My friend, Dorothy Dietrich, is the inspiration for the new novel “The Art of Escaping” by Erin Callahan:
Seventeen-year-
old Mattie is hiding her obsession with Harry Houdini and Dorothy Dietrich from everyone, including her best friend. Mattie has a hidden obsession: escapology. Told through the perspectives of the witty main characters, this funny and fresh debut explores the power of stage personas and secret spaces, and speaks to the uncanny ways in which friendships transform us.
Dorothy Dietrich’s probably the best-known female escapologist of all time. Enjoying a long career that began with New York television shows, she later founded The Magic Townehouse, a popular NYC magic venue. Regarded as the “First Lady of Magic,” she’s been an inspiration to female and male performers alike.
She was famously the first woman to escape from a strait-jacket while hanging from a burning rope 15 stories up and without a net:
She’s known for being the first woman to catch a bullet in her mouth:
Her desire to perform magic and escapes started after reading a biography of Houdini in her childhood. She has a large number of television appearances including the following where she is referred to as “the world’s leading female escape artist“:
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