Today, we naturally think of Harry Houdini, but he wasn’t the only star of the magic world: Alexander, Thurston, Nicola, Hermann, Benevol, George, Dante, and Carter were all once-familiar names to millions of magic fans around the world. Though Houdini’s untimely death in 1926 made him a legend, it also ushered in the end of an era, as the rise of filmmaking pulled the rug out from under magic stage shows. Above: A rare lithograph for Harry Thurston, Howard Thurston’s younger brother who had close ties to the mob-run underwold in Chicago, circa 1930. Top: A ghoulish Carrère poster, circa 1920.

Fans especially loved the darker side of magic, so the most successful magicians frequently toyed with life and death, evoking the power of some otherworldly being. But if an illusionist had enough charisma, he or she might strike out on their own, headlining a show of death-defying acts and sleights of hand that left crowds dumbfounded. Magicians of the period typically got their start in vaudeville, sandwiched between song-and-dance routines and stand-up comedians. “How do you look at a poster of somebody being decapitated and not buy a ticket to see it performed live?” More than 100 years later, these posters still provoke an insatiable desire to see these illusions firsthand. To advertise these impossible feats, magicians at the turn of the 20th century commissioned vividly illustrated posters, emblazoned with exotic-sounding names and ominously scowling faces, daring you to doubt them. On a nightly basis, heads were severed and reattached, horses levitated from the stage, and bullets were caught in mid-air. At the height of the live-magic era, seeing was believing.

Harry houdini illusions