Houdini: A Life Worth Reading (12 page)

In order to show how the head, eyes, and lungs are protected, the fireman put on the asbestos and wire-gauze cap, and the cuirass, and held the shield before his breast. A fire of shavings was then lighted, and kept burning in a large raised chafing-dish; the fireman plunged his head into the middle of the flames with his face to the fuel, and in that position went several times round the chafing-dish for a period longer than a minute. In a subsequent trial, at Paris, a fireman placed his head in the middle of a large brazier filled with flaming hay and wood, and resisted the action of the fire during five or six minutes and even ten minutes.

In the experiments which were made at Paris in the presence of a committee of the Academy of Sciences, two parallel rows of straw and brushwood supported by iron wires, were formed at the distance of 3 feet from each other, and extended 30 feet in length. When this combustible mass was set on fire, it was necessary to stand at a distance of 8 or 10 yards to avoid the heat. The flames from both the rows seemed to fill up the whole space between them, and rose to the height of 9 or 10 feet. At this moment six firemen, clothed in the incombustible dresses, and marching at a slow pace behind each other, repeatedly passed through the whole length between the two rows of flame, which were constantly fed with additional combustibles. One of the firemen carried on his back a child eight years old, in a wicker-basket covered with metallic gauze, and the child had no other dress than a cap made of amianthine cloth.

After reading this chapter, you will know more about

• Houdinize:
  The magician was famous enough to inspire a new word.
  

• Dash’s role:
  Houdini set up his brother as a false rival to try to control imitators.
  

• The Houdina Company:
  Houdini allegedly smashed furniture in a rival’s office.
  

• Jacob Hyman:
  Houdini’s old partner claimed a right to the Houdini name.
  

By his mid-forties, Houdini had surpassed celebrity status and become a living legend.
His image and name was known throughout the world, and a dictionary of the time even published an edition with the word “houdinize,” meaning to escape or to wriggle out of confinement or restraint. Houdini’s legend, however, is not without its detractors. Many magicians in Houdini’s time and now have criticized Houdini’s massive ego and his willingness to expose other magicians and to stretch the truth in order to stay on top of the magic world.

In the magic community, Houdini was known as a fantastic egomaniac who believed that he was a deity among magicians and conjurers and who loved to talk about himself. Houdini’s writing of the Encyclopedia Britannica’s entry on “Conjurers” lends support to this opinion, as Houdini spoke only of his own contributions to magic without mentioning a single other magician. Houdini’s diary entries also reflect that he got angry when newspapers mentioned lesser magicians than he when he had also performed.

Houdini’s fervor to debunk his original icon Robert-Houdin reflects a blinding desire to be known as the best conjurer and mystifier not only of his generation, but also in the history of magic. In fact, Houdini had rocky relationships with most other famous magicians of the time, including Harry Blackstone and Howard Thurston. The only magician that he ever came close to acknowledging might be equal or superior to himself was Heinrich Keller, an American-born magician with whom Houdini formed a close bond.

Houdini’s zeal for crushing imitators is also indicative of the size and importance of his ego.
While Houdini allowed that other magicians were technically permitted to also do escape tricks, he publically and privately reacted poorly when his imitators used his title, The King of Handcuffs, or the name Houdini. Houdini put ads in newspapers and magic magazines in England and the United States, warning that performers who used these titles would be prosecuted. Houdini tried to control his challengers by installing his younger brother Dash as his main rival. Knowing that Dash worshipped him and was content to remain in second place, Houdini gave Dash the name Hardeen and arranged for him to tour Europe and the States.

Houdini’s ego also made itself known in other ways. A notable incident occurred at the Houdina Company in New York, where Houdini burst in to confront the owners for using his name. A rowdy scene ensued wherein Houdini reportedly smashed office furniture. Houdini was summoned to court the next day by Francis Houdina, the owner of the company, although Houdina later dropped the charges.

Houdini was also notoriously litigious himself. He had a reputation of “raising hell” in theaters that broke contracts with him or that sued him for breaking contracts with them. At a show in Los Angeles, Houdini saw that the world heavyweight champion Jess Willard was in the crowd, and invited him to be part of the committee that sat on every stage to evaluate the authenticity of his methods. Willard refused, likely out of shyness, but when Houdini persisted, called Houdini a fake. Houdini quickly told Willard off and Willard was booed out of the theater. Houdini chastised Willard as he went, saying, “Don’t forget … I will be Harry Houdini when you are not the heavyweight champion of the world.” The public supported him and he took great delight in having faced this challenge, still the great Harry Houdini.

Another challenge to the Houdini brand arrived in the form of Jacob Hyman, the young man with whom Ehrich Weiss had worked with at the clothing factory and with whom he had originally formed “the Brothers Houdini.” Hyman, still practicing magic, toured New England under the name “Houdini, King of Handcuffs.” He claimed that he had just as much right to the Houdini name as Harry Houdini did, as Hyman had been a part of the original duo. Houdini went after Hyman with his characteristic vigor. He sent his brother Leo to a performance of Hyman’s and had him challenge Hyman to open cuffs that had been altered. Hyman could not get them open and was humiliated in front of his audience.

Houdini also battled those who threatened his fame by publicizing and selling their versions of Houdini’s escape secrets. One British writer published an article announcing that escape artists concealed small keys in specially made containers that they placed in their anuses. Houdini denounced the vulgarity of this article but did not deny the claims that it contained.

Houdini also sometimes demonstrated his scorn and contempt onstage for any who copied him or who threatened to expose his secrets. When a rival magician who called himself Mysto branded himself as “the King of Handcuffs” and performed a version of Metamorphosis that involved escaping from a coffin, Houdini not only performed the same trick at his own show but then exposed how Mysto did it. Such a disclosure of another magicians’ secrets is considered taboo among magicians, whose cultural norms require them to not share magic secrets with the public.

In still another battle, Houdini refused to allow Moss Empires, a large theater circuit in England and Scotland, to renew his contract, even though the original contract gave them the option to do so. After taking Houdini to court in both Scotland and England and losing, the Moss Empire sent out another performer named Hilbert, who performed escape tricks and then explained to the audience how they were done. Houdini went in disguise to one of Hilbert’s shows, together with Bess and Dash. During the performance, he took off his disguise and challenged Hilbert, telling him that he had a pair of handcuffs that Hilbert couldn’t open. Houdini was roughly thrown out of the theater, but had succeeded in showing the public that he wasn’t afraid of Hilbert’s supposed exposés.

After reading this chapter, you will know more about

• A bad beginning to the last tour:
  Bess fell ill very early.
  

• Samuel Smilovitz:
  This McGill student’s sketch of Houdini led him to be present during a famous moment of violence against the magician.
  

• Houdini’s last words:
  According to Dash, the magician said, “I can’t fight anymore.”
  

• Houdini’s death:
  The escape artist passed on Halloween in 1926.
  

During his las
t summer alive, that of 1926, Houdini took the months of June, July, and August “off” to rest before another season of touring with his Broadway show HOUDINI. Of course, for Houdini, “off” meant working on a book (this one about superstition), planning the founding of a magic school, and writing an article on masonry and occultism. He celebrated his final anniversary with Bess with a quiet day at the movies and one of his many love notes, as rain prevented them from taking their traditional trip to Coney Island.

Houdini’s last tour began in September of 1926. It was HOUDINI but featured a new act. Houdini, locked in a bronze casket that he had made especially for the purpose, was lowered into a glass vault that was then completely filled with sand.
Houdini’s escape took about two minutes. The tour was set to last for five months and included appearances all over the country and in Canada. It started off on a bad note. Bess contracted ptomaine poisoning in Providence, Rhode Island, and Houdini stayed up with her all night while she battled fever and nausea. In Albany, Houdini fractured his ankle while performing the Chinese Water Torture Cell. He limped through the rest of the show. He finished his three-day tour in Albany before heading to Montreal on October 18.

The following afternoon, he gave a lecture to McGill University students. A student named Samuel Smilovitz sketched a picture of Houdini lecturing. Houdini was shown the picture at a performance that evening and he invited Smilovitz to come draw him again the following morning. Smilovitz and his friend Jacques Price arrived to Houdini’s dressing room the next day to find him resting on a couch and catching up on his mail. Smilovitz began sketching while Houdini rambled at length about his various plans and recent tricks.

While Smilovitz was drawing, a young, strapping man, reportedly a first-year student at McGill by the name of Whitehead, came by to return some books that Houdini had lent him. Whitehead began talking to Houdini and asked him if it was true that Houdini could withstand any blow to his abdomen. According to Smilovitz, Houdini tried to evade the question by showing the strength of his arms and back. In truth, there is no record of Houdini ever having made a claim of resistance to abdominal blows and Smilovitz was puzzled by it. But when Whitehead asked whether he could try hitting Houdini’s abdomen, Houdini, never able to decline a challenge, agreed to allow it. As Houdini went to rise to face the blows, Whitehead hit him several times with extreme force. Smilovitz and Price were shocked and cried out for him to stop. Houdini himself, winded, told Whitehead, “That will do.” Although startled, Smilovitz finished his sketch, and Houdini remarked that his image looked a little tired in the drawing and that in fact he didn’t feel well.

The following night, Houdini had planned a party to finish off his stint in Montreal, but had to cancel it when he was too ill to dress himself after his performance. He and Bess stuck to their schedule and boarded a train bound for Detroit that night, but Houdini experienced such terrible pain in his stomach that the group wired Detroit asking a doctor to meet them at the station. Upon arriving, the doctor quickly noticed signs of appendicitis, including a fever, but Houdini went to his hotel instead of the hospital, determined to complete his opening-night show. During a break in the show, Houdini collapsed, but was revived and insisted on continuing the show. After the show, Houdini was examined by a doctor at his hotel, who begged him to go to the hospital. After consulting with his own doctor in New York City via phone, Houdini consented and was transported to Grace Hospital.

The following day, Houdini received surgery to remove his appendix. When they opened up his body, the surgeons found his appendix grossly ruptured and enlarged and that the infection peritonitis had set in. Knowing that Houdini was at serious risk of dying from his infection, the doctors tried an experimental medicine that brought down his fever. During the post-surgery period, Houdini remained alert and conscious, thanking all hospital staff members that performed any task for him. Houdini’s brothers Nat and Hardeen and his sister Gladys came to the Detroit hospital. Bess, still recovering from her recent illness and also hospitalized, was carried to the room for brief visits. Mail poured in, and the newspapers wrote of Houdini’s condition.

On Friday, October 29 Houdini received a second surgery. He did not recover from this one. Hardeen, by his bedside, later said that Houdini’s last words were, “I can’t fight anymore.” Houdini died on Halloween, Sunday, October 31, 1926. The official cause of death was ruled peritonitis. While rumors swirled about foul play and medical malpractice, as well as the cause of death being the blows Houdini had received from Whitehead, medical evidence points to the probability that Houdini’s appendix had actually ruptured some time before Whitehead punched him and that the infection had been spreading in his body for a significant period of time.