Textfeld: New York Theater                                               Full Page View                         Close Window  
- Caitlin
 

Master of Escapes: Showing Today
November 23, 1906

Floradora Back On Broadway!
February 26, 1905

Harry Houdini, the great magician of the time, is performing regularly in New York City with the theaters crowded with people.  Houdini has done many astonishing stunts for his audiences including quickly escaping from leg irons, 10 pairs of handcuffs, jail cells, and nailed crates.  It seems he has put his life at risk to stun the crowd.  A recent incredible addition to his act has been his ability to escape from an airtight tank filled with water before he drowns.  Between shows he has been seen tied in a straightjacket to a building, dangling upside down.  Miraculously he is able to free himself in a matter of minutes.  During his shows he also escapes from ropes, chains, and locks.  Currently, Houdini is performing older stunts as well, such as the Metamor-phosis, the Chinese Water Torture Cell, and Buried Alive. 

Houdini, born in 1874, in Budapest, Hungary, came to America as an infant.  He first lived in Appleton, Wisconsin. He started out his career performing card tricks at a dime museum and has grown more skilled and more popular since.  Just before 1900, Houdini developed his escape act and then later had a very successful tour in England.  Houdini took his name from a famous French magician by the name of Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdini.  Recently he legally changed his name to Harry Houdini.  When Harry Houdini first began his professional career as a magician his only assistant was a friend of his.  Harry’s brother, Theodore, soon replaced him.  They became known as The Houdini brothers.  Houdini worked at Coney Island, where he met Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, who is now his wife. Bess, as she is known, is presently his assistant.

Currently, Harry Houdini has his schedule booked in the United States for some time.  Afterwards he will probably go on to several more tours, both nationally and internationally.  Don’t miss out on a chance to see the great Houdini before he leaves New York, New York.   Tickets are available outside the theater.

 Broadway on average has four or five plays opening every night, each intriguing audiences.  These plays and shows offer a new vibrant variety of entertainment including song, dance, comedy, tragedy, and specialty acts.  Tonight Floradora opens for the second time on Broadway.  The last opening in 1902 was quite successful.  The British musical comedy is a theatrical sensation.  The story line is of a young woman seeking romance and regaining her stolen inheritance.  When the male and female choruses join together to sing “Tell Me Pretty Maiden (Are There Any More at Home Like You?)” the audience will become engrossed in the musical.  Floradora must be seen.  It is well worth the time and money.  This is a great opportunity for some splendid entertainment.

Victor Herbert- Broadway Composer

June 30, 1910

Cellist and classical conductor, Victor Herbert has composed several famous Broadway musicals and will most likely compose many more.  His musicals have ranged from comedies to operettas.  So far his music has been written for classically trained voices, but nevertheless has a very American sound.  His shows tend to follow a story of an American woman who prevails over the Old World

traditions and customs.  Quite a few of his musicals have made it big on Broadway including Babes in Toyland, Mlle Modiste, and The Red Mill.  His newest play to open on Broadway was Naughty Marietta, about a girl who runs away to colonial New Orleans.  There she falls in love with a wealthy American soldier.  This play includes two well-liked songs: “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life” and “The Neapolitan Street Song.”