PERCY VERTO AUSTRALIAN VARIETY THEATRE ARCHIVE: RESEARCH NOTES See last page for citation, copyright and last updated details. aka Prof. Hausmann / Verto the Great / the Handcuff King / Monarch of the Irons (1869- ) New Zealand-born magician, illusionist, manager, entrepreneur. [Born: George Percy Hausmann] Born in Christchurch and educated in Wellington, Percy Verto developed an interest in magic as a child and in 1881 became a juvenile assistant to touring conjurer Prof. Anderson. He later toured as Professor Hausman and in 1896, in partnership with John Gow and Charles Godfrey exhibited the first moving pictures in New Zealand. Known as Percy Verto from 1899 he was largely associated with touring regional Australia own film and vaudeville shows (in partnership with his wife). He built Cairn's Lyric Theatre in 1912, toured the East (1912-14) and continued operating his own regional shows into the mid-1920s. Verto also occasionally managed other artists and troupes. ► See also: Verto Vaudeville Co • Verto's Biotint and Vaudeville Co • Madame Verto (aka Millie Richardson / La Petite Verto) • Mutoscope Biotint Co • During the late-1890s Verto toured New Zealand with his own show, billed as "Professor Hausmann’s Lumigraph Company". • Verto claims that his association with Australia began in the late-1880s (possibly 1889) when he travelled to Sydney and took up the lease of the Masonic Skating Rink in North Sydney. After returning to New Zealand he leased the Theatre Royal, Masterton and later toured with and/or managed various theatrical companies. He also toured with Professor Anderson when he returned to New Zealand in 1891. • Verto and his Biotint and Vaudeville Company received unexpected national publicity in early January 1900 following his bravery in helping to stop a train before it was destroyed by fire. With the driver and guards unaware of the impending danger Verto climbed along the outside of seven carriages on the moving train, with only the mouldings to hold onto (there being no rails). According to press reports at least 14 women and several men were saved from certain death. • After returning to Australia from the East in early 1914, the Vertos resumed their travelling picture and vaudeville shows, primarily under the name Verto's Pictures and with a smaller line-up of performers. The post-1914 operations also went further afield, playing Western Australia and New South Wales before the couple settled in Tasmania ca. 1919/1920. They were possibly based in Scottsdale. • "He started life as George Percy Hausmann and was born in Christchurch, New Zealand on 27 September 1869, and he received his education in Wellington, N.Z. He had a boyhood interest in conjuring which led to his entering the theatrical profession in 1881. In styling himself as "Professor" Haussman, he was following earlier conjurors who had adopted this self-endowed title. As well as performing, he was involved in theatrical management and in lean times he was a house painter. He maintained his interest in showing films and travelled with a film show, "Professor Hausmann’s Lumigraph Company. For a few years he returned to conjuring, appearing in New Zealand and Australian vaudeville shows as "Percy Verto - The Handcuff King". He began touring with another company in N.S.W. and there is a record of his being in a show in Sydney in 1907. Some years later he settled in Tasmania showing films in towns too small to support permanent picture shows. He also had an association with Thomas Edison, albeit more peripheral than that of Lubin. On 13 October 1896 at the Opera House in Auckland, "Professors" Haussman and Gow presented a program of films projected by Edison’s Kinematograph during a performance of a Vaudeville Company. This was the first public screening of motion pictures in New Zealand. In fact Hausmann had written to T.A. Edison at Orange Grove, New York that year from Wellington, N.Z. asking him to provide details about his Kinetoscope, asking for prices and particulars. He ends his letter by stating "Your name is well known here as that of G-d Almighty himself and that is why I am sending for reliable information to yourself." Maurice. Australian Postal History and Social Philately . [sighted 9/05/2015] See also 1898 Otago Witness profile on Hausmann below. Australian Postal History and Social Philately
Transcript
PERCY VERTO
AUSTRALIAN VARIETY THEATRE ARCHIVE: RESEARCH NOTES
See last page for citation, copyright and last updated details.
aka Prof. Hausmann / Verto the Great / the Handcuff King / Monarch of the Irons
(1869- ) New Zealand-born magician, illusionist, manager, entrepreneur. [Born: George Percy Hausmann]
Born in Christchurch and educated in Wellington, Percy Verto developed an
interest in magic as a child and in 1881 became a juvenile assistant to
touring conjurer Prof. Anderson. He later toured as Professor Hausman and
in 1896, in partnership with John Gow and Charles Godfrey exhibited the
first moving pictures in New Zealand. Known as Percy Verto from 1899 he
was largely associated with touring regional Australia own film and
vaudeville shows (in partnership with his wife). He built Cairn's Lyric
Theatre in 1912, toured the East (1912-14) and continued operating his own
regional shows into the mid-1920s. Verto also occasionally managed other
artists and troupes.
► See also: Verto Vaudeville Co • Verto's Biotint and Vaudeville Co •
Madame Verto (aka Millie Richardson / La Petite Verto) •
Mutoscope Biotint Co
• During the late-1890s Verto toured New Zealand with his own show,
billed as "Professor Hausmann’s Lumigraph Company".
• Verto claims that his association with Australia began in the late-1880s
(possibly 1889) when he travelled to Sydney and took up the lease of
the Masonic Skating Rink in North Sydney. After returning to New
Zealand he leased the Theatre Royal, Masterton and later toured with and/or managed various theatrical
companies. He also toured with Professor Anderson when he returned to New Zealand in 1891.
• Verto and his Biotint and Vaudeville Company received unexpected national publicity in early January 1900
following his bravery in helping to stop a train before it was destroyed by fire. With the driver and guards unaware
of the impending danger Verto climbed along the outside of seven carriages on the moving train, with only the
mouldings to hold onto (there being no rails). According to press reports at least 14 women and several men were
saved from certain death.
• After returning to Australia from the East in early 1914, the Vertos resumed their travelling picture and vaudeville
shows, primarily under the name Verto's Pictures and with a smaller line-up of performers. The post-1914
operations also went further afield, playing Western Australia and New South Wales before the couple settled in
Tasmania ca. 1919/1920. They were possibly based in Scottsdale.
• "He started life as George Percy Hausmann and was born in Christchurch, New Zealand on 27 September 1869,
and he received his education in Wellington, N.Z. He had a boyhood interest in conjuring which led to his
entering the theatrical profession in 1881. In styling himself as "Professor" Haussman, he was following earlier
conjurors who had adopted this self-endowed title. As well as performing, he was involved in theatrical
management and in lean times he was a house painter. He maintained his interest in showing films and travelled
with a film show, "Professor Hausmann’s Lumigraph Company. For a few years he returned to conjuring,
appearing in New Zealand and Australian vaudeville shows as "Percy Verto - The Handcuff King". He began
touring with another company in N.S.W. and there is a record of his being in a show in Sydney in 1907. Some
years later he settled in Tasmania showing films in towns too small to support permanent picture shows. He also
had an association with Thomas Edison, albeit more peripheral than that of Lubin. On 13 October 1896 at the
Opera House in Auckland, "Professors" Haussman and Gow presented a program of films projected by Edison’s
Kinematograph during a performance of a Vaudeville Company. This was the first public screening of motion
pictures in New Zealand. In fact Hausmann had written to T.A. Edison at Orange Grove, New York that year
from Wellington, N.Z. asking him to provide details about his Kinetoscope, asking for prices and particulars. He
ends his letter by stating "Your name is well known here as that of G-d Almighty himself and that is why I am
sending for reliable information to yourself."
Maurice. Australian Postal History and Social Philately. [sighted 9/05/2015] See also 1898 Otago Witness profile on
