Houdini Bronze on EBAY NOW!

On ebay right now, is this bronze statue of Houdini created by Jack Taves. It is 7.5 inches tall and weighs 2.5 lbs. I remember when these first hit the market back in the late 1990s. I failed to get one back then. But I just got one and I am very happy. Another one is available on ebay right now. There is still a little over 4 days left on the auction, so get it while you can!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/one-of-a-kind-bronze-statue-of-HOUDINI-/321502858724?pt=Art_Sculpture&hash=item4adb104de4

Another Look At Houdini's Needles

I recently wrote a short piece in which I mentioned Houdini and his Needle Trick. However, today, I came across a curious reference that sort of throws a wrench into the origins of the trick. And yet, it could very well be, that the person who came forward with the information is full of it. Which is it? Read on...

In the book, Of Legierdermaine and Diverse Juggling Knacks by John Braun & Ken Klosterman, there is an interesting story related about Houdini and who taught the Needle Trick to him. The story came from Dai Vernon and he related the story of meeting a gentleman by the name of Howard Hall. Mr. Hall was a play director and script writer and actor. He told Vernon that he taught the Needle Swallowing trick to Houdini and he claims Houdini had a heck of a time learning it. That's very interesting because I never heard that version of the origin story before. I know that Vernon certainly was no fan of Houdini, but he did apparently like Houdini's presentation of the Needle Trick.

As I mentioned in a previous article, according to Patrick Culliton in his book HOUDINI-The Key, Houdini said the trick dated back to a magician in London, Ramo Sami,  who debuted the trick in the early 1800s. Then the trick was reintroduced to audiences in the later 19th Century by Maxey The Needle King.

John Mulholland in his book Quicker Than The Eye, again mentions Ramo Samee (spelled differently) who he said was a Hindu magician who visited America in 1820 and that's how the trick arrived here. In the book, The Secrets of Houdini by J.C. Cannell, he claims that Houdini said the trick was first brought to Europe by K. Kraus and then does mention Maxey The Human Sewing Machine. Houdini claims Maxey was the first person he actually saw perform the trick.

Then there is Long Tack Sams recollection of the Needles. He learned the trick in China and performed it in his Vaudeville act for years until Houdini took out a U.S. Copyright on the trick and that prevented everyone in Vaudeville from doing the trick. This information comes from the documentary The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam.

So which story is correct? The trick is commonly known as The East Indian Needle Trick, and perhaps it was Ramo Sami or Samee who gave it that title. I think Jean Hugard, writing in his magazine Hugard's Magic Monthly, said it best, "...the name of the actual inventor will probably remain unknown forever..." And though I'm a little skeptical, it could be Howard Hall who taught the trick to Houdini because Houdini never says who taught him, only where he first saw it performed. But, according to HOUDINI-The Key, the earliest record of Houdini presenting the Needle Trick is 1899 and I get the impression that this was long before he ever encountered Howard Hall. So that part of the mystery continues. One thing is for sure, there is no denying that Houdini gave new life to the trick and it's due to his amazing presentations that the trick survives and thrives into the 21st Century.

UPDATE: Here is an interesting image, provided by my friends at the Houdini Museum. It comes from the December 1891 Scribners Magazine featuring Jugglers performing the Needle Trick on the verandah of the Shepeard's Hotel in Cairo Egypt. It doesn't really help figure out who created the trick, but it does show the trick was around and well known during that time period.

To see all the various articles on the 30 Days of Houdini, click here http://www.themagicdetective.com/search/label/30%20days

A Secret Houdini Education From a Genii

Genii the International Conjurers Magazine has been around since 1936. The second issue of the magazine had Houdini on the cover. I would like to draw your attention to the column 'The Genii Speaks' which is written by William Larsen Sr.. He spends some time discussing the fact that Houdini had been dead now for ten years. Read what he had to say,

"Surely, ten years should reconcile us to his departure. But, it hasn't. When he went, magic lost something; an intangible something which it has never regained. Perhaps it was prestige that we lost, or a leader-or, an idol."

That is a telling statement by someone quite involved in the world of magic. Most any magician, who has been dead ten years, is all but forgotten, sadly. But Houdini's name was being spoken so often it was almost as if he had never left. Mr. Larsen goes on to say that had Houdini lived he no doubt would be involved in theatre, radio and getting himself ready for television. Imagine HOUDINI being an early television pioneer. Wow.

The last half of the article is the part I refer to as 'the secret education'. Mr. Larsen shares his insights on the escape act, the concepts and how to present one properly in 1936. I can tell you, as someone who has performed escapes, he is right on the money. The one area though that I seem to part company with my fellow magi is in the area of the 'fast escapes'. I do believe a quicker pace is helpful in the 21st Century, but I can also tell you from personal experience that a long drawn out escape will also play today, IF structured properly, contrary to popular opinion.

I can also say that being shackled, chained, roped, straitjacketed and so on, gives one a unique insight into Houdini that the non-performer doesn't have. I'm not saying it makes you smarter, I'm just saying it does make you understand some of the things he went through and makes a lot of these challenges really come to life more so than someone who has never been nailed into a packing crate or coffin or some other crazy device.

I can just see Houdini laughing at our modern day expression "Thinking Outside the Box." For him it would have had a double meaning. In truth, that is the escape artists greatest tool, is being able to think outside the box and think under pressure. In the world of the magician we have something called 'outs'. These are preplanned schemes to use in case a trick goes wrong and we can adjust and bring about a successful conclusion regardless of some aspect not going properly. Well, in the world of escapes, if something goes wrong, you can be in serious trouble. You can be facing injury and even possible death. No matter if you are using specialized equipment or things totally 100% legitimate, if something goes wrong you step into the danger zone.  In a great article by Chuck Romano over at his site, My Magic Uncle, he mentions an incident when Hardeen was stuck inside the MilkCan and DoubleFold Death Defying Mystery Box.  This was potentially deadly, but thankfully Hardeen did not panic and had a preplanned out (please go read the article to find out what Hardeen did).

I have had things go wrong with escapes on more than one occasion and let me tell you, your brain shoots into overdrive. You begin thinking so fast it hardly makes sense until suddenly your brain 'clicks' on the right solution and everything comes back into focus. And that is not a panic mode, it's just what happens when you are faced with a potential failure and you need to turn it around.

If you ever get the chance to read The Genii Speaks from Vol 1 Issue 2 of Genii, you'll get a better understanding of the mind of the escape artist once you finish the article.  And despite the fact that there were other people who did escapes before, during, and after Houdini, he was without question the archetype of the grand escapologist.

Oh, if you are a Genii Subscriber, you can go use the digital version of Genii to access this issue.

BY THE WAY, We are now on the final week of the 30 Days of Houdini. So far I have successfully put up an article each day this month of Houdini. The Final Week, MIGHT, have a few surprises...MIGHT, lol. Or they may have to wait until the next 30 Days of Houdini, which will be very different trust me. Keep watching and thanks for being faithful readers of my blog.

To check out the previous articles http://www.themagicdetective.com/search/label/30%20days

The Revelation of Houdini's Tricks in the Movie is a Load of Crap

How is that for a headline?! And it's TRUE, by the way. Yes, there suddenly is a lot of controversy surrounding the Houdini Miniseries by the HISTORY Channel, because the star of the movie, Adrien Brody has let it be known they reveal how Houdini did his tricks.

"I DO TRICKS NO ONE CAN EXPLAIN" -Houdini

That's from Houdini's own mouth. You might be able to figure out one thing or two, but he used multiple methods. So my issue with the idea they are going to reveal his tricks is, how exactly? You can't really do it. Harry Handcuff Houdini didn't have one

Darby Handcuffs

method to escape from handcuffs. First, there are a lot of different types of handcuffs and that means you're open to quite a few methods of escape. Take the handcuff known as Darbys for example. With this one style of cuff, I can think of five different methods off the top of my head that can be used to escape from this cuff and not one includes using a duplicate key. You could spend over an hour just discussing methods for handcuff escapes and you still wouldn't cover all of them.

You see, unless Houdini had only ONE method for escaping, then I don't see how you can actually reveal anything. You can reveal one technique, maybe two, but that's about it. And a skilled escape artist like Houdini was known for revealing these techniques as the methods used by his imitators and then using different techniques himself. This is how he stayed one step ahead of his competitors.

Here is another example, The Milk Can escape. The method for this has been revealed in magazines, books and newspapers for years. But did you know the inventor of the Milk Can, Montraville Wood, actually created 8 different methods for escaping the can. There is a supposed method that is fairly well known. However, consider how impractical this method becomes when Houdini introduced the wooden box, known as the Double Fold Death Defying Mystery. This is where the Milk Can was first placed inside a wooden crate, then Houdini would get inside, the lid would be locked on the Milk Can and then an outer wooden lid would be locked on the box. Houdini couldn't escape even IF the lid hadn't been locked because the wooden lid of the box prevents the top of the Milk Can from being removed. So that secret is worthless. And the modern versions of the Milk Can used by a very select few escape artists today, use a method that is totally different from Houdini's real secret.

Hollywood sadly, has tried again and again to reveal the secrets to Houdini's tricks thinking that this is what audiences want to see. But Hollywood, HELLO, you're wrong again. Houdini was more than his tricks. His life story is what is fascinating, and the magic and escapes are part of that, but the secrets to the tricks are irrelevant. In fact, what you do by exposing the methods is cheapen the mystery that surrounds the man. What you should focus on is the mind of the man who could come up with countless methods to present his unbelievable escapes. Competitors and imitators would try and expose Houdini in the press and yet Houdini would go out and fool people with the very same effects and generally make his competition look foolish. Why? Because the real secret to his tricks was HOUDINI the man. HE was what audiences clamored to see. His charisma, his magnetism, his unfathomable presentations. This is why he could present an effect as small as the East Indian Needle Trick on the largest stages and blow away audiences. This is why he could walk through a brick wall and leave people speechless. Because HE was the MAGIC, he surpassed the tricks and became larger than life regardless of what he was doing. Further proof of that can be found in the number of magicians who present his effects and yet have not come anywhere close to attaining the fame and fortune that Houdini did. Read what Houdini himself had to say on this exact topic...

"Mere novelty and mastery are not enough- the emphatic personal equation must be there- the audience must be impressed not only with the wonder of the illusion, but also with the charm or novelty of the performer's personality." Houdini from The Billboard, Oct 1, 1921*

In the big picture, I don't think it really hurts or helps to expose Houdini's methods. As a magician,

we might find them interesting, some might find them archaic, others just boring. Lay people might think that the method is ingenious or so simple it's amazing no one could figure it out. Tony Curtis picks a jail lock with a piece of wire around his toe.......really? You think this is what Houdini did? Paul Michael Glaser secretly puts a key on the back of a policeman while he is being searched and then later retrieves it and escapes. Stories circulate that Houdini escaped from the Mirror Cuffs by having Bess pass Houdini the key in a kiss.......A key that is over 6 inches long, really??? Are these really his secrets? I don't think so.

As long as the movie's story is compelling, I don't think lay audiences will retain the secrets to the methods because at the end of the day, they are only important to magicians. And we'll just keep creating new methods if older ones are revealed....this is the same thing HOUDINI did and would still do today! And now, I'll let Houdini have the final word on his secrets...

"Some Say I do it this way, others say I do it that way, but I say I do it the other way." HOUDINI The Pittsburgh Leader, March 1, 1908*


*Though both of these quotes are from different periodicals, I found them both referenced in the fantastic book HOUDINI-The Key by Patrick Culliton, and wanted to be sure to credit his book as the true source in my case.

Lot #39, Double Fold Death Defying Water Mystery SOLD and More

The auction is still going on. But for those who are interested, the Double Fold Death Defying Mystery which was expected to get around $20,000, well it just sold for $55,000.00!!!!!!

Lot 48, Houdini Punishment Suit Sold for $11,000

Lot 60, Houdini's German Slander Trial Archive from 1902, which is one of the true hidden treasures of this auction, went for $26,000

Lot 66, Houdini's Notes on Morrit's Black and White Illusion sold for $10,000

Lot 67, The Lost Witchcraft Manuscript sold for $15,000

Lot 69 A Scrapbook by Marie Blood went for  $4,400

Lot 71 The Spiritualism Scrapbook recently discovered sold for$36,000

Lot 77 Bess Houdini's Costumes sold for$9500.00 Considerably less than I expected.

Lot81 Film of Hardeen's Overboard Packing Crate Escape sold for $1300.00 Someone got a bargain!

Lot139 Anna Eva Fay and Houdini photo sold for $650

Lot 141 Houdini and Ching Ling Foo photo sold for $500



So far, for the record, I've not won anything I've bid on...

Correction...I won Lot 150, the BF Keith's Program from Washington D.C.with Harry Houdini on the cover.

Lot 161Houdini Picture Corp Stock Certificate sold for $3600. Wow if Harry Kellar only knew! lol

Lot193 German Art Nouveau 1905 Houdini Poster sold for $8500

Lot 194 Buried Alive Poster sold for $8000, that is a deal. These usually go for $12,000

Lot 195 Houdini Lobby Board sold for....this lot PASSED. First one.

Lot 200 King of Cards Litho sold for $17,000

Those were the highlights of the auction. I did win one thing, which I'll post when it arrives.

It sure was an exciting auction....and a long one, lol.