Harry loved the profession he had chosen. He wanted to be a great magician. Not just great but the greatest and he had the charisma that fascinated audiences where ever he went. He was only average in height but always gave the impression of being tall. Fair haired with large grey eyes that could be very piercing.
His strong deep voice could carry to the back of the auditorium. I don’t recall that he ever used a microphone.
Harry had chosen his life’s partner well, as the years ahead would show.
Edna was a very courageous and adventurous young woman. She began as his assistant and did everything from designing and making costumes to painting props and making paper flowers. Conducting orchestras all over the world and that included the musical arrangements. She was once asked if she had much difficulty with rehearsals in foreign countries. She replied, “Thank goodness, music is music the world over.”
She was also Harry’s secretary, taking care of all correspondence. She also managed finances.
In later years she began putting together a large book, it looks like a trunk with labels on it, filled with composite pictures and stories of Dante’s travels and triumphs. It was called the “35th Year Book” and was to be used for publicity purposes, mailed to agents and theatre managers around the world.
Along the way she raised a family of five children and had four miscarriages. In time she became known just as “Mom” to everyone connected to the show. She was well loved and everyone who knew her felt like they were part of her family. All of her life she kept up an amazingly large correspondence with people in every walk of life and that included a royal family or two. She received hundreds of Christmas cards every year.
In spite of her abilities and support, she made herself very self-effacing. She was always there but in the background.
In 1905, Edna was very embarrassed when her Grandmother Davis made an unannounced visit to the theatre in New York. She tried to hide the tights she was wearing by putting on Harry’s long cape. I can only imagine what happened if Grandmother stayed to watch the show!
In March of 1906 a son was born, Alvin Herr Jansen. This did not hamper the Jansens at all. In the true tradition of the theatre, as the family grew, the children became part of the show. Not necessarily in front of the audience, but they worked nonetheless.
However, Alvin did make his first appearance earlier than the rest of the children.
At the tender age of two, he was in the wings watching his parents perform “The Sedan Chair.” As Harry made Edna disappear and was taking a bow, Alvin trotted out onto the stage, bent over and peeked behind the box and very loudly said, “I see you Mama!”
People who knew Alvin at that time thought he was a remarkable child. His father would have someone pick a card, which was a forced ace of spades, return it to the deck and reshuffle it. Then hand the deck to Alvin and ask him to find the card. Al always came up with the ace of spades because that was the only card he recognized.
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Vaudeville was lucrative in those days. It was at Keith’s Million Dollar Theatre in Philadelphia that Jansen switched from manipulations to the larger illusions and by doing this he found new acclamations and steady bookings which took him to Havana, Cuba, where he played the National Theatre for three months, then three months on tour. He toured the west coast several times and was booked by Sid Grauman Sr. into San Francisco soon after the big fire [in 1906].