The Magician – Houdini

Several weeks ago, there was a special about Houdini on “Brad Melter’s Decoded.” I’ve been a Houdini fan ever since the movie starring Tony Curtis. In fact, for 1 of my projects for my typography glass, I used Houdini as the topic.

In the special, Houdini was against spiritualists because when his dad died, he hired one to find the hidden watch and paperwork. Houdini was going after fraudulent readers, those actually robbing people. He exposed tricks they used: props, etc. to throw sound, a glove to touch someone’s hand so they could use their hand to do tambourine’s, pull strings, etc. If 1 unusual thing happens, you believe you’re visited by a ghost.

 

The left is a small Houdini stamp. On the right is a postcard of Houdini I purchased at the Houdini Museum in
Appleton, WI. I also have a magnet showing Houdini’s water escape and a book titled The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero by William Kalush and Larry Sloman.

In the last seasons of his life, Houdini sent out an undercover squad who went to storefront psychics before his show, and discredited them during his show. He put on a séance knowing all their tricks. Hostility arose from those people he was exposing because they used trickery and made money off them. He turned over the information to the police before he left town. He exposed 80+ fortune tellers and saved hard working people money.

Did Houdini die of appendicitis? He died on Halloween 1926. There’s more to tell, and that will be another blog post.

 

Here’s some of my magic: a new shape for my Jewish women’s beaded wire kippot $40 – it’s for sale at http://linorstore.com/kipot.htm

Thanks for visiting, dear blog readers.