DOROTHY DIETRICH
Female Houdini (tm), First Lady of Magic, Pioneer woman magician, escape artist
Columbia University Encyclopedia picked the 8 most noted magicians of the late 20th century
and included... Siegfried and Roy... Doug Henning... Harry Blackstone, Jr.,
David Copperfield..... and Dorothy Dietrich.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2006
Columbia University Press
The following is the text of the above for use by the visually impared.
They don't make
the chains that
can hold this
modern Houdini
By Nancy Trachtenberg
| Strapped into a straitjacket, her ankles shackled with rope, a Dolly Partonesque blonde is hoisted upside down 30 feet above the stage. Like a hooked fish, she appears to be floundering helplessly. But capable of contortions that have amazed even yogis, the escape artist dislocates both shoulders to undo the last impossible looking buckle. Suddenly, the straitjacket falls off." the shackles are undone and the liberated woman lands on the stage as the stunned audience bursts into applause. The breathtaking performance is all in a day's work for Dorothy Dietrich, the first woman to professionally re-create the great escapes of the legendary Harry Houdini. She has become, in the words of Milbourne Christopher, former president of the Society of American Magicians, "the foremost female American magician ~ . Dorothy does it beautifully and with plenty of sex appeal." Dietrich, who is executive director of the Magic Towne House in New York- the largest magic conglomerate in the country will perform several of Houdini's most amazing feats on the anniversary of her idol's death. Eerily enough, that date is Halloween, the most sacred day of the year for magicians. Before Houdini died, he promised his wife that if it were possible to return to this world, he would. To | date; he hasn't, but magicians around the world honor him with seances to contact his spirit. Dietrich's Houdini revivals are the traditional prelude to the annual Houdini seance at the Magic Towne House. "It's only right that she does them," says Walter B. Gibson, who has written more than 40 books on magic and who gave both Houdini and Dietrich magic lessons. "No other woman does." This year, as a special tribute to the Houdinis, Dietrich and her colleague Dick Brookz will re-enact the Houdinis' three-second Metamorphosis Routine. In this trick, Dietrich, in a slinky black gown trimmed with feathers, is hand- cuffed, sealed into a mailbag, then locked in a trunk on which Brookz stands. The curtain is lowered. By the time the audience says "abracadabra," Dietrich, wearing an orange pants suit, is sprawled on the trunk to which Brooks is now manacled. When asked how she does it, Dietrich gives the usual magician's answer: "Very well." Some tricks aren't treats for Dietrich. At the end of an escape, her hand got wedged between the neck opening and her Adam's apple. The audience mistook her choking for ad-libbing. Getting her hair wet isn't her cup of tea either: "When I emerge from Houdini's spectacular Chinese Water Torture Escape, in which I get | chained and dunked into a tank of cold water, I look like a drowned rat. Lady magicians have to worry about things like that." Because the world of magic is almost entirely male dominated and the equipment is made for men, Dietrich designs her own interlocking rings, multiplying balls and other hand props. "Brotherly ' love' got me into magic," says Dietrich, who has six brothers. "They used to tie me up to get rid of me." But Dort, as her family affectionately calls her, always managed to get free, so they began locking her in the bathroom. Now she can escape from all kinds of locks, as well as 300 feet of rope. Dietrich left her hometown of Erie, Pa., for the Big Apple, where she gave free puppet shows. "I was shy, but I could face the audience from behind the puppet screen." As she gained confidence, she moved into ventriloquism then later into magic. "A magician's life isn't so magically simple," she says. "It takes more work than just saying ' pouff.' I owe my success to always doing tricks that I , know are great and never performing them until I can do them better than anyone else." For her next act, Dietrich is putting together a full-scale road show; which she hopes will end up on Broadway and then on TV. "You just have to find what you want to do and do it, even if it is impossible. That's magic." |
New YorkTimes Dorothy Dietrich Feature Story
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Dorothy_Dietrich_US_Magazine Feature Story
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Dorothy Dietrich First Woman To Do The Original Official Broken Wand Ceremony For Houdini.
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First Lady Of Magic-Female Houdini-Weekly World News
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the photo session that made one of her posters possible.
For availability call The Houdini Museum at (570) 342-5555
Go to Magician Dietrich with some of her pet animals.
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Magician Dietrich's exhibit at The Houdini Magic Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls before it burned down
Go to some of Magician Dorothy Dietrich's television appearances.
Go to The Famous Houdini Museum, of which Dorothy Dietrich is a director..
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The Society of American Magicians Cover story and 8 page biography about Dorothy Dietrich
Page 1 with pictures. Page 2 with pictures. Page 3 with pictures, Page 4 with pictures, Page 5 with pictures, Page 6 with pictures, Page 7 with pictures, Page 8 with pictures.
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