Whit "Pop" Haydn

About me:

My real name is Whit Haydn--Whit is short for Whitney--but nowadays most everybody calls me Pop.

I was born in Clarkesville, Tennessee in 1839, the son of an Episcopal minister. I grew up in Greenville, North Carolina. My college and graduate work was in Virginia, where my family is from originally.

Since leaving Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria due to an unfortunate incident, I have traveled the world, first as a merchant seaman on the ship Liberty, and later as a vaudevillian, medicine show proprietor and impresario. I am a magician, dancer, musician, Shakespearean actor, and comedian.

I have always been a dabbler in physics, organic chemistry and medicine. I have created a number of useful and interesting electrical and magnetic inventions, am a profound student of the neglected fields of radio magnetism and radiating electricity, as well as the developer of the wonderful patent medicines for which I am best known.

Surely you have heard of some of my miraculous medications--they are sold at all the finest medical dispensaries in the world.

I created the well known Spicewood curative--beloved by parents everywhere--Pop Haydn's Sap Rising Spring Tonic. This tonic eliminates poisons from the blood and tissues, purifying the system of any leftover infelicities of winter, and completely rehabilitating the body for the coming year.

I am also the creator of the very popular Pop Haydn's Wonder Elixer. The Wonder Elixer increases "vigor" even in the oldest men, rejuvenates relationships and restores the "glow of youth"--I call it my Youth-enizer...

My most exciting discovery has been the electrical oil known as Pop Haydn's Amazing Miracle Oil--a product so well-loved by the public that further comment is by now unnecessary.

These products are available at Pop's General Merchandise.

Along with my lovely and dangerous wife, Nancy Magill, I was able to jump centuries in 1908--through the miracle of radio waves--and am currently living in the 21st Century in California.

We are proud to be 19th Century-American expatriates, and happy that we can still live in the abundance and opportunity that is the great state of California.

I am a big booster of this great state and this wonderful 21st Century, and am always encouraging other 19th and 20th Century folk to come join our little colony here.

I think new-comers to the century need all the help and support they can get, and we try to offer on our Pop's General Merchandise site some of the small comforts and familiar products that everyone misses here in this 21st Century.

Magill runs the site and manages the store--she is really adept at 21st century technology.

I am the Vice-President of the Academy of Magical Arts, Inc.(Magic Castle) in Hollywood, California.

The Magic Castle is the private clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts--an organization of about five thousand people from all over the world who are magicians or who have an abiding interest in the art of magic.

I have won six performing awards (Magician of the Year in each Category) at the Magic Castle, for performances in the W.C. Fields Bar 2006, the Close-Up Gallery - 2004 and 2005, the Parlour of Prestidigitation - 1995 and 2002, and the Palace of Mystery - 1979.

I am now a full-time professional magician, Medicine Man, and Vaudevillian.

In order to support my eccentric schemes, my wife Magill runs a dry goods company and its online store at Pop's General Merchandise.

Pop's General Merchandise is actually a sort of artist collective, whose purpose is to support the Pop Haydn Post-Modern Medicine Show and Old Time Internet Hour and the various artistes who comprise the show. This show features the best of Vaudeville, Variety, Burlesque and Old Time Music.

With Professor Dave Bourne and the Medicine Show Band, Electra the Amazing Electric Lady, Harry Houdini, Little Egypt, and many other fine acts, the show is meant to be a comforting yet exciting retreat for 19th Century-Americans, as well as a revelation of what real show-biz and decent music is all about for the 21st-ers.

I have an active forum here: Scoundrels Forum. This is a place for anyone interested in magic, short cons, big cons, cheating at cards, dice, and other games, pool hustling, prostitution, scams, and any of the soft rackets.

The forum also has members who are interested in the history of the theater and the relationships of various kinds of show business with the development of modern advertising and marketing.

We have sections on carnival and side show, circus, burlesque, vaudeville, medicine shows, chatauqua, dime museums and more.

We also are a home to re-enactors, especially those who perform magic, juggling or swindles in many different historical periods.

We have Medieval, Renaissance, Old West, and Pirate eras represented, as well as those of the Revolutionary War, the War Between the States and the Roaring Twenties.

There are also serious historical areas for research into the history of confidence games. We have famous historical con artists families represented on the board, including the Lou Blonger and Soapy Smith families.

--Whit Haydn ..

Pop Haydn's Post-Modern Medicine Show and Old Time Internet Hour

Pop's General Merchandise

Pop Haydn Site

Wikipedia Bio

Internet Movie Data Base Bio

Talent Match Bio

Casting Frontier Bio