Who Is: Dorothy Dietrich, Female Magician

Doing magic performances is not only for males. This is proved by Dorothy Dietrich.

Dorothy Dietrich is an American stage magician and escapologist. She is often referred to as "the world's leading female magician," "the first lady of magic," and "The female Houdini”. Many of the things she has done are unprecedented in the history of magic. As such, she has paved the way for future female magicians in the magic and escape field. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2006)

Early on, Dorothy Dietrich learned some of her tricks mostly from books, however, the biography of Houdini which she read when she was a child, had influenced her to do straitjacket escapes. Dietrich also studied with "Coney Island Fakir" Al Flosso, a regular performer on the Ed Sullivan television show, Jack London (for the bullet catch) and Lou Lancaster with the Straitjacket escape.

She started by performing chops working a dime museum “grind show”, Ten-in-One operation in hectic Times Square run by legendary mouse pitchman Tommy Laird with such performers as Earl "Presto" Johnson, Lou Lancaster, Chris Capehart, Dick Brooks and others. It was during her performance in the Showcasing for the Parent Assembly of the Society of American Magicians that the well-known magicians Russell Swann and Walter B. Gibson were captivated by her performance style. Thereafter, they took her under their supervision.

Later on in her life as a magician, she has performed other tricks apart from her escapes and large scale stunts. Dietrich is said to have duplicated many of Houdini's original escapes but has performed more. She also developed several routines few women had ever attempted. She is the first woman to have ever performed a straitjacket escape while suspended hundreds of feet in the air from a burning rope, and the first woman ever to perform the Jinxed Bullet Catch Stunt, a stunt which killed 12 male magicians and injured many other and a stunt which Houdini himself had not performed. She developed what is known as a flash act that included doves, a rabbit, a duck and two poodles. Because of these stunts, she was considered a "leading dove worker". Moreover, instead of her being sawn, she opted to saw men in half. She also developed an updated version of the classic misers dream, plucking coins from the air, nose, ears and pockets of a youngster from the audience.

With her desire to create a place where people in any age could enjoy and experience a magical show, she founded, along with Dick Brookes, the New Yorks Magic Townhouse, a popular magic show spot in New York. This was located in the posh area of the upper east of side of Manhattan on Third Avenue and 61st Street just next to Bloomingdales Department Store. It is worth noting that this is also a dream of some legendary magicians like Houdini, Thurston and Dough Henning.

The 2006 Columbia Encyclopedia included Dietrich among their "8 most noted magicians of the late 20th century". The entertainment writer Samantha Hart in her definitive book "The Hollywood Walk of Fame" called her a "world-class magician" and "one of the world's leading female magicians".



Have you been trying to look for a Seattle magician who is a female or have you ever wondered if a female Seattle magician exists?

Eleven Tips To Make Your Event A Success
Tips On Selecting Magicians
Event Planning Guide
Kids Party Planning Guide
Seattle's Magic Shop
Magicians and Geeks - Humor