"Magical" Photo Lecture on Madame Adelaide Herrmann, the first great female magician

Field Library to Present “Magical” Photo Lecture

Local Author and Magician Margaret Steele Discusses the First Great Female Magician and Demonstrates Her Illusions

     On Saturday, March 3, 2012 at 2pm, Peekskill resident Margaret Steele will present a photo lecture on the life of Madame Adelaide Herrmann, a superstar of the Golden Age of Magic.  Ms. Steele is a magician, historian and the editor of the new book, Adelaide Herrmann, Queen of Magic: Memoirs, Published Writings and Collected Ephemera.  Ms. Steele, a world-recognized authority on Madame Herrmann, will present a lecture rich with photos and colorful magic posters.  In addition, she will perform several of Adelaide Herrmann’s magical illusions. 

     Madame Adelaide Herrmann (1853-1932) and her husband, the brilliant magician Alexander Herrmann, developed the first Grand Illusion show, playing worldwide to sold-out crowds for over twenty years.  The Herrmanns were colorful characters, fun-loving, energetic and multi-lingual entertainers who surrounded themselves with exotic pets, famous celebrities and an aura of glamour.  At the height of their success, they toured in their private railcar, relaxing during the off-season at their Long Island mansion and aboard their private steam yacht. 

     In 1896, Alexander Herrmann died suddenly aboard their railcar while in the middle of a tour, leaving Adelaide deeply in debt.  Madame Herrmann stepped into the magician’s role, unheard of for a woman in that time, and re-opened the show at New York’s Metropolitan Opera house just six weeks after her husband’s death.  Taking the title, “The Queen of Magic,” Adelaide Herrmann starred as a magician in American Vaudeville and European theaters for another three decades, until her retirement in 1928 at the age of seventy-four.

     After her death in 1932, the famous Madame Herrmann slipped into oblivion.  While beloved among magic historians and collectors, who carefully preserved her rich legacy of photos, posters, and a multitude of ephemera, few beyond this rarefied world knew of her.  She was known to have written a memoir, but after her death it did not appear.  Then, in 2010, the manuscript of Adelaide Herrmann’s memoir, having been passed among her descendants for seventy-eight years, finally surfaced.

     Adelaide Herrmann’s memoir is published verbatim and complete.  The new book also includes all five of Madame Herrmann’s known published magazine articles, as well as selected letters to the editor, biographical articles, reviews, news stories and fashion pages.  With an introduction and chapter notes by Margaret Steele, and 145 photos and images from many pre-eminent magic collections, this first-ever book on Madame Herrmann is a loving homage to the Queen of Magic.

     The Field Library is located at 4 Nelson Avenue, Peekskill, New York, and is wheelchair-accessible.  For further information, please call Sibyl Canaan, Library Director at (914) 737-7110, or email scanaan@wlsmail.org, or visit the library website, www.peekskill.org.