![]() The official cause of his death was peritonitis brought on by a ruptured appendix, but several legends continue to swirl around his last days. Houdini died on Halloween 1926 at the age of 52, just days after struggling through a final performance in Detroit. Houdini assisted with the American war effort during WWI. In 2010, Houdini and Defries were both honored with a series of stamps commemorating the centennial of powered flight in Australia. The Aerial League of Australia certified Houdini’s display as the country’s first powered and controlled flight, but some historians have since argued that the record actually belongs to Colin Defries, an Englishman who had made a brief flight a few months earlier. The magician crashed during his maiden flight in Germany, but he continued practicing and eventually set his sights on becoming the first man to pilot an airplane in Australia.ĭuring a tour Down Under in March 1910, Houdini hopped behind the controls of his Voisin and made three successful flights near Melbourne, each only a couple of minutes long. Houdini (center) with fans just before his flight in Australia, March 1910.Īfter developing a passion for aviation while in Europe in 1909, Houdini bought a French-made Voisin biplane and became one of the world’s first private pilots. His brother was also a successful magician. One stunt saw him jump into a Rochester, New York, river with his hands manacled behind his back in another, he broke out of the jail cell that had once held Charles Guiteau, the man who assassinated President James A. The newly christened “King of Handcuffs” played to sold-out crowds across Europe, and he later cemented his fame by staging several high-profile escapes in the United States. He began challenging audiences to tie him up or lock him in handcuffs, and he promoted his shows by staging escapes from local jails, usually after being strip-searched and put in shackles by police. On Beck’s advice, Houdini made escapes a central part of his act. He finally caught a break in 1899, when vaudeville impresario Martin Beck booked him on a tour of the United States and Europe. Houdini struggled during his early years in show business and considered calling it quits and opening a magic school. It is a book for would-be conjurers, for professional necromancers, for those curious about the methods and means of one of the most enchanting men of our century.Getty Images / Universal History Archive / UIG This is a technical manual for magicians, complete with illustrations and diagrams, but it is also an astute analysis of the best of Houdini's magic and a readable biography of a man who turned himself into a legend. While doing so, he distinguished himself as a patriot, writer, collector of magic, aviator, movie idol, philanthropist, and crusader against fraudulent spiritualistic practices. ![]() He was a public hero who, in his own way, helped sweep out the cobwebs of nineteenth-century thinking. His impact on the world in the early years of the twentieth century was enormous. Once more, Houdini and his wife Bessie mysteriously exchange places in a locked trunk-in three seconds!Īnd Houdini the man is not ignored. Again, in this book, Houdini walks through a brick wall, vanishes a 10,000-pound elephant and is buried alive. Included are the famous escapes: escapes from a padlocked milk can filled with water from locked jail cells from a water-filled Chinese torture cell while suspended upside down from packing cases weighted under water. The spectacular highlights of Houdini's career are described-and explained-here. It is with the aid of Houdini's own scrapbooks and notes that this book was written. Walter Gibson, co-author, was in close touch with Harry Houdini for a number of years before his death and worked with the master magician in preparing material for the book. Incredible escapes, fantastic sleight-of-hand-Houdini's most challenging performances are dramatically portrayed in Houdini's Fabulous Magic. Four pieces of the Penn & Teller repertoire were directly inspired by Houdini's Fabulous Magic.” Teller of Penn & Teller ★★★★★ “ I have loved this book for sixty years.
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