Minerva ( Riedel Van Dorn ) 1910
Zirka de Gago
Miss Margo , ( around 1915 )
ALONE ON STAGE
Mademoiselle Dicka
At the beginning of the twentieth century female magicians were accepted in music-halls and were featured in certain spectacles . The women working in “ the show ” were unfortunately denigrated because institutions considered them as having questionable “ manners ” or morals .
Despite societal prejudices some women still managed to extricate themselves from the male domination and to build their own acts , performing solo on stage ( as in the middle of the nineteenth century , but with more consistency and visibility ), starting with Adélaïde Herrman ( Adele Celine Scarcez , 1853-1932 ), Alexander Herrmann ’ s wife , who was the greatest female magician of all time . Adélaïde Herrmann was and is the only woman to have equaled the notoriety of the great male magicians in her time . From 1899 Adélaïde carved the way and opened opportunities in America and Europe ’ s stages for future magic sisters in magic .
Following Adélaïde are , Circe " die zauberin ", Mlle Patrice , Ionia , Mlle Durga , Nina Sokolska , Zirka , Suzy Wandas , Mlle Margo , Mahomeda , Marianne De Lahaye , Mlle Dicka , Ellen E . Armstrong , Elsa Amadria , Miss Ther , Aimée Désirée ( Mystia ), Ivy Jeane , Mme Linardini , Miss Sousa , Rita Del Gardi .
Mercedes Talma ( Mary Ann Ford , 1861-1944 ) was interested in theatre at a young age and began her career working as an assistant to a female mentalist and snake charmer . She met the great Belgian magician Servais Le Roy at the Royal Aquarium in London and quickly became his assistant and then his wife in 1890 . Over time Talma became more involved and visible in her husband ’ s shows , she studied sleight of hand with playing cards , billiard balls and coins . Talma was billed “ the Queen of Coins .” Her meeting with the great manipulative magician Thomas Nelson Downs , “ the King of Coins ”, in 1893 was significant . Talma appeared in her own sleight of hand act and show on the theatrical stages in Great Britain , France and Germany . Later she reunited with Le Roy to form a new trio with actor Leon Bosco , and together they went on a world tour . In 1914 , Talma would once again assist her husband in his legendary Asrah levitation .
Vonetta ( Etta Ion , 1878-1964 ), performed in English music-halls at the beginning of the twentieth century with an act that combined dance , magic and transformism . She was one of the first women to reverse the roles of an assistant by " burning alive " her male partner !
The appearance of the escapology 9 initiated by the great Harry Houdini aroused new vocations and provoked an invasion of copies from which women do not “ escape ”, proving in the process their " strength " and their character : Miss Trixi ( The only woman to have the Houdini ’ s permission to reproduce his Chinese Water torture cell ), Miss Undina ( who plagiarizes the Water torture cell without permission ), Sirronje .
The most interesting escapologist of the time is Minerva ( Riedel Van Dorn ) an Anglo-German specialist in water barrel escapes .
SPECIAL EDITION | 2021 23