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Program: Lecture by Margaret Steele
Adelaide Herrmann, Queen of Magic
Madame Adelaide Herrmann was a superstar of the
Golden Age of Magic. With her husband, Alexander
Herrmann, she developed the first Grand Illusion
show, which they performed in Europe and the
Americas for twenty-two years. After Alexander's
sudden death in 1896, Adelaide re-opened the
show six weeks later at New York's Metropolitan
Opera House. In 1899 she made her solo debut
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in Vaudeville as America's only professional female magician, a career she maintained
successfully for twenty-eight years.
While Adelaide Herrmann was known to have written a memoir, it did not appear after her death in 1932. The memoir, entitled "Sixty-Five Years of Magic," finally surfaced in 2010. It reveals much new information about the magical Herrmann dynasty, including details of the tempestuous relationship between the brothers, Alexander and Compars Herrmann. Madame takes readers behind the scenes of the spectacular Herrmann show, providing a close-up portrait of the great Alexander Herrmann and giving new insights into his personality and his magic. She tells of her own career as a dancer, trick bicyclist, illusion partner and, finally, as a magician in her own right.
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The memoir is a story of adventure, romance and perseverance, set in the context of one of the greatest magic shows of all time.
In 2011, Margaret Steele, in collaboration with Bramble Books, published Adelaide Herrmann, Queen of Magic - Memoirs, Published Writings and Collected Ephemera. The book contains 145 photos, posters and other images contributed by major magic collections. It is the first book ever to be released on the great Queen of Magic.
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Margaret Steele is a New York-based magician, musician and writer. She a leading historian on Madame Adelaide Herrmann. Her lecture on Madame Herrmann was featured at the 2011 Los Angeles Conference on Magic History and at the Magic Circle's 2012 Collector's Day in London. She also performs a magical homage to Adelaide Herrmann, which she has presented at the New England Magic Collectors' Yankee Gathering and Muhlenberg College's Theory and Art of Magic conference.
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Ms. Steele's interest in Madame Herrmann was sparked at a show in San Francisco in 2000. After her performance, Herrmann historian James Hamilton, teary-eyed, came to Ms. Steele's dressing room and said, "I feel as though Adelaide Herrmann came back to life to perform just for me." James Hamilton shared his 40 years of research with Ms. Steele, who immediately began her own research, unearthing significant new information on Madame Herrmann. While they live on opposite coasts, Steele and Hamilton still spend many hours on Skype "Herrmannizing."
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