The original cell was built in England, where Houdini first performed
the escape for an audience of one person as part of a one-act play he
called "Houdini Upside Down". This was so he could copyright the effect
and have grounds to sue imitators (which he did). While the escape was
advertised as "The Chinese Water Torture Cell" or "The Water Torture
Cell", Houdini always referred to it as "the Upside Down" or "USD". The
first public performance of the USD was at the Circus Busch in Berlin,
on September 21, 1912. Houdini continued to perform the escape until his
death in 1926. Despite two Hollywood movies depicting Houdini dying in
the Torture Cell, the escape had nothing to do with his demise.[15]
Suspended straitjacket escape
One of Houdini's most popular publicity stunts was to have himself
strapped into a regulation straitjacket and suspended by his ankles from
a tall building or crane. Houdini would then make his escape in full
view of the assembled crowd. In many cases, Houdini would draw thousands
of onlookers who would choke the street and bring city traffic to a
halt. Houdini would sometimes ensure press coverage by performing the
escape from the office building of a local newspaper. In New York City,
Houdini performed the suspended straitjacket escape from a crane being
used to build the New York subway. After flinging his body in the air,
Houdini escaped from the straitjacket. Starting from when he was hoisted
up in the air by the crane, to when the straitjacket was completely off,
it took Houdini two minutes and thirty-seven seconds. Film footage of
Houdini performing the escape in Dayton, Ohio, exists in The Library of
Congress. After being battered against a building in high winds during
one escape, Houdini performed the escape with a visible safety wire on
his ankle so that he could be pulled away from the building if
necessary.
Pioneer aviator
In 1909, Houdini became fascinated with aviation. That same year, he
purchased a French Voisin biplane for $5000 and hired a full-time
mechanic, Antonio Brassac. Houdini painted his name in bold block
letters on the Voisin's side panels and tail. After crashing once,
Houdini made his first successful flight on November 26 in Hamburg,
Germany.
In 1910, Houdini toured Australia. He brought with him his Voisin
biplane and had the distinction of achieving the first controlled
powered flight over Australia, doing so on March 21 at Diggers Rest,
Victoria, just north of Melbourne. [1]. Colin Defries preceded him, but
he crashed the plane on landing. [2]. Houdini proudly claimed to
reporters that, while the world may forget about him as a magician and
escape artist, it would never forget Houdini the pioneer aviator.
After his Australia tour, Houdini put the Voisin into storage in
England. Although he announced he would use it to fly from city to city
during his next Music Hall tour, Houdini never flew again.[16]
Movie career
"The Houdini Serial", 1919
"The Houdini Serial", 1919
Houdini made his first movie for Pathé in 1901. Titled Merveilleux
Exploits du Célébre Houdini à Paris, it featured a loose narrative meant
to showcase several of Houdini's famous escapes, including his
straitjacket escape. Houdini returned to film in 1916 when he served as
special-effects consultant on the Pathé thriller, The Mysteries of Myra.
That same year, he got an offer to star as Captain Nemo in a silent
version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but the project never made it
into production.[17]
In 1918, Houdini signed a contract with film producer B.A. Rolfe to star
in a 15-part serial, The Master Mystery (released in January 1919). As
was common at the time, the film serial was released simultaneously with
a novel. Financial difficulties resulted in B.A. Rolfe Productions going
out of business, but The Master Mystery was a box-office success and led
to Houdini being signed by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation/Paramount
Pictures, for whom he made two pictures, The Grim Game (1919) and Terror
Island (1920). While filming an aerial stunt for The Grim Game, two
biplanes collided in mid-air with a stuntman doubling Houdini dangling
by a rope from one of the planes. Publicity was geared heavily toward
promoting this dramatic "caught on film" moment, claiming it was Houdini
himself dangling from the plane. While filming these movies in Los
Angeles, Houdini rented a home in Laurel Canyon.
Houdini swims above Niagara Falls in a scene from The Man from Beyond
(1922)
Houdini swims above Niagara Falls in a scene from The Man from Beyond
(1922)
Following his two-picture stint in Hollywood, Houdini returned to New
York and started his own film production company called the "Houdini
Picture Corporation." He produced and starred in two films, The Man From
Beyond (1921) and Haldane of the Secret Service (1923). He also started
up his own film laboratory business called The Film Development
Corporation (FDC), gambling on a new process for developing motion
picture film. Houdini’s brother, Hardeen, left his own career as a
magician and escape artist to run the company. Magician Harry Kellar was
a major investor.[18]
Neither Houdini's acting career nor FDC found success, and he gave up on
the movie business in 1923, complaining that "the profits are too
meager.” But his celebrity was such that, years later, he would be given
a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 7001 Hollywood Blvd).
As of 2007, only The Man From Beyond had been commercially released on
DVD. Incomplete versions of The Master Mystery and Terror Island were
released by private collectors on VHS. Complete 35 mm prints of Haldane
of the Secret Service and The Grim Game exist only in private
collections. Haldane of the Secret Service was screened in Los Angeles
in 2007.[19]
In April 2008, Kino International released a DVD box set of Houdini's
surviving silent movies. The set includes The Master Mystery, Terror
Island, The Man From Beyond, Haldane of the Secret Service, and five
minutes of The Grim Game. The set also includes newsreel footage of
Houdini's escapes from 1907 to 1923. [20]
Debunking spiritualists
In the 1920s, after the death of his beloved mother, Cecilia, he turned
his energies toward debunking self-proclaimed psychics and mediums, a
pursuit that would inspire and be followed by later-day conjurers
Milbourne Christopher, James Randi, Martin Gardner, P.C. Sorcar, Criss
Angel, and Penn and Teller. Houdini's magical training allowed him to
expose frauds who had successfully fooled many scientists and academics.
He was a member of a Scientific American committee which offered a cash
prize to any medium who could successfully demonstrate supernatural
abilities. Thanks to the contributions and skepticism of Houdini and
four other committee members, the prize was never collected. As his fame
as a "ghostbuster" grew, Houdini took to attending séances in disguise,
accompanied by a reporter and police officer. Possibly the most famous
medium whom he debunked was the Boston medium Mina Crandon, also known
as "Margery". Houdini chronicled his debunking exploits in his book, A
Magician Among the Spirits.
Houdini demonstrates how a photographer could produce fraudulent "spirit
photographs" that documented the apparition and social interaction of
deceased individuals.
Houdini demonstrates how a photographer could produce fraudulent "spirit
photographs" that documented the apparition and social interaction of
deceased individuals.[21]
These activities cost Houdini the friendship of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle, a firm believer in
Spiritualism during his later years, refused to believe any of Houdini's
exposés. Conan Doyle actually came to believe that Houdini was a
powerful spiritualist medium, had performed many of his stunts by means
of paranormal abilities and was using these abilities to block those of
other mediums that he was 'debunking' (see Conan Doyle's The Edge of The
Unknown, published in 1931, after Houdini's death). This disagreement
led to the two men becoming public antagonists. Gabriel Brownstein has
written a fictionalized account of the meetings of Houdini, Conan Doyle,
and "Margery" in The Man from Beyond: A Novel (2005).
All or part of this article may be confusing or unclear.
Please help clarify the article. Suggestions may be on the talk page.
(April 2008)
The 2006 book The Secret Life of Houdini by Kalush and Sloman has an
account of Conan Doyle's involvement with the camp of "Margery" and
presents personal letters showing that Conan Doyle and Mina's husband
strongly believed that revenging spirits (not persons) would soon kill
Houdini for hiding the "truth". The book further proposes Conan Doyle's
campaign to hijack Houdini's legacy when a Spiritualist minister friend
of Conan Doyle, Rev. Arthur Ford[22], conspired with him to bring
messages from Houdini and his mother back from the grave in séances,
including one on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel, which would
further the Spiritualists' agenda. According to the book, Houdini's wife
felt so depressed that she actually tried to commit suicide on the eve
of the séance. There is no mention of the fact that, twelve days after
the séance, Bess Houdini wrote a moving letter to Walter Winchell, the
columnist, which was published in the Graphic, denying the words she
received from her deceased husband were given to Ford by herself,
denying the charge Bess and Ford had conspired together to perform a
publicity stunt to further their careers in the entertainment industry.
She trusted Ford's reading.[23][24] Neither is there any mention of the
fact that the Houdini code was already widely known by the public months
before the séance. (See Arthur Ford.)
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