Beautiful Butterfly

By Ken Trombly - Friday, October 27, 2023

A beauty of art nouveau, the Golden Butterfly poster came from the creative cocoon of Strobridge Lithographing Company of Cincinnati, OH in 1906. Strobridge produced scores of beautiful magic posters for Kellar, Howard Thurston, Houdini and others. The illusion depicted in this gorgeous one sheet (c. 30 x 40 inches) poster involved the vanish of a woman on an open stage. With the help of master illusion builder John Gaughan, the effect was given new life by Doug Henning in the Broadway show Merlin. I witnessed it at one of the very last performances of this short lived show and it was breathtaking.

Golden Butterfly