Harry Kellar - Early Life

Early Life

Like most magicians, there is little of Kellar's early life that can be confirmed. His real name was Heinrich Keller and he was born to German immigrants in Erie, Pennsylvania. He was sometimes called Henry, but later changed it to Harry. As a child, Kellar loved to play dangerous games and was known to play chicken with passing trains.

Kellar apprenticed under a druggist and frequently experimented with various chemical mixtures. On one occasion, Kellar reportedly blew a hole in the floor of his employer's drugstore. Rather than confront the wrath of his parents, Kellar stowed away on a train and became a vagabond. He was only ten years old at the time.

Kellar was befriended by a British-born minister of religion from upstate New York. He offered to adopt Kellar and pay for his education if he would study to also become a minister. One evening Kellar saw the performance of a traveling magician, The Fakir of Ava (the stage name of Isiaiah Harris Hughes), and, after the show, Kellar "immediately got the urge to go on the stage". He later told Houdini that, "I became very restless, bought books on magic and finally left my friend and benefactor". While working on a farm in Buffalo, New York, Kellar answered an ad in the newspaper that was placed by Hughes, who was looking for an assistant. Kellar was hired and, at the age of sixteen, gave his first solo performance in Dunkirk, Michigan. It was a disaster and Kellar went back to work with Hughes. Two years later, Keller tried again with better results, but, as he was in poor financial condition, often had to leave town during intermission to avoid creditors.