Dooley pays homage to the master magician at the Plaza

Joe Delaney

Friday, Jan. 5, 2001 | 9:35 a.m.

Dixie Dooley's "Houdini Lives Again," afternoons at the Plaza, is a magic show that replicates some of the great Houdini's most famous escapes, in addition to giving the audience excellent examples of various forms of magic and the illusionary arts.

The tribute to Houdini is presented as entertainment rather than in documentary form, making it far more effective.

Dooley, in costume, promised the audience examples of magic from Houdini's heyday, but first there was an escape with Dooley locked in a box that then was suspended in mid-air. In a matter of seconds he reappeared in the audience. This was followed by prestidigitation, card tricks, two birds that disappeared and reappeared and a card trick using a member of the audience.

One of Houdini's first creations, handkerchiefs that changed color, was performed, then Dooley showed how it was done. Next came a trick with the Shanghai Shackle, a form of handcuff, from which he escaped. The next Houdini escape was from the Stocks of Zanzibar. This led to the master's most famous illusion, Metamorphosis, in which Dooley was handcuffed and placed in a bag inside a box.

The bag was tied and the box locked and chained. His comely assistant, Lea, then stood on the box, pulled up a cloth and, in a split second, Dooley was standing on the box. When the box was opened, Lea was the one tied inside the bag in the box. The next escape was from a straight jacket which had been securely fastened by a man in the audience.

Dooley was back in the audience for a card trick where he made an image of a correct card chosen at random appear as an image in a crystal ball.

Houdini was not favorably disposed to seances and devoted much time to exposing the methods of spiritualists who claimed to be able to contact the dead. It's interesting that today there are seances where people -- including Dooley -- try to contact Houdini.

After showing several of these exposes, Dooley closed with another Houdini classic in which he was handcuffed and immersed in a huge German milk can filled with a quarter-ton of water. Dooley had exactly 90 seconds in which to escape and seemed to barely make it, for an exciting finale. This is an entertaining show that could be easily overlooked -- don't overlook it.