By Ernest Gill Oct 30, 2009, 0:04 GMT
Hamburg, Germany - The red carpet was rolled out in front of Europe's last remaining vaudeville variety theatre for illusionists Siegfried and Roy, who were youthful headliners there in the mid- 1960s before skyrocketing to international fame in Las Vegas.
German-American magicians Siegfried Fischbacher (L) and Roy Horn (R), aka 'Siegfried and Roy', pose for photographs as they arrive at a gala premiere at the Hansa Vaudeville Theater in Hamburg, Germany, 29 October 2009. The Hamburg-Hansa venue celebrate a new program and the 45th anniversary of Siegfried and Roy's 1964 gig. EPA/MARCUS BRANDT
Smiling and waving to fans and paparazzi, the two stars were visibly moved by cheers and applause from die-hard fans who braved a chilly drizzle to give Siegfried and Roy a heroes' homecoming, as they stepped out of a black SUV at the Hansa Theater in downtown Hamburg for Thursday night's public appearance.
The gala tribute was in honour of the 45th anniversary of their 1964 gig at the venerable cabaret venue.
Showing no signs of the terrible injuries suffered in an on-stage tiger attack in 2003, 65-year-old Roy Horn wore sunglasses and a black silk suit with a flowing white silk scarf over a heliotrope satin shirt, opened at the collar to reveal a diamond-studded crucifix.
Roy walked up the red carpet in measured steps, supported by two personal assistants, waving a black-gloved hand to fans.
At Roy's side, as always, Siegfried Fischbacher looked much younger than his 70 years in head-to-toe basic black suit, black shirt and black silk tie.
'I always dreamt of the day when we might be able to return to Hamburg, which was such a milestone in our early career,' Fischbacher said in a quavering voice. 'And now this day has come, and it is truly a dream come true.'
As guests of a local newspaper, the two stars issued no further statement, pending publication of an exclusive interview with the paper on Friday.
But they paused to sign autographs and pose for TV news crews before heading into the theatre, where they were the guests of honour at a variety gala featuring acrobats, stand-up comics, trained poodles and other animal acts, and even a couple of illusionists - all of whom were clearly upstaged by the duo from Las Vegas sitting in the audience.
It was at the Hansa Theatre - which bills itself as Europe's last remaining vaudeville-style variety theatre - that two young men, calling themselves 'Siegfried & Partner,' performed magic tricks with a big cat in 1964. Old photos of that gig show Siegfried in a tuxedo and 'Partner' Roy wearing what looked like a modified bellhop outfit with brass buttons.
Glowing reviews and media interviews catapulted them to fame throughout Europe as a stage act. Performances across the continent and a gig at the Moulin Rouge in Paris served as a springboard in 1970 to Las Vegas, the glitzy American casino capital in the Nevada desert.
The rest, as they say, is showbiz history.
Much has changed since 1964. The Hansa Theater has fallen on hard times and after being closed for several years is now open only once or twice a year for special celebrity events.
Ten bodyguards flanked the red carpet to restrain fans and the paparazzi when Siegfried and Roy arrived Thursday evening. A special, hand-picked audience of some 500 high-profile guests had been told in advance that the two Vegas illusionists would not be performing on stage and would only be part of the audience.
But the night's actual stage performers had a chore keeping the audience's attention, as all eyes were on Siegfried and Roy, who smiled and applauded loudly from their sixth-row centre seats at one of the cabaret-style theatre's small tables, with individual lamps sporting frilly shades, as waitresses in starched aprons served champagne and an assortment of the club's infamous pretzels and pickled-herring sandwiches.
While the evening's variety acts got generous applause, it was Siegfried and Roy who received a resounding and prolonged standing ovation.
This is the second headline-making trip to their native Germany, albeit on a far happier occasion than their last visit in June 2005, when Horn was a patient at an exclusive spa clinic in southern Germany, where he underwent experimental stem-cell therapy for treatment of his partial paralysis following a 2003 tiger attack that nearly claimed his life.
In contrast, the Hamburg visit is upbeat, particularly for Horn, who is from Nordenham, a small town only an hour's drive from Hamburg near the North Sea coast.
Fischbacher, who comes from Bavaria in southern Germany, has a sister, a Catholic nun, whom he used to fly annually to Las Vegas as a birthday present and introduced to the audience during the show.
The two men met in 1959 aboard a German cruise ship, where Fischbacher was performing as a 20-year-old magician pulling rabbits out of a hat, and Horn was a cabin boy still in his mid-teens.
Details of their longtime relationship are shrouded in secrecy. But they claim that Horn had a pet cheetah with him on board the ship. As they became friends, Roy suggested that Siegfried would make a bigger impression by dropping his rabbit-in-the-hat routine and working with the big cat, instead.
Despiting rising from the European circuit to a successful gig at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, the pair was aiming for the big time and emigrated to the United States.
Upon arrival, they were told they were insane to imagine that their big-cat illusion show would ever come off - after all, no one had ever done that before in Vegas, where conventional nightclub acts hitherto had been characterized by stand-up comics and singers.
Their blend of animals, magic and scantily clad chorus dancers revolutionized entertainment in Las Vegas, where they dominated the entertainment scene for two decades with their headline act at the Mirage resort.
Horn was attacked by a 180-kilo tiger named Montecore on October 3, 2003, during a live show at the Mirage on his 59th birthday. The 7-year-old tiger bit into the performer's neck and dragged him off the stage.
The illusionist sustained four deep wounds and suffered a stroke. The tiger's teeth crushed Horn's trachea and damaged an artery that carries oxygen to the brain, leaving him partially paralyzed.
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