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Dorothy Dietrich is a famous American stage magician and escapologist, and the first and only woman to have performed the bullet catch in her mouth. She is also the first woman to perform a straitjacket escape while suspended hundreds of feet in the air from a burning rope as shown on a Home Box Office Special, The World's Greatest Escapes where she was introduced by movie star Tony Curtis. She is the first woman to gain prominence as a female escape artist since the days of Houdini, breaking the glass ceiling for women in the field of escapes and magic. The 2006 Columbia Encyclopedia included Dietrich among their "eight most noted magicians of the late 20th century", and entertainment writer Samantha Hart in her definitive book "The Hollywood Walk of Fame" called her a "world-class magician" and "one of the world's leading female magicians". Early on as a teenager she already was dubbed as "The First Lady of Magic." Dietrich, often called the female Houdini, has duplicated many of Houdini's original escapes, and has gone one step further by doing the Jinxed Bullet Catch Stunt - the one that Houdini backed away from.
Dorothy Dietrich is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania. In a six-page article about the history of women in magic in the women's magazine, Bust, which contained only two full-page pictures, one of Adelaide Herrmann and the other of Dietrich. At the age of 13, she saved enough money as a young teen to hitch a ride with a girlfriend's older brother to New York and ran away from her abusive father, her first true escape act.
Among the books she read as a child was a biography of Houdini, who became a childhood idol, a fact that later influenced her desire to perform escapes.
Early on, she learned her craft mostly from books. In New York, she auditioned for Westchester Department of Parks from an ad in a show business newspaper and was booked on the spot for a full summer of work, was recommended to the school district for the winter months, and re-booked the following summer for an increase in dates and price. Around this same time she earned her performing chops working a dime museum "grind show" Ten-in-One operation in hectic Times Square run by legendary mouse pitchman Tommy Laird with such performers as Earl "Presto" Johnson, Lou Lancaster, Chris Capehart, Dick Brooks and others. Showcasing for the Parent Assembly of the Society of American Magicians at about the same time, well-known magicians Russell Swann and Walter B. Gibson, captivated by her performance style, took her under their wing. Dietrich also studied with "Coney Island Fakir" Al Flosso, a regular performer on the Ed Sullivan television show, Jack London (for the bullet catch) and Lou Lancaster with the Milk Can and the Straitjacket escape, as well as slight of hand magic. The recognition gradually put Dorothy Dietrich and her magic into resort hotels, nightclubs, school and college auditoriums, trade shows. She became a favorite of several New York booking agents.
She developed what is known as a flash act that included doves, a rabbit, a duck and two poodles. Early on she was considered a "leading dove worker". She also developed several routines few women had ever attempted. Sawing men in half, escaping from a straitjacket, sleight of hand with coins via the Misers Dream, The Bullet Catch, and levitating audience members. It is her goal to level the playing field between men and women in the field of magic, and to innovate and break barriers where no women, and in some cases no men have gone. Until she broke many of these barriers women were not allowed full membership in such organizations as The Society of American Magicians and London's Magic Circle, which early on she tried to join. She has pioneered and paved the way for women in the field today.
Dietrich has created special shows for such companies as Maidenform, Pooltrol, Yago Sangria, Manhattan Shirts, as well as fashion and cosmetic companies. She is a regular performer for trade and industrial events.
On television, Dorothy Dietrich won attention as a woman who, instead of allowing herself to be sawed in half, reversed the traditional illusion and severed into two parts the male hosts of talk shows and network specials. As word got around she was called to do a Bill Cosby special while still in her early teens, but with the help of her sophisticated style and makeup she passed as an adult and was able to work night clubs and banquets in leading hotels and venues. Cosby was so impressed that he recommended her to several agents. At this same time she performed with Loretta Lynn, Dick Van Patten and Tony Randall.
Dietrich was co-editor, contributor and publisher of Hocus Pocus Magazine along with magician/mentalist Dick Brooks. In addition to escapes and large scale stunts Dietrich has performed illusions with live animals such as doves, rabbits, poodles and ducks. She is also known for sawing men in half. She also does an updated version of the classic Miser's Dream, plucking coins from the air, nose, ears and pockets of a youngster from the audience. She is also known for levitating volunteers from the audience.
Dietrich was a founder along with Dick Brooks of New York's Magic Towne House, a popular magic show spot in New York City, which was the longest running magic show in New York City history. Always interested in magic history and innovation, Dorothy Dietrich learned that opening a magic show spot in New York City was a dream of legendary magicians Houdini, Thurston, David Copperfield and Doug Henning.
At the same time she wanted a place where well-known performers could be seen, as well as to help to develop future generations of magicians. Along with partner Dick Brooks she accomplished this goal with The Magic Towne House. Some of the magicians who got their early start at The Magic Towne House include Eric DeCamps, Imam, Jeff McBride, Otto and George, Johnny Ace Palmer, Joseph Pepitone, Joe Raven, David Regal, Rocco Silano, Peter Samelson, Meir Yedid and others. Established performers of the era also performed with them, including Bobby Baxter, Harry Blackstone, Jr., Milbourne Christopher, Daryl, Fantasio, Frank Garcia, Walter B. Gibson, Wesley James, Presto Earl Johnson, Lou Lancaster, Jack London, Bill McQueen, Max Maven (Phil Goldstein), Ben Robinson, James Randi, David Roth, George Schindler, Slydini and others.
Imam would, after several years, break away and form his own competing club downtown in Greenwich Village. Brooks and Dietrich searched out Brother Theodore, whose career had waned, and helped to bring him back to prominence that led to his appearing on The Tom Snyder Tomorrow Show and a series of TV and movie appearances. Upon the closing of the Magic Towne House, Michael Chaut and Peter Samuelson would later develop "Monday Night Magic" along with Frank Brents, Todd Robbins, and Jamy Ian Swiss, which still runs successfully in New York City.
In 2008, Bust Magazine reported about Dietrich's 1988 attempt to catch a bullet in a metal cup in her mouth. She performed it at Donald Trump's Resorts International's 10th anniversary in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was televised on a special called, Just For The Record, The Best Of Everything. This came about after catching a .22 caliber bullet for the yearly convention of the International Brotherhood of Magicians in Pittsburgh. It was shown on Network TV's Evening Magazine, and on The New You Asked For It with Rich Little as host. She performed it again in Canada on a TV show called Autobus du Canada for the highest amount ever paid a magician on Canadian television. She is the first and only female to successfully complete the bullet catch in the mouth. It was done under test conditions with the bullets bought by a committee. Brought in under guard, an independent marksman picked and fired the bullet. One of two chosen bullets was fired into a concrete backstop and the second was fired at Dorothy. Dietrich challenged anyone who could prove that the bullet did not leave from the gun by offering a $10,000 reward. Feature stories and articles about her have appeared in major publications such as the New York Times and TV Guide.
On exhibit for many years at the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Canada, until it burned down, was a large two-panel display of Dorothy Dietrich and her accomplishments as "The Female Houdini". A similar display is now shown at Scranton's Houdini Museum.
For many years she held the Houdini Seances in New York as a tribute to the legendary magician, continuing a tradition started by Houdini's wife who asked friend and writer Walter B. Gibson to carry on the legacy. Even though Bess gave up the séances herself, she asked Walter B. Gibson to carry on the October 31 tradition. For many years, Gibson, along with several other magicians including Milbourne Christopher, held the séances at the Magic Towne House in New York City. Before Gibson died he asked Dietrich to carry on the tradition, Walter was a confidant and biographer of Houdini and also wrote the famous Shadow Series. Dietrich continues the séances at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, each Halloween, the day Houdini died. The séances have been shown on such shows as TV Lands Myths and Legends, Biography's Dead Famous-Houdini and Exploring the Unknown. The séances at the Houdini Museum in Scranton are often attended by The Houdini Family who are the closest living relatives of Bess Houdini, making this the closest event connected back to the original séances that Bess Houdini held.
When not traveling, Dietrich heads up to The Houdini Museum, the only building in the world dedicated to Houdini, where she performs on a regular basis when in town. She has been featured on many television shows and channels including CBC, BBC, CBC, NBC, ABC, Travel Channel, Syfi, and Biography Channel, TV Land, etc. She is also a featured performer at the museum's hit show eight years running Psychic Theater's "Haunted! Mysteries & THE Beyond!" along with Paranormalist Dick Brooks. It is the longest running séance presentation in history.
Dietrich also crusades against those who falsely claim to speak to dead relatives of vulnerable grieving citizens. Early on, Dorothy Dietrich realized that there were those who would use magic and various deceptive arts to manipulate and even cheat people out of money. So following in the footsteps of famous debunkers who came before her such as Houdini, Milbourne Christopher and James Randi, she takes on such a role where possible. She has a $10,000.00 reward for anyone who says they can contact the spirit of Houdini. One who tried recently was Canadian television "medium" Kim Dennis who had contacted the Houdini family claiming she was getting messages from Houdini.
Dietrich also sends out the World's only continuous traveling Houdini exhibit. Besides featuring it as part of her many shows, it has also traveled to corporations, banks, and casinos.
On September 27, 2011 a group she formed, that came to be known in the media as The Houdini Commandos, secretly replaced the statuary bust at Houdini's grave site that has been missing due to vandalism for 36 years. This was reported in a half-page story worldwide in the New York Times on October 24, 2011. Her world famous attraction Scranton's Houdini Museum that she runs with mystery entertainer Dick Brooks, has been asked by both the family of Houdini and the management of the cemetery to take over the upkeep of the grave that has been in disarray for many years due to neglect. She recently petitioned the Society of American Magicians to talk over the responsibility, which gratefully in November 2013 the voted unanimously to take over. Dietrich stated "I will not live forever, but The Society of Americans will."
