1931
Ladies’ Night
An Original Baltimore Magic Programme
Listen to the story
Baltimore Magic, Preserved on Paper
Narrated by Dominic
This modest programme never needed to conquer the world. Baltimore was quite enough for one evening.
01
The artwork
This is an authentic 1931 programme, not a reproduction. At roughly six by ten inches, it belongs to the intimate world of event ephemera rather than billboard advertising. Its typography, paper, and compact format were made to serve one evening, which makes its survival nearly a century later rather wonderful.
The programme’s wear is part of the object. Unlike a recreated poster, it passed through the same city and social world it records. It gives the collection a direct Baltimore connection and reminds us that magic history also lived in club rooms, banquet halls, and local gatherings, not only beneath enormous theatre marquees.
The object displayed at Poe’s Magic Theatre is an authentic original programme from 1931.
02
The performer
The Ladies’ Night was presented by the Demons’ Club of Baltimore Magicians and featured Isaac A. Twamley, billed as the Dean of American Magicians, among other performers. Clubs like this sustained magic through meetings, performances, shared methods, and friendships between working professionals and devoted amateurs.
Large posters preserve celebrity. A programme like this preserves community, which is harder to see and very easy to lose.
“Ladies’ Night · Demons’ Club of Baltimore Magicians”
Read the complete audio transcript
Welcome to the Magic Poster Tour at Poe’s Magic Theatre, inside the historic Lord Baltimore Hotel.
This stop features Demons’ Club of Baltimore Magicians, a 1931 piece billed as “An Original Baltimore Magic Programme.”
This is an authentic 1931 programme, not a reproduction. At roughly six by ten inches, it belongs to the intimate world of event ephemera rather than billboard advertising. Its typography, paper, and compact format were made to serve one evening, which makes its survival nearly a century later rather wonderful.
The programme’s wear is part of the object. Unlike a recreated poster, it passed through the same city and social world it records. It gives the collection a direct Baltimore connection and reminds us that magic history also lived in club rooms, banquet halls, and local gatherings, not only beneath enormous theatre marquees.
The object displayed at Poe’s Magic Theatre is an authentic original programme from 1931.
The Ladies’ Night was presented by the Demons’ Club of Baltimore Magicians and featured Isaac A. Twamley, billed as the Dean of American Magicians, among other performers. Clubs like this sustained magic through meetings, performances, shared methods, and friendships between working professionals and devoted amateurs.
Large posters preserve celebrity. A programme like this preserves community, which is harder to see and very easy to lose.