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Pitroff
| Pitroff | |
| Born | ? |
|---|---|
| Died | ? |
| Flourished | 1910s-1940s |
| Known for | Escapes |
Pitroff (or Petroff) was an escape artist who worked under various names: "Great Pitroff", "Great Alvin", "Mysterio", "Russian Mystifier" and "Levy". [1]
By 1910, his show was featuring the straight jacket escape while suspended by his feet. Pitroff claimed that Houdini, for a time, said it was too dangerous because of the head rush of blood[2]In early 1917, over 50,000 people watched Pitroff escape from a straight jacket while suspended from the Title Guarantee Bldg in New York City as a benefit of the Jewish war sufferers.[3]
In 1916, Pitroff appeared on the same bill with Blackstone at the Unique Theatre in Minneapolis. Pitroff was performing a version of the Giant Milk Can Escape as a substitution trunk (a la metamorphosis).[4]
By 1920, he was performing with Madam Zelda giving demonstrations of Anna Eva Fay mind reading.[5]
In 1922, "Alfred" Pitroff was exposing the "Sawing a Woman in Two" at the Lyric Theatre in Cincinnati (possibly as last effort to continue to perform as vaudeville was being replace by movies.)[6][7]
Bibliography
- Original Trunk Mystery in Eagle Magician Vol 4 No 1 (Nov 1918)
- "The Flight of a Boy" in Eagle Magician (January 1919)
- "Barrel Escape" in Eagle Magician (March 1920)
- Pitroff, Magic & Mystery (c. 1925)