The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 33

Friday, May 6, 1988 The Philadelphia Inquirer 15-B Biting the bullet? This magician takes it seriously and from him, she began to develop danger. A small crowd of mostly elderly people watched, as Dietrich, a dimunitive blond in an orange and black tunic and black suede go-go boots, prepared for the stunt. Dietrich said her lawyer had warned her not to do it. She said her friends had warned her not to do it. Twelve men died attempting the very same stunt, she had said during interview earlier in the week.

Even the great Houdini himself had shied away from performing it, she said. Dietrich was undeterred. But, of course, this was as one might expect from a magician who claimed to be one of the only, if not the only, American female in the profession to saw a man in half and have him live to tell about it. "For over a hundred years, men sawed women in half. Don't you think it's about time women sawed men in half?" she had asked.

(There will be no attempt here to answer that very profound and disturbing question.) Plucky and persevering, Dietrich, who says her age is "closer to 26 than 33," grew up in Erie, one of three daughters and six sons. Her brother George liked card tricks, Hut enough remembering. Before yesterday, Dietrich said she had done the Jinxed Bullet Catch Stunt only twice before, once at a private showing for the International Brotherhood of Magicians. A spokeswoman for the group remembered the stunt vividly. It was "an excellent performance," she said.

"Excellent." And so, we come to the fateful day at Resorts. As the band outside the casino's Carousel Cabaret primed the audience with spirited ragtime tunes, Dietrich posed for a television crew from the Australian show "Just for the Record, the Best of Everything," for whom she had agreed in the first place to attempt the Jinxed Bullet Catch Stunt. Meanwhile, the rifle was placed on a stand. The plate of glass 10 feet away was cleaned. (It had been put there to prove there really was a bullet.) Two paramedics took their places beside the stage, and it was announced that an ambulance was outside the casino, should anything go wrong.

"This is quite an event, but it could possibly be her last," said John Bravo, the sharpshooter. Said Dietrich. "I'm known for the By Laurie llojlman irtgutrer Stall Writer ATLANTIC CITY The. drum roll, please. On the fifth day of May, nineteen hundred eighty-eight, Dorothy Dietrich, whose publicist describes her as "America's foremost female escapologist," did, on the occasion of Resorts International Casino Hotel's 10th anniversary celebration, attempt that most dangerous and (ostensibly) death-defying trick, that perilous prank of (possibly) potential perdition the Jinxed Bullet Catch Stunt.

In it, one stands with a metal cup clenched between one's teeth, waiting to catch the bullet that a sharpshooter fires from a rifle 30 feet away, through a plate of glass and into one's mouth. All the while, the audience either prays that the bullet lands in the cup and not in some other portion of one's anatomy, or attempts to figure out how the heck this stunt is really done. It was a gray, wet day in this city of illusions, which only seemed to underline a certain tenseness in the air, a high anxiety born of proximate 'tpuu" I Kgl I BMW an to GJ 1 1 1 1 1 1H 1 1 1 -I the preoccupation with magic and escape artistry that would eventually bring her to Atlantic City for the Jinxed Bullet Catch Stunt. First, though, it took her to New York to seek fame and fortune and to perfect her craft. That meant going beyond card tricks to learn how to escape a straitjackct while suspended upside down from a burning rope 150 feet into the air at a parachute ride.

"Not easy," she said. It also meant learning how to saw men in half with an electric buzz saw or, at least, to make it look as though that was what she was doing. How she managed to perform that particular trick, she would not say. What happened to the severed body parts, she did explain: "I put them back together really quickly. Krazy Glue is great for that." Once, Dietrich had performed at her sister's wedding.

She had sawed the groom in half and levitated the bride. Not to worry, she assured. Everything came together in time for the honeymoon. Such stunts earned her modest celebrity, and she appeared on Real People and in a Home Box Office special with Tony Curtis. lilff Trvm JUST :9 magic I do, and I do some very beautiful magic.

But what you're about to see is real." A hush fell over the audience. Dietrich placed a black metal cup inside her mouth, and goggles over her eyes to protect them from shattered glass. Bravo aimed the rifle. "Ready," he said. "Aim." Suddenly, Dietrich faltered, turn-ing her back to the audience.

She leaned against a nearby wall. Bravo called out, "You okay? You sure you want to do this?" She did. "Ready," Bravo began again. "Aim." Crack went the rifle. Dietrich fumbled backward and then wilted to the ground.

The audience ooo-ed. The paramedics rushed to the stage. Bravo leaned over his partner. Then he straightened up. "There it is," he shouted, holding the bullet in his hand.

"She did it." There also was a neat hole in the plate of glass. The metal cup looked dented. Moist-eyed and appearing shaky, Dietrich rose to her feet. Yes, she said, she was all right. Reporters Sony 1 I crowded around her, shouting questions.

Mow did she feel? "I fuel I've marked my place in history," said she, who said she was the first woman to perform this stunt. Would she ever do it again? She didn't think so. "No one knows the kind of anguish you go through." Was it possible the cup contained a false bottom in which a real bullet had been lodged the entire time? Absolutely not. "For anyone who believes this really The magician stopped, smiled sadly and shook hef head as if at all the cynical people in the world. Depression tied to boy's foster care By Edward Colimore i Inquirer Stall Writer A Wynnewood psychiatrist yesterday told a federal judge that a 4-year- old black child should be moved from his black foster parents and returned to his former while foster parents to help overcome his depression.

Marshall Schechter, a member of a panel of psychiatrists who evaluated Raymond liullard, testified that the boy has been depressed since his separation two years ago from John and Marilyn McLaughlin, a white Northeast Philadelphia couple. The McLaughlins cared for the child for two years and are now seeking a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court to have him moved to their care and out of the home of the Rev. Willie and Klaine Williams, a black Overbrook couple. The hearing on the injunction request ended yesterday afier three days of testimony.

A decision by Judge John B. Ilannum is expected sometime in the next several weeks. "I believe that Raymond suffers from a depression, a delay in some aspect of norma! physiological development," Schechter testified. Ray: mond's condition is "absolutely directly related" to the move from the McLaughlins, he said. Eight-week transition Schechter, who also served as an adviser to the court-appointed guardian in the highly publicized Baby case in New Jersey, said Raymond should be moved back to the McLaughlins over an eight-week period while maintaining contact with the Williamses.

"The difficulty I see lin Raymond' remaining with the Williamsesl is" the quality, the depth of relation-' ship" that he had wiih the McLaughlins, he said. The need to return to the original caretakers outweighs" the need to remain at the' Williamses. Schechter testified that the move from the Williamses may be depressing for Raymond because they have done an "extraodinary job" caring for the child and have created a bond with him. "The saving grace is the viable attachment to the McLaughlins." he said. Those feelings "are going to be flamed again into the fullness, richness" of what they were before placement, he said.

Schechter told the judge that the early attachments between foster parents and a child usually made between the first four and eight months are "the most vital, important and long-lasting people make." He said the disruption of those attachments can cause a "reverberating, continuous depressive state" accompanied by apathy and difficulty in speech. "This is what I believe happened." Schechter said. "The symptoms are directly related to the move from the McLaughlins, he said. Schechter sharply criticized the speed of that move two years ago, saying "it is absolutely unconsciona ble and should have been done gradually, if it had to be done. "The abruptness ol change ana lack of continued contact sealed this particular diagnosis," he said, add ing that the only solution in the matter "is by returning him to the McLaughlins." 'Ember of attachment' All children need stability.

Children need to have constancy of attachment. lie added that returning Raymond to the McLaughlins "would revive the original" ember of attachment and affection he had before." Schechter said the boy should have psychotherapy to treat his depression and stress disorder. By itself. 1 however, he said, psychotherapy "is not going to scratch the surface ai all." Schechter said "relatively little weight" should be given to the child's desires because he is too young to make such a decision. Schechter also criticized the decision last Friday by state Public Welfare Secretary John F.

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