Now you see it!<\/p>\n
A rare collection of tools and tricks used by legendary magician Harry Houdini for seemingly inexplicable escape acts \u2014 including handcuffs and neck and leg shackles \u2014 are now on display a century after his death.<\/p>\n
The quirky display is part of a new exhibit of over 300 rare and never-before-seen artifacts from magic\u2019s heyday in the Big Apple that opened this month at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, dubbed \u201cMystery & Wonder: A Legacy of Golden Age Magicians in New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houdini-owned handcuff belt, among other escape tricks, at the NYPL\u2019s new exhibit. Christopher Sadowski for NY Post <\/p>\n
The expansive display, fashioned to look like an early 20th century magic shop, also includes a massive wand collection, dramatic one-of-a-kind magic show posters and century-old instructional books.<\/p>\n
Exhibit curator Annemarie van Roessel told The Post the mystical retrospective is the first of its kind to explore how magic knowledge was passed down in the city during magic\u2019s \u201cgolden age\u201d \u2014 whether behind the stage curtain, inside Midtown magic shops or meetings of the Society of American Magicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere aren\u2019t any professors of magic history: [Magicians] are responsible for building for their own history,\u201d van Roessel told The Post at the show\u2019s opening reception Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Magicians \u2014 many of whom were immigrants from Europe, van Roessel noted \u2014 flocked to New York City during the \u201cGolden Age\u201d from 1875 to the 1930s for its abundance of stages, magic stores and community hubs, she said.<\/p>\n
The performers also helped facilitate the larger cultural exchange between artists in New York and London, which was also a hot spot for magicians at the time.<\/p>\n
Steve Cohen, a sponsor of the exhibit and veteran magician who runs the 25-year-old Chamber Magic show at the Lotte New York Palace, said it\u2019s a no-brainer why magicians are still flocking to the Big Apple as they did at the turn of the century.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the center of art,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you come to New York, you expect to see the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere aren\u2019t any professors of magic history: [Magicians] are responsible for building for their own history,\u201d van Roessel told The Post at the show\u2019s opening reception Wednesday. Christopher Sadowski for NY Post <\/p>\n
\u201cThis exhibit gives magic the institutional recognition and respect that it\u2019s always deserved,\u201d Cohen said. Christopher Sadowski for NY Post <\/p>\n
The core of the collection stems from Society of American Magicians co-founder Dr. Saram Ellison\u2019s 1,500-book arsenal of rare books on magic, which where donated to the library around the time of his death in 1918 \u2014 including the first book on magic published in the US. <\/p>\n
Contemporary magicians are still drawn to the library\u2019s trove of magic literature and ephemera \u2014 considered to be the largest public collection of its kind \u2014 to reference old tricks and rediscover new ones, van Roessel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe magicians come here to research their mentors, and their mentors\u2019 mentors,\u201d she added. \u201cThey also come because \u2026 some of the best tricks are the old tricks from 100 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The library\u2019s collection also includes one-of-a-kind posters from magic shows \u2013 preserved in a large scrapbook and untouched for decades \u2014 which were properly conserved at the height of the coronavirus pandemic and digitally displayed.<\/p>\n
It was the posters\u2019 massive reception among New York\u2019s magic community that served as the launchpad for the exhibition \u2014 which, in many ways, is still a work in progress, the curator said.<\/p>\n
A treasure trove of rare and never-before-seen artifacts from magic\u2019s heyday in the Big Apple has opened this month at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Christopher Sadowski for NY Post <\/p>\n
Given the niche subject matter, several 20th century magicians\u2019 faces in archival photographs are still unknown to the library \u2014 which has ushered a public call to current performers to help identify faces and names lost to time.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust helping identify some of the faces of these photographs has been critical,\u201d van Roessel said. \u201cWe\u2019re bringing them back from the dead almost \u2014 we\u2019re bringing these memories to life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The curator noted she hopes the exhibit will help the likes of lesser-known names like \u201cQueen of Magic\u201d vaudeville performer Adelaide Herrmann to finally get the Houdini star treatment.<\/p>\n
Cohen called the exhibit \u201cvital\u201d for the public to discover not just the legendary names, but a newfound appreciation for a timeless art form that\u2019s finally getting its flowers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully what this exhibit will do is make people realize that magic has a rich history \u2014 but it\u2019s a living history,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis exhibit gives magic the institutional recognition and respect that it\u2019s always deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now you see it! A rare collection of tools and tricks used by legendary magician Harry Houdini for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[57257,57,2576,9,197,24621,56,63,65,64,58],"class_list":["post-134660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-magicians","tag-metro","tag-museums","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-new-york-public-library","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}