DBpedia – Linked Data Fragments

Matches in DBpedia 2015-10 for { ?s ?p "Walford Bodie, whose real name was Samuel Murphy Bodie (1869–1939), was a Scottish showman, hypnotist, ventriloquist and stage magician, famous for his 'mock' electrocutions involving a replica of 'The Electric Chair'. He also performed an act of 'Bloodless Surgery', claiming he could use electricity, hypnosis and manipulation to cure 'all kinds of ailments and disabilities.' His performances were enormously popular in the early 20th century, and inspired both Harry Houdini and Charlie Chaplin.Charlie Chaplin imitated Bodie on stage in 1906, and continued to do so in Hollywood years later, while Bodie and Houdini were firm friends for many years. Numerous letters were exchanged between the two. Walford Bodie claimed to be the 'Most Remarkable Man on Earth,' and at one stage, in the Edwardian decade, the handsome young Scotsman became one of the world's highest paid entertainers; if not the highest. His 'Show Cures,' performed as part of his 'Bloodless Surgery,' be they good, bad or indifferent, had brought him spectacular success. Bodie advertised freely; his show posters even including the invitation 'Send Your Cripples.'In 1905, his 'cures' had made him so famous that he was made a 'Freeman of the City of London,' the first of his kind to receive such an honour. From this, he made his fortune, set up his 'Bodie Electric Drug Co,' and published his 'Bodie Book.' None of which pleased the medical profession, who'd labelled him a 'quack,' and had already taken him to court over the use of the word 'doctor.'Yet Walford Bodie was also a great showman, and stage performer, and it was the combination of great showmanship, as well as his apparent 'cures,' that provided the magnet for his huge success. Ricky Jay, the iconic American hypnotist, and author of the best-selling book, 'Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women,' accredits Bodie with the origination of many of today's comic interludes in stage hypnotism. In other words, the originator of much of the 'humorous hypnosis' we see on stage to this very day, while Professor Edwin A. Dawes states that 'as a ventriloquist (in his later stage review, 'Fun on an Ocean Liner') he was superb.'"@en }

• Walford_Bodie abstract "Walford Bodie, whose real name was Samuel Murphy Bodie (1869–1939), was a Scottish showman, hypnotist, ventriloquist and stage magician, famous for his 'mock' electrocutions involving a replica of 'The Electric Chair'. He also performed an act of 'Bloodless Surgery', claiming he could use electricity, hypnosis and manipulation to cure 'all kinds of ailments and disabilities.' His performances were enormously popular in the early 20th century, and inspired both Harry Houdini and Charlie Chaplin.Charlie Chaplin imitated Bodie on stage in 1906, and continued to do so in Hollywood years later, while Bodie and Houdini were firm friends for many years. Numerous letters were exchanged between the two. Walford Bodie claimed to be the 'Most Remarkable Man on Earth,' and at one stage, in the Edwardian decade, the handsome young Scotsman became one of the world's highest paid entertainers; if not the highest. His 'Show Cures,' performed as part of his 'Bloodless Surgery,' be they good, bad or indifferent, had brought him spectacular success. Bodie advertised freely; his show posters even including the invitation 'Send Your Cripples.'In 1905, his 'cures' had made him so famous that he was made a 'Freeman of the City of London,' the first of his kind to receive such an honour. From this, he made his fortune, set up his 'Bodie Electric Drug Co,' and published his 'Bodie Book.' None of which pleased the medical profession, who'd labelled him a 'quack,' and had already taken him to court over the use of the word 'doctor.'Yet Walford Bodie was also a great showman, and stage performer, and it was the combination of great showmanship, as well as his apparent 'cures,' that provided the magnet for his huge success. Ricky Jay, the iconic American hypnotist, and author of the best-selling book, 'Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women,' accredits Bodie with the origination of many of today's comic interludes in stage hypnotism. In other words, the originator of much of the 'humorous hypnosis' we see on stage to this very day, while Professor Edwin A. Dawes states that 'as a ventriloquist (in his later stage review, 'Fun on an Ocean Liner') he was superb.'".