Next UP, Wayne Alan, magician, author, FISM Winner!

 

I've featured a few articles on Wayne's collection recently. But now, I have an interview with Wayne on the podcast. He is the author of the new book, The Houdini Timeline. Wayne has been working on this since 1977. Originally, he wanted to write a book to clear up some of the misconceptions of Houdini and wanted to introduce the real Houdini to people. He gathered facts and stories from all over the world. He visited places where Houdini performed or where he had some historical event take place, like Diggers Rest in Australia, or his actual hospital room in Detroit at Grace Hospital before it was torn down.

Wayne is kind of an underground guy in the magic world. He worked with Don Wayne, consulted with David Copperfield, even had connections with Doug Henning. But because he was in the trade show market as a performer, he remained under the radar. 

Many aren't aware that Wayne Alan won FISM in the mid 1970s for Illusion. This was the same year that Lance Burton won the FISM Grand Prize. Wayne was the feature act at the It's MAGIC Show in Los Angeles shortly thereafter. 

One of his biggest accomplishments was in 1977, when Wayne recreated the Hanging Strait Jacket Escape from the old Keith's Vaudeville Theatre in Washington DC. This is the one that Houdini did in 1922 across the street from the Treasury building and you could see the Washington Monument in the back.

Be sure to check out the podcast!