6/12/2023 0 Comments The magic of houdiniHarry Houdini was interested in purchasing several escape acts from Leroy, and the magic entrepreneur was happy to oblige. It didn’t matter how you dressed or what you looked like, the main requirement was secrecy: “No man will be admitted who is addicted to the excessive use of intoxicating liquors,” the Post reporter explained, “as they are liable to talk and tell more of the secrets of the society than is good for them when under its influence.” With applications for membership arriving from all across the country, it was only a matter of time before the man would become one of the most famous magicians of all time arrived at the door of 103 Court Street. The society’s stated goal? “To unite, fraternally, acceptable men who are recognized performers of ability in the art of magic or sleight-of-hand.” The Post reporter who visited the Fraternity expected to find a cadre of odd fellows dressed in “turbans and flowing robes,” instead, he found a group of Bostonians in ordinary attire. The Mystic Fraternity was the first society of its kind in the United States, and the organization drafted its official charter in Massachusetts in 1896. Leroy’s school was credited,” The Magic Detective blog notes, “with having the largest and most up to date magic catalog of it’s time.” Leroy also founded the “Magic Mystic Fraternity” around this time, “a name well calculated to fill the outsider with awe,” The Boston Post reported. Leroy’s “School of Magic” (the man who invented the trick, Benjamin B. For $75, you could learn how to escape from a pair of handcuffs from a professional instructor at W.D. In the late 1800’s, on Court Street in downtown Boston, one of the only “Magic Schools” in the country first opened its doors. Not only did the citizenry love to witness something unexplainable, the city was also once ground zero for hopeful would-be magicians. The population of Boston has long been enamored with magic and the art of illusion. Theatre, Boston’s Love of Magic: from Houdini to HOME
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