Folk Figure. A dancer, actress, and novelist, she will instead be remembered as the last surviving stage assistant of the legendary magician Harry Houdini. The child of a Methodist minister, she was raised in suburban New York and was a student at Pennsylvania's Beaver College and an aspiring ballerina when she went to New York to apply for a position as a Vaudeville dancer; spotted by Houdini, who liked her legs, she was signed for his show. Dorothy's main job was to be "Radio Girl of 1950" who popped out of a futuristic radio to dance the Charleston, though in one of the routines she was tied up from head to toe. Leaving the act two months prior to Houdini's death on Halloween 1926 she appeared on Broadway in "Jarnegan" (1928), 1933's "Conquest", and "New Faces of 1936", as well as in the 1933 feature film "Flying Down to Rio" which starred Fred Astaire. In the 1930s she published two novels, "Diary Without Dates" and "Dancing on a Dime", the second of which was made into a 1940 Hollywood movie. Dorothy's first husband, FBI agent Robert Perkins, died after 13 years of marriage and later she wed Gilbert Kiamie (deceased 1992) with whom she had once formed the popular touring Latin dance team "Dorothy and Gilbert". During World War II she worked as an engineer in a shock absorber factory; around that same time she studied painting and over the years saw her work, mostly seascapes, exhibited at galleries in the northeast and in Florida. Eventually Kiamie became quite rich thru an inheritance and Dorothy was to be a major benefactor of New Jersey's Drew University where her father and brother both studied and her brother was longtime baseball coach. [Brother was: Prof. Sherman Plato Young]. She lived out her days in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, and never lost contact with her Houdini connection, publishing the small volume "Touring with Houdini" in 1993, appearing in the 2005 documentary "Houdini: Unlocking the Mystery", and participating in Houdini-themed events, autograph shows, and seances as late as 2008. Dorothy also never broke faith with the great illusionist; knowing the secret of his signature Chinese Water Torture Cell trick, she took the knowledge to her grave.∼Dorothy Young, the last surviving assistant to share the stage with Harry Houdini, died this week at the age of 103. Young passed away at a retirement community in Tinton Falls, N.J. according to a spokesman from Drew University where she was a longtime patron.
Young was cast in Houdini's traveling show at the age of 17, reports Variety. She attended an open casting call in New York, and although she was originally stuck in the back of the crowd, Houdini spotted her and asked to see her dance. After impressing the magician and his manager, she was signed to contract to join his show.
Starting in 1925, Young spent a year on the road with Houdini as a dancer featured in as the "futuristic" Radio Girl of 1950, who would magically appear out of a giant radio (which was still considered high-tech at the time). Young left the tour just two months before Houdini died in October 1926 from a ruptured appendix.
Harry Houdini
Everett Collection The news of Young's death is just the latest in a recent wave of stories about the legendary magician, who was born 137 years ago today. It was announced on Wednesday that director Francis Lawrence ("I Am Legend") is in talks to direct a movie version of Houdini's life.
This joins the list of several potential film projects centered on the escape artist. One, based on the book "The Secret Life of Houdini," is said to focus on his supposed double life as a secret agent. Another script, "Voices of the Dead," is a fictionalized take on Houdini's real life friendship with Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of "Sherlock Holmes." In that, the magician and the author team up to solve a murder mystery.
Houdini may even be returning to the stage in a new Broadway musical. Writer Aaron Sorkin, Oscar-winner for "The Social Network," and composer Danny Elfman are in the early stages of work on the show. Hugh Jackman is interested in the starring role as Houdini.
As for Dorothy Young, her name lives on at Drew University's Dorothy Young Center for the Arts in Madison, NJ. Young -- who danced in movies, published a novel, and became an accomplished artist after her time with Houdini -- donated $14 million to the university for the construction of the facility. Her father was an alumnus of the school, her brother was a professor and baseball coach there, and her great-grandson graduated from there in 2009.
In 2008, Young attended a seance on the 82nd anniversary of Houdini's death in the building that bears her name. It's been a yearly tradition for magicians and fans to reach out to the spirit world on the night he died, which, appropriately enough, was Halloween. But the ghost of Houdini has not appeared. Yet.
Young was cast in Houdini's traveling show at the age of 17, reports Variety. She attended an open casting call in New York, and although she was originally stuck in the back of the crowd, Houdini spotted her and asked to see her dance. After impressing the magician and his manager, she was signed to contract to join his show.
Starting in 1925, Young spent a year on the road with Houdini as a dancer featured in as the "futuristic" Radio Girl of 1950, who would magically appear out of a giant radio (which was still considered high-tech at the time). Young left the tour just two months before Houdini died in October 1926 from a ruptured appendix.
Harry Houdini
Everett Collection The news of Young's death is just the latest in a recent wave of stories about the legendary magician, who was born 137 years ago today. It was announced on Wednesday that director Francis Lawrence ("I Am Legend") is in talks to direct a movie version of Houdini's life.
This joins the list of several potential film projects centered on the escape artist. One, based on the book "The Secret Life of Houdini," is said to focus on his supposed double life as a secret agent. Another script, "Voices of the Dead," is a fictionalized take on Houdini's real life friendship with Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of "Sherlock Holmes." In that, the magician and the author team up to solve a murder mystery.
Houdini may even be returning to the stage in a new Broadway musical. Writer Aaron Sorkin, Oscar-winner for "The Social Network," and composer Danny Elfman are in the early stages of work on the show. Hugh Jackman is interested in the starring role as Houdini.
As for Dorothy Young, her name lives on at Drew University's Dorothy Young Center for the Arts in Madison, NJ. Young -- who danced in movies, published a novel, and became an accomplished artist after her time with Houdini -- donated $14 million to the university for the construction of the facility. Her father was an alumnus of the school, her brother was a professor and baseball coach there, and her great-grandson graduated from there in 2009.
In 2008, Young attended a seance on the 82nd anniversary of Houdini's death in the building that bears her name. It's been a yearly tradition for magicians and fans to reach out to the spirit world on the night he died, which, appropriately enough, was Halloween. But the ghost of Houdini has not appeared. Yet.
Folk Figure. A dancer, actress, and novelist, she will instead be remembered as the last surviving stage assistant of the legendary magician Harry Houdini. The child of a Methodist minister, she was raised in suburban New York and was a student at Pennsylvania's Beaver College and an aspiring ballerina when she went to New York to apply for a position as a Vaudeville dancer; spotted by Houdini, who liked her legs, she was signed for his show. Dorothy's main job was to be "Radio Girl of 1950" who popped out of a futuristic radio to dance the Charleston, though in one of the routines she was tied up from head to toe. Leaving the act two months prior to Houdini's death on Halloween 1926 she appeared on Broadway in "Jarnegan" (1928), 1933's "Conquest", and "New Faces of 1936", as well as in the 1933 feature film "Flying Down to Rio" which starred Fred Astaire. In the 1930s she published two novels, "Diary Without Dates" and "Dancing on a Dime", the second of which was made into a 1940 Hollywood movie. Dorothy's first husband, FBI agent Robert Perkins, died after 13 years of marriage and later she wed Gilbert Kiamie (deceased 1992) with whom she had once formed the popular touring Latin dance team "Dorothy and Gilbert". During World War II she worked as an engineer in a shock absorber factory; around that same time she studied painting and over the years saw her work, mostly seascapes, exhibited at galleries in the northeast and in Florida. Eventually Kiamie became quite rich thru an inheritance and Dorothy was to be a major benefactor of New Jersey's Drew University where her father and brother both studied and her brother was longtime baseball coach. [Brother was: Prof. Sherman Plato Young]. She lived out her days in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, and never lost contact with her Houdini connection, publishing the small volume "Touring with Houdini" in 1993, appearing in the 2005 documentary "Houdini: Unlocking the Mystery", and participating in Houdini-themed events, autograph shows, and seances as late as 2008. Dorothy also never broke faith with the great illusionist; knowing the secret of his signature Chinese Water Torture Cell trick, she took the knowledge to her grave.∼Dorothy Young, the last surviving assistant to share the stage with Harry Houdini, died this week at the age of 103. Young passed away at a retirement community in Tinton Falls, N.J. according to a spokesman from Drew University where she was a longtime patron.
Young was cast in Houdini's traveling show at the age of 17, reports Variety. She attended an open casting call in New York, and although she was originally stuck in the back of the crowd, Houdini spotted her and asked to see her dance. After impressing the magician and his manager, she was signed to contract to join his show.
Starting in 1925, Young spent a year on the road with Houdini as a dancer featured in as the "futuristic" Radio Girl of 1950, who would magically appear out of a giant radio (which was still considered high-tech at the time). Young left the tour just two months before Houdini died in October 1926 from a ruptured appendix.
Harry Houdini
Everett Collection The news of Young's death is just the latest in a recent wave of stories about the legendary magician, who was born 137 years ago today. It was announced on Wednesday that director Francis Lawrence ("I Am Legend") is in talks to direct a movie version of Houdini's life.
This joins the list of several potential film projects centered on the escape artist. One, based on the book "The Secret Life of Houdini," is said to focus on his supposed double life as a secret agent. Another script, "Voices of the Dead," is a fictionalized take on Houdini's real life friendship with Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of "Sherlock Holmes." In that, the magician and the author team up to solve a murder mystery.
Houdini may even be returning to the stage in a new Broadway musical. Writer Aaron Sorkin, Oscar-winner for "The Social Network," and composer Danny Elfman are in the early stages of work on the show. Hugh Jackman is interested in the starring role as Houdini.
As for Dorothy Young, her name lives on at Drew University's Dorothy Young Center for the Arts in Madison, NJ. Young -- who danced in movies, published a novel, and became an accomplished artist after her time with Houdini -- donated $14 million to the university for the construction of the facility. Her father was an alumnus of the school, her brother was a professor and baseball coach there, and her great-grandson graduated from there in 2009.
In 2008, Young attended a seance on the 82nd anniversary of Houdini's death in the building that bears her name. It's been a yearly tradition for magicians and fans to reach out to the spirit world on the night he died, which, appropriately enough, was Halloween. But the ghost of Houdini has not appeared. Yet.
Young was cast in Houdini's traveling show at the age of 17, reports Variety. She attended an open casting call in New York, and although she was originally stuck in the back of the crowd, Houdini spotted her and asked to see her dance. After impressing the magician and his manager, she was signed to contract to join his show.
Starting in 1925, Young spent a year on the road with Houdini as a dancer featured in as the "futuristic" Radio Girl of 1950, who would magically appear out of a giant radio (which was still considered high-tech at the time). Young left the tour just two months before Houdini died in October 1926 from a ruptured appendix.
Harry Houdini
Everett Collection The news of Young's death is just the latest in a recent wave of stories about the legendary magician, who was born 137 years ago today. It was announced on Wednesday that director Francis Lawrence ("I Am Legend") is in talks to direct a movie version of Houdini's life.
This joins the list of several potential film projects centered on the escape artist. One, based on the book "The Secret Life of Houdini," is said to focus on his supposed double life as a secret agent. Another script, "Voices of the Dead," is a fictionalized take on Houdini's real life friendship with Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of "Sherlock Holmes." In that, the magician and the author team up to solve a murder mystery.
Houdini may even be returning to the stage in a new Broadway musical. Writer Aaron Sorkin, Oscar-winner for "The Social Network," and composer Danny Elfman are in the early stages of work on the show. Hugh Jackman is interested in the starring role as Houdini.
As for Dorothy Young, her name lives on at Drew University's Dorothy Young Center for the Arts in Madison, NJ. Young -- who danced in movies, published a novel, and became an accomplished artist after her time with Houdini -- donated $14 million to the university for the construction of the facility. Her father was an alumnus of the school, her brother was a professor and baseball coach there, and her great-grandson graduated from there in 2009.
In 2008, Young attended a seance on the 82nd anniversary of Houdini's death in the building that bears her name. It's been a yearly tradition for magicians and fans to reach out to the spirit world on the night he died, which, appropriately enough, was Halloween. But the ghost of Houdini has not appeared. Yet.
