Doc Nixon
(Brooklyn, New York: 23rd February 1884 - 13th December 1945)
Stage name of William J. Dixon. Learned at age 10 as an apprentice to a family of Chinese magicians, or so he claimed. Pro magician and illusionist since 1906. In 1909 traded his flat in Brooklyn for Theo Bamberg's "Okito" name and act. Toured Brazil in 1910.
He adopted more stage names (as opposed to pen names) than any other magician: "Nixon-Okito" (1909), "Savant-Japanese Magician" (1910), "Savant Nixon" (1911), "Neek Suen" (1914), "Ling [or Lung?] Chang Yuen", "Yuen Chan Foo", "Chang Foo Yuen", "Chan Omar", "Dr. Omar", "Chanamar", "Willie Foo Lee", "Wjaynx", "Chandu the Magician" (1933), etc.
Last reported doing magic in 1939. Then did house chores while living with a Roman Catholic order in St. Louis and thence dropped out of sight.
Wrote Hong Kong Mysteries (1921), 39pp; new edition by Fred Rickard, 1986, 75pp; 1921 edition reprinted by Walter Graham in 1987 as The Nixon Manuscript in Book form; Nixon Ghost Manuscript (1929), 1931 Magical Surprise, etc. Articles in Sphinx and Linking Ring.
