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History

Wild About Harry
by Toni Giarnese

Jenny wears a bright blue ribbon around her neck and an alarm clock "wristwatch" on her leg. She stands in the middle of a brightly lit stage in New York City. In the hushed theater, a pistol shot rings out. The matinee crowd gasps. Jenny, a 10,000 pound elephant vanishes into thin air!

It's 1918 and everyone is wild about Harry Houdini. He is a magician who can do unexplainable things. He pulls rabbits from hats and does a thousand card tricks. He can undo locked handcuffs behind his back and walk through brick walls. Harry can twist and squirm his way out of ropes and chains. He can even wriggle out of a straitjacket while hanging upside down one hundred feet above the street!

How did Harry Houdini do it? By the magic of hard work, Harry's famous underwater escapes stunned audiences around the world. For years, Harry trained to condition his body. He practiced holding his breath until he was able to stay underwater for five or six minutes. He even filled the tubs of water with blocks of ice to make it harder.

No straitjacket or jail could hold Harry. He gave free shows in every town. Harry would escape from the local jail. He even escaped from an "inescapable" steel cell in Russia. But Harry did most of his escape routines in vaudeville shows. Audiences flocked to see the man in a black frock coat, stiff collar and dark tie escape from a manacle, knotted bag, and locked trunk in three seconds. Harry called this illusion "Metamorphosis". It was a quick substitution trick using a box, a sack, and a cabinet. After he escaped, Harry would unlock the trunk and untie the bag. Then out stepped his wife. She had taken his place!

Harry didn't just make eagles appear and elephants vanish. Harry gave lectures and wrote books about the history of magic. The world was wild about Harry. They couldn't get enough of his illusions. Later in his career, the dark-haired man with the blue-gray eyes and a winning smile was also a popular movie star. He was in five silent movies, all with the same formula: fast action, fantastic escapes, and spectacular stunts.

It's quiet today at the Machpelah Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens. Harry, the son of a poor Hungarian rabbi, is buried in this American Jewish cemetery in a bronze casket. A statue placed here in his honor is missing the head, stolen long ago. Only pieces of the neck are left. Each year people come to the gravesite for a simple Jewish kaddish, or mourner's prayer, for his soul. Harry died on October 31, 1926, but the magic has never ended.

"My mind is the key that sets me free." Harry Houdini

Tricky Words:

Straightjacket: a strong garment made to bind the arms tightly so the wearer cannot move.

Vaudeville show: an old-time show that had singing and dancing acts, comedy, and magic.

Stamina: the strength to keep working at something hard.

Illusion: something or someone seems to appear or disappear; impossible things seem to happen.

Manacle: a pair of metal rings joined by a chain and fastened around the wrists.

Tricks to Try:

Good-by Penny Illusion
Say, "Here is a penny. Watch carefully, I will make it disappear."
Show the penny "in" a glass. When you show the penny, it only seems to be in the glass. It is really under the bottom of the glass. Then cover the glass with a cloth and give it to a friend. When your friend looks, the penny is gone!

Bag of Surprises
Show a paper bag and say, "The bag is empty." Then reach into the bag and pull out ribbons, pictures, and a handkerchief. There are really two bags, one inside the other. The inside bag is empty. The objects are under it in the other bag.

Mystery Marble
Show a marble in your hand, and then cover it with a handkerchief.
Say, "Feel under this handkerchief. Is the marble still there?"
Let all your friends feel the marble. Then flick away the handkerchief and the marble is gone! Before you begin this trick, choose a secret helper. The last person to feel the marble is your helper and takes the marble away and hides it.

Websites:
Interactive features, interviews, movie clips, escape secrets, gallery of posters, timeline, games, discussion guide, activities:

http://www.magicsam.com/sym/index.asp

http://www.magicsam.com

http://www.pbs.org./wgbh/amex/houdini

http://www.magicwebchannel.com/hall.html

Resource:

Milbourne, Christopher. Houdini: The Untold Story. New York: Crowell, 1969.

Toni Giarnese lives with her sweetheart of thirty-five years in a Connecticut hill town, far from her humble Italian roots. She went to school every year of her life. As both student and teacher, she was equally challenged, terrified, and humbled. Of late however, she coaxes blooms from her flowers, tinkers with kitchen gadgets, socializes in sweaty gyms, and writes for children.