T. Nelson Downs was heralded as the greatest manipulator of his day. He was the first of the speciality acts. He retired rather early in life, but continued to stay in touch with magic and magicians. Here is his story, much of which is in his own words. 
The music for the podcast was provided by http://www.purple-planet.com 
There is an additional story about Downs & Houdini over at my blog. https://www.themagicdetective.com.
 
To see a video of an older T.Nelson Downs in action, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFxQVQMPsuk