1909

Ozzie", the Necromancer

Back in the days of our youth, necromancer was a snappy title for a sleight of hand artist. The guy in our class dubbed such in a classy brochure issued by the Slayton Lyceum Bureau, had the formal tag of Harold Allen Osborne. He entered Dartmouth from the Lynn (Mass.) Classical High School.

When Ozzie arrived in Hanover as a freshman, he was already a seasoned magician, according to his brother Chi Phi, Guy Richard Carpenter '10. In grammar school and in high school he was known as a boy magician. He went to see every magician who appeared in the local area, including Boston. He got to know many of them, was tipped off on some of their tricks. During Hanover days, he was featured in college vaudeville shows, and gave performances in towns that were readily accessible by rail. In those days (remember?) few autos were available and roads were none too good. The late Karl Hammond usually served as his assistant.

Ozzie's father, "Carp" informs, was a 33rd degree Mason in Lynn. As the boy frequently performed at Masonic parties, it was natural that, as an undergraduate, he became a Mason, as did Karl Hammond. Through such meetings he made a favorable impression with an executive of the United Shoe Machinery Company of Boston, and became his aid upon graduation. This turned out to be a life-long business connection. When Ozzie died, September 9, 1941, he was executive manager of the company.

In his post-graduate days, Ozzie continued to be a loyal Dartmouth man, visiting Hanover on frequent occasions, often staying at the home of Sid Hazelton. Ozzie helped a number of boys through Dartmouth. The most famous, probably, was "Heavenly" Gates, the football player under coach Earl Blaik. It was Hazelton's job at the time, as freshman coach, to make Gates into a quarterback and a blocking back. About Ozzie, Sid says:

Ozzie would perform his feats of magic for the children of the neighborhood, and for the. football squads on "the eve of some big game. And what monkeys he would make of those who knew just how he did the tricks, including Eddie Dooley '26.

One of the happiest moments of Ozzie's life was when he produced a magician's show at Webster Hall, including outstanding magicians such as Houdini, Keene, Flosso, and others. After the show the invited guests gathered at the Green Lantern for more magic and a midnight snack. Young Dr. Jay Gile was among those present.

Many of Ozzie's books on magic are now found in Baker Library, the gift of his wife. Red Hoehn, squash and tennis coach, a magician in his own right, is trying to establish a Harold Osborne Club for magicians in the undergraduate body. Some years there are several, other years, none. But the main thing is to keep it alive and going, to perpetuate the name of one of our classmates.

Anecdotes concerning Ozzie are almost as numerous as those concerning the late professor John Poor. In college, Ozzie, naturally, owned a dress suit, and many pictures of him in connection with his avocation were around the Chi Phi house. If it were known that he would be returning late from a professional engagement, someone would attach one of these photos to the back rest of the toilet seat. When the seat was raised, it formed a frame for the picture - somewhat startling to anyone who raised the seat in a hurry.

Ed Meleney, another frat brother of Ozzie, reports that he and Ozzie and three others slept in a dormitory room on the third floor of the Chi Phi house where Ozzie kept his sleight-of-hand paraphernalia, including a pistol. One spring night they were awakened by Ozzie who pointed to the silhouette of a man in the open window. Ozzie appeared frightened and got his roommates all excited. He had his pistol and said, "I'm going to shoot." The others remonstrated, but he shot and the figure toppled over. They rushed to the window, looked down, and saw on the roof of the back porch a cardboard man that had been advertising Moxie on Main Street.

In speaking of Osborne, the necromancer, the brochure points out: "Osborne is a master in the New School of Magic. Not content with doing unusual things in the usual way, he originates; and in doing the usual things, he continues to originate until old tricks become new under his skillful manipulation. He apparently sets aside the laws of nature (in this respect he antedated the politicians who have been trying to do the same thing the last quarter-century), commands unseen forces, and causes inanimate creation to do his bidding."

In his public performances, Ozzie wore a dress suit with knee breeches and long stockings. His program, which usually lasted an hour, presented a wide variety of tricks, including the Houdini trunk trick where he was handcuffed, shackled, tied with rope and locked in a trunk. In no time at all he would reappear completely free to the utter mystification of his audiences.

Guy Carpenter saw Ozzie off and on over the years after graduation. One time he helped Ozzie do a show for a local Boston tycoon. "You wouldn't have room for the mind-reading gags we had, and how they were put over. Oz was a natural-born host who delighted in rounding up gangs. I recall going to a night of wrestling where Gus Sonnenburg was featured, and then we all adjourned to someone's grand home in Lynn where we had a fine time getting the lowdown on the 'wrasslin' world from Gus."

Not long after graduation, Ozzie was married to Bess Goodrich of Lynn, his childhood sweetheart. After his death, she continued her active interest in Dartmouth, for years attending all of the home football games in Hanover. They had no children. She died of a stroke in 1957.

Thanks to the men already mentioned for their contributions to the Osborne story; to Ernie Goodrich, who roomed near Ozzie in Fayerweather, sophomore year, for sending a copy of the brochure; and to Hal Fuller '12 for his copy of the brochure.

With the old year about to bow out, may I wish all and sundry a big-time Christmas, good health and creature comforts for the New Year. Stay alive, '09ers, for the big 50th year reunion that's coming up next June.

Harold A. Osborne '09, once known as "Ozzie the Necromancer," as he appeared before audiences during his college days. A story about him appears in the 1909 class column.

Class Notes Editor, 141 Pioneer Trail, Aurora, Ohio

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