A spokesperson says---
“... Mystery and Wonder: A Legacy of Golden Age Magicians in New York City highlights rich and historic archival materials from the Billy Rose Theatre Division collection, all related to the art of magic and the fascinating lives of magicians performing in New York City throughout what is known as the Golden Age of Magic.
...The Golden Age of Magic—a distinctly vital period from the 1870s to the 1930s—was especially rooted in New York City, home to an international community of talented and ambitious magicians who were becoming mainstream professional entertainers and forging important relationships with each other. These men and women built enthusiastic audiences by touring to small towns on the vaudeville circuits and commanding theatrical stages in major cities across the globe. They also embraced new technology and new media. Magic performance in this period was also deeply intertwined with the traditions of spiritualism, vaudeville, circus, and mainstream theater, and innovations in publishing, science, and technology were also major influences. Throughout this era, New York remained the center of the magic world in the United States, the locus of knowledge, accomplishment, recognition, and marvelous ingenuity.
The exhibition explores how magic knowledge was passed down through communities and lineages of magicians within an evolving cultural and social context..."
