Australian flights
March 18, 1910
On Friday, March 18, 1910, following more than a month of
delays due to inclement weather conditions, Houdini completed one of the first
powered aeroplane flights ever made in Australia. He made three flights in his
French Voisin biplane, at the Old Plumpton Paddock, at Diggers Rest, Victoria,
ranging from 1 minute to 3½ minutes – reaching an altitude of 100 ft in one of
his flights, and travelling more than two miles in another. Nine of the 30
spectators present on that day signed a certificate verifying Houdini's
achievement.
March 20, 1910
Hampered by the windy conditions on the Saturday, and unable
to fly safely, Houdini took to the air again early on Sunday morning, 20 March
20, 1910:
After a short preliminary flight, lasting 26 sec., Houdini
took wing again, and, amid loud applause from the hundred or more spectators,
who were on the ground, described three circles at altitudes, varying from 20ft
to over 100ft, covering a distance of between three and four miles in 3min
45½sec. The Argus, 21 March 1910.
March 21, 1910
On Monday morning, 21 March 1910, some 30 spectators
witnessed Houdini make an extended flight at Diggers Rest of 7min. 37secs.,
covering at least 6 miles, at altitudes ranging from 20 ft. to 100 ft.
Australian aviator Basil Watson's father, mother, and younger sister, Venora,
were among the spectators; and their names were included in the list of 16
spectator signatures on the certificate that verified Houdini's achievement.
After Australia
After completing his Australia tour, Houdini put the Voisin
into storage in England. He announced he would use it to fly from city to city
during his next music hall tour and even promised to leap from it handcuffed,
but he never flew again.
Debunking
spiritualists
In the 1920s, Houdini turned his energies toward debunking
psychics and mediums in order to show how they were taking advantage of the
bereaved, a pursuit that was in line with the debunkings by stage magicians
since the late nineteenth century.
Houdini's training in magic allowed him to expose frauds that
had successfully fooled many scientists and academics. He was a member of a
Scientific American committee that offered a cash prize to any medium who could
successfully demonstrate supernatural abilities. None were able to do so, and
the prize was never collected. The first to be tested was medium George
Valiantine of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. As his fame as a "medium-buster" grew, Houdini took to attending séances
in disguise, accompanied by a reporter and a police officer. Possibly the most
famous medium he debunked was Mina Crandon, also known as "Margery".
Joaquín Argamasilla, known as the "Spaniard with X-ray Eyes", claimed to be able to read
handwriting or numbers on dice through closed metal boxes. In 1924, he was
exposed by Houdini as a fraud. Argamasilla peeked through his simple blindfold
and lifted up the edge of the box so he could look inside it without others
noticing. Houdini also investigated the Italian medium Nino Pecoraro, who he considered
to be fraudulent.
Houdini's exposure of phony mediums inspired other magicians
to follow suit, including The Amazing Randi, Dorothy Dietrich, Penn & Teller,
and Dick Brookz.
Houdini chronicled his debunking exploits in his book, A
Magician among the Spirits, co-authored with C. M. Eddy, Jr., who was not
credited. These activities compromised Houdini's friendship with Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle. Doyle, a firm believer in spiritualism during his later years,
refused to give credence to any of Houdini's exposés. Doyle came to believe
that Houdini was a powerful spiritualist medium and had performed many of his
stunts by means of paranormal abilities and was using those abilities to block
the powers of the mediums that he was supposedly debunking. This disagreement
led to the two men becoming public antagonists and Doyle came to view Houdini
as a dangerous enemy.
Before Houdini died, he and his wife agreed that if Houdini
found it possible to communicate after death, he would communicate the message "Rosabelle believe", a secret
code which they agreed to use. "Rosabelle"
was their favorite song. Bess held yearly séances on Halloween for ten years
after Houdini's death. She did claim to have contact through Arthur Ford in
1929 when Ford conveyed the secret code, but Bess later said the incident had
been faked. The code seems to have been such that it could be broken by Ford or
his associates using existing clues. Evidence to this effect was discovered by
Ford's biographer after he died in 1971. In 1936, after a last unsuccessful
séance on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel, she put out the candle that she
had kept burning beside a photograph of Houdini since his death. In 1943, Bess
said that "ten years is long enough
to wait for any man."
The tradition of holding a séance for Houdini continues,
held by magicians throughout the world. The Official Houdini Séance was
organized in the 1940s by Sidney Hollis Radner, a Houdini aficionado from
Holyoke, Massachusetts. Yearly Houdini séances are also conducted in Chicago at
the Excalibur nightclub by "necromancer"
Neil Tobin on behalf of the Chicago Assembly of the Society of American
Magicians; and at the Houdini Museum in Scranton by magician Dorothy Dietrich,
who previously held them at New York's Magic Towne House with such magical
notables as Houdini biographers Walter B. Gibson and Milbourne Christopher.
Gibson was asked by Bess Houdini to carry on the original séance tradition.
After doing them for many years at New York's Magic Towne House, before he
died, Walter passed on the tradition of conducting of the Original Séances to
Dorothy Dietrich.
In 1926, Harry Houdini hired H. P. Lovecraft and his friend
C. M. Eddy, Jr., to write an entire book about debunking religious miracles,
which was to be called The Cancer of Superstition. Houdini had earlier asked
Lovecraft to write an article about astrology, for which he paid $75
(equivalent to $1,291 in 2023). The article does not survive. Lovecraft's
detailed synopsis for Cancer does survive, as do three chapters of the treatise
written by Eddy. Houdini's death derailed the plans, as his widow did not wish
to pursue the project.
Appearance and voice
recordings
Unlike the image of the classic magician, Houdini was short
and stocky and typically appeared on stage in a long frock coat and tie. Most
biographers give his height as 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m), but descriptions vary.
Houdini was also said to be slightly bow-legged, which aided in his ability to
gain slack during his rope escapes. In the 1997 biography Houdini!!!: The
Career of Ehrich Weiss, author Kenneth Silverman summarizes how reporters
described Houdini's appearance during his early career:
They stressed his smallness – "somewhat undersized" – and angular, vivid features: "He is smooth-shaven with a keen,
sharp-chinned, sharp-cheekboned face, bright blue eyes and thick, curly, black
hair." Some sensed how much his complexly expressive smile was the
outlet of his charismatic stage presence. It communicated to audiences at once
warm amiability, pleasure in performing, and, more subtly, imperious
self-assurance. Several reporters tried to capture the charming effect, describing
him as "happy-looking",
"pleasant-faced", "good natured at all times", "the
young Hungarian magician with the pleasant smile and easy confidence".
Harry Houdini's voice
Houdini made the only known recordings of his voice on
Edison wax cylinders on October 29, 1914, in Flatbush, New York. On them,
Houdini practices several different introductory speeches for his famous Chinese
Water Torture Cell. He also invites his sister, Gladys, to recite a poem.
Houdini then recites the same poem in German. The six wax cylinders were
discovered in the collection of magician John Mulholland after his death in
1970. They are part of the David Copperfield collection.
Legal issues
In September 1900, Houdini was summoned by the German police
prior to his first performance in the country who suspected his act was fake.
Subsequently in Berlin, he was stripped naked and forced to perform an escape
routine in front of 300 policemen. Houdini was tightly restrained with "thumbscrews, finger locks, and five
different hand and elbow irons". He was able to escape in 6 minutes,
and later used the stunt in advertising. Subsequently in 1901, a newspaper in
Cologne accused him of attempting to bribe a police officer in order to rig an
escape attempt, and paying a civilian police employee to aid him with another
performance. Houdini sued the newspaper and the police officer for slander. As
part of the trial, Houdini was asked to open without the aid of tools one of
the police officer's handcrafted locks, for which the officer had said that
Houdini had tried to bribe him. Houdini was able to do so, and won the case.
Personal life
Houdini became an active Freemason and was a member of St.
Cecile Lodge No. 568 in New York City.
In 1904, Houdini bought a New York City townhouse at 278
West 113th Street in Harlem. He paid US$25,000 (equivalent to $847,778 in 2023)
for the five-level, 6,008-square-foot house, which was built in 1895, and lived
in it with his wife Bess, and various other relatives until his death in 1926.
In March 2018, it was purchased for $3.6 million. A plaque affixed to the
building by the Historical Landmark Preservation Center reads, "The magician lived here from 1904 to
1926 collecting illusions, theatrical memorabilia, and books on psychic
phenomena and magic."
In 1919, Houdini moved to Los Angeles to film. He resided in
2435 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, a house of his friend and business associate
Ralph M. Walker, who owned both, sides of the street, 2335 and 2400, the latter
address having a pool where Houdini practiced his water escapes. 2400 Laurel
Canyon Boulevard, previously numbered 2398, is presently known as The Houdini
Estate, thus named in the honor of Houdini's time there, the same estate where
Bess Houdini threw a party for 500 magicians years after his death. After
decades of abandonment, the estate was acquired in 2006 by José Luis Nazar, a
Chilean/American citizen who has restored it to its former splendor.
In 1918, he registered for selective service as Harry
Handcuff Houdini.
Death
Houdini died on October 31, 1926 at the age of 52 from
peritonitis (swelling of the abdomen), possibly related to appendicitis and
possibly related to punches to his stomach he had received about a week and a
half earlier.
Witnesses to an incident at Houdini's dressing room in the
Princess Theater in Montreal on October 22, 1926, speculated that Houdini's
death was caused by Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead (1895–1954), who repeatedly struck
Houdini's abdomen.
The accounts of the witnesses, students named Jacques Price
and Sam Smilovitz (sometimes called Jack Price and Sam Smiley), generally
corroborated each other. Price said that Whitehead asked Houdini "if he believed in the miracles of the
Bible" and "whether it was
true that punches in the stomach did not hurt him". Houdini offered a
casual reply that his stomach could endure a lot. Whitehead then delivered "some very hammer-like blows below the
belt". Houdini was reclining on a couch at the time, having broken his
ankle while performing several days earlier. Price said that Houdini winced at
each blow and stopped Whitehead suddenly in the midst of a punch, gesturing
that he had had enough, and adding that he had had no opportunity to prepare
himself against the blows, as he did not expect Whitehead to strike him so
suddenly and forcefully. Had his ankle not been broken, he would have risen
from the couch into a better position to brace himself.
Throughout the evening, Houdini performed in great pain. He
had insomnia and remained in constant pain for the next two days, but did not
seek medical help. When he finally saw a doctor, he was found to have a fever
of 102 °F (39 °C) and acute appendicitis, and was advised to have immediate
surgery. He ignored the advice and decided to go on with the show. When Houdini
arrived at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, Michigan, on October 24, 1926, for
what would be his last performance, he had a fever of 104 °F (40 °C). Despite
the diagnosis, Houdini took the stage. He was reported to have passed out
during the show, but was revived and continued. Afterwards, he was hospitalized
at Detroit's Grace Hospital where he died from peritonitis on October 31, aged
52.
It is unclear whether the dressing room incident caused
Houdini's eventual death, as the relationship between blunt trauma and appendicitis
is uncertain. One theory suggests that Houdini was unaware that he was
suffering from appendicitis, and he might have taken his abdominal pain more
seriously had he not coincidentally received blows to the abdomen.
After taking statements from Price and Smilovitz, Houdini's
insurance company concluded that the death was due to the dressing-room
incident and paid double indemnity.
Houdini grave site
Houdini's funeral was held on November 4, 1926, in New York,
with more than 2,000 mourners in attendance. He was interred in the Machpelah
Cemetery in Glendale, Queens, with the crest of the Society of American
Magicians inscribed on his grave site. A statuary bust was added to the exedra
in 1927, a rarity, because graven images are forbidden in Jewish cemeteries. In
1975, the bust was destroyed by vandals. Temporary busts were placed at the
grave until 2011 when a group from the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania,
placed a permanent bust with the permission of Houdini's family and of the
cemetery.
The Society of American Magicians took responsibility for
the upkeep of the site, as Houdini had willed a large sum of money to the
organization he had grown from one club to 5,000–6,000 dues-paying membership
worldwide. The payment of upkeep was abandoned by the society's dean George
Schindler, who said "Houdini paid
for perpetual care, but there's nobody at the cemetery to provide it",
adding that the operator of the cemetery, David Jacobson, "sends us a bill for upkeep every year but we never pay it because
he never provides any care." Members of the Society tidy the grave
themselves.
Machpelah Cemetery operator Jacobson said that they "never paid the cemetery for any
restoration of the Houdini family plot in my tenure since 1988", claiming
that the money came from the cemetery's dwindling funds. The granite monuments
of Houdini's sister, Gladys, and brother, Leopold were also destroyed by vandals.
For many years, until recently, the Houdini grave site has been only cared for
by Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz of the Houdini Museum in Scranton,
Pennsylvania. The Society of American Magicians, at its National Council
Meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2013, under the prompting of Dietrich and
Brookz, voted to assume the financial responsibilities for the care and
maintenance of the Houdini Gravesite. While the actual plot will remain under
the control of Machpelah Cemetery management, the Society of American
Magicians, with the help of the Houdini Museum in Pennsylvania, will be in
charge of the restoration.
Houdini's widow, Bess, died of a heart attack on February
11, 1943, aged 67, in Needles, California, and while on a train en route from Los
Angeles to New York City. She had expressed a wish to be buried next to her
husband, but instead was interred 35 miles due north at the Gate of Heaven
Cemetery in Westchester County, New York, as her Catholic family refused to
allow her to be buried in a Jewish cemetery.
Proposed exhumation
On March 22, 2007, Houdini's grand-nephew (the grandson of
his brother Theo) George Hardeen announced that the courts would be asked to
allow exhumation of Houdini's body to investigate the possibility of Houdini
being murdered by spiritualists, as suggested in the biography The Secret Life
of Houdini. In a statement given to the Houdini Museum in Scranton, the family
of Bess Houdini opposed the application and suggested it was a publicity ploy
for the book. The Washington Post stated that the press conference was not
arranged by the family of Houdini. Instead, the Post reported, it was
orchestrated by the book's authors William Kalush and Larry Sloman, who had
hired the public relations firm Dan Klores Communications to promote the book.
In 2008, it was revealed the parties involved had not filed
legal papers to perform an exhumation.
Legacy
Houdini's brother, Theodore Hardeen, who returned to
performing after Houdini's death, inherited his brother's effects and props.
Houdini's will stipulate that all the effects should be "burned and destroyed" upon Hardeen's death. Hardeen sold
much of the collection to magician and Houdini enthusiast Sidney Hollis Radner
during the 1940s, including the water torture cell. Radner allowed choice
pieces of the collection to be displayed at The Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in
Niagara Falls, Ontario. In 1995, a fire destroyed the museum. The water torture
cell's metal frame remained, and it was restored by illusion builder John Gaughan.
Many of the props contained in the museum such as the mirror handcuffs,
Houdini's original packing crate, and milk can, and a straitjacket, survived
the fire and were auctioned in 1999 and 2008.
Radner loaned the bulk of his collection for archiving to
the Outagamie Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin, but reclaimed it in 2003 and
auctioned it in Las Vegas, on October 30, 2004.
Houdini was a "formidable
collector", and bequeathed many of his holdings and paper archives on
magic and spiritualism to the Library of Congress, which became the basis for
the Houdini collection in cyberspace. Houdini's book collecting has been
explored in an essay in The Book Collector.
In 1934, the bulk of Houdini's collection of American and
British theatrical material, along with a significant portion of his business
and personal papers, and some of his collections of other magicians were sold
to pay off estate debts to theatre magnate Messmore Kendall. In 1958, Kendall
donated his collection to the Hoblitzelle Theatre Library at the University of
Texas at Austin. In the 1960s, the Hoblitzelle Library became part of the Harry
Ransom Center. The extensive Houdini collection includes a 1584 first edition
of Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft and David Garrick's travel diary to
Paris from 1751. Some of the scrapbooks in the Houdini collection have been
digitized. The collection was exclusively paper-based until April 2016, when
the Ransom Center acquired one of Houdini's ball weights with chain and ankle
cuff. In October 2016, in conjunction with the 90th anniversary of the death of
Houdini, the Ransom Center embarked on a major re-cataloging of the Houdini
collection to make it more visible and accessible to researchers. The
collection reopened in 2018, with its finding aids posted online.
A large portion of Houdini's estate holdings and memorabilia
was willed to his fellow magician and friend John Mulholland (1898–1970). In
1991, illusionist and television performer David Copperfield purchased all of
Mulholland's Houdini holdings from Mulholland's estate. These are now archived
and preserved in Copperfield's warehouse at his headquarters in Las Vegas. It
contains the world's largest collection of Houdini memorabilia and preserves
approximately 80,000 items of memorabilia of Houdini and other magicians,
including Houdini's stage props and material, his rebuilt water torture cabinet
and his metamorphosis trunk. It is not open to the public, but tours are
available by invitation to magicians, scholars, researchers, journalists and
serious collectors.
In a posthumous ceremony on October 31, 1975, Houdini was
given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7001 Hollywood Blvd.
The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, bills itself
as "the only building in the world
entirely dedicated to Houdini". It is open to the public year-round by
reservation. It includes Houdini films, a guided tour about Houdini's life and
a stage magic show. Magicians Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz opened the
facility in 1991.
The Magic Castle in Los Angeles, California, a nightclub for
magicians and magic enthusiasts, as well as the clubhouse for the Academy of
Magical Arts, features Houdini séances performed by magician Misty Lee.
The House of Houdini is a museum and performance venue
located at 11, Dísz square in the Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. It claims
to house the largest collection of original Houdini artifacts in Europe.
The Houdini Museum of New York is located at Fantasma Magic,
a retail magic manufacturer and seller located in Manhattan. The museum
contains several hundred pieces of ephemera, most of which belonged to Harry Houdini.
In McSorley's Old Ale House, there are many items of
historical paraphernalia, including a pair of Houdini's handcuffs, which are
connected to the bar rail.
In popular culture
Houdini appeared as himself in Weird Tales magazine in three
ghostwritten fictionalizations of sensational events from his career (issues of
March, April, and May–June–July 1924). The third story, "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs," was written by horror
writer H. P. Lovecraft based on Houdini's notes. The Houdini-Lovecraft
collaboration was envisioned to continue, but the magazine ceased publication
for financial reasons. When it resumed later in 1924, Houdini no longer figured
in its plans.
Houdini (1953) – played by Tony Curtis
Man of Magic – a 1966 musical about Houdini's life, produced
by Harold Fielding. Stuart Damon played the title role in the show, which
opened at the Opera House in Manchester on 22 October 1966 before transferring
to the Piccadilly Theatre in London where it opened on 15 November and ran for
135 performances. Music was by Wilfred Josephs, under the pseudonym Wilfred
Wylam.
The Great Houdini a.k.a. The Great Houdinis (1976) – played
by Paul Michael Glaser (TV movie)
A Magician Amongst the Spirits, a 1982 BBC radio drama about
Houdini's life written by Bert Coules
"Houdini"
(1982) – sung by Kate Bush (Song), a song which explores Bess Houdini
attempting to contact Houdini after his death using the secret code they formed
together for this purpose.
"Simon and
Simon" "The Grand Illusion" (1983) the Brothers investigate an
illusionist death and the recovery of Houdini's stolen book of magic secrets.
"The Real
Ghostbusters" "The Cabinet of Calamari" (1987) – the ghost
of Houdini escapes the Ghostbusters traps in order to recover his stolen book
of magic secrets.
"Young Harry
Houdini" (1987) – A highly fictionalized portrayal of Houdini during
his childhood, portrayed by Wil Wheaton, as part of The Disney Sunday Movie
series.
FairyTale: A True Story (1997) – played by Harvey Keitel, a
film about the Cottingley Fairies hoax.
Houdini (1998) – played by Jonathon Schaech (TV Movie)
Death Defying Acts (2007) – played by Guy Pearce.
"Houdini"
(2012) – sung by Foster the People (Song)
Houdini (2014) – played by Adrien Brody (TV miniseries)
Michael Weston played Harry Houdini in the short-lived 2016
TV series Houdini & Doyle
The Ministry of Time—Episode 6, Season 2, Tiempo de magia
(2016), played by Gary Piquer
Mentioned by name in the Sci-fi Netflix series Dark (2017-2020)
- Episode 5, Season 1.
Doctor Who – Harry Houdini's War (2019) – played by John Schwab
(Big Finish audio play)
d'ILLUSION: The Houdini Musical – The Audio Theater
Experience (2020) – played by Julian R. Decker (Album musical/audiobook)
"Houdini"
(2023) – sung by Dua Lipa (Song)
"Houdini"
(2024) – sung by Eminem (Song)
Publications
Houdini published numerous books during his career (some of
which were written by his good friend Walter B. Gibson, the creator of The
Shadow)
The Right Way to Do Wrong: An Exposé of Successful Criminals
(1906)
Handcuff Secrets (1907)
The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin (1908), a debunking study of
Robert-Houdin's alleged abilities.
Magical Rope Ties and Escapes (1920)
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods (1920)
Houdini's Paper Magic (1921)
A Magician among the Spirits (1924)
Houdini Exposes the Tricks Used by the Boston Medium "Margery" (1924)
Imprisoned with the Pharaohs (1924), a short story
ghostwritten by H. P. Lovecraft.
How I Unmask the Spirit Fakers, article for Popular Science
(November 1925)
How I do My "Spirit
Tricks”, article for Popular Science (December 1925)
Conjuring (1926), article for the Encyclopædia Britannica's
13th edition.
Filmography
Merveilleux Exploits du Célébre Houdini à Paris – Cinema Lux
(1909) – playing himself
The Master Mystery – Octagon Films (1918) – playing Quentin
Locke
The Grim Game – Famous Players–Lasky/Paramount Pictures
(1919) – playing Harvey Handford
Terror Island – Famous Players Lasky/Paramount (1920) –
playing Harry Harper
The Man from Beyond – Houdini Picture Corporation (1922) –
playing Howard Hillary
Haldane of the Secret Service – Houdini Picture
Corporation/FBO (1923) – playing Heath Haldane
