About this Event
This program will be offered both in person and virtually.
As part of the worldwide recognition of the 100th anniversary of the death of Harry Houdini, the Library for the Performing Arts and Parent Assembly #1 of the Society of American Magicians have organized a program featuring leading archivists, collectors, and performers who are preserving the legacy of the complex and inspired magician, escape artist and showman.
The panelists will showcase particularly interesting and rare items from their collections, discussing what they reveal about Houdini and how they have been utilized in books, films, performances and more. They also will examine questions and issues regarding how historic and archival materials can be utilized to construct a robust portrait of such an intriguing character.
The event will also include a conversation with Dorothy Dietrich about the details of her remarkable 1980 suspended straight jacket escape, and audiences will witness a riveting performance from Thomas Solomon, one of today’s leading escape artists.
Featuring:
Eric Colleary, Cline Curator of Theatre and Performing Arts at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin
Dorothy Dietrich, Magician, Director of the Houdini Museum, and Houdini historian
Roger Dreyer, CEO Fantasma Magic/Houdini Revealed
Annemarie van Roessel, Assistant Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Herb Scher, Chair, Archives Committee, Parent Assembly #1, Society of American Magicians
Thomas Solomon, Magician/Escape Artist
Photo Credit: White Studio Photograph courtesy of the Billy Rose Theatre Division.
SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but registration is requested. Check-in line forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. Five minutes before the advertised start time, all seats are released, regardless of registration, to our patrons in the stand-by line. If you arrive after the program starts, you will be seated at the discretion of our front-of-house staff.
STANDBY LINE | If registration is sold out or has ended, do not fret! We welcome you to come to the Library regardless of registration status and wait in our standby line, which forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Five minutes before the program starts, all remaining seats are released. While this is not guaranteed, we will do our best to get you into any of our programs.
ASSISTIVE LISTENING AND ASL | ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing [email protected].
BRUNO WALTER POLICY | Please note that any unoccupied seat will be released five minutes before the show begins and holding seats for anyone beyond that is prohibited. There is no food or drink allowed inside the venue.
AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING | Programs may be photographed and recorded by and at the discretion of the Library for the Performing Arts and will post signs indicating as such. If you would prefer your image not be captured, please let us know and we can seat you accordingly. Attending any program indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any and all purposes of the New York Public Library.
PRESS | Please send all press inquiries to Alex Teplitzky at [email protected]. Please note that all recording, including professional video recordings, are prohibited without expressed consent from the Library.
Event venue & nearby stays
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts -Bruno Walter Auditorium, Enter via 111 Amsterdam Ave. between West 64th and 65th Street, New York, United States
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