Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
A clairvoyant and a magician – a magical pairing you might say. For the celebrated entertainment duo Mystic Mora and Doc Rowe, it was a union that brought extraordinary success and fame, and a life full of exotic travels and uncommon adventures.
Arts & literature, Such was life:
Houdini remains one of the world’s most famous entertainers. He toured Australia in 1910, performing his feats of escapology in Melbourne and Sydney, diving into the Yarra handcuffed and chained, completing the first powered flight in Australia, and becoming embroiled in a dispute with world champion boxer Tommy Burns about the proprietorship of the milk can escape.
Performing Arts, Photography, Theatre:
Happy or sad, straight-faced or bumbling, creepy or cute, there many different kinds of clown. Join us as we take a look at some of the lesser-known clowns in the State Library’s photo collection.
Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
A lion wandering down Little Collins Street? Not something you see every day, but this is exactly the scene that Melburnians witnessed on the 11th of February 1911 after a magic trick did not go quite as planned.
Our stories, Performing Arts, Rare Books & Arts:
Magician William Ellsworth Robinson left behind his plain name and New York background and reinvented himself as the Chung Ling Soo, the Marvellous Chinese Conjurer, complete with an imaginative and fictitious life story, In the great days of vaudeville he achieved world fame and in 1909 embarked on a wildly successful tour of Australia and New Zealand. A decade later, still at the height of his career, Chung Ling Soo was mortally wounded on stage undertaking his sensational bullet catch trick.
Cities & towns, Such was life:
On 18 March 1910, Harry Houdini, the world famous escapologist, made what is claimed to be the first controlled powered flight in Australia.
Rare Books & Arts, Television:
Elegant tuxedos, droll patter and effortless prestidigitation abound in a series of dvds from the Miracle Factory, celebrating magic in the early days of television. Early TV Magic Among… Read More ›
