It all works with a bit of practice.  This was B-W's take on a
popular late 1800s vaudeville/music hall act, which modern magicians
refer to as a "resistance act" or "Georgia Magnet routine".  It's
basically a set of leverage tricks beefed up with some applied
showbiz psychology.  The patter was often that the performer, usually
a slightly built woman, had mastered some kind of electrical or
magnetic energy that allowed her to overpower strong men. That piece
of ballyhoo was debunked by engineers and scientists almost
immediately, but the act persisted in various guises right through
the early '40s.

Interestingly, Harry Houdini - writing in his expose of showbiz
trickery, "Miracle Mongers and Their Methods" - directly compared
Georgia Magnet stunts to jiujitsu.  I can attest to the fact that
mastering these stunts can actually be of some practical combatve
use, in that they teach a great deal about leverage, skeletal
alignment and tactile sensitivity.

Cheers,

Tony