Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries – | 1×02 – Murder on the Ballarat Train ↳ “Are you sure that’s wise, Miss, for a lady detective? Won’t the crims see you coming? “They’ll see me first.”
In S3E1 Death Defying Feats, our heroine Miss Fisher performed the Miraculous Mermaid stunt where she was “padlocked into an underwater tank and have to escape from her chains or drown”. The Baron called it “thrilling stuff”. When she first brought up the idea to the Mighty Merv Mackenzie, he shut it down, telling her that she was not qualified. To that she responded “I did study Houdini’s water torture cell under The Great Levante.”
Who was The Great Levante? According to Wikipedia, Leslie George “Les” Vante Cole (1892 – 1978) was a famous Australian illusionist who founded what is now the fourth oldest magical society in the world, the Australian Society of Magicians Incorporated. We don’t know when Miss Fisher studied from him as Devante was born in Sydney and was only 19 when he travelled to Melbourne in 1909, finding work at a hotel where he “marked billiards and tended the hotel’s bar”. It’s unlikely that Phryne studied magic from him before the Fishers moved to England and inherited the title because she couldn’t possibly have the means to do so. Since Levante toured the globe starting 1927, it’s possible that she went to one of his shows in England and asked for lessons. As clever as she was, she quickly mastered every trick she had learn, of course.
There was a buzzing in the adventuresses clubhouse this week when Every Cloud shared a photo of a costume in progress on their Facebook page and Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears director Tony Tilse shared his travels on Instagram (we’ve been loving the location scouting photos too!). After a year of excited anticipation–the Kickstarter opened September 15th last year–it’s hard to believe that filming is just around the corner!
The Adventuresses would just like to take a moment and thank Every Cloud and the cast for their tireless work to bring Miss Fisher back to our screens, and shout out to the wonderful fans who have filled the Phryne hiatus with so much joy.
Spitfire Alice A Gra 
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