Jean Eugne Robert-Houdin From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Robert-Houdin) Jean Eugne Robert-Houdin Born

Jean Eugene December 7, 1805 Blois, France Died June 13, 1871 (aged65) Saint Gervais[disambiguation needed], France Occupation Magician, Illusionist, inventor, and clockmaker Jean Eugne Robert-Houdin (December 7, 1805 June 13, 1871) was a French magician. He is widely considered the father of the modern style of conjuring.[1] Contents [hide] 1 Early life and entrance into conjuring 2 Major achievements 3 Famous illusions 3.1 Second Sight 3.2 The Ethereal Suspension 3.3 The Marvelous Orange Tree 3.4 Robert-Houdins Portfolio 3.5 The Light and Heavy Chest 4 Inventions pirated 5 Robert-Houdin on tour 6 The Magical Mission 7 Retirement and death 8 Legacy 9 Name 10 References 11 External links [edit] Early life and entrance into conjuring Robert-Houdin was born Jean Eugne Robert in Blois, France, on 7 December 1805a day after his autobiography said he was.[2][3] His father Prosper Robert was one of the best watchmakers in Blois. A skillful artisan and hard worker, Prosper Robe rt s main ambition was to provide for his family, but he also wanted his childre n to climb the social ladder. Jean Eugene s mother, the former Marie-Catherine G uillon, died when Jean was just a young child.[3] At the age of eleven, Prosper sent his son Jean to school thirty-five miles up the Loire to the University of Orlans. (The college was equivalent to American secondary school.)[2] At 18, Jean graduated and returned to Blois. His father wanted him to be a lawyer,[3] but J ean wanted to follow into his fathers footsteps as a watchmaker. Jeans penmanship was excellent, and it landed him a job as a clerk for an attorne ys office. Instead of studying law, he tinkered with mechanical gadgets. His empl oyer sent him back to his father. He was told that he was better suited as a wat chmaker than a lawyer. But by then, Jeans father had already retired so he became an apprentice to his cousin who had a watch shop. For a short time, Jean worked as a watchmaker.[3] In the mid 1820s, young Jean saved up to buy a copy of a two-volume set of books on clock making called Trait de lhorlogerie, or Treatise on Clockmaking, written by Ferdinand Berthoud.[3] The book seller had put the books off to the side for Jean. He reached up to the shelf and grabbed the books. He wrapped the two volum es and handed them to the young aspiring clockmaker.[3] But when Jean got home and opened the wrapping, instead of the Berthoud books, w hat appeared before his eyes was a two-volume set on magic called Scientific Amu sements. Instead of returning the books, his curiosity got the best of him. From those crude volumes, he learned the rudiments of magic. He practiced at all hou

rs of the day.[3] From that point when he accidentally received those books on conjuring, Jean Rob ert became very interested in the art. He was upset that the books he got only r evealed how the secrets were done, but did not show how to do them.[2] He found that learning from the books available in those days was very difficult because the lack of detailed explanations provided.[3] But the books piqued his interest in the art. So Jean began taking lessons from a local amateur magician.[3] He p aid ten francs for a series of lessons from a man named Maous from Blois who was a podiatrist, but also entertained at fairs and fetes doing magic. He was profi cient in sleight of hand, and he taught Jean how to juggle to coordinate his eye and hand.[2][3] He also taught him rudiments of the cups and balls. He told you ng Jean that digital dexterity came with repetition, and as a direct result, Jea n practiced incessantly.[2] Magic was his pastime, but meanwhile, his studies in horology continued. When he felt he was ready, he moved to Tours and set up a watch-making business, doing conjuring on the side.[3] Much of what we know about Robert-Houdin comes from his memoirsand his writings w ere meant more to entertain than to chronicle, rendering it difficult to separat e fact from fiction. Robert-Houdin would have readers believe that a major turni ng point in his life came when he became apprenticed to the magician Edmund de G risy, better known as Torrini. Unfortunately, there is no record of a Torrini or a de Grisy. What is known is that his early performing came from joining an amateur acting t roupe.[3] Later, he performed at social parties as a professional magician.[3] I t was during this period while at a party, he met the daughter of a Parisian wat chmaker, Monsieur Jacques Franois Houdin, who had also come from Jean Robert s na tive Blois.[2][3][3] The daughter s name was Josphe Cecile Houdin, and Jean fell in love with Cecile at their first meeting.[3] On July 8, 1830, they were marrie d. He hyphenated his own name to hers and became Robert-Houdin.[2][3] He moved to Paris and worked in his father-in-law s wholesale shop. Jacques Frano is was among the last of the watchmakers to use the old methods of handcrafting each piece, and embraced his new son-in-law s ambitions for mechanism.[3] While M. Houdin worked in the main shop, Jean was to tinker with mechanical toys and a utomatic figures.[3] He and Josphe had eight children, of whom three survived; th is was fairly typical for that time period.[2] With his work in the shop, Jean still was practicing magic. Quite by accident, R obert-Houdin walked into a shop on the Rue Richelieu and discovered it sold magi c. He visited the store, which was owned by a Pre (Papa) Roujol.[2] There he met fellow magicians, both amateur and professional, where he engaged in talk about conjuring, and there he met an aristocrat by the name of Jules de Rovre, who coin ed the term "prestidigitation" to describe a major misdirection technique magici ans used.[2][3] At Papa Roujols, Robert-Houdin learned the details to many of the mechanical tric ks of the time as well as how to improve them. From there, he built his own mech anical figures, like a singing bird, a dancer on a tightrope, and an automaton d oing the cups and balls. His most acclaimed automaton was his writing and drawin g figure. He displayed this figure before King Louis Philippe and eventually sol d it to P. T. Barnum.[3] These triumphs were short-lived because on October 19, 1843, Monsieur Robert-Hou din s beloved wife died,[2][3] having been ill for months; she died at the age o f thirty-two.[2] At her death, she left him with three young children to take ca re of; to take up the burden, he remarried in August of that year to Franois Marg uerite Olympe Braconnier, a woman ten years younger than himself.[2][3] The new Madame Robert-Houdin soon took over the household. Robert-Houdin loved to watch the big magic shows that came to Paris.[2] He dream ed about some day opening his own theatre. In the meantime, he was hired by a fr iend of his by the name of Count de lEscalopier [2] to perform at private parties .[3] Now that he had free time, he began constructing equipment for his own use inste ad of selling it to others.[2] The income from the shop and his new inventions g

ave him enough money to experiment on new tricks utilizing glass apparatus that would be free of trickery. He envisioned a stage that would be as elegant as the drawing rooms in which he was hired to perform. He also thought that a magician should be dressed as such by wearing traditional evening clothes.[3] It was not, however, till Count de lEscalopier fronted him[3] the 15,000 francs[2 ] he needed that his dream would become a reality. He rented out a suite of room s above the archways around the gardens of the Palais Royal, which was once owne d by the Cardinal Richelieu who was portrayed in Alexandre Dumas, pre s The Three Musketeers. He hired workmen to redesign the old assembly room into a theatre. They painted it white with gold trim. Tasteful drapes where hung, chic candelabras where plac ed throughout, and the stage furniture was set in the style of Louis XV.[2] On July 3, 1845, Robert-Houdin premiered his 200 seat theatre in what he called "Soires Fantastiques." Not a single critic covered Robert-Houdins debut, but that was just as well, for in his memoirs, Robert-Houdin confessed that the show had been a disaster! He suffered from stage fright that caused him to talk too fast and in a monotone. He did not know what he was saying or doing. Everything was a blur. He believed that a trick should never fail because the magician should no t present a trick that was not mechanically perfected, and this caused him to ov er-rehearse.[2] After the first show, he was about to have a nervous breakdown. He closed the th eatre and had every intention to close it for good until a friend agreed that th e venture was a silly idea. Instead of admitting defeat, Robert-Houdin, irked at the friend s affrontery, used this insult to regain his courage, and he continu ed his long run at his little theatre.[2] [3] At first the forty year old magici an was unpolished, but soon he gained the confidence required for the stage.[3] With each performance, Robert-Houdin got better, and the critics did come. Le Ch arivari and L Illustration both said that his mechanical marvels and artistic ma gic was comparable to those of his predecessors like Philippe and Bosco. Even wi th all of this, the people still did not come to the little theatre during the s ummer months. This made it a struggle for him to keep it opened. To meet expense s, he sold the three houses that he had inherited from his mother. The following year, he added a new trick to his program that was to attract all of Paris. Seats at the Palais Royal were at a premium. This new marvel was calle d Second Sight. Second Sight drew the audiences into the little theatre. Once th ere, they saw the other creations Robert-Houdin had to offer.[2] [edit] Major achievements Statue in front of his home in Blois The Arabs of Algeria were said to be excited to rebel against French colonialist s by false miracles performed by their religious leaders. In 1856, Napoleon III s Second French Empire sent Robert-Houdin there, hoping that he might perform tr icks that were far more impressive, thereby dissolving the excitement of the reb els. Robert-Houdin s tricks, it is said, succeeded in breaking up the influence of the mullahs. Moreover, the Arabs became afraid of Robert-Houdin. In one trick , he allowed an Arab to shoot at him with a marked bullet, but instead of killin g him, the bullet was found between his teeth. After that, they believed he coul d do anything. Robert-Houdin was not the first illusionist to perform the bullet catch and many since him have adapted their own version of the effect. He used another famous trick to prove that French magic was stronger than local shamanism techniques: he presented an empty box with an iron bottom that anyone could lift up. By turning on an electro-magnet hidden under the floor, he made i t immovable, "proving" that through will power, he could make it impossible to l ift for the strongest Algerian warriors. He found the trick was more impressive when he claimed not that he could make the trunk heavy, but when he claimed he c ould make the strong man too weak to lift a trunk that even a small child could lift[4]. Another automaton trick, the "Orange Tree" was used by the eponymous conjurer in

Steven Millhauser s short story, "Eisenheim The Illusionist", subsequently film ed as The Illusionist (2006). Robert-Houdin is often credited as being "the father of modern magic". Before hi m, magicians performed in marketplaces and fairs, but Robert-Houdin performed ma gic in theatres and private parties. He also chose to wear formal clothes, like those of his audiences. Many magicians today mimic this by wearing tail-coats, t hough other magicians view this as old-fashioned and believe that they should we ar contemporary clothes. Doug Henning was the first to rebel against this stereo type with a distinctive modern look of his own. Reading any biographies of him, it s obvious that Robert-Houdin lived for magic, constantly conjuring new ideas and performing even on vacation. His wife was of ten involved in his extremely clever and innovative tricks, which he had to admi t were deceptions to authorities, to avoid prosecution for witchcraft. [edit] Famous illusions Robert-Houdin felt that every magic program should be arranged so one trick buil ds upon each other. One surprise should lead to an even bigger surprise. Some of the tricks and illusions Robert-Houdin presented became classics. Here are a fe w of them. [edit] Second Sight When Robert-Houdin first opened his theatre, it was sparsely attended. Though hi s inventions were good, they needed a draw that would bring the public to his li ttle theatre. So he came upon the idea of doing a two person mindreading act. He even concocted a silly story on how his son Emile created a game of hot and col d that resulted into Robert-Houdin utilizing that for the stage.[3] He took the title that was used by such magicians as John Henry Anderson, but th e effect was entirely different. Anderson had a box into which items were insert ed. The medium would then describe the contents inside. In Robert-Houdins version , he walked into the audience and touched items that the audience held up and hi s blindfolded assistant, played by his son, described each one in detail. It cau sed a sensation and brought the throng to see his Soirees. Eventually Robert-Houdin changed the method so instead of asking his son what wa s in his hands, he simply rang a bell. This stunned those that suspected a spoke n code. He would even set the bell off to the side and remain silent and his son still described every object handed to his father. Robert-Houdin even made the test difficult. He placed a glass of water into his sons hands and Emile proceeded to drink from it. He was able to perceive the tast e of the liquids that spectators from the audience merely thought of.[5] Even th en the audiences werent entirely convinced. They tried to trip up Emile by bringi ng in books written in Greek. He even described odd tools like a thread counter. [2] [edit] The Ethereal Suspension During Robert-Houdins time, all of Paris was enthusiastically talking about the m ysterious uses of "ether".[3] He took advantage of this by presenting an illusio n that appeared to use the pungent liquid. He told the audience that he discover ed a marvelous new property of ether. If one has a living person inhale this liqu id when it is at its highest degree of concentration, the body of the patient fo r a few moments becomes as light as a balloon, Robert-Houdin claimed. He proceeded to prove just that. He placed three stools on a wooden bench. His y oungest son Eugne stood on the middle one. With the instructions from his father, he extended his arms. Robert-Houdin placed two canes on top of the stools and p ositioned them under his sons arms. He took a vial of ether and opened. The audience smelled it wafting through the theatre. He placed the vial under his sons nose who went limp. In reality, the vi al was empty. Another son of his Emile poured real ether on a very hot iron shov el. Thats what the audience smelled. Robert-Houdin took the stool away from his sons feet and he just hung limp as a r ag. He took away one of the canes so he was dangling by one arm and carefully pl

aced his head against his upraised hand. This was startling enough. What he did next was stunning. He lifted his boy upright in a horizontal position by his lit tle finger. Then let go until he was suspended in mid air.[5] Robert-Houdin step ped away to leave his son in that suspended state, balanced only by his right el bow and no other support.[3] When it was apparent that the drug was wearing off, Robert-Houdin returned his s on to his upright position. When he woke up, he seemed no worse for wear.[3][5] Robert-Houdin built up the surprise of spectators until, by gradually heightening it up to the moment when, so to speak, it exploded.[5] This brought letters of protest against Robert-Houdin thinking he was putting hi s sons health at jeopardy by punching him in the face repedly , although the ethe r had nothing to do with the trick.[3] (A replica of this performance can be seen here: [1]) [edit] The Marvelous Orange Tree On one of Robert-Houdins side table, he has an egg, a lemon, and an orange. He so on displays what he is going to do with them. He goes into the audience and borr ows a ladys handkerchief that was in style then. He rolls it into a ball. He rubs the ball in between his hands and the handkerchief gets smaller and smaller unt il it disappears passing through to the egg on the table. Carefully he picks up the egg. The audience expects him to crack it open and pro duce the spectators handkerchief. Instead, he makes that disappear too. He tells the audience that the egg went to the lemon. This is repeated with the lemon and the orange. When he makes the orange disappear, all that is left is a fine powd er. This is placed into a silver vial. He soaks this vial with alcohol and sets it on fire. A small orange tree planted in a wooden box is brought forth by one of his assis tants. The audience notices that the tree is barren of any blossoms or fruit. Th e blue flame from the vial is placed underneath it. The vapors from it causes th e leaves to spread and sprout orange blossoms from it. Robert-Houdin then picks up his magic wand and waves it. The flowers disappear and oranges bloom forth. He plucks the oranges from the tree and tosses them to the audience to prove the y are real. He does this until he only has one left. He waves his wand again and the orange splits open into four sections revealing a white material of sorts i nside of it. Two clockwork butterflies appear from behind the tree. The butterfl ies grab the end of the corner of the white cloth and spread it open revealing t he spectator s handkerchief.[5][6] The trick can be seen performed by Paul Daniels on his BBC television series. (R efurbished by John Gaughan.) Paul Daniels Orange Tree automata illusion. A more complex variant of The Marvelous Orange Tree is included in the film The Illusi onist. [edit] Robert-Houdins Portfolio Robert-Houdin brings on a large portfolio used for holding documents or art work under his arm. The portfolio is only about one and three quarters of an inch th ick. Too small or too thin to hold anything but pictures.[2] He sets it on two thin trestles to hold the case with the spine facing the audie nce.[2] He removed the expected drawings from it.[5] One of those pictures showe d a bareheaded woman. Then he produced two ladies bonnets decorated with flowers ; one for winter, the other for summer. He lowers the flap for each production. Then he showed a picture of birds followed by a stuffed bird flat as a pancake.[ 2] With that he proceeded to produce from the portfolio four live turtle doves.[ 5] He showed a picture of a cartoon of two cooks fighting with pots.[2] This was fo llowed by three enormous copper pots. One is filled with beans, another with fla mes bursting forth, and the third pot is filled with boiling water.[5] As an aft erthought, he lifted the top flap of the portfolio [2] and pulled out a large ca ge filled with birds.[5] He walked forward towards the audience with the square cage and they applauded t hinking the trick was over. Nothing here now - neither anything, nor anybody, as h

e knocked on the upright flap.[2] For a finale, he closes the portfolio one last time and produces his young son from it.[5][6] [edit] The Light and Heavy Chest The amount of tricks he invented for his theatre was extensive, but his most rem arkable one was the Light and Heavy Chest. He took advantage of the infancy of t he usage of electricity, especially the then novelty of Hans Christian Oersted s discovery of electromagnetism, to his advantage. Robert-Houdin brought on a sma ll wooden box about a foot wide. He said that he had found a way to protect it f rom thieves. He asked a spectator to lift it, usually a small child. The child l ifted it with ease. Then he brought an adult male up from the audience and asked him to lift the same box. Even though he used all of his might, the adult male was unable to lift the box! What made this trick even more incredible is that Robert-Houdin used this (among others) to help squelch a rebellion. This trick can be seen performed by Derren Brown on his Channel 4 television ser ies The Events. Derren Brown - The Events 3 - Psychic Spy Part 1 [edit] Inventions pirated Robert-Houdin s inventions were pirated by his trusted mechanic Le Grand, who wa s arrested for making and selling duplicate illusions.[3] Many of those illusion s fell into the hands of his competitors like John Henry Anderson, Robin, Robert Heller,and Compars Herrmann. It is not known whether Herrmann or the others bou ght the illusions directly from LeGrand or from another source. But they willing ly performed the illusions after knowing that they were invented by Robert-Houdi n. [edit] Robert-Houdin on tour Robert-Houdins little theatre became a mecca for magic enthusiasts.[3] Herrmann w as a constant visitor to the Palais Royal. The public complained because RobertHoudin couldnt magically make his theatre bigger. It became the place for the Par is elite to go. Even the King Louis Philippe rented out the room for a private p erformance. After the triumph he gave at the Royal Palace, in 1847, the king dec ided to take his entourage to see Robert-Houdin at the Palais Royal. The following February a revolution ended the reign of Louis-Philippe. With it s how business also ended.[3] The Revolution closed all Parisian theatres.[2] Robe rt-Houdin shut down his theatre and went on the road.[3] He toured the Continent briefly[6] and then he headed off to Great Britain. With a company of French dramatists, Robert-Houdin made his English debut at the St. James Theatre in London. He presented his program three times a week.[3] Mu ch to his dismay, he found out that Compars Herrmann beat him to the territory. Not only was he billing himself as the Premier Prestidigitateur of France,[3] bu t he was also using pirated versions of his illusions.[2] Despite this, Robert-H oudin still accomplished a success there. So much so, in 1848, he did a command performance for Queen Victoria. After a three month tour of England, he went bac k home after about a year and a half away. He reopened the theatre and became a permanent fixture in Paris.[3] In 1850, He handed the Palais Royal to his brothe r-in-law Hamilton (Pierre Etienne Chocat). This left him free to tour France. He did so for two years. Then he went to Germany and a return engagement to Englan d where he ended up performing a second time for Queen Victoria. He did a brief tour of France and then at the age of 48, retired from public per formances. He gave the theatre back to Hamilton who continued to fill the little theatre.[2] [edit] The Magical Mission After Robert-Houdin retired, he devoted himself to his inventions with electrici ty and his writings. His home le Prieur (the Priory), was a marvel in advancement .[3] His home was run entirely by electricity. In 1856, he was asked by Louis-Napoleon to pacify the tribes in French Algeria. During this period, the French Army commanders maintained order in the newly pac

ified region. They supervised local Muslim administrations and the bureaux arabe s. These areas were closed off to colonization by the Europeans. Napoleon III was worried about a religious tribe called the Marabouts. The Marab outs were able to control their tribe with their faux magical abilities.[6] They advised their leaders to break ranks with the French.[2] Napoleon wanted Robert -Houdin to show that French magic was stronger.[6] The magical mission began with an informal show at the Bab Azoun Theatre in Alge ria where he would give performances twice weekly.[2] He also gave many special galas before the countrys tribal chiefs. He used The Light and Heavy Chest during these performances, but instead of playing it for comedy as he had in Paris, he re he played it straight. Robert-Houdin once invited the strongest tribesman on stage and asked the Arabian to pick up the wooden chest placed on stage. The Ara bian picked it up with no problem. Then Robert-Houdin announced that he was goin g to sap his strength. He waved his wand and declared, "Contemplez! Maintenant v ous tes plus faible qu une femme; essayez de soulever la bote." ("Behold! Now you are weaker than a woman; try to lift the box.") The Arabian laughed at this and with all of his might, pulled on the handle of the chest. But it would not budge ! He tried and tried until he tried to rip it apart. Instead, he screamed in pai n, as Robert-Houdin had rigged the box to give the Arabian an electrical shock i f he tried to rip the handles off. The Arabian let go of the handle, ran off int o the aisle, and ran screaming out of the theatre.[3] A variation of this event was included in the film The Illusionist. After his performances were done, he gave a special presentation for several chi ef men of their tribe. He was invited to the home of the head of the tribe of th e desert interior, Bou-Allem. In dawn of the Arab desert, Robert-Houdin was chal lenged to do a special trick. He obliged by inviting one of the rebels to shoot at him with a marked bullet, which he caught between his teeth. He was given a c ertificate from Bou-Allem,[5] who wore a red robe symbolizing his loyalty to Fra nce. With this scroll praising his mysterious manifestations, Robert-Houdin went back to France with the mission accomplished.[2] "The blow was struck," Robert-Houdin said, "...henceforth the interpreters and a ll those who had dealings with the Arabs received orders to make them understand that my pretended miracles were only the result of skill, inspired and guided b y an art called prestidigitation, in no way connected with sorcery." He went on to say, The Arabs doubtless yielded to these arguments, for henceforth I was on t he most friendly terms with them."[5] He was rewarded for his services of the Fr ench government by suppressing any possible rebellion.[6] [edit] Retirement and death After his mission in Algeria completed, Robert-Houdin gave his last public perfo rmance at the Grand Thtre in Marseille, then returned to his home in Saint-Gervais , near his native Blois, where he wrote his memoirs, Confidences dun Prestidigita teur. He also wrote several books on the art of magic. He lived happily in retir ement for about fifteen years until advent of the Franco Prussian War. His son E ugene was a captain in a Zouave regiment. On August 6, 1870, Robert-Houdin heard news of his son being mortally wounded at the Battle of Worth. Meanwhile, Hessi ans (soldiers) captured Paris and Robert-Houdin hid his family in a cave near hi s property. The Hessian soldiers were very rude, according to Robert-Houdin, but he found the Polish soldiers to be a lot kinder.[3] Four days later, Robert-Houdin was to find out that his son had died of his woun ds. With the stress from that and the war, his health deteriorated and he contra cted pneumonia. On June 13, 1871, he died of his illness, at the age of sixty-fi ve. [edit] Legacy This is the public "dragons" display at Jean Eugne Robert-Houdin s house in Blois , which has been turned into a museum. The "dragons" move in and out of the wind ows in a theatrical display. A statue of Robert-Houdin is at lower right.

His home in Blois is open to the public as a museum and theatre first opened by his grandson Paul Robert-Houdin in April 1966.[2] On December 1852, the Theatre Robert-Houdin moved from its original location to the Boulevard des Italiens. Ownership passed from Hamilton to Cleverman (Franois Lahire), then to Robert-Houdins son Emile. Emile was too busy to perform at the t heatre, so he arranged for Pierre Edouard Brunnet to present the show. After his death, Emiles widow sold the theatre to George Mlis in 1888. Mlis later pre sented the first movies there. He accidentally discovered stop action special ef fects and presented his creation at the Theatre Robert-Houdin. One of his classi cs is A Trip to the Moon. In 1924 the building was demolished.[2] Robert-Houdin s autobiography is The Memoirs of Robert-Houdin. His life and work s are also cited in Robertson Davies "Deptford Trilogy", notably in the trilogy s third novel World of Wonders, which takes place on the set of a movie about R obert-Houdin. Jim Steinmeyer said in his book, Hiding the Elephant, that every magician of the 20th century was haunted by Robert-Houdin, who cast an enormous shadow over their generation. [6] American magician and escape artist Harry Houdini (born Ehrich W eiss) was so impressed by Robert-Houdin that after reading his autobiography in 1890, Ehrich adopted the stage name of "Houdini" in honor of Robert-Houdin. He i ncorrectly believed that "i" on the end of a name meant "like" in French. But Ho udini, his own career and reputation established by that time, later lost his yo uthful respect for Robert-Houdin, believing that he took undue credit for other magicians s innovations, and wrote The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin in 1908. [edit] Name It is incorrect to refer to Jean Eugne Robert-Houdin as "Houdin." His last name w as Robert-Houdin. His birth name was Jean Eugne Robert. He married Mademoiselle H oudin, and under special dispensation from the French government, was allowed to use the hyphenated last name.