Minerva was a female escape artist who performed the same time as Houdini. I covered a bit of her story here on the blog and also on Episode 26 of my podcast. One of the things I uncovered on the podcast was the face she was married 5 different times. Her fifth marriage only lasted a few weeks as she died. As it turned out, she was then buried with her 4th husband George Backus who died before she did. The unfortunate thing is, the grave marker for George Backus is there, but the blank area for Minerva is blank, never having been carved in. Probably because she went and married someone else. But fore whatever reason, she is buried with husband #4. Above is Minerva's grave along with a small memento, which likely will not be there very long. Both the memento and the photos were provided by Michale Stroud.
Showing posts with label Minerva. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Minerva. Show all posts
Monday, December 14, 2020
Monday, January 7, 2019
Minerva Queen of Handcuffs - Guest Post
I first heard of this project from my friend Ron Pearson at a marketing conference we both attended in the fall of 2017. It sounded like a great idea, a play about Minerva, and I think it is! Rather than me talk about it, I'll let Ron tell you about it!
Minerva-Queen of the Handcuffs
The inspiration for the play came from Jim Steinmeyer's book on Jarrett. Jarrett was married to Minerva and tells a harrowing story about her and Houdini. I don't want to give it away here as it is very important to the plot of the play, but if you have the book it's worth taking a look.
I very much liked the idea of portraying Houdini as the bad guy, as he is traditionally seen as the archetypal hero. It gave me the opportunity to cast him as the symbol for all of the barriers and inequality that women had to endure at the turn of the twentieth century, particularly female performers.
The play follows Minerva from the beginning of her career, learning the act from her first husband William Vano. I then touch upon certain real life career points, such as the development of her Water Barrel escape, her suing Merryland Amusement Park in Maryland for breech of contract and her European tour.
Being that there is limited information about Minerva's history, I have had to take some liberties here and there. For example, there were three events in her life that I have connected for the narrative of the play. One was her sudden and unexplained cancellation of two weeks of performances. Another was her visitations from a Hypnotist (who later became her second husband and manager). The third was her promotion of an anti-anxiety pill in a newspaper advertisement.
So, in the play Minerva has consulted a Hypnotist to help her overcome anxiety attacks that have made her cancel her performances. The play is then told through flashbacks that come out of her hypnotic trances.
I am very fortunate that the lead actress in the play, Miranda Allen (yes, while I was writing the names Miranda and Minerva were continuously mixed up!). Miranda is a real life escape artist and street performer, as well as a trained actress. We had performed together at a number of Canadian festivals and she became the.catalyst for me to finally write this play that had been rattling around in my brain for many years. Her partner, Richard Lee Hsi, is also a trained actor and dancer and plays all of the male characters in the show, including Houdini.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Dean Carnegie and Gary Hunt, who were so kind and giving with their information on Minerva. I absolutely could not have written the play without their help. Thank you gentlemen!
I hope you will be able to see our show one day. My intention is to tour it, and I will certainly keep Dean in the loop as to where we will be performing. If you are in the Edmonton, Canada area January 15 to 27, please come see us! And please follow Minerva's future exploits on her facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/queenofhandcuffs/
And if you're interested you can check out my previous article on Minerva called The American Queen of Mystery
And if you're interested you can check out my previous article on Minerva called The American Queen of Mystery
Playwright Ron Pearson |
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Coming Later This Week, A Very Special Guest Post
Later this week, I'll have my first guest post of the year. I can't tell you how thrilled I am about this. It's by a friend of mine who has written a play about MINERVA The Queen of Handcuffs. Keep watching, as it should be up in a few days!
Sunday, November 19, 2017
The American Queen of Mystery
And taking this name game a step further, in July 1908 Minerva was involved in a lawsuit, and her name is listed in the newspaper as Minerva Minna Riedel of Germany. Yeah, I have no clue where that one came from, but it's definately Minerva American Queen of Escapes that is involved in the lawsuit. Was this just another stage name? It was a full year before her divorce.
In the Eau Claire Leader Newspaper Feb 17th, 1910, she is mentioned in an article as being married to Prof. Chas. M.J. Haugeros. A later article March 20, 1910 mentions that she married her manager. So Chas Haugeros was her manager and her second husband.
One of the keys to figuring out Minerva, the escape artist, is her first husband Edward Vano, or real name Edward VanDorn. I've been able to date his act back as far as 1900. He is usually listed as a Handcuff Expert. At one point he is doing a dual act as Vano & Anvo: The Transatlantic Wizards of Handcuffs. This comes from the July 1900 issue of Mahatma. I'm curious who the Anvo might be. They are listed again in the May 1901 issue of Mahatma. Then in June 1903, there is a mention that Vano is moving to Coney Island. In a 1903 edition of The Sphinx, it says that Vano will appear in a new act called 'Vano The Mystery', and he will be assisted by Sadie Gibney. So no sign of Minerva, yet.
However, an ad in the Boston Post, May 25th, 1904 lists him as appearing at Austin and Stone's Museum as The VanDorns King and Queen of Handcuffs, so it's likely that Minerva is in the act at this point.
By September 1907, Minerva was appearing solo with her husband acting as manager. Her billing at this time was Minerva Vano: Queen of Handcuffs. It wouldn't be long before she dropped the last name Vano and just went by Minerva. And as we learned above, she would also drop Mr. Vano.
There is a bit of excitement in July 1908 when Minerva is contracted to perform at The Merryland Park in Cumberland Maryland. She is set to be paid $75 for the week. The manager of the park asks if she can add something sensational to promote her appearance, which she does with no additional fee. She is handcuffed by the Chief of Police and jumped from The Blue Bridge into the Potomac River. The newspaper article which features the jump, also points out that Minerva has escaped from 173 jails, 63 of which were in America. That sounds exciting, but it wasn't the excitement I was referring to. Apparently on Wednesday of her week at Merryland Park, Mr John Kirk, the park's manager, went to Minerva's hotel. Here is how the Cumberland Evening Times newspaper describes the event..."Mr. Kirk came to the hotel and after some discussion with Mr. Johnstone, her assistant, came to her and using very insulting language, but not complaining of the act, made a most insulting proposal which she resented and warning him of arrest if he continued to insult her, walked away. He followed her and said, "Ill fix you for this." Then on Thursday, she showed up at the park to fullfill her contract but was prevented from doing so. She was told to go to the box office to pick up her money and leave. But they only paid her a portion of what she was owed. So she sued him. Minerva won the lawsuit.
The following month Minerva appeared at Luna Park DC in Arlington VA. I found this personally fascinating because I had never heard of Luna Park DC. Apparently, there was an Amusement Park in Arlington along Four Mile Run Road and was quite popular until it eventually burned down and was razed in 1915. While performing at Luna Park, Minerva also did a handcuffed bridge jump. She jumped from the New Highway bridge into the Potomac River at 5pm on August 10th 1908. The newspaper account says that she may try to duplicate the feat later in the week but instead of wearing handcuffs she would be put into a straitjacket and attempt the dive. I could find no report of that taking place however.
In late 1908, Minerva heads to England for a tour that would last 14 months. touring England and having a very successful run. While in England she does handcuffed bridge jumps, jail escapes, challenges and finished her act with her signature Water Filled Barrel escape. This was similar in effect to Houdini's Milk Can Escape, but used a wooden barrel instead. Also, Minerva was heavily shackled and handcuffed when put into the barrel.
According to the Jarrett Book, it was while Minerva was in England that she encountered 'the Houdini people'. Her accusation is that they put acid into the water of her Barrel and she was badly burned when she entered. She stopped the escape immediately upon feeling the burning sensation. I don't see any newspaper articles which refer to this or any other form of documentation other than Jarrett's account in the Jarrett book.
By October of 1909, Minerva is back in the United States presenting her act. Her name regularly appears in The Sphinx Magazine as touring the U.S.. The article I mentioned earlier from 1910 where she marries her manager, also states they were in Russia. But the way the article is written, it doesn't give the exact time they were in Russia, so it is possible this was 1910 or earlier.
According to Jim Steinmeyer in the Jarrett Book, Minerva marries Guy Jarrett sometime around 1913. So if all of this is correct, Jarrett is actually her third husband. They remained married for seven years until she divorced him for abandonment. Minerva appears to have given up her career when she married Jarrett and there is no record of her after this time that I can locate.
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