VANISHED

This finely researched volume introduces readers to seven trailblazing American women from the Golden Age of Magic (1860-1930) who have since faded into obscurity.

At a time when they had few professional options beyond teaching, domestic service, or nursing, these women bucked convention. Many had similar trajectories—coming from modest beginnings, they entered the theater before enjoying successful second innings as illusionists and conjurers. Anna Eva Fay began as a medium, moving from private parlor sittings to the stage. Dancer Adelaide Herrmann brought dazzle to the magic shows she performed with her husband. Dixie Haygood rose to fame as strongwoman Annie Abbott, while Mary Ann Ford was skilled at sleight of hand; she reinvented herself as Talma, Queen of Coins. Beatrice Houdini was a charismatic performer—and pivotal to her husband Harry’s meteoric success. Margaretha Gertz (Snelling) dubbed herself Minerva, the Queen of Handcuffs, becoming a formidable escape artist who challenged Harry Houdini himself. Ellen Emma Armstrong, the only Black magician featured among the white women, endured segregation in the Jim Crow South but carried on her father’s legacy as a traveling magician and educator, using her platform to educate and uplift Black audiences by showing the science behind her many tricks. Each profile is accompanied by photographs and ephemera. McDevitt’s full-page color depictions of each subject’s signature tricks are a delightful highlight. Hays does a commendable job of entertainingly chronicling the highs and lows of the magicians’ professional and personal lives.

Informative and inspiring.