$650
Cincinnati & New York: The Strobridge Litho. Co., 1917. A grisly self-decapitation is depicted in this still-handsome poster. Andress, in the style of his contemporary Harry Kellar, sits in a gold chair while a spirit floats above him and a devil looks on from below. He holds his own head in one hand and a bloody knife in the other, having severed the head from his own body. 8x 29 ". Old folds throughout, some over-coloring primarily in border and at one large closed tear; B-. Text below the image states, "Andress' latest mystery sensation, in which, in full view of the audience, he apparently decapitates himself, and, while holding his head in his own hand, converses with the awe-stricken onlookers, and "in the twinkling of an eye" is again restored to normal conditions and walks smilingly to the footlights, to the great relief of the astonished auditors. No cabinet is used, no curtain is drawn, no one on the stage but Andress himself." The illusion was, perhaps, a version of the famous Blue Room popularized by Kellar.
Auctioneer:
Potter & Potter
Date:
2017-02-04
