Thursday, November 7, 2013

Scranton honors Dorothy Dietrich and Houdini Museum


Mayor Christopher Doherty proclaimed November 1, 2013 as "Dorothy Dietrich Day" in the city of Scranton, PA. The honor was bestowed on Dorothy for all the business and tourism her Houdini Museum has brought to the city, as well as the publicity generated when she and Dick Brookz replaced Houdini's bust on his grave in Queens during a "commando" raid in 2011. The proclamation read in part:

I, Christopher A. Doherty, Mayor of the City of Scranton, do hereby proclaim Friday, November 1, 2013, as “Dorothy Dietrich Day” and ask all citizens to join me in applauding her and her outstanding commitment to honor the legendary magician of all time, Harry Houdini, and bring honor to him and to the City of Scranton as well.

Dorothy attended a special signing at the Poli Theater in Scranton where Houdini himself performed. She performed a straitjacket escape and also signed photos. The weekend celebrations also saw the official unveiling of the new marquee for the Houdini Museum (below). Electric City, the area entertainment guide, devoted a terrific cover story to Dorothy, which you can read online HERE.

Congratulations Dorothy!

1 comment:

  1. Thanks John;

    This was a fantastic three day celebration, that stretched out to five if you include our visit to David Jacobson who is in charge of the Houdini grave on Monday morning in New York City.  Mr Jacobson went through the records of the cemetery from the 1940's and on, including letters from Hardeen's wife, etc.  We will be forwarding some of this info to you in the near future.
     
    In the first picture on top of your article, the tall gentleman is our Democratic Mayor, Chris Doherty. Io his right is Democrat Bill Courtright who just won the election to be our next Mayor, as the current Mayor has decided to drop out after three terms.  To Bill's right is a past mayor Democrat Jim Connors.  Between Dorothy and myself is Republican Jim Mulligan who lost to Bill Courtright.  Dorothy cut and restored the ribbon three times before the Mayors did the official ribbon cutting.  In front of them all is the seance table where we did our Original Houdini Seance passed down from Bess Houdini to Walter B. Gibson down to Dorothy.

    The cover story of the entertainment magazine was a remake of the famous Harry "Handcuff" Houdini poster with the painting by  "Conan the Barbarian" famous surrealist painter Ron Walotsky of Dorothy placed in the middle.

    I recommend everyone to click on the picture link you have of the Poli Theater where Houdini performed to see the grandeur of the building.  Dorothy was very proud to have her name on the same marquee of the building where Houdini starred.

    The second picture in your article is Dorothy and myself with famed stage designer David Starr who designed the new marquee built by Bryan Filarsky and Jason De Candis of Dragonfly Signs..  David Starr has put together sets and productions for such famous stars as NSync, 50 Cent, Alice Cooper, Americas Got Talent, David Copperfield, Doug Henning, Lance Burton, Penn & Teller, Earth, Wind & Fire, Drew Carey, The Official Blues Brothers Revival, Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus, Disney, Pamela Anderson, The Osmond’s, Warner Brothers, and Universal Studios. 

    Thanks again.  You do Houdini proud!

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