to open, Coppin arranged a magnificent supper at the Metropolitan Hotel, King Street, for the newspaper community and leading theatricals of Sydney. Heller performed on the pianoforte and presented some magic, then Coppin made a speech in which he declared himself “not sorry” to have brought Heller to Sydney first, since the Melbourne press had previously attacked new performers to a degree that deterred artists from coming to the country. Sydney, declared Coppin, would accord Robert Heller fair play, and stated that if Sydney did not pronounce him to be an artist in his line superior to those who had gone before, Coppin would “give up the show business forever.” He mentioned having first met Heller some years previously in New York.

In general, the press was only too pleased to be treated to a supper, and it was well-known that those who paid for advertising with their paper received better commentary. On this occasion, Coppin over-played his hand, and the scribblers took offence (after they had enjoyed dinner). The Freeman’s Journal of September 25 denied that Heller approached Herr Frikell or Robert-Houdin as a performer and, while admitting that “some of his tricks are very neatly executed” and “his performance on the piano is exceedingly pleasing”, it remarked that “Mr. Heller committed a grand mistake in attempting to gain, through the medium of a supper, the good opinions of the members of the Press. Mr. Coppin, his agent, ought to have exhibited more sense than to have supposed … to be palavered with honied comparisons at the expense of their Melbourne brethren, would induce the members of the Press of Sydney to falsify their reports as to the merits or demerits of Mr. Heller.”

Sydney Punch magazine, of the same date, devoted numerous paragraphs to lambasting Coppin. “The art of puff-mongering has of late years been brought to such a pitch of perfection that it has now almost attained to the dignity of a science…. In this particular department Mr. George Coppin may be regarded as a Master of the Arts … there never was an artist more attached to his profession than Mr. George Coppin to his puff-mongering business … newspapers are regarded as being published for the sole purpose of recording his triumphs and sublimating his progress. The old chums [in the dramatic profession] won’t have him at any price … if he wanted a fifty pound note tomorrow …  he might make sure of – not getting it! Mr George Coppin has just now got hold of a new chum, and all his puffing talents have been brought into fully play. He has covered the walls of our city with tremendous posters … the celebrated name of HELLER adorns every available bit of  hoarding … it was unwise of [Coppin] to give that measly supper to the reporters. Everybody knew what it was meant for, and that all of them … rejected Mr. George Coppin’s impertinent hospitality. The great puff-mongerer made a great mistake in thus insulting the “Gentlemen of the Press”, who in this city as least are gentlemen, and prefer dining at their own expense to accepting the insolent and vulgarly-proffered entertainments with which Mr. George Coppin thinks he can buy their praises for his protégés.”

“Bell’s Life in Sydney” of October 9 made some less than flattering remarks concerning Heller’s not-very-new repertoire, and his peacock trick and marionettes were dismissed as “rank nonsense as an exhibition to attract the admiration of full-grown people”. The writer admitted during his article that he had neither been invited to the famous supper, nor placed on the ‘free list’ for tickets.

Fortunately, having defended their impeccable reputations against Coppin’s disgraceful attempt at wooing them, the press calmed their ruffled feathers and, seeing the crowded houses of full-grown people, and learning that Heller was indeed a performer of excellence, they rapidly fell into a state of admiration which continued unabated for the remainder of his tour, even in Melbourne! “ … his conversational feats,” said the Sydney Morning Herald, “the ease with which he dallies with the audience, and the artistic manner in which he makes his jokes and impresses the points thereof upon his hearers, are really brilliant.”

One of the factors that made the “Somatic Conjuror” more appealing was his ability to change his repertoire, giving as many as five different programmes and several others made up of selections from the five, though always featuring his mainstay “second sight” routine. By October 9 Heller had updated his programme, and press remarked on his presentation of the Silver Rings (linking rings), the automaton peacock, flying coins, Silver Coin Casket, Devil’s Punchbowl (dozens of glasses of hot punch served from a flaming bowl), and the marionette minstrel show. The second sight routine was always commented upon, with Mr Heller walking into the body of the hall and taking all sorts of articles held out to him, which were described by Miss Heller, even to the extent of giving the number on a currency note. The illusion of finding a young lady, in a “particularly lively condition”, inside a hat, we assume required the use of a stage trap (or so it was exposed in the book ‘The Somatic Conjuror’). It was the cause of William Chapman’s legal problems in Melbourne, as he attempted to purchase the items required to copy Heller’s trick.  

It is noted that press reports of the “Young Lady from a Gentleman’s Hat” did not say that the appearing lady was Miss Heller, which raises a slight possibility that another unnamed assistant was featured. Heller also required an assistant or secret “electrician” who assisted behind the scenes with the Second Sight routine, and he had a number of those during his career, though his Australian assistant is not known. Also, in a press description of the Canaries trick, it is mentioned that Heller was assisted by “the taciturn boy” which is assumed to be a member of his staff. So, the size of Heller’s troupe was probably larger than usually mentioned by the press.

Again, for October 18, Heller updated his programme; to be detailed later, but including a performance of Punch and Judy – certainly not the first time it had ever been presented in Australia, but enough of a novelty to warrant being the closing of the show. Heller also played airs from ‘Il Trovatore’ and ‘La Traviata’, and “Oh Storm and Sunshine”, which was made up of Pastorale, the Village Bells, The Dance, The Storm, The Hymn, and Sunshine. The clarity and control of Heller’s playing was remarked upon, though he appeared to lean towards the more florid and extravagant displays, rather than merely following the normal classical repertoire.

For October 25, Heller announced another change of programme, with unspecified tricks in Part 1, followed by New Music in part II, Supernatural Vision, and Parlour Magic, “in which several excellent tricks will be taught to the audience, and several will not.” (He did not actually expose his tricks).  

The final Sydney evenings of October 26 and 27 were to be devoted to benefit performances for Heller and Coppin, at which Mr. Coppin promised to reprise his abilities as a low comedian, introducing his celebrated song “Villikins and his Dinah”.

The National Library of Australia's collection of Coppin's correspondence has about seventeen letters containing any reference to the Hellers, but the insight provided is invaluable. To fully understand some of Coppin's references, his marital status needs to be explained. In 1842, Coppin had been in a de facto relationship with Mrs. Watkins Burroughs. In 1855, he married Mrs. Harriet Bray Hillsden (b.1821) who was already a widow with four children, and was the the sister-in-law of Gustavus Vaughan Brooke, the well-known actor under engagement to Coppin. Mrs Brooke had asked Coppin to help Harriet and the family. Coppin visited them and found Harriet “existing in direst poverty, trying to eke out a living for herself and four children, two girls (Harriet jr. and Lucy) and two boys (Frank and Charles)”. The eldest girl, Lucy, aged 14, helped look after her siblings.

Soon, however, George Coppin's letters take a more informative direction, and in his letter of October 12, he describes a social outing made with Captain David Walker (captain of the steamer in which George often travelled) a Captain MacDonald, the Hellers, and others. Note that Coppin never refers to Haidee by any other surname than 'Heller':

[October 16] : "The Hellers stop every night & take their Brandy and water with me ... I send you a paper in which you will see my answers to the attacks made upon me for giving the supper upon my first arrival ...  I got [?] at the Turkish Baths - I was 11 stone 9 in Adelaide and am now 13 stone - getting fat for the gout I fear - God bless you my darling - wish you have money enough write in return re should I send you a cheque. "

[October 23]: "Altho I can fully appreciate your feelings in wishing to get home to the dear children as you are better I will remain with Mr. Heller. He is very ill - His anxiety and work has been too much for him & I feel obliged to put a Doctor for him. He should have been in the 'City of Adelaide' [steamer] for her return trip Tuesday Nov.2 so that on Thursday night then a [chance] of my having my darling wife in my arms & hugs of the little ones ... yesterday we all went to Manly - Capt. Walker & Emily, Mr & Mrs Heller, Mrs [M?] Mrs [Passmore?] & Mrs Taylor. It was a delightful day - Emily [daughter of Capt. Walker, and likely a having a teenage crush on Charles Hillsden] was full of your letters ...  
.. Business continues good at the Hall & if Mr Heller does not burst up through ill health will continue to the good. I send some letters by Capt. Walker to save postage. They are directed to Charley & are very important  ..... "

[October 26]: "... I had previously arranged to go out with Capt. Macdonald to San Souci with the same party that he [drew out?] before - giving up a great fishing party, knowing your anxiety upon that point. We started about 10 0'clock on Sunday morning, Mr & Mrs Macdonald, Mr & Mrs Elvy, Mr & Mrs Heller & Mr [Benson?] - arrived at the Hotel about 12 dined about 2 and returned home about 1/2 past 6. I did not go out again but had tea alone & was in bed before 9 O'clock. Mrs Heller as upon the previous occasion got quite tipsy - drank sherry & others immediately upon arrival at the Hotel & kept drinking sherry & brandy & lemonade all the time she was there. Capt. Macdonald told me that his wife says she is very independent in her allusions to [furtherance??] & she said 3 or 4 times that she would not go to Melbourne & when I spoke to Mr Heller upon the subject he appears in great trouble. It appears that a fellow passenger has proposed to her & [is] accepted - He is now in New Zealand & insists upon her not appearing again upon the stage. I do not know how it will turn out. I spoke to her last night & said that I would Telegraph for them to stop fitting up the Hall in Melbourne as I did not believe in the entertainment without the Supernatural Vision - she asked me not to do so that she would go to Melbourne but you cannot depend on what a drunken woman says.

The venue for the first Melbourne season was at the Apollo Hall at 172 Bourke Street East, described as the ‘Temple of Magic … this elegant and spacious hall will be entirely rearranged and decorated by the first artistes in the colony.’ The Apollo Music hall, seating up to 1500 people, was a part of the Eastern Market complex alongside the Royal Haymarket Theatre, designed and built for George Coppin in 1862. The Apollo was also formerly used as an Anthropological Museum. The Haymarket was never a successful theatre, and both were destined to burn down in late 1871, after which the Apollo Hall and Eastern Arcade were rebuilt.

Heller opened under the title of “The Celebrated and world renowned Somatic Conjuror, Brilliant Pianist and Witty Conversationalist”, the word somatic simply meaning “of the body” but lending some pizazz to his billing. His first evening was on November 17, 1869, just over a fortnight since his would-be rival, William Chapman, had opened at St. George’s Hall (or, as it was briefly known, Weston’s Opera House) only a block away in Bourke Street. The show was succinctly billed as “Heller’s Wonders”.

His first review, from the ‘Age’ of November 18, said all that it really necessary, and set the tone for Heller’s continued success throughout his tour.
“Mr. Robert Heller, the far-famed conjuror and pianist, made his first appearance before a Melbourne audience last night, at the new Temple of Magic, 172 Bourke-street east. This hall, which   has been elegantly decorated, was crowded to excess by a fashionable and enthusiastic audience, and the entertainment was an unqualified success, literally [?] bringing down the house. Mr. Heller’s feats of legerdemain cannot be justly described by the terms ordinarily applied to this class of entertainment, being simply marvellous, while his conversational powers are such as to keep the attention of his audience constantly riveted upon him. His experiments were a series of brilliant triumphs, the adroitness with which they were managed defying detection. The execution of the musical part of the entertainment proved that Mr. Heller is even greater as a musician than as a magician, while the supernatural part of the programme, in which he was assisted by his sister, Miss Haidee Heller, formed an appropriate climax to the whole. Pressure on our space compels us to hold over our detailed notice of the performance.”

The Cabalistic Clock – The hand on a transparent clock dial, suspended by cords, moves to indicate times. The Aerial Bell was a similarly suspended glass bell which chimed upon command and rang to the accompaniment of the piano.

Fortune and Misfortune of a Handkerchief – Burned/destroyed and restored kerchief.

The Witch’s Pole – The Rising Cards (see below)

The Rapier – the card sword – a chosen card is caught on the tip of a rapier.

Cupid Among the Roses – Heller had a fondness for automata and mechanical novelties, and this blooming rosebush was one. Finger rings, which had been borrowed from the audience, were discovered within the blooms.

Raising the Wind – production of coins, dropped into a hat (Miser’s Dream), and the transposition of five coins to join others held by a spectator. Difficult to distinguish from the next programme item, The Shower of Gold, but the audience volunteer’s coat sleeve was shaken, producing a large handful of money.

Mocha – Glasses filled with confetti are transformed into coffee, and the other requirements of milk and sugar are produced.

The Witch’s Pole, or rising cards, was a highlight of the act, and in the book ‘Melody Magic’ (3), compiler Harry L. Clapham gives a sample of the patter that accompanied the trick:-

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have here an old broom that once belonged to a witch, in the days of the Salem witchcraft. On dark and stormy nights she used to fly through the air on it to the Witches’ Sabbath. It possesses occult properties. You can raise not only the dust with it – a substance much used by magicians to cast into the eyes of the spectators – but you can raise the very deuce with it. Now, don’t misunderstand me! I am not referring to Beelzebub, or any of his imps, but to the deuce of Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs or Spades, or any cards which you can raise right out of the pack through the instrumentality of this bewitching besom.”  A length of the broom was then fixed to the stage, and a small box attached to the pole, following which a number of selected playing cards rose from the box or shot into the air.

A lengthier review was given by the ‘Argus’ on November 18:

“MR. HELLER'S ENTERTAINMENT. Mr. Robert Heller opened his magical entertainment last evening, in the premises originally known  as the Apollo Music-hall, and which have since been used for the amusement of the public in various ways. The rooms have been entirely refitted, and some degree of elegance has been displayed in the alterations carried out. The public are accommodated with reserved chairs, a parquette, and gallery, and the new house of entertainment will be found a comfortable and well-lighted assembly-hall, the only objection which seems likely to be raised at present being that it is somewhat too small for the demands which will be made upon it. Mr. Heller announces himself as a "Somatic Conjuror,"  in contradistinction to the numerous fashionable professors of the art who have delighted to call themselves "Prestidigitateurs", since Jules Rovere invented that imposing-looking word. Many wizards have visited this city within the past 15 years, and Mr. Heller will bear favourable comparison with any of them.

He has also the additional advantage of being an accomplished pianist. Some of his delusions are of a very startling character, and not a few of them are quite new to this colony. Perhaps the cleverest trick he performed last night was that in which he half-filled a hat borrowed from a spectator with silver coins, apparently drawn from the air and various inanimate objects. Before performing this deception, he requested that his coat sleeves might be tucked up by one of the audience, and the illusion was perfect. The effect called "Cupid among the Roses," in which a rose bush is made to bud and bloom in the course of a few seconds, also gave the utmost satisfaction. In the second part of the entertainment Mr. Heller performed Thalberg's caprice on airs from "La Sonnambula," and a fantasia - "The Last Rose of Summer" on an Erard grand pianoforte, in a manner which was a great treat  to the musical portion of the audience. Mr. Heller has very remarkable skill as an executant, and the second selection was played with exquisite taste. The third division of the programme is devoted to what is termed the mystery of supernatural vision, in which Miss Haydee Heller is a principal performer. Miss Heller undertook, while blindfolded, to describe any object touched by Mr. Heller in the room, and this she did with very astonishing accuracy, giving minute descriptions of such articles as penknives, watches, and jewellery, and in one case a diapason pipe with the note ‘A’. Mr. Heller afterwards gave an explanation of some parlour tricks, and concluded by producing a young lady from a gentleman's hat, in a way which should be seen to be understood. The entertainment has the special advantage of being conducted without any interval of more than a minute and a half, and it is over by 10 o'clock. The house was last night crowded in all parts, and the audience seemed to be thoroughly amused throughout.”

From December 1, Heller changed his programme:

The Desiccated Canaries – A little drama in three acts, assisted by Mr Heller and the “taciturn boy”. An egg is magically changed into two. These are thrown at a cage containing a pair of canaries, which thereupon disappear, only to be found in a small box previously shown empty and placed on a chair at the front of the stage.

Infernal (patent) Medicines – unclear what this trick was.

The Silver Rings – the Linking Rings, a novelty at the time.

The Marvellous Peacock – another mechanical wonder, though not original with the performer. The bird discovered a chosen playing card and, according to the advertising, the display was accompanied by “Robert Heller’s original translation of Ovid’s story of Argus, as found in the Metamorphosis”. (The hundred eyes of the watchman, Argus, were preserved forever in a peacock’s tail. ) Heller’s bird had some slight damage to its tail, from the passage across to Australia, but it continued to function in an ‘intelligent’ fashion.

Flying Coins / The Crystal Casket – coins pass from the stage to a glass box suspended in the centre of the hall.

Lucifer’s Punch Bowl – hot punch produced from an empty basin, which was sitting in isolation on top of an inverted glass jar, on a small tripod.

(Demonstrating the effect of music familiar to amateur players in skilled hands). Said the ‘Argus’ of November 30, “The three pieces were played with great facility, but nevertheless with that superabundant gesticulation which we suppose must be inseparable from the professor of legerdemain, although, to do him justice, Mr. Heller in this respect is not so bad as he might be.”

Nocturne in D flat by  Dohler

Tarantella by Heller

Home, Sweet Home by Thalberg, with original introduction and termination by Heller.

‘with his Sister Haydee’

A Tale of a Tub – production of ducks from a tub

Rival magician, W.A.Chapman, had concluded his season in Melbourne and moved on by the end of November. The Weston and Hussey troupe of Minstrel artists now moved into Weston’s Opera House and featured a burlesque upon Heller’s magic, as the Melbourne Herald reported, “the magical entertainment, called ‘Hussey’s Wonders’ caused roars of laughter.”

While Mr. Chapman had been “doing tolerably well”,  Heller’s business was excellent, and the ‘Australasian’ wrote (December 4), “Mr. Heller has proved an unqualified success. His conjuring is perfect, his management of the second sight, in conjunction with Miss Heller, marvellous, and his piano-playing unapproachable. His house is filled nightly. It has become unfashionable not to have seen him.”

His musical abilities continued to vie for first place over his magic – “Thalberg's fantasia on the familiar air of "Home, Sweet Home," is one of the most charming things we have heard for many a long day, and it is interesting to observe the wondering attention given to the rapid, crisp, and delicate fingering of the executant by the ladies in the audience; while the profound silence which is maintained in all parts of the house is perhaps the highest compliment that could be offered to the performer.”

Settling in for a long run, the Third Programme was introduced on December 13.

Cash versus Cards – four half-crowns are borrowed, eight cards selected. The coins are placed in a tumbler, and by jumping in the glass they indicate the suit and value of the chosen cards. The coins then penetrate through into a sealed glass, while the cards disappear and reappear on the point of an eight-pointed star.

An Illustration of Animal Magnetism - unclear

The Harlequin – mechanical figure in the style of Robert-Houdin’s automata. The Argus reported  “one of the jolliest tricks imaginable … he is a most perverse and impish figure, and delight in doing exactly the reverse of the word of command.”

The Birth of Flowers – basically the ‘Cannonball’ production, used to produce a multitude of flowers from a hat, followed by a large cannon ball. On at least one occasion, when asked to nominate which sort of flower they would like, a voice from the audience demanded a cauliflower; and of course this was produced as a kicker to the trick.

Photograph in Negative – unknown effect

The Argus, Dec.15 complained that Mr. Heller was ‘niggardly’ in not playing more music than he did.

Grand Fantastic on airs from ‘Semiramide’ arr. Thalberg

Auld Robin Gray performed on the orgue melodique

‘Piano Practice of a Boarding-school Miss’ in which Heller comedically imitated a young girl working her way through her tedious practice time.

Bolstered by  daily advertising, and just a fortnight later, from December 27, the Fourth programme was announced for the Christmas season:

The Harlequin – a mechanical clown

With an Orange – unclear but perhaps a Card in Orange

Raising the Wind –The Prolific Hat (from which the good genius Santa Claus will send a shower of Christmas gifts to the little folks.) Production of rolls of silk, underclothing, half-pound tin containers, laces, bon-bons etc. The hat then exploded, but was afterwards restored in sound condition to its owner.

Caprice Brilliante on airs from ‘Il Trovatore’ by R.Heller

Several ordinary Etudes – ‘showing how much beautiful music there really is hidden in the humdrum day practice of ordinary players.’

With Miss Haydee Heller

As 1870 arrived, Heller’s Wonders was not flagging. Historian Will Alma notes that an oppressive heat wave had swamped Melbourne during December and January, but the Heller show mostly continued to draw, regardless.

Rightly claiming ‘recognition from all classes of the popularity and excellence of this entertainment … the most legitimate resort during the Christmas Holidays’, the show, which had been playing every night and frequent Saturday matinees, continued to pull good houses while the magician moved into his Fifth (January 11) and Sixth (January 24)  programme variations:

Things Telescopic - unclear

A Mysterious Omelette – cooking an egg in a hat

The Plumes and Flowers – production of plumes and flowers from a scarf

Horological Croquette –  this watch trick may have been part of the following trick, ‘The Garland of Flowers’.  It was not mentioned in reviews; this may have been Robert-Houdin’s trick where watches, cards and handkerchiefs were destroyed, then appeared dangling from ribbons on a garland of flowers which was strung across the stage.

Fantasie Brillante, on airs from “Elisir d’Amore’

Ballad, “Kathleen Mavourneen” on the orgue melodique

Sunshine and Tempest – descriptive scene

Or ‘the Weird Witchery of Wonder Wisdom’. “Haydee” Heller is now being shown as “Haidee”

The famous and original Wood Minstrels (marionettes)

For this programme, in the eleventh week of his season, according to advertisements “the Somatic conjuring will be entirely new, consisting of MUSIC.”

On the Erard piano, Heller presented:

Capriccioso, and Andante & Allegro (Mendelssohn)

Paraphrase of Rigoletto (arr. Liszt)

The Drum Polka (Jullien) performed by Robert Heller’s Goblin Drum Corps (invisible player of a suspended drum, accompanied on the piano by Heller)

However, it appears that there was also a conjuring portion at the start of the show, consisting of the same tricks from Programme Five, with the addition of the Gun Trick, in which not one but seven bullets were fired at the performer and caught.

Miss Haidee then introduced ‘new developments’ of Supernatural Vision, and the evening concluded with The Sensational Aerial Head, ‘a most astounding illusion, conveying to the audience the idea of a Human Head suspended in mid-air, yet possessed of all the attributes of speech, &c., and forming one of the most charming pictures and perfect tableau ever presented to the Melbourne public.’ The ‘Age’ (Feb.3) mentioned that “ a mechanical defect which at first slightly marred the effect has been remedied, is as perfect an optical illusion as has been witnessed in the colony…”

Finally, towards the end of January, the advertisements began to warn of the impending end of the Apollo hall season. Attendance continued to be strong, and on the week commencing February 8, the Seventh Programme was introduced:

Heller promoted ‘new mystifications … the Slave of the Lamp is perfectly incomprehensible.’

The music included selections from ‘La Sonnambula’ and ‘Norma’, improvisations on popular airs, and a descriptive piece on The Battle of Alma.
The ‘Cabalistic Laundry’ was “something to wonder at. A dozen borrowed handkerchiefs are unceremoniously thrown into the wash-tub, and hot water (boiled in a fire made in a hat) is thrown upon them. They are wrung out and stuffed into a cannon (in lieu of a mangle) which , upon being fired blows a girl of about 13  into the middle of the stage. She curtseys and says ‘If you please, I've brought home the washing.’ The handkerchiefs, neatly washed and ironed, are then handed back to their owners.”

As an added attraction, 'Mons. Leotard' performed a series of his acrobatic feats. Leotard would be seen with the Heller show through into March; but this was not the original Jules ‘Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze’ Leotard, nor was it Edwin Leotard (of the Leotard Troupe, assembled in Australia in 1865). (6) In fact, it was a mechanical gymnast along the lines of ‘Antonio Diavolo’, Robert-Houdin’s celebrated semi-automaton.

The Zouave, ‘a clever piece of mechanism which ... went through his manoeuvres to the word of command.’

The Seventh Bullet – Heller’s gun trick in which a pistol is loaded with seven bullets which are caught in the performer’s mouth.

Lucifer’s Breakfast – a magic teapot spouts milk, rum punch and more.

Suspension Chloroforeen – The Robert-Houdin suspension, a new illusion for the Melbourne crowd. Again, the newspaper did not name Haidee Heller as the assistant, so it is assumed there was some other, and likely the same young lass who featured in the Cabalistic Laundry trick.

The Age remarked, ‘Apparently foremost among Mr. Heller's attainments is the art of drawing good houses, for no performer who has appeared for some time past has been so successful as he has been in this respect. Last night there was another full house, and the performance passed off with its accustomed smoothness and success.’

At last, however, the final week arrived, and three farewell nights were advertised, February 26 and 28, and March 1, providing a Grand Complimentary Benefit to Robert and Haidee Heller, for which farewell appearance the Theatre Royal was to be used. Advance advertising was already beginning for the next season, at Ballarat, and George Coppin advertised that he would be travelling with the company. This would still not be the very last appearance of Robert Heller in Melbourne, for on March 2 he would give a double programme of music, a performance of Second Sight with Haidee, and introduce General Tom Thumb and wife, Commodore Nutt and Miss Minnie Warren with their performance of songs and comic burlesques.

The Age, March 2, 1870 – “Mr. Heller last night brought his first Melbourne season to a close after over four months of  almost unprecedented success. During the whole time he has drawn crowded houses, not even the weather being able to thin his audiences while, on the other hand, the building has often proved too circumscribed to accommodate all who were anxious of obtaining admission.” Clearly, Mr. Coppin’s concerns about a poor reception in Melbourne had been supremely unfounded.

Ballarat Courier, March 8 – “Artistes have visited this town before under much the same circumstances, but in only a few instances have they proved themselves as worthy of the lavish encomiums passed upon their performances by metropolitan critics as Mr Robert Heller. The entertainment given by this gentleman is full of variety, skill, and originality; and so droll are his remarks, and so clever are his musical and other performances, that the interest and delight of the audience are enchanted from beginning to end of the programme. Mr Heller is not only a skilful conjurer, and an admirable speaker, but he adds to these accomplishments a musical ability of the very highest possible order. His performances on the pianoforte show a command over the instrument, a finish of execution, and a poetry of music which are positively delightful to observe and hear, and which exhibit a rare genius on the part of the performer. In like manner the skilful manipulation he displays in the lighter portion of his entertainment, such as the conjuring tricks, prove him to be an artist of rare merit, who has struck out for himself new ideas from a well-beaten track before he entered upon it, and who knows how to make the most of the discoveries he has succeeded in alighting upon.”

It was noted that Robert Heller had procured over a dozen articles from the audience and, though he put the question to Haydee in the same form every time, she still managed to identify each item (note that Miss Heller was currently spelled ‘Haydee’ again).

Having set out the scope of his various programmes, we will not go into detail again, other than to say that at Ballarat the Wizard worked his way through at least four separate programmes, before it was necessary for him to leave the township, headed for Adelaide in South Australia. His final nights were a Benefit on April 4 (for which he claimed ‘an entire change of programme’),and a Charity concert for the hospital on the fifth,  but on the sixth and seventh he performed at the Mechanics’ Institute at Smythesdale, close to Ballarat. His reasoning for a short appearance is not clear, and it was reported that his audience was ‘respectable’ but ‘attendance was not so large as had been expected.’

By April 12, the troupe, accompanied by Coppin, departed from Melbourne, destined for Adelaide, South Australia, aboard the steamer ‘Coorong’.

One interesting question is whether Heller, while he was touring Victoria, ever went to visit his younger brother.  Rejoicing in the interesting name of Angelo Crotch Palmer (12), he had come to Australia in 1853 on the hunt, like so many others, for gold at Castlemaine. Finding none, he travelled to Melbourne and found work as a labourer, where it is said that he dug foundations for the new home of … Mr. George Coppin.

Briefly travelling back to England on the death of his father in 1854, he was returning to Australia in October 1855 aboard the clipper Schomberg, when it ran aground at Peterborough, Victoria. Fortunately all were rescued.

There is no information as to whether the brothers met up; certainly Robert did not tour as far as Hamilton. Angelo was the beneficiary of the full residue of Robert’s estate after his wife, and Haidee, were provided for.

Angelo went back to his original legal training, and was working as a much sought-after solicitor in Hamilton, towards the West of Victoria. He died in 1912, aged 80, and is buried in the Hamilton Old Cemetery where his name is listed on the brochure of “Hamilton Notables”.

 

Indeed, the Adelaide season proved far more successful than Coppin had expected or hoped. Adelaide, capital of South Australia, was a rapidly growing city although the total population of South Australia, established in 1834, was less than 200,000. White's Rooms was a privately owned function centre on King William Street, connected to the Clarence Hotel, and it had later lives as Garner's Theatre, the Tivoli, Bijou, Star cinema, then in 1916 the Majestic Theatre and Hotel.

The troupe opened there on Monday, April 18 (Easter Monday) with ‘Programme One’.  Once again the review of opening night was lengthy and enthusiastic, particularly in reference to Miss Heller’s Second Sight; with the exception of the commentary on Heller’s street advertising:- “…the hideous cartoons that now adorn (?) the walls and hoardings of the city, and in which a certain unmentionable personage is the most prominent figure.” We are guessing that the image in question was the devilish character featured in the “Witch’s Pole”, shown above.

From April 25, the second programme was given, closely followed on the 28^th by Programme Three. Business had become very strong, the South Australian Register (Apr.26) saying, “Heller is the prince of conjurors, and a pianist who could take his place without fear alongside the most accomplished performers in Europe.”

Programme Four commenced on Monday, May 2, and the inhabitants of Gawler and Kapunda were advised that it was impossible for the Wizard to accept their kind invitations to perform there.

The closing nights of the Adelaide season were announced for May 9 - 13, the first evening being a complimentary benefit to George Coppin, who promised to appears as ‘the wandering minstrel’ with his celebrated song, “Villikins and his Dinah.”  May 10 was a command night under the patronage of the South Australian Governor, Sir James Fergusson, and his wife, Lady Edith. May 11 was reserved as a benefit night for Haydee Heller, and the 13^th was the magician’s own benefit night.

Having carefully sown the seeds for his final appearances, Heller followed his previous practice by giving a pianoforte recital on May 16, in which his repertoire included Beethoven’s Sonata Pathetique, Grande Fantasie on popular themes, Songs without Words, a ballad on the ‘Orgue Melodique’, Etudes by Chopin, Cramer, Stephen Heller and Robert Heller, and improvisations by the pianist. The following Tuesday the troupe departed Adelaide, heading back towards Melbourne, via Geelong.

While everything was seemingly running well, from public appearances, serious trouble was brewing behind the scenes.

I can have the Programme bills printed when I arrive from Adelaide. The non delivery of my letters is very annoying but the stage door is the place to enquire for them. There is one particularly that ought to have been answered by the last Mail. If you see Napier Harwood or Stewart [they were partners in Theatre Royal chain in late 1860s] you can tell them about asking for them   ... There is a receipt for the payment of freight upon my desk. I fear you will find the Laville [gout medication; see note 13 ] running short - I have written for another lot by the last mail. I see by the Argus that you have commenced your football season. I wish the club a successful season of matches. Yours truly [signed]"

No public explanation was ever given made as to why Haidee Heller was departing, except that she would be returning to England, via the ‘Great Britain’, on June 14. There was no indication that she had any intention of coming back to Australia, and given the lengthy sea voyage involved, it was probably not expected.

This obviously caused a major disruption to the show, of which Haidee’s mentalism routine formed a third of the programme, and was a major publicity feature which was always remarked upon in the press. Heller could not fall back on his old mentalism assistant, W.A.Chapman, because the pair were now in competition with one another.

The company promptly returned to Melbourne following the short Geelong season, and at the Academy of Music (Princess’ Theatre), another farewell concert benefit was given on June 11. Coppin made much of the press advertising, highlighting “Farewell, Farewell, Farewell, Mysterious Haydee”. The fourth part of the evening’s programme was announced as “SENSATIONAL” – What is it? Song by Miss Haydee Heller’s Head. Where is the body? A Most wonderful illusion” – giving us an indication that Haydee did on occasion appear in the “floating head” illusion, and that she had some aptitude for singing, which would come to the fore later in her career.

To the public, Miss Heller had clearly become a Melbourne favourite. The “Age” of June 15 said, “It is a very long time since the Princess Theatre presented such an animated appearance as it did last night, upon the occasion of Miss Haydee Heller’s benefit and last appearance in the colony … the house was crowded almost to suffocation in every part, and many persons must have left the theatre unable to gain a view of the stage… the performance was brought to a conclusion by the sensational illusion of Miss Heller’s head floating in mid-air. In the course of the evening, Mr. Heller took occasion to thank the public of Melbourne for the support they had always afforded himself and Miss Heller during their sojourn in this city.”

Haidee's voyage took until August 24 to arrive in Liverpool, having faced heavy Easterly gales around Cape Horn. Following her departure, Robert Heller embarked on a series of musical concerts from June 18 at the Princess’ Theatre, in conjunction with Mr. and Mrs. Allen, contralto Mrs. Cutter, and singer Mr. Alfred Wilkie. Instrumentally, Herr Lundborg (clarinet) and Herr Berg (trombone) assisted Heller. The press, while somewhat temperate in their praise for the mezzo-soprano Mrs. Allen and Mr Wilkie, had nothing but the usual praise for Mr. Heller’s fantasia on ‘Sonnambula, a caprice by Goria, a tarantella, a nocturne by Doheler, and Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words.

The concert series continued, with one postponement of a few days June 27 and 30. The final evening was on the 30^th, which was announced as “his last appearance in public prior to his departure from the colony” which the press seemed to take as being his last ever appearance in Australia – “everything bids fair to make Mr. Robert Heller’s  last appearance here - one that will long be remembered with regret, even if not unalloyed with pleasure.” In fact, the troupe was heading for New Zealand.

       

     

               

The ‘Empire’ of December 12, 1870 noted that Robert Heller had returned to Sydney aboard the steamer James Paterson on the previous day, and was now back under the management of George Coppin. With almost no fanfare, it was also mentioned that “Miss Haidee Heller has arrived in Melbourne from England, and will appear with Mr. Heller at the School of Arts on Boxing night.” Haidee had arrived on December 4 aboard the ‘Great Britain’ out of Liverpool – a draining two month trip. We have no clue as to what brought about the reconciliation, any more than we know why they were arguing in the first place, but the iconic duo were once again together, and would remain so throughout the extensive world tours they made up to Robert's death in late 1878.

The duo were reunited at the Mechanics’ School of Arts on December 26 for what was promoted as  ‘Robert Heller’s farewell to Sydney .... previous to his departure from Australia  … limited number of nights.’ A feature of this short season was the “Sculptor’s Dream” illusion, which seems to have featured a song from Miss Heller.  The ‘Empire’ remarked, “One of the greatest charms of Mr. Heller's performance is the apparently candid manner in which he occasionally volunteers to explain to his audience how he performs his tricks ; and he generally contrives to tell such a "roundabout story" that his listeners, eager for enlightenment, and credulous enough to believe that they are about to receive it, generally find themselves at its conclusion floundering about in a sea of absurd but very laughable explanations. Heller's tricks cannot be explained ; they are seen only to be wondered at, as they deserve to be, considering the dexterity with which they are performed.”

Heller played his pianoforte, Alexandra Harmonium and Orgue Melodique  with an extensive array of numbers by Thalberg, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Chopin and more, interspersed by songs from Miss Wiseman, Mrs. W.J.Cordner, and Mr. Cobley.  The Australian Town and Country Journal (January 28) was, for once, critical of an aspect of the pianist’s skill, suggesting that there was nothing to be gained by the performer relying on his memory instead of using printed music – “… in Chopin’s ‘Impromptu’ Mr. Heller got completely astray.” Otherwise the review was the usual high praise. Mr. Heller went so far as to advertise his thanks, in the Sydney Morning Herald, to the piano tuner, Mr. Jackson of Elvy and Co, who had so expertly restored his Erard Grand piano. “… these qualities in my piano had suffered considerably from the great use I had made of the instrument, and its violent usage consequent upon frequent packing and unpacking, travelling &c.”

Finally Mr. Heller departed, the ‘Freeman’s Journal’ lamenting, “School of Arts.— Mr. Heller and the accomplished Miss Heller, are about to leave us. We hope not for ever. Their entertainment has been one of the most popular, especially with the higher classes, that was ever given in this city. Any detailed notice of their wonderful performances is uncalled for. Everybody has seen them, everybody has been charmed by them, and everybody will be glad to have an opportunity, at some future period, of seeing them again. We take leave of Mr. Heller, and his sister with real regret.”

The players sailed from Sydney aboard the Rangatira, bound for Melbourne, on January 23. They arrived on the 26^th, but within days sailed to Launceston in Tasmania, via the Derwent, arriving on the 31^st. Both Mr. and Mrs. George Coppin were along on the trip.

At the Mechanics’ Institute, the show opened on February 2. Unsurprisingly, the Launceston audiences and press responded with the same enthusiasm and praise as elsewhere, and two programmes were shown up until the 14^th, when a move was made towards Hobart.

The southern season opened at the Town Hall on February 22 and was promoted as a one-week event. It ran until March 3, following the usual sequence of benefit nights, following which two added farewell nights were presented, combining Robert Heller’s recitals on the Town Hall organ, “Hypernatural Vision” with Haydee, George Coppin reprising his comic characters for the first time in Tasmania in 26 years, and Punch & Judy. On the 11^th, the troupe left for Melbourne on the ‘Southern Cross’. For the first time, it seems that the attendance in Hobart was not up to the usual crowds – the Melbourne ‘Herald’ of March 11, praising Coppin, said, “In those days the drama was well supported in Tasmania, and it is to be regretted that the present manager cannot command the same amount of talent and patronage … we regret to hear that Mr. Coppin’s visit has not been remunerative… we sincerely trust that this very excellent combination programme .. may crowded the hall to overflowing as a farewell mark of appreciation of one of the most amusing, refined, and instructive entertainments that ever visited Tasmania.”

Perhaps, then, Coppin and Heller saw that their opportunities for lengthy seasons in a single town were beginning to thin out. Advertising for “Heller’s Wonders” at St. George’s Hall in Melbourne, commencing Easter Monday April 10, stated that the season was for a few weeks only. The return season introduced some new music from Heller, ‘Grand Fantasia on airs from Masaniello’ and ‘Danse Ossianique’ by Gottschalk. The final part, though substantially using Heller’s Sphinx/Floating Head apparatus, was re-worked as a dungeon setting, into which Cagliostro ventured at midnight to interrogate an already-decapitated head on behalf of the Inquisition. Opening night once again proved that Melbourne had a love affair with this show, numbers being turned away from the door.

By April 25, a full change of programme was made, and Heller presented to a Vice-regal audience, the governor Lord Viscount Canterbury. Part Four of the evening was given over to Indian Magic, including the Growing Plants and the Basket Trick.

May 1, 1871 saw a double performance, as Heller’s Wonders was presented at St. George’s, following which Heller presumably raced over to the Theatre Royal, where a special benefit night was being held for George Coppin. On this occasion, as well as magic from Robert and Haydee Heller, Mr. Coppin stepped up to present a number of sketches, firstly as ‘Wackford Squeers’ in a dramatisation of Dickens’ “Nicholas Nickelby”.
The role of Newman Noggs was played by Mr J.Burdett Howe, author of the autobiographical “A Cosmopolitan Actor”. As a sidelight, we quote this colourful description of Melbourne, from his book.  “Everything here is the antithesis of Sydney. Sydney is a cross between London and Boston; Melbourne is ditto between New York and Chicago … some of the latter (streets such as Little Bourke) contain the vilest dens of infamy in any civilised community. All the scum from the bogs of Ireland, the alleys of London, the Five Points of New York, and the back slums of every other part of the world, are to be encountered here. I was frequently warned not to wander a yard up Little Bourke Street, even in the middle of the day; but during my short sojourn in Melbourne, I found many other places quite as dangerous.”

Coppin’s other comic features were his Billy Barlow character, and a farce titled “The Artful Dodger”, together with a lengthy speech in which he acknowledged the Hellers’ contribution and thanked Melbourne for their support , while questioning the lack of support for ‘serious’ drama in that city.

The same entertainment was given again the following evening at the Theatre Royal. May 4 brought another change of programme, and the season rolled happily along into its sixth week, introducing Miss Heller in a new feature, ‘Portfolio of Living Pictures’. This might have been nothing more than Haydee standing behind a series of picture frames with the face cut out, giving impressions of various notables; except that Charles Waller states that while her face was visible, her body was nowhere to be seen. Some of her impressions included General and Mrs “Tom Thumb” Stratton, and various operatic stars who will be unfamiliar to modern readers.

At last,  Melbourne city saw the conclusion of Robert Heller on May 27. His theatre was packed for final night, and the wizard addressed a word or two to the audience, thanking the Melbourne public for their liberal patronage of his entertainment, and expressing a hope that he would visit them again, although it could not be for a few  years to come.  The press was sad to see him go – “Heller, the delightful, is going to leave us. Not, however, I venture to assert, without taking with him a very substantial 'souvenir ' of our appreciation of his abilities. Those who have seen him, however, and who has not? — will in no wise begrudge him his good fortune. His entertainment is undoubtedly the very best one we have had.”

May 29 - Town Hall, St. Kilda

30 – Town Hall, Kew

31 – Mechanics’ Institute, Williamstown

June 1 – Town Hall, Prahran

3&5 – Mechanics’ Institute, Kyneton

6 – [10?] – Theatre, Castlemaine

12 – Albion Hall, Sandhurst (Bendigo)

At Bendigo, the show settled for an announced two-week season; except that four weeks later, he was still there, and advertising his impending closure, which finally arrived on July 12. It seems that Heller and Coppin were keeping themselves occupied while making plans for the next stop on the wizard’s world tour; it was announced that Heller had “made arrangements to leave the colonies for India at the termination of his Geelong engagement.

While at Bendigo, Haydee and Robert visited the gold mine of the Pandora company, Haydee “seeing” hope in the bottom of the mine and buying a chunk of investment scrip.

The appearance of being at a loose end continued when another short season was announced for the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute, nine nights only from July 17 to 26 “previous to his departure for India.”

Heller managed to ring several changes of programme during his stay, but for some reason he was faced with the rare problem of poor audience attendance. Another company at the Theatre Royal was facing “wretched houses”, but the best that could be said by the Ballarat Courier was that Heller’s Wonders drew a ‘tolerably good house.’ – on July 25 it was remarked that “Mr. Heller’s Wonders do not draw the houses which the excellence and variety of his elegant entertainment merits”, blaming this circumstance on the very inclement weather. The final evening seems to have been strongly attended.

A similar nine-night appearance was commenced at the Geelong Mechanics’ Institute on August 7, while newspapers started to report that Heller was due to depart Australia with the next sailing of the ‘Avoca’. The Australasian went so far as to say (August 12) that theatrical agent, Mr. John W.Smith, and Heller would depart by the outgoing mail, embracing the principal cities of British India, the Island of Java, and China, Mr Smith having secured a “trump card” in Mr. Heller. He was reported to have paid the sum of £6,000 to Heller for an eighteen-month engagement. But although Smith departed, he was only going to pave the way, and Mr. Heller remained in Australia.

The weather continued to beset the show:- “Mr Heller has certainly been very unfortunate during his present visit to Geelong,  the weather on two evenings having been so cold and miserable. On Wednesday evening, just before the entertainment commenced, a piercingly cold shower of rain fell, and the streets were very muddy. Notwithstanding this there was a better attendance than on the previous night, and it was pleasing to notice that Mr. Heller exerted himself as much to please as he would have done if there had been a crowded house. This is what few public performers can well do.” Things picked up after a few nights, ending in fine attendances, and there were three different programmes presented during his Geelong visit, which finished on August 16.

Returning then to Melbourne, Robert and Haydee Heller awaited their September departure, free to indulge their own interests without the pressure of daily performances. Robert Heller played some of his Thalberg pieces, and one composed by the recipient of the Benefit, at a morning concert given for Mr. J.A.Schott, Principal of the Royal Victorian Academy of Music, on August 19. The concert was successful, but was too long and overloaded with performers, according to reviews.

Haydee Heller’s feats were meanwhile being imitated by “Schneider, the Learned Dog” at the Waxworks, telling fortunes, answering questions and making calculations.

As a last hurrah, Mr. Heller presented two more performances, at the Theatre Royal on September 4 and 5, during which Miss Heller sang the song “The Glass” from Offenbach’s opera bouffe “The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein”, which was loudly applauded. Mr. Heller thanked the audience for their support and expressed a hope that he might have the pleasure of appearing before them at some time in the future. And with that, Heller’s Australian tour reached an end.

Haydee, however, had set her eyes on an ambitious goal. On September 6 she appeared at the Princess’ Theatre in the title role of the Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, a mezzo-soprano role which aroused the curiosity of all Melbourne. It was a poorly-advised venture, and a disappointing farewell to Australia.

The ‘Australasian’ of September 9 reported, “It was a bold undertaking, and it proved to be a conspicuous failure … that a young lady with no voice worth speaking of, very little knowledge of music, an indifferent ear, no stage training, and a particularly awkward manner, should venture to attack a part which requires special and exceptional qualifications to enable a vocalist to sustain it properly, is one of those circumstances which would be apt to astonish one … so Miss Heller made a dash at the Grand Duchess, instead of essaying a small part, and as a matter of course, the higher the object she aimed at the greater and the more obvious was her fall … Miss Heller has been perfectly successful in imitating the vocal peculiarities of Madame Simonson [in the Living Pictures illusion]  …. But when she came to present herself as an operatic singer, she speedily demonstrated how much easier it is to copy and exaggerate the defects of others than to create a character by herself.”

It was not the last occasion on which Miss Heller ventured into musical theatre, but the next time she was far more cautious, reportedly singing the simpler role of “Little Buttercup” in ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’ somewhere in the west of the United States, during April 1879. (8)

That wish was never to be, as Heller would die a premature death in 1878, but in the meantime he had a flourishing career and an ambitious tour ahead of him. The path marked out included Bombay, Point du Galle, Colombo, Madras, Bangalore, Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Batavia, Samarang, Sooloo, Sourabaya and Pasoroean. While we cannot pursue his full world tour, it is hoped that some other enterprising researcher will fill in the next two years, and just a few trailing reports  back to Australia are mentioned here.

The mail steamer “Geelong” departed on Monday, September 11, carrying passengers bound for King George’s Sound, Calcutta, and Hong Kong.  Heller’s destination was Bombay where, it was reported in the ‘Australasian’ of December 9, 1871, he had great success before heading to Calcutta.

In the ‘Herald’ of October 31, 1872 p.3, a chatty letter from Robert Heller was reproduced. Writing from Samarang, Java, on August 30, he said:-

“With the mail which takes this letter to Australia goes my late colleague, Mr. John Smith, accompanied by his wife and child. The latter sailed from here on the 28^th, to catch the mail at Singapore en route for Melbourne. Having suffered much from attacks of fever, and as the typhus had begun to show itself on one of our company, he (Smith) was discreet and made off amicably, although our agreement was not quite finished. We have done very well, but might have done better;  as they say in the Divorce Court, incompatibility of temper was a drawback to our smooth course of business. The Java business has been good throughout, and promises me a rich yield another season. On the 10^th of August, Haidee and I played at the magnificent palace of the Emperor of Looloo, in his august presence and that of a most brilliant suite.  After the show he gave me publicly a cross of diamonds, and to Miss Heller he presented a brooch containing 38 splendid diamonds. Our reception was of the most kindly description, and every attention was paid to our comfort and convenience. My principal lad being very ill with fever, we cannot move from here until he is stronger, but we hope to be able to make a move by the steamer of the 12^th of September. To leave for Batavia, to play two or three nights, thence on by the French mail to sail for Singapore, hoping to arrive about the 22^nd of September. From thence we intend to get to Penang, Prince of Wales Island, and may perhaps visit the Mauritius before we go home, via Suez and the East. It is some source of comfort to us that in spite of all annoyances – of business, want of civilised food and accommodation, varying temperatures of climates, &c. we have enjoyed excellent health and have kept up our spirits amazingly. ‘Many a time and oft’ have we wished ourselves again in Australia, and we are bound to be there again some time or another before long.”

[Melbourne Herald, December 18, 1872]
“Have you heard this last?  I’ve just got letter from E.P. [Hingston] in which he gives concise evidence of the fact that poor Heller died of cholera at sea, on his way home from China. In Ceylon it was all the talk, and a gentleman at the Langham Hotel, London, wrote to E.P. all the particulars. This gentleman was one of the passengers on the ship, so that I am afraid the report must be true. Poor Heller! Well, I can tell you how much I am interested in the sad news. He was the nearest relative I ever had,  and always treated me as if he couldn't do enough for either of us. From earliest infancy — earlier — he became intimately connected with my affairs, and in the ups and downs of life he has always risen with my ups, and done the best he could to keep afloat when the indications of position were contrariwise.

Much later, after the magician’s true death in 1878, Haidee Heller gave an interview to the New York Star, which the Australian paper ‘Farmer and Mechanic’ reported on April 17, 1879:-

“A reporter of the New York Star had a chat recently with Haidee Heller, the sister of the later Robert Heller, in which she related several interesting stories about her brother. “Why”, she said, “in five years we visited California, Mexico, St. Thomas; all through Australia, Van Diemen’s Land, South Australia, New Zealand; in various parts of India, Bombay, Juthpore, Allahabad, Calcutta; through the Island of Ceylon, Point Galie [sic], Colomba and Kandy. Then we went to China, and played months in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Macao – back again to Singapore, and thence to the Island of Java. We had splendid success in the lovely island, playing in such nice easy named places as Ambaraws, Socrakarta, Djokjakarta, Samarang and Pattekembang. A third time we went to Singapore en route for Bombay. From Bombay to Aden, up the Red Sea into Egypt, staying a long time in Cairo, where he fell ill. Then on to Alexandria, Malta, and Gibraltar. After an awful passage through the Bay of Biscay, we brought up travel-stained, weary, but rich in pocket and wealthy in mind from all our wanderings.”

(1) Most notably the detailed “Magic Detective” blogs of Dean Carnegie at http://www.themagicdetective.com

Of books, the writings of Henry Ridgley Evans, Dr Charles J. Pecor "The Magician on the American Stage 1752-1874"(Emerson and West, Washington D.C. 1977), and Sidney Wrangel Clarke in “The Annals of Conjuring”  are the most detailed.

(1A) The National Library of Australia holds an extensive archive of Coppin history - https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-242667424/findingaid#collection-summary from which I have sourced:

"Family Correspondence – letters to Lucy Coppin, 1867-1871 (File 1) – Box 18"
"Typescript of Coppins letters to his wife, August 1866 – 18 January 1871 (File 8)". See Box 20 and also Box 20B

(1B) Sadly, the standard biography of George Coppin, "Coppin the Great", by Alec Bagot 1965, makes scant reference to Coppin's involvement with magic, and none whatsoever to the lengthy period in which he managed Robert Heller.

(1C) The source of this story is Henry Hatton, in The Sphinx magazine, October 15, 1906

(2) ‘Empire’ September 20, 1869 p.2

(3) Melody Magic compiled by Harry L. Clapham, Washington D.C. 1932

(4) "My Father - Robert Heller", by Mary Adelaide Palmer Blanchet, in "Sphinx" magazine, March 1943

(5) Over the years Robert Heller had a number of mind-reading assistants on stage, and secret ‘third parties’ who played a part in the Second Sight routine, which we will not detail here. Others who might have been privy to the routine’s workings include Morris H. Levett who was with the magician while he was still impersonating a Frenchman, Fred Hunt Jr. (noted as Heller’s Business Manager during 1862 and would go on to write an expose after Heller’s death),  Edward Jonathan Dale, W.A.Chapman, a short-lived “Mrs Heller” who was not Haidee, manager Joseph H Tooker (1877), and an assistant who was dismissed after a few weeks and went on to write a newspaper expose in Cincinnati.

M.H. Levett wrote an insightful two-page article in M-U-M, the Society of American Magicians monthly magazine, May 1919.

(6) See ‘Troupes with connections to Barlow’ at https://barlowtheinimitablebluetailedfly.weebly.com/

(7) Stodare – The Enigma Variations by Prof. Edwin A. Dawes. Kaufman and Company 1998.

(8) Daily Globe (St. Paul. Minn.), April 10, 1879

(9) Some of Heller’s own compositions are published in the book “Melody Magic”, compiled by Harry  L. Clapham in 1932. The works reproduced there are:

The Soldier’s Adieu 1855

Etude de Bravoura, 1858

Caprice Sentimentale 1858

Souvenir D’Hiver 1857 (see transcription above)
Many of his works are now transcribed on this site, at http://sydneymagic.net/music2.html

Works located online include:

(see, for instance, https://www.loc.gov/notated-music/?q=%22robert+heller%22 )

Ripple Waltz [1854?]

President's Mounted Guard Quick Step

Way-Side Flowers – Fantasia 1854

I Have Sworn to Love Thee Ever (Ballad)

Trois Mazurkas Op.14 - #1 Fuchsia, #2 Ipomaea, #3 Coronella

Twilight Musings - #1 Josephine Mazurka, #2 Ariel Waltz

Laughing Water – Morceau de Concert 1863

Lou Lou Mazurka 1863

(10) https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015096667467&view=1up&seq=1

(11) North Australian, September 26, 1884

(12) More about Angelo C. Palmer at https://westerndistrictfamilies.com/tag/palmer/