The Inexhaustible Bottle

The Inexhaustible Bottle-A magic effect wherein a bottle is filled with water to wash it out and then emptied. Once cleaned out, dry ribbons of different colors would come out of the apparently empty bottle. But upon command of the magi, several different drinks pour forth from the bottle in a seemingly never ending succession. Some versions of the trick have the performer breaking the bottle open at the end and producing a ring, scarf and/or even a guinea pig.

I suppose it was inevitable that I would come face to face with the trick known as the Inexhaustible Bottle. In my youth, I worked with my younger brother on a version of this using a tea kettle. But back then, I hardly knew anything about the trick and really did not do the famous routine justice.

Robert Heller 1870

Over the years there have been many variations of the Inexhaustible Bottle. Of course, there is the version with bottle, and then there was also a punch bowl, a tea kettle, a milk carton and I’m sure there are variations I have yet to discover.

Robert-Houdin presented this trick for the first time on December 1, 1847 and claimed it as his own creation. It was said that Robert-Houdin produced 100 glasses of wine/port and other drinks from his bottle. Robert Heller and John Henry Anderson first brought the trick to America and made it popular. Harry Kellar, Compars Herrmann and Alexander Herrmann also presented the trick using a bottle.

In the book, The Secrets of My Magic, David Devant explains that it was his wife who came up with  the idea of using a common Tea Kettle rather than a bottle. Devant's routine was called 'The Obliging Tea Kettle'.  Charles Hoffmann or Think A Drink Hoffmann as he was known, used a cocktail shaker and built a career out of this one trick. Today, Steve Cohen presents his version using a Tea Kettle in his show Chamber Magic.  I’ve not seen Steve perform his full routine, though I have seen clips on video. I have no doubt his work is brilliant.

Although, Robert-Houdin claimed to have invented it, Houdini in his controversial book The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin actually proves that this was not the case. Ludwig Dobler, Phillippe, Henri Robin, and others all presented the Inexhaustible Bottle years before Houdin. It had been presented under a number of different names including: The Infernal Bottle, The Traveling Bottle, the Interminable Bottle, and the Bottle of Sobriety and Inebriety. But the trick is even older than the 1800s.

Houdini reveals that the trick can be traced back to the book Hocus Pocus Jr. in 1635. During this time period the trick used a barrel or wooden cask rather than a bottle but worked on a very similar principle. 

The inspiration for the trick possibly comes from two biblical stories. These two stories are when Jesus was at a wedding and turned Water to Wine, the other is the story of the loaves and the fishes certainly an ‘inexhaustible’ miracle.

I added a version of the Magic Tea Kettle to my summer show in 2011. My version was based on an idea by Jim Steinmeyer but I came up with a decidedly different climax to the trick. In all the Tea Kettle versions there is no real climax other than pouring more and more unique drinks. The ending I came up with gave the trick a definite 'ta-da' ending, but it proved to be more shocking than I expected. I actually had to rewrite the set-up for the ending in order to not freak people out.

What was my ending to the Inexhaustible Tea Kettle you ask? After pouring numerous drinks like milk, cool aid, tea and so forth I announced I would attempt Orange Juice, but I apologized in advance in case it didn't work because, as I explained, Orange Juice was the hardest drink of all. Then I told the audience for some odd reason the oranges would separate from the liquid in the strangest way. At this moment, I would pour the remaining liquid and the oranges slices could be seen separated in the water  for a brief moment....then suddenly the audience realized the orange slices were actually GOLDFISH!

Tremendous ending, I thought. First time I tried it, two of the people who took drinks of the other liquids almost puked thinking they just drank 'fish water'. It was terribly funny and somewhat embarrassing and thus required a rewrite in order to have the ending make sense and for the audience members not to get ill thinking they drank dirty fish water. The 'corrected' script solved the problem and it made for a tremendous effect in my show. As enjoyable as my twist on the trick was, I still long to one day present an actual Inexhaustible Bottle effect...if I can ever locate one.

Now if you'd like to see a novel presentation of the 'Think-A-Drink' act presented by Charles Hoffman, please watch the video below.

*portions of this blog were reprinted from my old magic blog dated Feb 9,2010.

Houdini and The US Presidents

Houdini at the White House*

I find it interesting at times to put famous people into a broader historical perspective. Given this is an election year, I can't help but think about the Presidency and that got me wondering what Presidents were alive during Houdini's life. Houdini had a connection to all the Presidents of his time right down to George Washington, which I'll share with you at the end of this story.

Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes

But for now, let's look at the timeline. Houdini was born in 1874. At the time of his birth Ulysses S. Grant was the current President. He would serve until 1877. However, Houdini, then Erich Weiss, would not arrive in the U.S. until July of 1878, so the first President he would have encountered from when he was in this country would have been Rutherford B. Hayes. President Hayes is the person credited with starting the tradition of the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House Lawn, an event that has featured many magicians since it began, though Houdini doesn't appear to have ever participated. President Hayes served until 1881 when James Garfield took over to become the 20th President of the U.S.. Houdini had a unique connection to Garfield.

President Garfield only served for five months. On July 2, 1881, Charles Guiteau shot the President at the 6th Street Railroad Station in Washington. Guiteau the deranged assassin was disgruntled because he wasn't given a job within the government. The President lived until September 19th, 1881.  In November, Guiteau finally went on trial, for murder.

Houdini, in January 1906, was challenged to escape from the cell that once held the assassin of President Garfield at the D.C. Jail. Houdini, not only freed himself, but also unlocked several other cells and had prisoners change cells with one another. The Houdini movie with Jonathan Schaech opens with a scene that I think is a recreation of this escape.

Chester A. Arthur would take over for Garfield, and would serve as President during the time that young Erich Weiss became known as 'Erich, Prince of the Air'. Grover Cleveland was the next President, followed by Benjamin Harrison. When Houdini and Theo and Jacob Hyman went to work the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Grover Cleveland became President, again.

When Houdini got his big break from Martin Beck in March of 1899, William McKinley was serving his third year as President. McKinley would be assassinated in office by an avowed anarchist. His Vice President Theodore Roosevelt would follow him and serve two terms as President till 1909. A few years later, Houdini while sailing aboard the Imperator from England to America, had the good fortune to meet the former President Roosevelt and perform for him as well. Houdini totally baffled the former President and before landing in the U.S., he made sure to have his photo taken with Roosevelt. The photo today is interesting as two versions exist. One with Houdini, President Roosevelt and a number of other gentlemen, and the other version is of Houdini and the President with all the other people airbrushed out!

William Howard Taft was President from 1909-1913. During that time Houdini became the first person to fly an airplane in Australia thus making him a pioneer aviator. He also introduced the USD or the Upside Down Water Torture Cell during Taft's tenure as President. On March 4th, 1913, Woodrow Wilson would be sworn in as the 28th President of the United States and a few months later, Cecelia Weiss, Houdini's mother would pass away, changing his life forever. President Wilson would often sneak over to the Keith's Vaudeville Theatre in Washington D.C. to see Houdini perform. The theatre was easy walking distance from the White House. Houdini also received an invitation from President Wilson to come to the White House.

When World War I broke out, Houdini enlisted but was too old to be considered. Instead, he got behind President Wilson and the war effort by selling Liberty Bonds and performed at military bases across the country to support the troops. He also made an Elephant Vanish and began his movie career during the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson.

Warren G. Harding was the next President serving from 1921-1923. He died during his third year in office. Houdini met Sir Arthur Conan Doyle during this time and had the famous seance in Atlantic City with Doyle's wife. Calvin Coolidge was the Vice President for Harding, so when Harding died in 1923, Coolidge became President. He served until 1929, so that made Coolidge the final President during Houdini's life.

Though he was friendly with Roosevelt and Wilson, I can't help but think that the Coolidge and Harding Administrations didn't take too kindly to Harry. He had testified before Congress about the Anti-Fortune Telling Legislation and it was revealed during this time that seances had taken place at the Coolidge White House, which later was changed to the Harding White House. But it was bad press for the executive branch either way.

Other events not of a Presidential nature that took place during Houdini's life: 

• 1903 The Wright Brother Fly for the first time
• 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
• 1908 The first Model T Ford rolls out of the factory
• 1912 The sinking of the RMS Titanic. Houdini's friend Charles Carter (Carter the Great) tried unsuccessfully to board passage on the Titanic.
• 1913 Grand Central Station Opens in NYC
• 1917 US enters WW1
• 1919 Prohibition becomes the law of the land
• 1923 TIME Magazine published for the first time
• 1924 J. Edgar Hoover appointed to lead the FBI
• 1926 Robert Goddard sends up the first liquid fueled rocket
• 1926 -Oct 31 Houdini dies.

Houdini missed Charles Lindbergh's historic first transatlantic flight by only a few months. And he missed the Stock Market Crash of 1929 by three years.

If you are wondering what Houdini's connection was to all the President's from Washington to Coolidge was, well he was an avid collector of many things and one of his collections consisted of signatures of all the Presidents. I wonder where that collection is today? According to the Silverman Biography on Houdini he even had signatures of John Wilkes Booth and his brothers. Houdini's boyhood idol happened to be Abraham Lincoln, who had only died 9 years before Houdini was born. Another way of looking at that, Houdini was born 9 years after the end of the Civil War. He's such a modern figure, I never really considered that he was born so close to the War Between the States.

Houdini loved America and American history. One thing I really admire about Houdini in this regard is how though he knew politicians, Congressmen, and Presidents, he stayed out of the political arena. He visited both the White House and Congress and he was welcomed by people from all parties, but he never publicly took sides. He surely had political opinions but he kept those private and used his celebrity status to promote one thing, HOUDINI.

*Thanks to WildAboutHoudini.com for the use of the top picture.

The Magic Detective is Evolving

Coming Soon: The Carnegie Magic Detective Show. This will be a web-based show featuring Magic, Magic History and more that will air on my Youtube.com channel. Eventually, I hope to have regular weekly episodes, but it will take a while to transition into that.  Shooting video and then editing video is a slightly longer process than just writing this blog.

Taking this site from a blog to a video show has been in the planning stages for about a year, but implementing it is another thing entirely. All of the episodes will be fairly short, keeping with the Youtube content strategy. As time goes on and I'm able to build an audience I'll offer longer episodes. I've got a number of interviews lined up for the coming months and I'll probably post edited versions of those on the channel and then maybe offer longer ones at another time.

This BLOG will not be going away.  As much as I wish I could interview folks like Daisy White (she is a recent favorite, can you tell?), or HOUDINI himself, they just aren't available. So the blog works well to get their stories out there.

The first episode will contain a video of a near death accident with a famous escape artist. I'm not sure this footage has been seen in the U.S. and if it has, it's not been wide spread. I'll post Air Dates in the 'Coming Soon' box at the upper right hand side of the blog, and of course you'll be able to watch it right from this very blog or via the Youtube Channel. Stay Tuned!