Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:05,539 --> 00:00:07,306
NARRATOR: No locks could hold
him, no tomb could keep him,
2
00:00:07,408 --> 00:00:09,975
no audience could resist him.
3
00:00:10,077 --> 00:00:13,278
He was Harry Houdini, the
greatest magician and escape
4
00:00:13,381 --> 00:00:16,548
artist of all time, taking his
audience on a heart stopping
5
00:00:16,650 --> 00:00:20,219
ride with his superhuman
stunts and death defying feats.
6
00:00:20,321 --> 00:00:23,355
More than just a vaudeville
magician with a bag of parlor
7
00:00:23,457 --> 00:00:26,258
tricks, Houdini was an
outsized personality
8
00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:28,827
the likes of which the
world had never seen.
9
00:00:28,929 --> 00:00:31,296
Brashly challenging
his audience to find
10
00:00:31,399 --> 00:00:36,835
a restraint, any restraint,
that could hold him.
11
00:00:36,937 --> 00:00:38,737
Nothing could hold
Harry Houdini,
12
00:00:38,839 --> 00:00:41,740
and no one knew how he did it.
13
00:00:41,842 --> 00:00:44,443
Now nearly 80 years
after his death,
14
00:00:44,545 --> 00:00:47,813
a one of a kind public auction
of Houdini's magic memorabilia
15
00:00:47,915 --> 00:00:49,848
offers the faithful
and the curious
16
00:00:49,950 --> 00:00:52,217
a glimpse of the
secrets he left behind.
17
00:00:52,319 --> 00:00:57,856
[music playing]
18
00:01:04,665 --> 00:01:05,831
Hi, I'm Lance Burton.
19
00:01:05,933 --> 00:01:08,200
Welcome to my theater at
the Monte Carlo Casino
20
00:01:08,302 --> 00:01:09,902
in Las Vegas.
21
00:01:10,004 --> 00:01:13,138
As a kid, I couldn't get
enough of Harry Houdini and all
22
00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,141
his great escapes
and daring stunts.
23
00:01:16,343 --> 00:01:19,211
Over the next two hours, we
will explore the remarkable life
24
00:01:19,313 --> 00:01:22,414
of this Hungarian immigrant, who
rose from poverty at the turn
25
00:01:22,516 --> 00:01:26,952
of the 20th century to become
a cultural sensation the likes
26
00:01:27,054 --> 00:01:28,654
of which the world
had never seen.
27
00:01:28,756 --> 00:01:35,360
What a story it is, and what
a legacy he left behind.
28
00:01:35,463 --> 00:01:38,764
Nobody can tell you who
the president was in 1926.
29
00:01:38,866 --> 00:01:42,301
Nobody can tell you what
news was happening in 1926,
30
00:01:42,403 --> 00:01:46,638
or what happened 3/4
of a century ago,
31
00:01:46,740 --> 00:01:49,341
but mention to any schoolchild
who is the greatest magician,
32
00:01:49,443 --> 00:01:51,643
and they'll all say Houdini.
33
00:01:51,745 --> 00:01:52,978
We all stand on the
shoulders of the giants that
34
00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,014
come before us.
35
00:01:56,183 --> 00:01:58,050
NARRATOR: Houdini's stock
in trade was escapes.
36
00:01:58,152 --> 00:02:00,119
He could get out of anything.
37
00:02:00,221 --> 00:02:03,188
He starts getting out of jails
all over the United States,
38
00:02:03,290 --> 00:02:05,324
jails in Europe, sometimes
he does it naked it
39
00:02:05,426 --> 00:02:06,191
so that people can
see that he's not
40
00:02:06,293 --> 00:02:09,528
hiding any keys or anything.
41
00:02:09,663 --> 00:02:11,430
He starts getting out
of handcuffs, leg irons.
42
00:02:11,532 --> 00:02:13,799
NARRATOR: And his escapes
electrified audiences.
43
00:02:13,901 --> 00:02:18,070
When Houdini was on stage,
you could hear a pin drop.
44
00:02:18,172 --> 00:02:21,106
He could make an audience do
anything he wanted the audience
45
00:02:21,242 --> 00:02:22,274
to do.
46
00:02:22,376 --> 00:02:24,409
I think America was bound up.
47
00:02:24,512 --> 00:02:27,679
America felt restrained, felt
jailed to a certain degree,
48
00:02:27,781 --> 00:02:30,282
and he was the guy that could
get out of any handcuffs,
49
00:02:30,384 --> 00:02:32,651
any jail cell.
50
00:02:32,753 --> 00:02:33,852
There were no limits
and it allowed people
51
00:02:33,954 --> 00:02:35,787
to kind of fantasize and dream.
52
00:02:35,890 --> 00:02:38,624
I think the big appeal was
just doing the impossible.
53
00:02:38,726 --> 00:02:42,628
I mean, doing something that
really couldn't have been done.
54
00:02:42,730 --> 00:02:44,496
He certainly played
for huge audiences.
55
00:02:44,598 --> 00:02:47,766
His outdoor straight jackets
brought maybe 100,000 people
56
00:02:47,868 --> 00:02:48,066
to watch him.
57
00:02:52,973 --> 00:02:54,907
The very idea of
doing it upside down
58
00:02:55,042 --> 00:02:56,608
is completely wacky.
59
00:02:56,710 --> 00:02:58,010
I mean, who would have
thought to do that?
60
00:02:58,112 --> 00:03:00,812
Hang yourself upside down.
61
00:03:00,915 --> 00:03:03,382
He would be hanging
by his ankles,
62
00:03:03,484 --> 00:03:06,585
hanging from, I don't know,
a flagpole, a derrick,
63
00:03:06,687 --> 00:03:08,253
something stuck out of a
window on the 10th floor
64
00:03:08,355 --> 00:03:09,588
of a skyscraper.
65
00:03:09,690 --> 00:03:11,990
And then he would wriggle
and wriggle and wriggle,
66
00:03:12,092 --> 00:03:13,859
and if you were in
the crowd, you could
67
00:03:13,961 --> 00:03:16,395
watch him shaking like an eel.
68
00:03:16,497 --> 00:03:20,332
Watching Houdini,
this small guy,
69
00:03:20,434 --> 00:03:22,634
who came up from
absolutely nothing,
70
00:03:22,736 --> 00:03:25,871
be there in the middle of
the streets of Washington DC
71
00:03:26,006 --> 00:03:28,807
hanging off the
Treasury Building
72
00:03:28,909 --> 00:03:31,376
and liberating himself and
flinging his arms wide.
73
00:03:31,478 --> 00:03:33,946
That can't help but give
you just the gut sensation
74
00:03:34,048 --> 00:03:37,983
of liberation and freedom.
75
00:03:38,085 --> 00:03:39,885
NARRATOR: Houdini
put himself at peril.
76
00:03:39,987 --> 00:03:42,854
It was the hallmark of his act.
77
00:03:42,957 --> 00:03:44,923
The famous milk can escape
actually entombed him in water
78
00:03:45,025 --> 00:03:47,659
for seemingly impossible
lengths of time.
79
00:03:47,761 --> 00:03:50,696
Houdini would
be in the milk can
80
00:03:50,798 --> 00:03:52,998
under water for what, two
minutes, three minutes.
81
00:03:53,100 --> 00:03:55,400
Meanwhile, the audience
was mesmerized just
82
00:03:55,502 --> 00:03:56,702
looking at the curtain.
83
00:03:56,804 --> 00:03:58,136
NARRATOR: But perhaps
his most horrifying stunt
84
00:03:58,239 --> 00:04:01,273
was his most famous, the
Chinese water torture.
85
00:04:01,375 --> 00:04:04,443
The torture cell was a
murder device, you know?
86
00:04:04,678 --> 00:04:07,012
I mean, it's like who would
come out of that alive?
87
00:04:07,114 --> 00:04:11,483
So it's more than just
torture, it's execution.
88
00:04:11,585 --> 00:04:13,151
NARRATOR: The water
torture cell, the milk can,
89
00:04:13,254 --> 00:04:17,155
the straight jackets, the
hundreds of handcuffs.
90
00:04:17,258 --> 00:04:20,726
When Harry Houdini died in
1926, his magic collection
91
00:04:20,828 --> 00:04:23,629
was left in the hands of
his brother Theo Hardeen.
92
00:04:23,731 --> 00:04:25,597
According to Houdini's
will, these treasures
93
00:04:25,699 --> 00:04:28,734
of magic history were to be
destroyed upon his brother's
94
00:04:28,836 --> 00:04:31,570
death obliterating for all
time the secrets of Houdini's
95
00:04:31,672 --> 00:04:31,770
great escapes.
96
00:04:35,776 --> 00:04:38,910
Instead, they were passed
to Sydney H. Radner, once
97
00:04:39,013 --> 00:04:40,746
the young protege of
Houdini's brother.
98
00:04:40,848 --> 00:04:42,914
For more than 60 years,
Radner has steadfastly
99
00:04:43,017 --> 00:04:45,484
held onto those secrets.
100
00:04:45,586 --> 00:04:48,053
Now, for the first
time, he will release
101
00:04:48,155 --> 00:04:49,254
this priceless collection in
the great Houdini auction.
102
00:04:52,826 --> 00:04:55,994
Hundreds of collectors
gather at the Liberace Museum
103
00:04:56,096 --> 00:04:58,764
in Las Vegas to bid
on Houdini's legacy.
104
00:04:58,866 --> 00:05:00,666
What price will they pay
for a chance to unlock
105
00:05:00,768 --> 00:05:03,669
the secrets of the most
legendary magician of them all,
106
00:05:03,771 --> 00:05:06,438
Harry Houdini?
107
00:05:06,540 --> 00:05:09,474
Strait-jacket, 372.
108
00:05:09,576 --> 00:05:13,045
$5,000, I got for it.
$7,500 I got for it.
109
00:05:13,147 --> 00:05:16,348
$10,000 now is enough?
$12,000, yes or no? $12,000.
110
00:05:16,450 --> 00:05:17,549
I got $12,500.
111
00:05:17,651 --> 00:05:19,318
And one $12,500.
112
00:05:19,420 --> 00:05:20,118
$13,000?
113
00:05:20,220 --> 00:05:21,420
$13,000.
114
00:05:21,522 --> 00:05:22,921
He's in. $13,500 you're going
to make it now. $13,500?
115
00:05:23,057 --> 00:05:24,856
You've got to give him $13,500.
116
00:05:24,958 --> 00:05:25,557
Going to make it now. $13,500.
117
00:05:25,693 --> 00:05:27,693
35! $13,500.
118
00:05:27,795 --> 00:05:28,960
Sell it to James'
bidder at $13,500.
119
00:05:29,063 --> 00:05:30,295
Number 902.
120
00:05:30,397 --> 00:05:31,096
902.
121
00:05:31,198 --> 00:05:31,663
Thanks for bidding.
122
00:05:36,737 --> 00:05:38,704
NARRATOR: Long before
he was Harry Houdini,
123
00:05:38,806 --> 00:05:43,075
legendary magician, he was
Erik Weisz, the third child
124
00:05:43,177 --> 00:05:48,613
in a sprawling family of
six boys and a baby sister.
125
00:05:48,716 --> 00:05:51,783
He was born in 1874
in Budapest, Hungary
126
00:05:51,885 --> 00:05:54,853
to Cecilia and Meyer Weisz,
and came with his family
127
00:05:54,955 --> 00:05:57,689
to the new world at age four.
128
00:05:57,791 --> 00:06:00,459
His father, a rabbi, had
been given a congregation
129
00:06:00,561 --> 00:06:02,661
in Appleton, Wisconsin.
130
00:06:02,763 --> 00:06:06,098
Four years later, Rabbi
Weisz was dismissed.
131
00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,735
The congregation
apparently didn't like him,
132
00:06:09,837 --> 00:06:13,839
partly it seems because he used
a lot of German in his speech.
133
00:06:13,941 --> 00:06:16,041
NARRATOR: Erik and his family
were plunged into poverty
134
00:06:16,143 --> 00:06:18,977
as his father searched for work.
135
00:06:19,079 --> 00:06:20,812
Houdini later said
in an interview,
136
00:06:20,948 --> 00:06:23,315
we had four addresses
in three years.
137
00:06:23,417 --> 00:06:28,186
He said, such hardships
became our lot that I really
138
00:06:28,288 --> 00:06:31,123
don't want to talk about
it, and he actually wept.
139
00:06:31,225 --> 00:06:32,858
NARRATOR: The Weisz's
moved to New York in 1888
140
00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,060
to an East side tenement.
141
00:06:35,162 --> 00:06:37,829
Erik took odd jobs
to help the family.
142
00:06:37,931 --> 00:06:41,600
Erik Weisz went out in
his messenger boy outfit,
143
00:06:41,702 --> 00:06:42,234
and he made a sign for the hat.
144
00:06:44,605 --> 00:06:48,340
put a dime in the
messenger boy's hat.
145
00:06:48,442 --> 00:06:51,376
And he came back
with a lot of money,
146
00:06:51,478 --> 00:06:54,179
and he hit it all
over his clothes.
147
00:06:54,281 --> 00:06:56,415
And he said to his
mother, shake me.
148
00:06:56,517 --> 00:06:58,183
And she shook him and the
money fell down to the floor,
149
00:06:58,285 --> 00:06:59,751
and he said, see, I'm magic.
150
00:06:59,853 --> 00:07:02,454
NARRATOR: He was introduced to
magic by the traveling circuses
151
00:07:02,556 --> 00:07:04,256
that came through town.
152
00:07:04,358 --> 00:07:07,325
He became obsessed with how
these illusions were performed.
153
00:07:07,428 --> 00:07:10,262
In his spare time, he lifted
weights to build his physique
154
00:07:10,364 --> 00:07:12,898
and worked to develop
acrobatic skills.
155
00:07:13,033 --> 00:07:15,300
By the time he
was about 14, he
156
00:07:15,436 --> 00:07:17,969
was reading every book he could
get his hands on about magic.
157
00:07:18,071 --> 00:07:20,539
NARRATOR: To earn money for his
family, Erik worked as a cutter
158
00:07:20,641 --> 00:07:22,974
in a necktie factory.
159
00:07:23,076 --> 00:07:26,511
He was about 15 years old, and
the boy who worked next to him
160
00:07:26,647 --> 00:07:27,345
was about 18.
161
00:07:33,053 --> 00:07:36,321
I'm reading this book by a
magician named Robert Houdin.
162
00:07:36,423 --> 00:07:38,423
NARRATOR: The
French born conjurer
163
00:07:38,525 --> 00:07:42,527
Robert Houdin revolutionized
magic in the mid 1800s
164
00:07:42,629 --> 00:07:44,863
and inspired a new
breed of magician.
165
00:07:44,965 --> 00:07:48,066
What Robert Houdin
did was that he took
166
00:07:48,168 --> 00:07:50,535
magic out of the realm
of the kind of ephemeral
167
00:07:50,637 --> 00:07:53,905
perhaps spiritual perhaps
religious, and he said,
168
00:07:54,007 --> 00:07:56,241
there are scientific reasons
for why this is going on.
169
00:07:56,343 --> 00:08:00,145
Robert Houdin said that magic
was going to be a performance.
170
00:08:00,247 --> 00:08:03,181
It was in a theater and it had
a scientific basis behind it.
171
00:08:03,283 --> 00:08:06,284
And his idea was never
forget I'm not a magician,
172
00:08:06,386 --> 00:08:08,987
but I'm an actor
playing a magician.
173
00:08:09,089 --> 00:08:11,323
Erik thought that the name
Robert Houdin was pronounced
174
00:08:11,425 --> 00:08:14,125
Robert Houdeen, and
he said to Jacob,
175
00:08:14,228 --> 00:08:16,328
I want to be just
like Robert Houdin.
176
00:08:16,430 --> 00:08:19,598
And Jacob said, well, you know,
if you add an I to Houdin that
177
00:08:19,700 --> 00:08:22,133
would mean like
Houdin in French.
178
00:08:22,236 --> 00:08:23,502
Houdini.
179
00:08:23,604 --> 00:08:25,470
Houdini.
180
00:08:25,572 --> 00:08:26,171
NARRATOR: Presto.
181
00:08:31,411 --> 00:08:33,812
Harry came from a corruption
of his real name Erik.
182
00:08:33,914 --> 00:08:37,349
As a boy, Erik, he was
called by his friends Ehri,
183
00:08:37,451 --> 00:08:40,785
and that easily enough,
naturally enough, became Harry.
184
00:08:40,888 --> 00:08:43,088
NARRATOR: Houdini partnered
with his friend Jacob calling
185
00:08:43,190 --> 00:08:45,323
themselves the Brothers Houdini.
186
00:08:45,425 --> 00:08:47,459
They picked up work in
circuses and sideshows,
187
00:08:47,561 --> 00:08:50,962
but they needed something
to set them apart,
188
00:08:51,064 --> 00:08:53,064
something that would amaze
audiences, something that would
189
00:08:53,166 --> 00:08:55,033
bring them success.
190
00:08:55,135 --> 00:08:58,036
And so they created an act
they called Metamorphosis.
191
00:08:58,138 --> 00:09:05,911
They closed the act with
Harry having his hands tied
192
00:09:06,013 --> 00:09:07,979
and then being tied in a
sack, and then the sack
193
00:09:08,115 --> 00:09:09,781
is locked in a box.
194
00:09:09,883 --> 00:09:13,919
And they pull a cabinet around
it, and in the count of 1,
195
00:09:14,021 --> 00:09:16,021
2, 3, they change places.
196
00:09:16,123 --> 00:09:18,290
So now Harry is out of
the box and the box is all
197
00:09:18,392 --> 00:09:20,559
tied up and locked and
they untie the box,
198
00:09:20,661 --> 00:09:22,861
and they unlock the box,
and they open it up.
199
00:09:22,963 --> 00:09:25,030
And there's the bag, and
the bag is still tied.
200
00:09:25,165 --> 00:09:26,998
And they untie the bag,
and there is Jacob Hyman
201
00:09:27,100 --> 00:09:28,900
and his hands are tied.
202
00:09:29,069 --> 00:09:30,835
So that was their big effect.
203
00:09:30,938 --> 00:09:33,104
It was called the metamorphosis.
204
00:09:33,206 --> 00:09:37,208
NARRATOR: As Houdini was finally
finding some success on stage,
205
00:09:37,311 --> 00:09:40,245
off stage he faced
a devastating blow.
206
00:09:40,347 --> 00:09:43,014
His 63-year-old father
was dying of cancer.
207
00:09:43,116 --> 00:09:46,184
He promised his father on
his father's death bed he would
208
00:09:46,286 --> 00:09:50,488
take care of Mom for the rest of
his life, and he certainly did.
209
00:09:50,591 --> 00:09:53,391
NARRATOR: The Brothers Houdini,
now with Harry's real brother
210
00:09:53,493 --> 00:09:56,628
Hardeen, took to the road
making money to send home,
211
00:09:56,730 --> 00:10:00,432
but it wasn't long before
another woman entered his life.
212
00:10:00,534 --> 00:10:03,234
NARRATOR: Harry met a girl
named Beatrice Rahner,
213
00:10:03,337 --> 00:10:05,236
and she was doing a
song and dance act.
214
00:10:05,372 --> 00:10:06,705
Rosabelle, I
think, was the song
215
00:10:06,807 --> 00:10:08,840
that she was singing with
the sister act she was
216
00:10:08,942 --> 00:10:12,344
in before Houdini met
her, and so that song had
217
00:10:12,479 --> 00:10:15,347
this sort of very
romantic quality to them.
218
00:10:15,449 --> 00:10:19,517
(SINGING) There was a maiden
sweet Rosabelle, the fairest
219
00:10:19,620 --> 00:10:21,319
of all that I know.
220
00:10:21,421 --> 00:10:28,259
All the beauties of heaven
and the riches here below.
221
00:10:28,362 --> 00:10:29,561
They fell in love
at first sight,
222
00:10:29,663 --> 00:10:31,796
and I believe that Harry
Houdini and Beatrice Rahner were
223
00:10:31,898 --> 00:10:36,534
married 21 days after
they met, June 22, 1894.
224
00:10:36,637 --> 00:10:39,904
He was 20, Bess was just 18.
225
00:10:40,007 --> 00:10:42,340
They traveled together working
circuses and dime shows
226
00:10:42,442 --> 00:10:43,608
for little pay.
227
00:10:43,710 --> 00:10:46,277
For entertainers, playing
the dime museum circuit
228
00:10:46,413 --> 00:10:48,980
was the first or last stop.
229
00:10:49,082 --> 00:10:51,683
Houdini started off in the
lowest rungs of show business
230
00:10:51,785 --> 00:10:55,754
when he was in his late
teens, so-called dime museums,
231
00:10:55,856 --> 00:10:57,856
which were sometimes
called freak shows.
232
00:10:57,958 --> 00:10:59,324
You would have
people coming through
233
00:10:59,426 --> 00:11:02,360
to see something amazing,
to see something wonderful,
234
00:11:02,462 --> 00:11:04,195
whatever that might be,
and that can be all the way
235
00:11:04,297 --> 00:11:06,698
from any sort of
freaks to things found
236
00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:09,467
at the ends of the Earth, to
performances that people would
237
00:11:09,569 --> 00:11:11,436
put on.
238
00:11:11,538 --> 00:11:13,338
NARRATOR: Among the
entertainers was Harry Houdini,
239
00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:17,976
performing 9 to 14 shows a day
with the tiny and nimble Bess.
240
00:11:18,078 --> 00:11:20,679
Metamorphosis was
their signature act,
241
00:11:20,781 --> 00:11:22,947
and Houdini was constantly
refining it, switching starting
242
00:11:23,050 --> 00:11:25,617
positions with Bess,
or tying his hands
243
00:11:25,719 --> 00:11:27,419
to make it harder to escape.
244
00:11:27,521 --> 00:11:29,621
But when he began inviting
audience members to restrain
245
00:11:29,723 --> 00:11:33,158
him in handcuffs, he
discovered a novel twist
246
00:11:33,260 --> 00:11:35,093
that would launch him
from the dime museums
247
00:11:35,195 --> 00:11:36,561
onto the world stage.
248
00:11:40,734 --> 00:11:41,800
Harry Houdini was
traveling from town
249
00:11:41,935 --> 00:11:44,736
to town performing his signature
handcuff, rope, and trunk
250
00:11:44,838 --> 00:11:46,805
escapes.
251
00:11:46,907 --> 00:11:49,741
Enlisting spectators from
the audience and members
252
00:11:49,843 --> 00:11:52,977
of the local police, he
challenged them to lock him
253
00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,146
in their best cuffs.
254
00:11:55,248 --> 00:11:58,283
In a few moments,
he would escape.
255
00:11:58,385 --> 00:12:02,520
The bold stunt made headlines
wherever he went and launched
256
00:12:02,622 --> 00:12:05,323
Houdini from the lowly
dime museums and circuses
257
00:12:05,425 --> 00:12:09,294
to the vaudeville stage.
258
00:12:09,396 --> 00:12:14,265
He was in St. Paul, Minnesota,
and a show business legend,
259
00:12:14,367 --> 00:12:18,303
the producer Martin Beck,
happened to see his act.
260
00:12:18,405 --> 00:12:21,306
NARRATOR: Vaudeville tycoon
Martin Beck controlled a chain
261
00:12:21,408 --> 00:12:25,076
of theaters that extended from
Chicago to the Pacific coast.
262
00:12:25,178 --> 00:12:27,312
He said, you know, I think
you're a rotten showman.
263
00:12:27,414 --> 00:12:28,980
You do all this stuff
with the pigeons
264
00:12:29,082 --> 00:12:32,751
and the rabbits and all this
little magic and nobody cares.
265
00:12:32,853 --> 00:12:35,386
The handcuff thing you
do and that box trick you
266
00:12:35,489 --> 00:12:38,156
and your wife do, now if you
just concentrated on that,
267
00:12:38,258 --> 00:12:40,225
I could make you a headliner.
268
00:12:40,327 --> 00:12:42,894
NARRATOR: Beck made
good on his promise.
269
00:12:42,996 --> 00:12:46,097
It was 1899 and Houdini was 25.
270
00:12:46,199 --> 00:12:48,733
His life was about to change.
271
00:12:48,835 --> 00:12:51,236
No more small town
one night stands.
272
00:12:51,338 --> 00:12:56,841
Next stop, vaudeville,
Chicago, Kansas City, Denver,
273
00:12:56,943 --> 00:12:59,377
and San Francisco.
274
00:12:59,479 --> 00:13:01,012
Vaudeville was now a new
form of really basically middle
275
00:13:01,114 --> 00:13:02,914
class entertainment.
276
00:13:03,016 --> 00:13:05,150
It was something that
was just for the masses
277
00:13:05,252 --> 00:13:07,318
rather than people
who are sophisticated,
278
00:13:07,420 --> 00:13:11,790
and that would be a group of
entertainers, 10, 12 at a time,
279
00:13:11,892 --> 00:13:15,927
different acts would come to
a town and do their shtick.
280
00:13:16,029 --> 00:13:19,764
There would be a singer,
a dancer, a dog act.
281
00:13:19,866 --> 00:13:22,233
You'd have trained
rats and cats.
282
00:13:22,335 --> 00:13:24,636
You'd have a guy who got out
with like a big inflatable
283
00:13:24,738 --> 00:13:27,372
rubber owl and would
squeeze it so that he'd
284
00:13:27,474 --> 00:13:29,274
like to play the Star
Spangled banner that way.
285
00:13:29,376 --> 00:13:32,277
NARRATOR: Vaudeville made a
wonderful platform for magic.
286
00:13:32,379 --> 00:13:34,679
Houdini's act fit in perfectly.
287
00:13:34,781 --> 00:13:36,815
Houdini immediately became
a great hit in vaudeville.
288
00:13:36,917 --> 00:13:39,517
After I think only
maybe two years,
289
00:13:39,619 --> 00:13:41,252
he was the highest paid
entertainer in vaudeville.
290
00:13:41,354 --> 00:13:43,288
He was getting more
money than anyone else.
291
00:13:43,390 --> 00:13:45,323
I think about $1,500 a week.
292
00:13:45,425 --> 00:13:46,825
He could name his own venue.
293
00:13:46,927 --> 00:13:49,093
There were times where
he played the Hippodrome.
294
00:13:49,229 --> 00:13:51,996
There'd be 6,000 people
there, and he did
295
00:13:52,098 --> 00:13:53,798
walk with whoever he wanted to.
296
00:13:53,900 --> 00:13:56,501
NARRATOR: Houdini
fed off the applause
297
00:13:56,603 --> 00:13:58,837
from the packed houses, and
as Martin Beck predicted,
298
00:13:58,939 --> 00:14:02,073
his new handcuff trick
was the big draw.
299
00:14:02,175 --> 00:14:04,776
He would challenge people
to bring their own handcuffs.
300
00:14:04,878 --> 00:14:06,177
I want police handcuffs.
301
00:14:06,279 --> 00:14:08,146
I want antique handcuffs.
302
00:14:08,248 --> 00:14:10,849
Bring me whatever you
have, and he would escape.
303
00:14:10,951 --> 00:14:13,084
He escaped from the
most complicated handcuffs
304
00:14:13,186 --> 00:14:13,585
in the world.
305
00:14:16,356 --> 00:14:18,623
Some of them had double,
triple locks on them.
306
00:14:18,725 --> 00:14:21,426
They were as
complicated as safes.
307
00:14:21,528 --> 00:14:25,964
He would be put in 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6 pairs of handcuffs
308
00:14:26,066 --> 00:14:28,399
on his wrists and then
they'd put some manacles
309
00:14:28,501 --> 00:14:30,501
on his ankles, and then they'd
handcuff the ankle manacles
310
00:14:30,604 --> 00:14:31,703
to the wrist cuffs.
311
00:14:31,805 --> 00:14:36,207
And then he would go
into a little cabinet,
312
00:14:36,309 --> 00:14:40,211
and while he was in the cabinet,
he would talk to the audience.
313
00:14:40,313 --> 00:14:45,884
And in varying lengths of time,
it could be a few seconds,
314
00:14:46,019 --> 00:14:51,823
it could be hours, he would
come out, and he would be free.
315
00:14:51,925 --> 00:14:55,093
These are rare Rankin
white metal with patina,
316
00:14:55,195 --> 00:14:57,095
non-adjustable
half-moon handcuffs,
317
00:14:57,197 --> 00:15:01,132
and you'll say $2,500?
318
00:15:01,234 --> 00:15:01,933
$2,500, you going
to make it now?
319
00:15:05,272 --> 00:15:07,805
You're going to make it now
$3,500 in the net. $4,000.
320
00:15:07,908 --> 00:15:07,939
Thank you, sir.
321
00:15:10,110 --> 00:15:12,443
Sold at $4,000, sir.
322
00:15:12,545 --> 00:15:13,678
Have a lot of fun with those.
323
00:15:17,951 --> 00:15:20,718
NARRATOR: Houdini never revealed
the secret of his handcuff
324
00:15:20,820 --> 00:15:23,655
escapes, but the mystery
begins to unravel looking
325
00:15:23,790 --> 00:15:25,757
at the hundreds of keys
and lock picks on display
326
00:15:25,859 --> 00:15:27,091
at the auction.
327
00:15:27,193 --> 00:15:29,827
Theories abound
about how Houdini
328
00:15:29,930 --> 00:15:31,729
came by his knowledge of locks.
329
00:15:31,831 --> 00:15:35,633
There are stories that he
apprenticed with a locksmith,
330
00:15:35,735 --> 00:15:38,503
or that he learned at
a tool and die shop.
331
00:15:38,605 --> 00:15:40,305
This much is known.
332
00:15:40,407 --> 00:15:43,207
Houdini had a
masterful understanding
333
00:15:43,310 --> 00:15:45,276
of the interior of locks.
334
00:15:45,378 --> 00:15:47,745
The secret in getting
out of handcuffs and locks
335
00:15:47,847 --> 00:15:50,148
is knowing what they
look like inside.
336
00:15:50,250 --> 00:15:53,451
You have to be able to visualize
the inside of the lock just
337
00:15:53,553 --> 00:15:54,819
to know what you're
doing in there.
338
00:15:54,921 --> 00:15:57,221
Houdini knew what they
looked like inside,
339
00:15:57,324 --> 00:16:01,926
and how they operated the
way that, gee, I don't know,
340
00:16:02,028 --> 00:16:05,730
a batter or something knows
screwballs and fastballs,
341
00:16:05,832 --> 00:16:07,432
can recognize a lot
of different pitches.
342
00:16:07,534 --> 00:16:10,501
The fact that he got
out of handcuffs was real.
343
00:16:10,603 --> 00:16:12,837
There was nothing fake about it.
344
00:16:12,939 --> 00:16:16,541
The fake was where
did he hide the key?
345
00:16:16,643 --> 00:16:18,743
Among Houdini's
effects when he
346
00:16:18,845 --> 00:16:22,013
died was a pouch, his
leather pouches numbered,
347
00:16:22,115 --> 00:16:24,916
must be 30, 40, 50 of them.
348
00:16:25,018 --> 00:16:28,353
Some people believe that he used
the pouches as a filing system
349
00:16:28,455 --> 00:16:31,522
for his lock picks, so that
any kind of lock that presented
350
00:16:31,624 --> 00:16:34,158
itself, he would be able
to get to the kind of pick
351
00:16:34,260 --> 00:16:36,494
that he needed.
352
00:16:36,596 --> 00:16:38,830
How did he know that if some
police sergeant put on him
353
00:16:38,932 --> 00:16:43,101
a certain kind of cuff he needed
this particular pick to get out
354
00:16:43,203 --> 00:16:44,669
of it?
355
00:16:44,771 --> 00:16:47,972
He was able to know and he
was able to somehow probably
356
00:16:48,074 --> 00:16:52,443
suggest it to his assistants
or to somebody what
357
00:16:52,545 --> 00:16:52,944
his system was.
358
00:16:55,982 --> 00:16:59,617
When Houdini was a
kid, he lost a few teeth.
359
00:16:59,719 --> 00:17:02,220
He was trying to do an act
known as the Iron Mouth Act.
360
00:17:02,322 --> 00:17:05,089
That's where you have a
special contraption that
361
00:17:05,191 --> 00:17:06,758
fits inside your mouth
and it kind of form fits,
362
00:17:06,860 --> 00:17:09,060
and the circus performer
hangs from that,
363
00:17:09,162 --> 00:17:11,062
and they spin around, and
they do all this stuff.
364
00:17:11,164 --> 00:17:13,331
And he was a little
boy and he thought
365
00:17:13,433 --> 00:17:15,299
all you did was clamp your
teeth on a rope and hang on,
366
00:17:15,402 --> 00:17:16,801
and so he lost a few teeth.
367
00:17:16,903 --> 00:17:19,537
And so he did have
a dental plate,
368
00:17:19,639 --> 00:17:22,940
and he would take
out this plate and it
369
00:17:23,043 --> 00:17:27,445
had a secret compartment,
and that that was his secret.
370
00:17:27,547 --> 00:17:31,949
Houdini learned exercises
by which he could swallow
371
00:17:32,052 --> 00:17:34,052
say a small ball or a small
egg or something like that
372
00:17:34,154 --> 00:17:35,520
and bring it up again.
373
00:17:35,622 --> 00:17:38,022
Some people think that he
later used that to swallow
374
00:17:38,158 --> 00:17:40,658
and to bring up keys.
375
00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:42,560
The lock pick collection.
376
00:17:42,662 --> 00:17:43,594
And, Ivan, how many
dollars for those?
377
00:17:43,696 --> 00:17:45,396
And what's your
pleasure for it and go,
378
00:17:45,498 --> 00:17:46,297
and a $5,000 bidding go.
379
00:17:46,399 --> 00:17:48,566
$5,000. $7,500?
380
00:17:48,668 --> 00:17:49,400
$10,000 now.
381
00:17:51,471 --> 00:17:52,637
It's only money.
382
00:17:52,739 --> 00:17:55,606
$13,000 we got. $14,000.
383
00:17:55,708 --> 00:17:56,707
You've got to give him $14,000.
384
00:17:56,810 --> 00:17:57,942
Done.
385
00:17:58,044 --> 00:18:01,079
$15,000 here and
now. $15,000 where?
386
00:18:01,181 --> 00:18:04,182
Any more than $14,000?
$14,000 for it.
387
00:18:04,284 --> 00:18:05,183
Hammer's coming down.
388
00:18:05,285 --> 00:18:05,817
Internet's out.
389
00:18:05,919 --> 00:18:15,593
You own it, sir. $14,000.
390
00:18:15,695 --> 00:18:18,096
NARRATOR: But while Houdini
may have had ingenious methods
391
00:18:18,198 --> 00:18:22,200
of hiding and using lock picks,
he had other methods of escape.
392
00:18:22,302 --> 00:18:24,435
When you got eight or
nine people coming up
393
00:18:24,537 --> 00:18:27,004
with different
handcuffs or leg irons,
394
00:18:27,107 --> 00:18:29,774
and you take the handcuffs that
you can get out of the easiest,
395
00:18:29,876 --> 00:18:31,876
and you have them put
them on your wrist.
396
00:18:31,978 --> 00:18:33,978
And the ones you can get
out of the next easiest
397
00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,714
right next to them, and so on.
398
00:18:36,816 --> 00:18:37,348
But the ones you would
have difficulty with
399
00:18:37,484 --> 00:18:40,051
are further up your arm.
400
00:18:40,153 --> 00:18:41,986
After you get the easy
ones off, the others
401
00:18:42,088 --> 00:18:46,090
can be slid off because
they're up higher on your arm.
402
00:18:46,259 --> 00:18:48,493
He said, I'm short.
403
00:18:48,595 --> 00:18:49,694
He said, I use them.
404
00:18:49,829 --> 00:18:52,096
I use everything I have.
405
00:18:52,198 --> 00:18:53,164
Houdini's legs
were kind of bowed
406
00:18:53,266 --> 00:18:55,766
as if he had had rickets
when he was a baby.
407
00:18:55,869 --> 00:19:00,271
And when they would tie ropes
or chains around his legs,
408
00:19:00,373 --> 00:19:02,940
he would have his legs perfectly
straight, which was bowed.
409
00:19:03,042 --> 00:19:04,308
But after they had
finished tying him up,
410
00:19:04,410 --> 00:19:08,446
then he squeezes them together
and the ropes go slack.
411
00:19:08,581 --> 00:19:10,281
NARRATOR: As Houdini's
reputation grew,
412
00:19:10,483 --> 00:19:14,051
he grew even more daring,
performing even more difficult
413
00:19:14,154 --> 00:19:16,354
and thrilling escapes.
414
00:19:16,456 --> 00:19:19,190
He wants to escape from
every form of imprisonment,
415
00:19:19,292 --> 00:19:23,361
from jails, which he does
many times, jails in Boston,
416
00:19:23,463 --> 00:19:25,796
jails all over
the United States.
417
00:19:25,899 --> 00:19:28,566
He starts to know a lot of
sheriffs and police sergeants,
418
00:19:28,668 --> 00:19:32,803
and he keeps lists of the
police all over the world.
419
00:19:32,906 --> 00:19:35,873
NARRATOR: In July
of 1899, Houdini
420
00:19:35,975 --> 00:19:39,343
created a provocative
twist for his jail escape.
421
00:19:39,445 --> 00:19:42,246
He allowed himself to be
locked behind bars wearing just
422
00:19:42,382 --> 00:19:46,017
a loincloth, as if to prove
he wasn't hiding anything.
423
00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:48,019
Somehow he gets
out of the jail cell,
424
00:19:48,121 --> 00:19:50,321
then he takes every prisoner
out of every other jail cell,
425
00:19:50,423 --> 00:19:52,957
and puts them all in
different jail cells
426
00:19:53,059 --> 00:19:56,427
and recovers his clothes
from yet another jail cell,
427
00:19:56,529 --> 00:20:00,998
and makes it out of the cell
block and out of the prison.
428
00:20:01,100 --> 00:20:03,534
There's probably something
a little racy about the fact
429
00:20:03,670 --> 00:20:06,470
that Houdini did most
of that in the nude.
430
00:20:06,573 --> 00:20:08,806
NARRATOR: By spring of
1900, Houdini was again
431
00:20:08,908 --> 00:20:10,208
ready for something new.
432
00:20:10,310 --> 00:20:12,643
His manager Martin Beck
hired an international agent
433
00:20:12,745 --> 00:20:15,980
to book Houdini into
the big European cities.
434
00:20:16,082 --> 00:20:20,184
He billed himself as the King
of Handcuffs and set sail
435
00:20:20,286 --> 00:20:21,919
for London.
436
00:20:22,021 --> 00:20:24,021
He arrived to discover not a
single show had been booked
437
00:20:24,123 --> 00:20:26,524
and no one knew who he was.
438
00:20:26,626 --> 00:20:28,526
But Houdini was
resourceful, and when
439
00:20:28,628 --> 00:20:30,995
the manager of the
Alhambra Theater in tow,
440
00:20:31,097 --> 00:20:33,698
he marched into the local
office of Scotland Yard.
441
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:36,000
Here is this
instinctive showman,
442
00:20:36,102 --> 00:20:38,636
and he went on down
to Scotland Yard,
443
00:20:38,738 --> 00:20:42,573
and they introduced themselves
to Superintendent Melville.
444
00:20:42,675 --> 00:20:46,611
And Superintendent Melville took
a pair of British handcuffs,
445
00:20:46,713 --> 00:20:50,314
and he locked Houdini's arms
around a pillar, and said,
446
00:20:50,416 --> 00:20:52,216
we'll be back for you
in an hour, young man.
447
00:20:52,318 --> 00:20:54,418
This is what we do to Americans
who come over here and get
448
00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:56,320
into trouble.
449
00:20:56,422 --> 00:20:58,889
And Houdini stepped
away from the pillar,
450
00:20:58,992 --> 00:21:01,158
the cuffs were
opened in his hand,
451
00:21:01,261 --> 00:21:03,694
and he said, I'll go with you.
452
00:21:03,796 --> 00:21:04,895
This is how we
Americans get free.
453
00:21:04,998 --> 00:21:07,164
NARRATOR: Houdini
was instantly booked
454
00:21:07,267 --> 00:21:08,899
for a week at the Alhambra.
455
00:21:09,002 --> 00:21:12,737
His show was extended
and then held over again.
456
00:21:12,839 --> 00:21:14,538
During the next
five years, Houdini
457
00:21:14,641 --> 00:21:16,173
toured Britain
and the continent,
458
00:21:16,276 --> 00:21:17,975
escaping from jail
cells during the day
459
00:21:18,144 --> 00:21:21,445
and playing to packed
houses at night.
460
00:21:21,547 --> 00:21:24,849
Pretty good, he wrote
for dime museum Harry.
461
00:21:24,951 --> 00:21:27,485
From Houdini's great
tour of Europe one
462
00:21:27,587 --> 00:21:29,754
escape stands
above all the rest.
463
00:21:29,856 --> 00:21:32,757
I have in my collection
the mirror cuffs,
464
00:21:32,859 --> 00:21:34,258
which are a very, very
famous set of handcuffs.
465
00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:37,528
He was challenged to escape from
these handcuffs that took years
466
00:21:37,630 --> 00:21:38,796
to make.
467
00:21:38,898 --> 00:21:42,333
It had 13 tumblers, pins they
call them in that kind of lock,
468
00:21:42,435 --> 00:21:45,770
and the lock was shaped like
a letter B. So the bar is here
469
00:21:45,872 --> 00:21:48,639
and his hands are like this,
and this guy locks Houdini
470
00:21:48,741 --> 00:21:50,441
in the cuffs, and Houdini
said, I have been locked
471
00:21:50,543 --> 00:21:53,444
in a pair of handcuffs, which
it has taken a British mechanic
472
00:21:53,546 --> 00:21:56,180
five years to make.
473
00:21:56,282 --> 00:21:58,683
I do not know whether
I can escape or not,
474
00:21:58,785 --> 00:22:01,619
but I can assure you
I'm going to try.
475
00:22:01,721 --> 00:22:04,055
NARRATOR: With that, Houdini
slipped behind his curtain
476
00:22:04,157 --> 00:22:06,624
and began working on
setting himself free.
477
00:22:06,726 --> 00:22:09,493
He didn't appear for 5
minutes, 10 minutes, 15
478
00:22:09,595 --> 00:22:11,362
minutes, 20 minutes.
479
00:22:11,464 --> 00:22:12,530
Meanwhile, the audience
was mesmerized just
480
00:22:12,699 --> 00:22:14,665
looking at the curtain.
481
00:22:14,767 --> 00:22:17,935
And finally, after
25 minutes, he
482
00:22:18,037 --> 00:22:19,704
came out and asked
for a glass of water.
483
00:22:19,806 --> 00:22:21,772
He asked the guy to
take the handcuffs off
484
00:22:21,874 --> 00:22:24,175
because his coat was
cramping his movements,
485
00:22:24,277 --> 00:22:25,976
and the guy said, Mr. Houdini,
I can't unlock these cuffs
486
00:22:26,179 --> 00:22:27,978
for you.
487
00:22:28,081 --> 00:22:33,150
This is a challenge, and so
Houdini then gets a penknife
488
00:22:33,252 --> 00:22:35,119
out of his waistcoat pocket.
489
00:22:35,221 --> 00:22:38,556
And he pulls his frock
coat up over his head
490
00:22:38,658 --> 00:22:41,892
and he slices it to ribbons
and cuts it off his body,
491
00:22:41,994 --> 00:22:44,795
and goes back into his
little house to work.
492
00:22:44,897 --> 00:22:46,297
NARRATOR: All eyes
in the packed house
493
00:22:46,399 --> 00:22:48,265
were on the motionless curtain.
494
00:22:48,368 --> 00:22:52,069
Minutes, then an hour ticked
by as Houdini worked his cuffs.
495
00:22:52,171 --> 00:22:54,638
After he worked
on them for a while,
496
00:22:54,741 --> 00:22:57,975
his wife Bess came out on the
stage and gave him a kiss,
497
00:22:58,077 --> 00:23:00,711
and some people believe that
she passed the key or the pick
498
00:23:00,847 --> 00:23:02,813
to him when they kissed.
499
00:23:02,915 --> 00:23:04,415
Possible.
500
00:23:04,517 --> 00:23:08,119
Then, the orchestra began
playing a stirring march.
501
00:23:08,254 --> 00:23:10,121
Houdini had been in the
cabinet exactly one hour
502
00:23:10,256 --> 00:23:12,957
and 7 minutes by this time.
503
00:23:13,059 --> 00:23:15,926
All right, and just as we're
getting to the last few bars
504
00:23:16,062 --> 00:23:19,864
of the stirring march,
bum bum pa bump.
505
00:23:19,966 --> 00:23:22,099
He comes out with the
cuffs off, and these people
506
00:23:22,201 --> 00:23:24,435
have been looking at
the cabinet for the most
507
00:23:24,537 --> 00:23:28,873
part for an hour and 10
minutes and they went crazy.
508
00:23:28,975 --> 00:23:30,341
I mean, I think at the
moment that he came out
509
00:23:30,443 --> 00:23:33,744
with those cuffs off they
were ready to walk out.
510
00:23:33,846 --> 00:23:37,014
They had reached their breaking
point, but he knew that.
511
00:23:37,116 --> 00:23:40,184
And he comes out with
the super cuff defeated,
512
00:23:40,286 --> 00:23:43,421
and the paper reported the
men stood on their chairs
513
00:23:43,523 --> 00:23:45,423
and the women waved
their handkerchiefs,
514
00:23:45,525 --> 00:23:47,658
and strangers hugged each other.
515
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,362
I mean, it sounds like the
night that Ali beat Foreman.
516
00:23:51,464 --> 00:23:53,497
NARRATOR: Was the
curtain hiding a trick,
517
00:23:53,599 --> 00:23:56,133
was something hidden in the
passionate kiss between husband
518
00:23:56,235 --> 00:23:56,934
and wife?
519
00:23:57,036 --> 00:24:00,204
Surprisingly, no one asked.
520
00:24:00,306 --> 00:24:01,939
Houdini had the audience
just where he wanted them,
521
00:24:02,041 --> 00:24:05,376
in the palms of
his magical hands.
522
00:24:05,478 --> 00:24:07,278
Will Rogers told
this wonderful story.
523
00:24:07,380 --> 00:24:10,714
He said, I was working
with Houdini at a theater,
524
00:24:10,817 --> 00:24:15,052
and Houdini had been challenged
by the local chief of police
525
00:24:15,154 --> 00:24:17,621
to get out of this
special pair of handcuffs.
526
00:24:17,723 --> 00:24:20,925
Well, he has the
handcuffs locked on,
527
00:24:21,027 --> 00:24:21,625
and he goes into
his little cabinet,
528
00:24:21,727 --> 00:24:24,028
and the orchestra plays.
529
00:24:24,130 --> 00:24:27,998
And every once in a while
Houdini would come out,
530
00:24:28,134 --> 00:24:29,366
and he'd look at the
handcuffs in the light
531
00:24:29,469 --> 00:24:33,204
and he'd study them, then he
go back into his little house.
532
00:24:33,306 --> 00:24:34,038
And Will says, what
he was really doing
533
00:24:34,140 --> 00:24:36,340
was sizing up that audience.
534
00:24:36,476 --> 00:24:39,743
Nobody could ever do
that better than Houdini.
535
00:24:39,846 --> 00:24:41,278
Well, anyway, it was about
an hour and 10 minutes
536
00:24:41,380 --> 00:24:43,747
and finally Houdini came
out, and he had the cuffs off
537
00:24:43,850 --> 00:24:46,917
and the audience went crazy.
538
00:24:47,019 --> 00:24:50,387
And Will had been waiting
offstage with his horse
539
00:24:50,490 --> 00:24:52,156
to do his roping act.
540
00:24:52,258 --> 00:24:53,924
He said, I might as
well have rode my horse
541
00:24:54,026 --> 00:24:56,293
back to the stable as rode it
out there on that stage for all
542
00:24:56,395 --> 00:24:58,796
they cared.
543
00:24:58,898 --> 00:25:02,299
NARRATOR: Wherever he went,
Houdini electrified audiences,
544
00:25:02,401 --> 00:25:05,803
but his biggest and most
daring stunts lay just ahead.
545
00:25:10,910 --> 00:25:13,744
NARRATOR: Between 1890 and
1920, 12 million people
546
00:25:13,846 --> 00:25:16,046
poured into the US from
every corner of the globe
547
00:25:16,148 --> 00:25:17,882
seeking a better life.
548
00:25:17,984 --> 00:25:21,085
But in cities like New York,
they found crowded tenements
549
00:25:21,187 --> 00:25:23,587
and dangerous or dead end jobs.
550
00:25:23,689 --> 00:25:27,458
They dreamed of escape, and
Houdini, the escape artist,
551
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,361
became a symbol of liberation.
552
00:25:30,463 --> 00:25:31,929
Back in those
days, everyone needed
553
00:25:32,031 --> 00:25:33,697
to escape from their problems.
554
00:25:33,799 --> 00:25:35,666
It was kind of not the
greatest time in the world,
555
00:25:35,768 --> 00:25:37,468
and he was this guy that
could do everything.
556
00:25:37,570 --> 00:25:40,271
Could get out of any jail
cell, get out of any handcuffs,
557
00:25:40,373 --> 00:25:41,906
would meet the challenge.
558
00:25:42,008 --> 00:25:44,074
So the idea of that, the
whole symbol of that, I think,
559
00:25:44,176 --> 00:25:45,376
was quite brilliant
and quite great.
560
00:25:45,478 --> 00:25:49,079
Any spectacle that
engages and captures
561
00:25:49,181 --> 00:25:52,750
the imagination of
people says something
562
00:25:52,852 --> 00:25:54,285
to them about themselves.
563
00:25:54,420 --> 00:25:57,454
I mean, it holds up a giant
mirror, and it reverberates.
564
00:25:57,557 --> 00:26:01,859
Having liberated himself from
every kind of handcuff and jail
565
00:26:01,961 --> 00:26:05,262
cell, Houdini sought new
challenges for his escape act.
566
00:26:05,364 --> 00:26:09,900
Houdini was in Halifax,
Nova Scotia in 1896,
567
00:26:10,002 --> 00:26:13,971
and he visited an insane asylum.
568
00:26:14,140 --> 00:26:17,107
And he observed a patient trying
to get out of the straitjacket.
569
00:26:17,209 --> 00:26:19,577
And he decided that,
gee, that would be
570
00:26:19,679 --> 00:26:22,980
great to use as a performance.
571
00:26:23,082 --> 00:26:24,582
NARRATOR: The buckled
and belted restraint
572
00:26:24,684 --> 00:26:26,283
bound a man like a mummy.
573
00:26:26,385 --> 00:26:28,786
And in 1899, this
straitjacket escape
574
00:26:28,888 --> 00:26:32,189
became the highlight of
Houdini's vaudeville act.
575
00:26:32,291 --> 00:26:33,924
He'd go into
his little cabinet
576
00:26:34,026 --> 00:26:36,927
and come out 15 minutes
later looking pretty terrible
577
00:26:37,029 --> 00:26:39,029
with his collar all askew.
578
00:26:39,231 --> 00:26:40,898
But people began to think
that maybe there was a trap
579
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,068
door there, and then assistant
came out of the trap door
580
00:26:44,170 --> 00:26:45,135
and helped him.
581
00:26:47,773 --> 00:26:49,840
the stunt, suggested an
even more dramatic way
582
00:26:49,976 --> 00:26:51,809
to perform the escape.
583
00:26:51,911 --> 00:26:53,143
He said you'll get
better results with it
584
00:26:53,245 --> 00:26:54,745
in full view of the audience.
585
00:26:54,847 --> 00:26:56,614
The audience could see
him struggling to get out
586
00:26:56,716 --> 00:27:00,184
of the straitjacket instead of
struggling privately inside.
587
00:27:00,286 --> 00:27:02,586
The challenge
to a straitjacket
588
00:27:02,688 --> 00:27:06,090
is mostly to make it
interesting to get out of.
589
00:27:06,192 --> 00:27:07,224
Because getting out
of a straitjacket
590
00:27:07,426 --> 00:27:10,027
is little more than
sort of wiggling a lot.
591
00:27:10,129 --> 00:27:13,330
NARRATOR: Showmanship played
a big role in this routine.
592
00:27:13,432 --> 00:27:14,898
Let's put it
this way, you know,
593
00:27:15,001 --> 00:27:18,369
he made it look harder
than it sometimes was.
594
00:27:18,471 --> 00:27:19,703
But that's good.
595
00:27:19,805 --> 00:27:22,339
That's part of showmanship.
596
00:27:22,441 --> 00:27:24,141
You had to feel the sweat,
you had to feel the blood,
597
00:27:24,243 --> 00:27:26,577
you had to feel the idea that
whatever he was doing on stage
598
00:27:26,679 --> 00:27:30,347
in order to entertain you, he
was going to get out even if it
599
00:27:30,449 --> 00:27:32,916
almost killed him.
600
00:27:33,019 --> 00:27:34,618
When you saw the evidence
on the other side
601
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:36,920
with his collar frayed
and literally blood coming
602
00:27:37,023 --> 00:27:41,458
from his palm sometimes, and
stumbling and unable to talk,
603
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:43,594
you felt like this was a guy
who had given you your money's
604
00:27:43,696 --> 00:27:45,029
worth.
605
00:27:45,131 --> 00:27:47,931
With worldwide success
came a new set of problems.
606
00:27:48,034 --> 00:27:51,802
By the time he played
at Los Angeles in 1907,
607
00:27:51,904 --> 00:27:55,606
they'd had 50 imitators
doing his act,
608
00:27:55,708 --> 00:27:59,143
and he has a very, very
difficult time bringing
609
00:27:59,245 --> 00:27:59,843
in the people.
610
00:28:02,148 --> 00:28:05,816
worth a $5 bill to me,
and this was killing him.
611
00:28:05,918 --> 00:28:08,218
NARRATOR: Houdini knew he needed
an escape that would be too
612
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:10,487
terrifying to imitate.
613
00:28:10,589 --> 00:28:14,358
He drew his inspiration
from his most intense fear.
614
00:28:14,460 --> 00:28:16,493
Houdini nearly
drowned swimming
615
00:28:16,595 --> 00:28:20,464
in the Fox River near
Appleton, where he grew up.
616
00:28:20,566 --> 00:28:22,733
Many of his greatest feats have
to do with escaping from water,
617
00:28:22,835 --> 00:28:25,536
and possibly the need
to keep showing himself
618
00:28:25,638 --> 00:28:27,671
that he was able
to escape death.
619
00:28:27,773 --> 00:28:29,773
NARRATOR: The trick was risky
and would require a great deal
620
00:28:29,875 --> 00:28:31,742
of practice.
621
00:28:31,944 --> 00:28:33,911
Houdini had an
oversized bathtub
622
00:28:34,013 --> 00:28:36,814
where he could lie under
the water and stretch out.
623
00:28:36,916 --> 00:28:38,549
Houdini practiced
holding his breath,
624
00:28:38,651 --> 00:28:40,984
covering himself with water, and
seeing how long he could stay
625
00:28:41,087 --> 00:28:42,820
submerged.
626
00:28:42,922 --> 00:28:44,354
I think he managed to
do it for 3 minutes.
627
00:28:44,457 --> 00:28:47,991
NARRATOR: Houdini was 33
years old when he introduced
628
00:28:48,094 --> 00:28:50,794
the first of his great
water stunts in 1907.
629
00:28:50,896 --> 00:28:54,398
He called it the Milk Can
Escape and proclaimed it
630
00:28:54,500 --> 00:28:57,201
the best I have ever invented.
631
00:28:57,303 --> 00:28:59,636
In this footage from the
1950s television program
632
00:28:59,739 --> 00:29:02,439
"You Asked For It,"
magician Leo Herby
633
00:29:02,541 --> 00:29:05,375
reenacts Houdini's
famous milk can escape.
634
00:29:05,478 --> 00:29:07,611
You'd see in the middle
of the stage a milk can,
635
00:29:07,713 --> 00:29:10,047
the lid would be attached
to the top of the milk can
636
00:29:10,149 --> 00:29:13,050
by several locks,
and usually Houdini
637
00:29:13,185 --> 00:29:15,619
had members of the
audience bring the locks.
638
00:29:15,721 --> 00:29:18,222
The locks were not
in any way gimmicked.
639
00:29:18,324 --> 00:29:21,792
It was large, but
he was a small man,
640
00:29:21,894 --> 00:29:23,494
and the can looked
small beside him.
641
00:29:23,596 --> 00:29:25,529
And when it was
filled with water
642
00:29:25,631 --> 00:29:28,198
and he squeezed in
with water pouring
643
00:29:28,300 --> 00:29:32,436
over the sides of
the top, he barely
644
00:29:32,538 --> 00:29:33,971
seemed to be able to
squeeze his body into it.
645
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:36,006
NARRATOR: His
genius for theatrics
646
00:29:36,108 --> 00:29:38,342
was as much a part of the act.
647
00:29:38,444 --> 00:29:40,744
Houdini would put a
big clock on the stage
648
00:29:40,846 --> 00:29:44,348
so the audience could see how
long he had been underwater.
649
00:29:44,450 --> 00:29:46,150
He would have himself lowered
in, and he would squeeze in,
650
00:29:46,252 --> 00:29:47,951
and before he
submerged his head,
651
00:29:48,053 --> 00:29:50,554
he would tell the audience, I'm
going to test the audience's
652
00:29:50,656 --> 00:29:53,724
ability to hold its
breath for 1 minute.
653
00:29:53,826 --> 00:29:55,893
So the audience could feel
what he was experiencing
654
00:29:55,995 --> 00:29:57,828
down there when they
let out their breath
655
00:29:57,930 --> 00:29:59,163
or had to take
their next breath.
656
00:29:59,265 --> 00:30:00,731
They would know that that's
the point that they would die
657
00:30:00,833 --> 00:30:01,498
if they were in the tank.
658
00:30:04,603 --> 00:30:06,904
and they lock
handcuffs on his hands
659
00:30:07,006 --> 00:30:08,438
and he plunges under
the water again.
660
00:30:08,541 --> 00:30:11,842
They pour water over his head so
it's filled up to the very top.
661
00:30:11,944 --> 00:30:14,077
They put the top on, and
they padlock the padlocks,
662
00:30:14,180 --> 00:30:15,112
and they pull the
cabinet around it.
663
00:30:15,214 --> 00:30:16,747
You'll be sitting
there and it would
664
00:30:16,849 --> 00:30:20,784
get to be a minute, a
minute and 15 seconds, 20,
665
00:30:20,886 --> 00:30:21,418
and if you were
holding your breath,
666
00:30:23,255 --> 00:30:26,156
Houdini would
be in the milk can
667
00:30:26,258 --> 00:30:29,092
under water for 2 minutes,
3 minutes, whatever it was.
668
00:30:29,195 --> 00:30:32,963
And then suddenly you'd
hear splash, clang,
669
00:30:33,065 --> 00:30:35,933
and the assistants would
take away the screen,
670
00:30:36,035 --> 00:30:39,903
and Houdini would be
all wet and panting,
671
00:30:40,005 --> 00:30:41,905
and the floor would be filled
with water that had overflowed
672
00:30:42,007 --> 00:30:44,041
as he got out of the milk can.
673
00:30:44,143 --> 00:30:48,712
And the milk can would still be
locked with the padlocks on it.
674
00:30:48,814 --> 00:30:51,148
NARRATOR: Of course, there
was a trick to the escape.
675
00:30:51,250 --> 00:30:53,217
After all, Houdini
designed the can,
676
00:30:53,419 --> 00:30:55,219
but the stunt was very real.
677
00:30:55,321 --> 00:30:57,187
He was submerged in water.
678
00:30:57,289 --> 00:30:58,956
It's very scary to do.
679
00:30:59,058 --> 00:31:02,726
I mean, you really are in
the damn thing underwater
680
00:31:02,862 --> 00:31:05,429
for some time, and
it's very frightening.
681
00:31:05,531 --> 00:31:07,197
OK, and the milk can.
682
00:31:07,433 --> 00:31:09,499
Can I have how many dollars
for it? $5,000 I got for it.
683
00:31:09,602 --> 00:31:10,200
$7,500 you got to make it not.
684
00:31:10,302 --> 00:31:11,535
And $7,500.
685
00:31:11,637 --> 00:31:14,304
Any oneThank you.
686
00:31:14,406 --> 00:31:17,741
$10,000 I've got for
it. $12,500 and $15,000.
687
00:31:17,843 --> 00:31:21,078
$15,000, $17,500? $20,000 you've
got to make it now $20,000.
688
00:31:21,180 --> 00:31:23,413
Got to give him $20,
$20,000. $22,500.
689
00:31:23,515 --> 00:31:25,315
And $25,000.
690
00:31:25,417 --> 00:31:26,583
$25,000, and $27,500.
691
00:31:26,685 --> 00:31:28,218
You got to make it 27 and 1/2.
692
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:30,287
You got to give him 27 and
1/2, yes or no? $30,000.
693
00:31:30,389 --> 00:31:31,154
32 and 1/2.
694
00:31:31,257 --> 00:31:32,789
Any more than $30,000?
695
00:31:32,892 --> 00:31:34,091
You're all done
at $30,000 for it.
696
00:31:34,193 --> 00:31:35,626
Oh, $32,500.
697
00:31:35,728 --> 00:31:36,560
You won't want to lose it.
698
00:31:36,662 --> 00:31:38,395
$35,000.
699
00:31:38,497 --> 00:31:39,162
37 and a 1/2, yes or no?
700
00:31:39,365 --> 00:31:40,731
37 and a 1/2 you got to give.
701
00:31:40,833 --> 00:31:42,232
All in and all out.
702
00:31:42,334 --> 00:31:43,500
Any more than 35?
703
00:31:43,602 --> 00:31:46,503
You're all done at
$35,000 for the milk can?
704
00:31:46,605 --> 00:31:47,871
No contents, just the can.
705
00:31:47,973 --> 00:31:54,945
He gets it, $35,000.
706
00:31:55,047 --> 00:31:57,447
Houdini's most
sensational escape
707
00:31:57,549 --> 00:32:01,251
took the fear of entombment
one step further.
708
00:32:01,353 --> 00:32:04,655
Privately, he referred
to it as the upside down,
709
00:32:04,757 --> 00:32:10,427
but publicly called it
the Chinese water torture.
710
00:32:10,529 --> 00:32:14,264
Houdini had this odd interest
in torture among the Chinese.
711
00:32:14,366 --> 00:32:17,668
I mean, he had these
kind of snuff photographs
712
00:32:17,770 --> 00:32:21,104
of Chinese men and
women being tortured.
713
00:32:21,206 --> 00:32:25,876
I suppose that partly was behind
his Chinese water torture cell.
714
00:32:25,978 --> 00:32:30,180
1912, 1913, he comes up with
this water torture cell, which
715
00:32:30,282 --> 00:32:34,117
is beyond the milk can because
we can see him underwater,
716
00:32:34,219 --> 00:32:36,586
and it's just such a
biblical situation of live,
717
00:32:36,722 --> 00:32:38,889
birth, death.
718
00:32:38,991 --> 00:32:41,858
NARRATOR: The tank stood
only 5 and 1/2 feet tall
719
00:32:41,961 --> 00:32:44,795
with a glass front to show
that nothing was hidden.
720
00:32:44,897 --> 00:32:47,331
He'd be sitting on the floor,
and they put these stocks
721
00:32:47,466 --> 00:32:49,232
around him, and
then they pulled him
722
00:32:49,335 --> 00:32:51,301
up over the top of the
water torture cell,
723
00:32:51,403 --> 00:32:54,471
and at the signal, he would
go down into the water torture
724
00:32:54,573 --> 00:32:55,973
cell.
You cou
725
00:32:56,075 --> 00:32:57,341
His hair would be sort
of swimming around
726
00:32:57,543 --> 00:33:00,043
and his mouth would be bubbling.
727
00:33:00,145 --> 00:33:01,011
NARRATOR: The torture
cell presented
728
00:33:04,783 --> 00:33:06,783
and possibly death.
729
00:33:06,885 --> 00:33:08,785
The tension grew as the
transfixed audience watched
730
00:33:08,887 --> 00:33:11,388
Houdini flailing in the water.
731
00:33:11,490 --> 00:33:14,524
It looked as if there were
no possibility of escape.
732
00:33:14,626 --> 00:33:18,395
He would be suspended
upside down in a tank of water
733
00:33:18,497 --> 00:33:22,132
with no ability to
curl up to get air
734
00:33:22,267 --> 00:33:23,667
from the top of the tank.
735
00:33:23,769 --> 00:33:27,704
Houdini set up everything
with the classic ingredient
736
00:33:27,806 --> 00:33:30,474
of theater, which is conflict.
737
00:33:30,576 --> 00:33:33,510
He had a man standing
by with an ax
738
00:33:33,645 --> 00:33:35,746
supposedly to break
the glass in the event
739
00:33:35,848 --> 00:33:38,515
that he hadn't succeeded
in escaping in time.
740
00:33:38,617 --> 00:33:41,184
NARRATOR: Houdini
promised his audience
741
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:43,653
that he honestly and positively
did not expect anything
742
00:33:43,756 --> 00:33:47,624
to happen, but then ominously
warned that accidents will
743
00:33:47,726 --> 00:33:50,460
happen and when least expected.
744
00:33:50,562 --> 00:33:54,064
All of this is really
wonderfully hokey,
745
00:33:54,166 --> 00:33:56,333
because after all, Houdini
built the water torture cell
746
00:33:56,502 --> 00:33:57,367
for himself.
747
00:34:00,672 --> 00:34:03,340
provided it is pretty ludicrous,
and yet, when you're there
748
00:34:03,442 --> 00:34:05,342
in the scene, those
things start to matter.
749
00:34:05,444 --> 00:34:06,910
Those things start to add up.
750
00:34:07,012 --> 00:34:10,113
You start to go along with the
fantasy of a guy standing there
751
00:34:10,215 --> 00:34:12,115
with an ax ready
to break the glass.
752
00:34:12,217 --> 00:34:13,884
Well, maybe there is a risk
that he couldn't possibly
753
00:34:13,986 --> 00:34:15,685
get out in time.
754
00:34:15,788 --> 00:34:18,221
NARRATOR: The audience
bought into it.
755
00:34:18,323 --> 00:34:20,624
People would panic
and leave the theater.
756
00:34:20,726 --> 00:34:23,660
Thousands watched Houdini
flaunt danger wondering
757
00:34:23,762 --> 00:34:26,830
if this time, before their eyes,
the invincible escape artist
758
00:34:26,932 --> 00:34:29,733
might finally fail.
759
00:34:29,835 --> 00:34:31,301
It's not surprising
that he would
760
00:34:31,403 --> 00:34:33,904
go for the scariest
possible stuff.
761
00:34:34,006 --> 00:34:38,442
The joy of art is being able
to be in the jaws of death
762
00:34:38,544 --> 00:34:40,210
without any risk.
763
00:34:40,312 --> 00:34:42,345
When you're on a
roller coaster, you
764
00:34:42,448 --> 00:34:43,780
feel when you're at the
top of the roller coaster
765
00:34:43,882 --> 00:34:46,116
like you're about to die.
766
00:34:46,218 --> 00:34:49,286
And simultaneously you know
you're not about to die.
767
00:34:49,388 --> 00:34:50,253
That's the greatest
feeling in the world.
768
00:34:50,355 --> 00:34:52,255
That's what art is about.
769
00:34:52,357 --> 00:34:54,724
And that's what Houdini
was able to give us.
770
00:34:54,827 --> 00:34:55,358
Take a look, guys.
771
00:34:59,031 --> 00:35:00,764
It was the first year
that Houdini introduced
772
00:35:00,866 --> 00:35:03,433
the water torture cell, and,
Ivan, how many dollars for it?
773
00:35:03,602 --> 00:35:05,602
$2,500 all over
the house. $3,000.
774
00:35:05,704 --> 00:35:09,473
I got $3,500 and $5,000,
and $6,000, and $7,000.
775
00:35:09,575 --> 00:35:09,739
Back to you.
776
00:35:13,378 --> 00:35:16,480
Anyone 65? $7,000 in time.
777
00:35:16,582 --> 00:35:18,748
And 75 I got for it. $8,000
now and we're at $8,000.
778
00:35:18,851 --> 00:35:20,617
I got 85.
779
00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:21,251
Going to make it 85.
780
00:35:21,353 --> 00:35:22,786
You got to give it $9,000.
781
00:35:22,888 --> 00:35:24,254
You got to give it $9,000 now.
782
00:35:24,356 --> 00:35:25,055
9, I got 95.
783
00:35:25,157 --> 00:35:26,089
You going to make it now 95.
784
00:35:26,191 --> 00:35:27,858
And $10,000?
785
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:28,158
Your money, yes or no?
786
00:35:28,260 --> 00:35:30,026
$10,000.
787
00:35:30,129 --> 00:35:31,061
I've gotten $10,500
you got to give.
788
00:35:31,163 --> 00:35:32,896
Any more than $10,000?
789
00:35:32,998 --> 00:35:34,064
Don't lose it for that.
790
00:35:34,166 --> 00:35:35,532
Anyone, $10,000?
791
00:35:35,634 --> 00:35:38,001
$10,000 for it, and
that is in, that is out.
792
00:35:38,103 --> 00:35:39,469
All in and all out.
793
00:35:39,571 --> 00:35:40,604
Sold at $10,000.
794
00:35:40,706 --> 00:35:41,138
Thanks for bidding.
795
00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:42,606
Great piece.
796
00:35:42,741 --> 00:35:43,440
Bid number?
797
00:35:43,542 --> 00:35:44,007
530.
798
00:35:44,109 --> 00:35:46,877
Thank you.
799
00:35:46,979 --> 00:35:49,045
NARRATOR: Who was
this extraordinary man
800
00:35:49,148 --> 00:35:51,781
with the insatiable need
for risk and near-death
801
00:35:51,884 --> 00:35:53,283
experiences?
802
00:35:53,385 --> 00:35:56,520
What's so great about Houdini
is you're simultaneously
803
00:35:56,622 --> 00:35:59,489
cheering for him to win and
cheering for him to lose.
804
00:35:59,591 --> 00:36:01,992
You always had this
double edge, because I
805
00:36:02,094 --> 00:36:05,128
believe he was probably an
irritating little bastard.
806
00:36:05,230 --> 00:36:08,365
He was somebody who knew
what he wanted, went after it,
807
00:36:08,467 --> 00:36:13,470
and had this terrier-like
kind of, perhaps bulldog-like,
808
00:36:13,572 --> 00:36:16,173
perhaps pitbull-like way of
going after things until he had
809
00:36:16,275 --> 00:36:17,641
them.
810
00:36:17,743 --> 00:36:19,976
NARRATOR: But if Houdini had
a challenging personality,
811
00:36:20,078 --> 00:36:23,180
he was also beloved
by those who knew him.
812
00:36:23,282 --> 00:36:27,551
Houdini was one of the
kindest, most thoughtful men
813
00:36:27,653 --> 00:36:30,687
I've ever known in
my life, and I've
814
00:36:30,789 --> 00:36:31,755
known an awful lot of people.
815
00:36:31,857 --> 00:36:34,558
NARRATOR: Everyone who
met Harry Houdini remarked
816
00:36:34,660 --> 00:36:36,826
on the intensity in his eyes.
817
00:36:36,929 --> 00:36:39,930
He appeared supremely confident
and afraid of nothing.
818
00:36:40,032 --> 00:36:43,667
He had survived the challenges
of poverty and hard times
819
00:36:43,769 --> 00:36:45,936
and had become a
superstar of his day,
820
00:36:46,038 --> 00:36:48,572
but he still wasn't satisfied.
821
00:36:48,674 --> 00:36:51,975
His obsessive pursuit of more
challenges and higher stakes
822
00:36:52,077 --> 00:36:54,644
was putting him on
a perilous path.
823
00:36:54,746 --> 00:36:57,881
What more could he do to
top his last performance?
824
00:37:03,055 --> 00:37:04,421
NARRATOR: It seemed no
restraint, lock, or chain
825
00:37:04,523 --> 00:37:06,389
could hold Harry Houdini.
826
00:37:06,491 --> 00:37:08,758
He boasted, in
fact, that there was
827
00:37:08,860 --> 00:37:10,760
nothing that could hold him.
828
00:37:10,862 --> 00:37:12,662
Houdini's greatest
invention, I suppose,
829
00:37:12,764 --> 00:37:14,397
was what he called
the challenge act.
830
00:37:14,499 --> 00:37:18,301
In effect, he challenged
anybody to put him in anything
831
00:37:18,403 --> 00:37:22,606
or hold him in any way,
and he would get out of it.
832
00:37:22,708 --> 00:37:25,842
The results were that people put
him in extraordinary situations
833
00:37:25,944 --> 00:37:28,178
and handcuffed him,
tied him to a ladder,
834
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,947
put him in the belly
of a very large fish
835
00:37:31,049 --> 00:37:33,883
that he then was
supposed to get out of.
836
00:37:33,986 --> 00:37:37,020
Put him in a bank vault, put him
in an Iron Maiden torture cell.
837
00:37:37,122 --> 00:37:41,791
377 is the Iron Maiden,
and I have $20,000
838
00:37:41,893 --> 00:37:46,096
to start here in a proxy, and
$25,000 now, and we're $25,000.
839
00:37:46,198 --> 00:37:47,564
$30,000. $35,000.
840
00:37:47,666 --> 00:37:49,299
I got35.
841
00:37:49,401 --> 00:37:51,868
$40,000 way in
the back. $45,000?
842
00:37:51,970 --> 00:37:53,236
Yes or no, Gary, it's
your bidder at $45,000.
843
00:37:53,338 --> 00:37:57,040
He's in. $50,000 now. $50,000.
844
00:37:57,142 --> 00:37:58,575
$50,000, thank you. $55,000.
845
00:37:58,677 --> 00:38:00,543
You got to give him $55,000.
846
00:38:00,646 --> 00:38:02,145
$55,000.
847
00:38:02,247 --> 00:38:04,447
55, and $60,000.
848
00:38:04,549 --> 00:38:05,682
$60,000 is going to make it.
849
00:38:05,784 --> 00:38:06,249
$60,000.
850
00:38:06,351 --> 00:38:08,118
Go ahead. $60,000.
851
00:38:08,220 --> 00:38:09,119
$65,000.
852
00:38:09,221 --> 00:38:10,654
Is he in?
853
00:38:10,756 --> 00:38:12,489
65, $70,000.
854
00:38:12,591 --> 00:38:13,556
$70,000.
855
00:38:13,659 --> 00:38:13,957
$70,000?
856
00:38:16,962 --> 00:38:19,429
Sold at $65,000 to
your bidder, Gary.
857
00:38:19,531 --> 00:38:23,333
567.
858
00:38:23,435 --> 00:38:25,435
NARRATOR: But were Houdini's
challenges truly the act
859
00:38:25,537 --> 00:38:29,205
of a fearless escape artist
or were they a cunning stunt
860
00:38:29,308 --> 00:38:32,442
crafted by a man who had
learned to work the system?
861
00:38:32,544 --> 00:38:34,744
By piecing together
old clippings,
862
00:38:34,846 --> 00:38:38,114
word patterns emerge and
key phrases reappear.
863
00:38:38,216 --> 00:38:41,451
Clearly, Houdini was more
than a passive participant
864
00:38:41,553 --> 00:38:43,286
in these memorable escapes.
865
00:38:43,388 --> 00:38:47,490
Houdini was a master
manipulator at suggestion.
866
00:38:47,592 --> 00:38:52,896
Houdini was touring the
Pierce Arrow plant in Buffalo,
867
00:38:52,998 --> 00:38:55,098
New York when his show
was playing in Buffalo,
868
00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:57,400
and he saw the guys putting
together packing boxes.
869
00:38:57,502 --> 00:38:58,935
He said, hey, I've got an idea.
870
00:38:59,037 --> 00:39:01,304
Why don't you guys in
the shipping department
871
00:39:01,406 --> 00:39:03,106
challenge me to get
out of a packing box?
872
00:39:03,241 --> 00:39:04,708
Make it any way you want to.
873
00:39:04,810 --> 00:39:08,511
So he leaves with them
thinking is their idea.
874
00:39:08,613 --> 00:39:12,082
NARRATOR: If the challenges set
for Houdini seemed impossible,
875
00:39:12,184 --> 00:39:15,852
the methods for escape sometimes
seemed cunningly simple.
876
00:39:15,954 --> 00:39:18,655
There was a university
professor that gave his physics
877
00:39:18,757 --> 00:39:22,258
class the challenge of
how did Houdini escape
878
00:39:22,361 --> 00:39:24,527
from a regulation mailbag?
879
00:39:24,629 --> 00:39:27,163
And all the kids worked on
it, and they all had guesses
880
00:39:27,265 --> 00:39:29,566
and they all had ideas,
and some of the ideas
881
00:39:29,668 --> 00:39:31,868
were pretty clever.
882
00:39:31,970 --> 00:39:35,138
But the idea is you've got a
bag that carries government mail
883
00:39:35,240 --> 00:39:39,309
and it closes with a kind
of a belt that then locks,
884
00:39:39,411 --> 00:39:42,545
you know, a padlock
goes through a hasp.
885
00:39:42,647 --> 00:39:44,514
So how did Houdini get out?
886
00:39:44,616 --> 00:39:45,782
Well, none of them got it right.
887
00:39:45,884 --> 00:39:48,952
But how he got out was he
had the key to the padlock
888
00:39:49,054 --> 00:39:52,322
on a very long string
and he stuck it out
889
00:39:52,424 --> 00:39:54,758
through the narrow opening
at the top of the bag,
890
00:39:54,860 --> 00:39:57,060
and then he felt the
key on the other side.
891
00:39:57,162 --> 00:39:59,062
And he got the lock
from the other side,
892
00:39:59,164 --> 00:40:01,698
and he monkeyed around
until he got it open.
893
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:03,433
That's very simple.
894
00:40:03,535 --> 00:40:04,501
NARRATOR: These stunts
were a brilliant ploy
895
00:40:04,603 --> 00:40:07,203
to drum up publicity.
896
00:40:07,305 --> 00:40:11,574
Houdini was a skilled self
promoter and a master of hype.
897
00:40:11,676 --> 00:40:13,176
I'm not sure that he was the
greatest magician or inventor
898
00:40:13,278 --> 00:40:16,079
of magic in the
world, probably not.
899
00:40:16,181 --> 00:40:20,116
But I think he was probably
the best marketer, for sure.
900
00:40:20,218 --> 00:40:22,952
Houdini was the first
person to really understand
901
00:40:23,054 --> 00:40:25,655
that if you did something off
stage that was amazing that got
902
00:40:25,757 --> 00:40:29,125
people talking about you, it
would get them in the theater.
903
00:40:29,227 --> 00:40:30,927
If I go to a police station and
say to them your cells cannot
904
00:40:31,029 --> 00:40:34,864
hold me, and he could actually
burst out of the cells,
905
00:40:34,966 --> 00:40:36,633
then people would
talk about that.
906
00:40:36,735 --> 00:40:38,568
You have to remember
that back then there
907
00:40:38,670 --> 00:40:41,171
was no TV, no internet.
908
00:40:41,273 --> 00:40:43,907
You know, your legend became
bigger just by word of mouth.
909
00:40:44,009 --> 00:40:46,443
NARRATOR: He knew
how to use newspapers
910
00:40:46,545 --> 00:40:47,777
to his own advantage.
911
00:40:47,879 --> 00:40:50,880
All Houdini ever had
to say to any publisher
912
00:40:50,982 --> 00:40:53,383
or any editor was
give me a reporter,
913
00:40:53,485 --> 00:40:57,487
I'll give you a story because
they knew he always would.
914
00:40:57,589 --> 00:41:00,723
He lays the groundwork
for much of what comes later
915
00:41:00,826 --> 00:41:05,595
in spectacle, in news stories,
in all kinds of things,
916
00:41:05,697 --> 00:41:09,999
and in particular, he lays the
groundwork for a certain kind
917
00:41:10,101 --> 00:41:13,002
of self invented celebrity that
can be whatever he or she wants
918
00:41:13,104 --> 00:41:17,040
to be and can live
very, very large.
919
00:41:17,142 --> 00:41:19,542
NARRATOR: Houdini's promotional
campaigns extended far
920
00:41:19,644 --> 00:41:22,178
beyond the traditional press.
921
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:23,346
When Houdini would
appear in a town,
922
00:41:23,448 --> 00:41:27,016
he would publicize himself
the way a circus would.
923
00:41:27,118 --> 00:41:33,256
I bought a little picture
of Houdini's advertising guys
924
00:41:33,358 --> 00:41:36,593
walking along a snowy
street with signs,
925
00:41:36,695 --> 00:41:39,295
a whole line of signs,
that said Houdini this way.
926
00:41:39,397 --> 00:41:42,966
He hired a bunch of bald
guys to sit in a cafe each
927
00:41:43,068 --> 00:41:45,268
with a letter of
Houdini on his head,
928
00:41:45,370 --> 00:41:48,438
and they held down their
heads and spelled out Houdini.
929
00:41:48,540 --> 00:41:50,907
NARRATOR: Houdini's most
spectacular promotional stunts
930
00:41:51,009 --> 00:41:52,675
were his outdoor escapes.
931
00:41:52,777 --> 00:41:56,379
He was 33 when he introduced
the manacled bridge escape.
932
00:41:56,481 --> 00:41:59,349
For this trick, he trained
hard swimming distances
933
00:41:59,451 --> 00:42:02,085
and disciplining himself
to hold his breath
934
00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:04,020
and endure freezing water.
935
00:42:04,122 --> 00:42:05,655
It's a very, very
dangerous stunt.
936
00:42:05,757 --> 00:42:08,057
He would just get
on a bridge high up,
937
00:42:08,159 --> 00:42:13,062
he had leg irons on and
handcuffs on, and jump off.
938
00:42:13,164 --> 00:42:15,298
And 30 seconds later, he'd
break through the water holding
939
00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:17,400
the handcuffs and the leg irons
in his hand above his head
940
00:42:17,502 --> 00:42:19,836
triumphantly.
941
00:42:19,938 --> 00:42:22,071
NARRATOR: The risky jumps
didn't always go as he planned.
942
00:42:22,173 --> 00:42:24,641
Once in Atlantic
City, he hit his head
943
00:42:24,743 --> 00:42:27,577
on the bottom of the beach
there when he jumped off
944
00:42:27,679 --> 00:42:29,445
a pier handcuffed.
945
00:42:29,548 --> 00:42:33,082
I think also in the Mississippi,
the current was very, very
946
00:42:33,184 --> 00:42:36,386
strong, and started
pulling him down and under,
947
00:42:36,488 --> 00:42:38,087
and he barely was able
to really get out.
948
00:42:38,189 --> 00:42:40,123
NARRATOR: With this
wildly popular stunt,
949
00:42:40,225 --> 00:42:44,093
Houdini was again dogged
by rivals stealing his act.
950
00:42:44,195 --> 00:42:45,695
Some of them just
used gimmicked handcuffs
951
00:42:45,797 --> 00:42:49,065
that were so really poorly made
that their trouble when they
952
00:42:49,167 --> 00:42:51,334
did a bridge jump or something
was keeping them from falling
953
00:42:51,436 --> 00:42:52,936
off.
954
00:42:53,038 --> 00:42:55,004
NARRATOR: The constant
imitation by hack magicians
955
00:42:55,106 --> 00:42:56,839
enraged Houdini.
956
00:42:56,975 --> 00:43:02,078
As flattering as it is, I
mean, when you're the innovator
957
00:43:02,180 --> 00:43:03,980
and everybody's
stealing your act,
958
00:43:04,082 --> 00:43:05,214
you're fighting for your life.
959
00:43:05,317 --> 00:43:08,217
These rivalries can
be very serious.
960
00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:10,320
They say it should
be flattering.
961
00:43:10,422 --> 00:43:11,688
It's not the biggest
form of flattery.
962
00:43:11,790 --> 00:43:14,257
It's the biggest
form of thievery.
963
00:43:14,359 --> 00:43:15,625
NARRATOR: Houdini's
personal mantra
964
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:18,828
was do others
before they do you,
965
00:43:18,930 --> 00:43:21,464
and he did with a kind
of malicious glee.
966
00:43:21,566 --> 00:43:23,666
Famous incident
and an escape artist
967
00:43:23,768 --> 00:43:27,370
in Germany, who did a challenge
handcuff, which Houdini did,
968
00:43:27,472 --> 00:43:28,638
challenging anyone there
to bring handcuffs,
969
00:43:28,740 --> 00:43:30,673
and he would get out of it.
970
00:43:30,775 --> 00:43:32,642
The fact that he was really
stealing Houdini's challenge
971
00:43:32,744 --> 00:43:35,778
act drove Houdini crazy.
972
00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:38,548
So he went to the theater
where this guy was performing,
973
00:43:38,650 --> 00:43:41,217
and when the guy said,
I challenge anyone
974
00:43:41,319 --> 00:43:43,987
in the audience to
put me in handcuffs,
975
00:43:44,089 --> 00:43:46,956
Houdini came up with handcuffs
he was sure this guy could not
976
00:43:47,058 --> 00:43:50,326
possibly get out of,
and handcuffed him.
977
00:43:50,428 --> 00:43:52,729
And the guy struggled on
stage for half an hour or so.
978
00:43:52,831 --> 00:43:54,564
Couldn't get out at
all, and Houdini then
979
00:43:54,666 --> 00:43:57,033
got back on the stage,
and said to the audience,
980
00:43:57,135 --> 00:44:00,670
you see, he stole things
from the great Houdini
981
00:44:00,772 --> 00:44:03,206
and now he is
reduced to nothing.
982
00:44:03,308 --> 00:44:06,743
NARRATOR: One lifelong rival was
his loving brother Dash, known
983
00:44:06,878 --> 00:44:09,479
to the rest of the
world as Hardeen.
984
00:44:09,581 --> 00:44:13,449
They would go town to town
and compete with one another,
985
00:44:13,551 --> 00:44:17,253
but the public would not
know that they were brothers.
986
00:44:17,355 --> 00:44:19,722
NARRATOR: Of the five
brothers, Houdini and Harden
987
00:44:19,824 --> 00:44:22,258
were the closest sharing this
common passion for magic.
988
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:26,763
I remember my mom telling
me when they would go over
989
00:44:26,865 --> 00:44:28,931
on an afternoon, my
grandfather and Houdini
990
00:44:29,034 --> 00:44:31,134
would be rolling
coins in their fingers
991
00:44:31,236 --> 00:44:36,673
just to keep their fingers
nimble, supple, and practicing.
992
00:44:36,775 --> 00:44:39,108
And they would spend
hours practicing.
993
00:44:39,210 --> 00:44:41,310
NARRATOR: But they'd also
steal each other's thunder.
994
00:44:41,413 --> 00:44:46,416
When Houdini and Hardeen both
appeared in Tacoma, Washington,
995
00:44:46,518 --> 00:44:49,052
and Houdini went to do his
straitjacket escape hanging
996
00:44:49,154 --> 00:44:51,688
from one of the
public buildings,
997
00:44:51,790 --> 00:44:53,723
Hardeen decided that was a
good time to pass playbills
998
00:44:53,825 --> 00:44:56,993
out advertising Hardeen.
999
00:44:57,095 --> 00:45:02,765
So the public watching the show
thought Hardeen was up there.
1000
00:45:02,867 --> 00:45:04,333
I can only say that they didn't
talk for a couple of weeks
1001
00:45:04,436 --> 00:45:05,968
after that.
1002
00:45:06,071 --> 00:45:07,704
NARRATOR: Even in the
face of competition,
1003
00:45:07,872 --> 00:45:10,640
Harry Houdini was redefining
magic and the art of self
1004
00:45:10,742 --> 00:45:12,842
promotion.
1005
00:45:12,944 --> 00:45:16,713
He compulsively looked for new
adventure and bigger headlines,
1006
00:45:16,815 --> 00:45:18,915
and in the rapidly
changing world,
1007
00:45:19,017 --> 00:45:21,317
Houdini would set his
sights on new challenges
1008
00:45:21,419 --> 00:45:23,119
far from the live stage.
1009
00:45:26,658 --> 00:45:27,957
NARRATOR: The beginning
of the 20th century
1010
00:45:28,026 --> 00:45:29,292
was a time of rapid
transformation in the United
1011
00:45:29,394 --> 00:45:31,394
States.
1012
00:45:31,496 --> 00:45:34,130
Thomas Edison, the Wright
brothers, and US Steel
1013
00:45:34,232 --> 00:45:36,399
were permanently
changing the world,
1014
00:45:36,501 --> 00:45:39,769
and Harry Houdini was not
one to get left behind.
1015
00:45:39,871 --> 00:45:42,438
If innovation and technology
were the new wave,
1016
00:45:42,540 --> 00:45:45,475
Houdini was going to grab
his share of the spotlight.
1017
00:45:45,577 --> 00:45:48,411
Houdini is very much
a 20th century magician.
1018
00:45:48,513 --> 00:45:53,916
So much of his fame depended
on the city, the skyscraper,
1019
00:45:54,018 --> 00:45:56,519
and airplanes, which
he learned how to fly.
1020
00:45:56,621 --> 00:46:00,022
He was a very modern
kind of personality.
1021
00:46:00,125 --> 00:46:03,626
NARRATOR: Houdini saw his first
airplane in 1909, six years
1022
00:46:03,728 --> 00:46:06,028
after the Wright brothers
first successful flight.
1023
00:46:06,131 --> 00:46:09,966
All around him, courageous
pilots were making headlines.
1024
00:46:10,068 --> 00:46:13,302
On a tour in Europe in
1910, 36-year-old Houdini
1025
00:46:13,404 --> 00:46:16,806
paid $5,000 for a French made
biplane and hired a mechanic
1026
00:46:16,908 --> 00:46:18,808
to teach him to fly.
1027
00:46:18,943 --> 00:46:21,544
Crating the plane for
passage to Australia,
1028
00:46:21,646 --> 00:46:23,880
he was determined to make
some history himself.
1029
00:46:23,982 --> 00:46:26,616
Houdini wanted to
be the first person
1030
00:46:26,718 --> 00:46:30,853
to fly in Australia because that
was the only continent where
1031
00:46:30,955 --> 00:46:32,455
nobody had ever flown.
1032
00:46:32,690 --> 00:46:35,858
NARRATOR: While performing
his magic act in Melbourne,
1033
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:38,861
Houdini would take off after his
show for a nearby army parade
1034
00:46:38,963 --> 00:46:41,297
field to attempt
piloting his plane.
1035
00:46:41,399 --> 00:46:42,398
There was criteria
by that time.
1036
00:46:45,904 --> 00:46:47,737
then you had to
perform some maneuvers,
1037
00:46:47,839 --> 00:46:50,406
including the figure eight.
1038
00:46:50,508 --> 00:46:52,141
You had to fly a
pattern, and you had
1039
00:46:52,243 --> 00:46:53,409
to make a successful landing.
1040
00:46:53,511 --> 00:46:55,511
NARRATOR: Houdini was
faced with bad weather
1041
00:46:55,613 --> 00:46:57,847
and mechanical problems.
1042
00:46:57,949 --> 00:46:59,582
On one attempt, Houdini
managed to lift off
1043
00:46:59,684 --> 00:47:02,919
several feet in the air, but
the plane nosed to the ground
1044
00:47:03,021 --> 00:47:04,453
and broke the propeller.
1045
00:47:04,556 --> 00:47:06,722
And then he faced
something much worse,
1046
00:47:06,825 --> 00:47:08,891
a rival competing
for the record.
1047
00:47:08,993 --> 00:47:13,296
About a day before
Houdini was able to get
1048
00:47:13,398 --> 00:47:20,136
into the air in Australia,
a fellow flew a monoplane
1049
00:47:20,238 --> 00:47:22,972
and apparently had a successful
flight during which he met most
1050
00:47:23,074 --> 00:47:26,042
of that criteria.
1051
00:47:26,144 --> 00:47:30,546
But he did it in the predawn
and only a few neighbors
1052
00:47:30,648 --> 00:47:36,319
saw him take off, whereas
Houdini, a day later, had
1053
00:47:36,421 --> 00:47:38,955
the newsreels there, and there
was just all of this coverage.
1054
00:47:41,860 --> 00:47:43,726
Generally speaking,
the Australians
1055
00:47:43,828 --> 00:47:47,263
give him the credit for making
the first successful airplane
1056
00:47:47,365 --> 00:47:47,930
flight on the
continent of Australia,
1057
00:47:52,370 --> 00:47:54,136
NARRATOR: Houdini understood
the value of getting his stunts
1058
00:47:54,239 --> 00:47:57,073
on newsreels thinking
film would be his best
1059
00:47:57,175 --> 00:47:58,374
bet to achieve immortality.
1060
00:47:58,476 --> 00:48:03,045
He first shows up in the
movies as early as 1901.
1061
00:48:03,147 --> 00:48:06,315
Pathe Newsreels got a
shot of him diving off
1062
00:48:06,417 --> 00:48:08,751
the wall of the Paris
Morgans in the Seine.
1063
00:48:08,853 --> 00:48:11,420
Then in 1908, he
does a short film,
1064
00:48:11,522 --> 00:48:13,890
and he does an escape from
being tied to a chair.
1065
00:48:20,598 --> 00:48:23,866
NARRATOR: In 1916, after a long
fascination with the motion
1066
00:48:23,968 --> 00:48:27,336
picture camera, he formed
a film development company.
1067
00:48:27,438 --> 00:48:31,974
He buys a patent from Germany
that will allow motion picture
1068
00:48:32,076 --> 00:48:35,011
film to be developed overnight.
1069
00:48:35,113 --> 00:48:37,780
There was no such thing as
dailies in American film,
1070
00:48:37,882 --> 00:48:39,282
so he tried to bring
that to America.
1071
00:48:39,384 --> 00:48:41,684
NARRATOR: It was a
failed business venture.
1072
00:48:41,786 --> 00:48:44,921
He somehow gave the
impression that it didn't matter
1073
00:48:45,023 --> 00:48:47,189
how badly you shot it, he would
be able to develop it fine
1074
00:48:47,292 --> 00:48:48,758
and that was never true.
1075
00:48:48,860 --> 00:48:51,193
NARRATOR: But in
1918, at age 44,
1076
00:48:51,296 --> 00:48:53,262
a different kind of
Hollywood opportunity
1077
00:48:53,364 --> 00:48:56,332
came his way, this time
in front of the camera.
1078
00:48:56,434 --> 00:48:59,535
He got an offer from
a producer BA Rolfe
1079
00:48:59,637 --> 00:49:03,372
to star in a 15 chapter serial,
but he does this 15 chapter
1080
00:49:03,474 --> 00:49:05,775
serial, and it's
a worldwide hit.
1081
00:49:05,877 --> 00:49:08,911
NARRATOR: The success of this
serial, "The Master Mystery,"
1082
00:49:09,013 --> 00:49:10,913
led to leading
roles in Hollywood.
1083
00:49:11,015 --> 00:49:13,282
It landed him in a
new world entirely,
1084
00:49:13,384 --> 00:49:15,451
and he got to know
people like Chaplin,
1085
00:49:15,553 --> 00:49:18,187
and he met a lot of the stars.
1086
00:49:18,289 --> 00:49:21,557
You see him posed with starlets
and the important actresses.
1087
00:49:21,659 --> 00:49:24,827
NARRATOR: His most remarkable
film, "The Grim Game,"
1088
00:49:24,929 --> 00:49:28,431
was shot in 1919 and dubbed the
greatest thrill picture ever
1089
00:49:28,533 --> 00:49:29,732
made.
1090
00:49:29,834 --> 00:49:32,635
It was filled with his
usual heart stopping stunts,
1091
00:49:32,737 --> 00:49:35,771
but its most memorable moment
didn't even feature Houdini.
1092
00:49:35,873 --> 00:49:39,842
Houdini's on the wings of
a biplane and another plane
1093
00:49:39,944 --> 00:49:44,580
passes underneath it and Houdini
lowers himself from the biplane
1094
00:49:44,682 --> 00:49:46,215
to the plane underneath.
1095
00:49:46,317 --> 00:49:48,651
I mean, that's a really
great bit of moviemaking.
1096
00:49:48,753 --> 00:49:51,187
Turns out though that it
really wasn't Houdini.
1097
00:49:51,289 --> 00:49:53,522
It was a stuntman
named Robert Kennedy.
1098
00:49:53,624 --> 00:49:57,493
A gust of wind blows the lower
plane into the upper plane.
1099
00:49:57,595 --> 00:50:01,564
There's footage of it,
and they can't untangle,
1100
00:50:01,666 --> 00:50:04,600
and they start spinning
down toward the ground.
1101
00:50:04,702 --> 00:50:09,772
And eventually, just as they're
getting down to ground level,
1102
00:50:09,874 --> 00:50:12,575
they separate and they
both make safe landings.
1103
00:50:12,677 --> 00:50:15,678
NARRATOR: Houdini's stunt double
crash landed and was dragged
1104
00:50:15,780 --> 00:50:19,248
through a bean field,
roughed up but alive.
1105
00:50:19,350 --> 00:50:23,753
Houdini appropriated the story
into his act offering $1,000
1106
00:50:23,855 --> 00:50:26,789
to anyone who could prove
the scene wasn't real.
1107
00:50:26,958 --> 00:50:29,291
He failed to mention that
while the stunt was real,
1108
00:50:29,427 --> 00:50:31,460
it didn't actually feature him.
1109
00:50:31,562 --> 00:50:33,963
But time came during
one performance
1110
00:50:34,065 --> 00:50:36,432
when there was someone in the
audience who knew the truth.
1111
00:50:36,534 --> 00:50:40,636
He called for a committee
to put him in a straitjacket
1112
00:50:40,738 --> 00:50:42,805
or something, and among the
people who came up on stage
1113
00:50:42,907 --> 00:50:46,108
was the pilot of
one of the planes.
1114
00:50:46,210 --> 00:50:53,449
Now, the pilot of that plane
could have blown him out
1115
00:50:53,551 --> 00:50:55,384
of the water.
1116
00:50:55,486 --> 00:50:57,119
NARRATOR: Houdini
barely missed a beat.
1117
00:50:57,221 --> 00:51:01,924
He recognized him, put his
arm around the pilot's shoulder,
1118
00:51:02,026 --> 00:51:04,894
walked him to the footlights,
and said, ladies and gentlemen,
1119
00:51:05,029 --> 00:51:07,496
this is the man
who saved my life.
1120
00:51:07,598 --> 00:51:09,932
NARRATOR: And the pilot
kept Houdini's secret.
1121
00:51:10,034 --> 00:51:13,736
Houdini followed up "The Grim
Game" with "Terror Island,"
1122
00:51:13,838 --> 00:51:15,671
which pitted Houdini
against hundreds of spear
1123
00:51:15,773 --> 00:51:17,406
waving natives.
1124
00:51:17,508 --> 00:51:20,709
Audiences found "Terror Island"
overly melodramatic and even
1125
00:51:20,812 --> 00:51:20,976
laughable.
1126
00:51:24,082 --> 00:51:24,780
All righty, right here.
1127
00:51:24,882 --> 00:51:27,083
Two "Terror Island," Very cool.
1128
00:51:27,185 --> 00:51:28,050
What are we going to
start there at $500.
1129
00:51:28,152 --> 00:51:29,251
Then go.
1130
00:51:29,353 --> 00:51:32,788
$600, $600, $650
now. $650, $700?
1131
00:51:32,924 --> 00:51:35,357
$700. $750 to you,
sir. $800 now.
1132
00:51:35,460 --> 00:51:36,125
$800 now.
1133
00:51:38,529 --> 00:51:40,096
Now $900.
1134
00:51:40,364 --> 00:51:41,864
$950 to you, sir.
1135
00:51:41,966 --> 00:51:45,334
$1,000 now. $1,000
now. $950, $1,000.
1136
00:51:45,470 --> 00:51:46,602
$1,100. $1,100. $1,100.
1137
00:51:46,838 --> 00:51:47,770
11.
1138
00:51:47,872 --> 00:51:49,438
12 to bid now. $1,100. $1,200.
1139
00:51:49,607 --> 00:51:50,606
12.
1140
00:51:50,708 --> 00:51:51,474
12.
13.
1141
00:51:51,576 --> 00:51:52,475
Bid of 13.
1142
00:51:52,577 --> 00:51:53,175
14. $1,500.
1143
00:51:53,277 --> 00:51:53,676
15, $1,600.
1144
00:51:53,978 --> 00:51:54,677
16.
1145
00:51:54,879 --> 00:51:55,911
17.
1146
00:51:56,013 --> 00:51:57,279
16, now $1,700.
1147
00:51:57,381 --> 00:51:58,781
16, now $1,700.
1148
00:51:58,883 --> 00:52:02,885
Any advance on 16 with $1,700?
1149
00:52:02,987 --> 00:52:04,653
Sold $1,600.
1150
00:52:04,755 --> 00:52:05,087
509.
1151
00:52:05,189 --> 00:52:06,122
509.
1152
00:52:06,224 --> 00:52:07,423
There you go right there.
1153
00:52:12,864 --> 00:52:14,864
NARRATOR: Houdini made a few
other films, but none of them
1154
00:52:14,966 --> 00:52:16,265
were successful.
1155
00:52:16,367 --> 00:52:17,733
Houdini's charisma
on stage didn't
1156
00:52:17,835 --> 00:52:20,269
seem to translate to film.
1157
00:52:20,371 --> 00:52:22,071
He wasn't a very
good leading man.
1158
00:52:22,173 --> 00:52:24,106
He had not that much interest
in the leading ladies.
1159
00:52:24,208 --> 00:52:25,674
He was very awkward.
1160
00:52:25,776 --> 00:52:27,710
The fight scenes he
was quite good at,
1161
00:52:27,845 --> 00:52:30,179
and there are a couple of
excerpts where you see him
1162
00:52:30,281 --> 00:52:33,716
undoing restraints with his
toes where he's fantastic,
1163
00:52:33,818 --> 00:52:35,951
but he wasn't able
to master the medium.
1164
00:52:36,053 --> 00:52:38,521
Houdini recognized films
were very dangerous for him
1165
00:52:38,623 --> 00:52:40,523
because if you
perform a miracle,
1166
00:52:40,625 --> 00:52:43,926
the audience always
suspects camera magic.
1167
00:52:44,028 --> 00:52:45,494
NARRATOR: Houdini was in touch
with all that was changing
1168
00:52:45,596 --> 00:52:49,565
in the American culture, but
he was a man of contradiction.
1169
00:52:49,667 --> 00:52:51,300
While his interests
were thoroughly modern,
1170
00:52:51,402 --> 00:52:54,603
his values were
deeply traditional.
1171
00:52:54,705 --> 00:52:56,272
He was a loving family man
and was absolutely devoted
1172
00:52:56,374 --> 00:52:57,907
to his wife Bess.
1173
00:52:58,009 --> 00:53:02,144
Every anniversary they would
have some kind of sentimental
1174
00:53:02,246 --> 00:53:05,548
picture taking back at Coney
Island where they were married.
1175
00:53:05,650 --> 00:53:07,082
One of the best things
I've ever seen in my life
1176
00:53:07,185 --> 00:53:10,052
is a portrait of him
and Bess, very old.
1177
00:53:10,154 --> 00:53:14,857
And it was signed Harry Handcuff
Houdini in matrimony, the one
1178
00:53:14,959 --> 00:53:17,993
set of shackles he does
not wish to escape.
1179
00:53:18,095 --> 00:53:20,362
NARRATOR: If Bess was
the love of his life,
1180
00:53:20,464 --> 00:53:23,566
then his mother Cecilia
was his rock of Gibraltar.
1181
00:53:23,668 --> 00:53:25,801
When Houdini did his
first bridge jump, which
1182
00:53:25,903 --> 00:53:28,370
was from a bridge in New
Jersey, he wrote in his diary
1183
00:53:28,472 --> 00:53:30,706
not about the
success of the jump,
1184
00:53:30,808 --> 00:53:34,710
but he wrote Ma saw me
jump, exclamation point.
1185
00:53:34,812 --> 00:53:37,846
And I think his mother often
figured as his audience
1186
00:53:37,949 --> 00:53:40,216
in his head, that he was always
sort of performing for her.
1187
00:53:40,318 --> 00:53:44,687
This a photograph of him
with his arm around his wife
1188
00:53:44,789 --> 00:53:46,188
Bess and another arm
around his mother,
1189
00:53:46,290 --> 00:53:48,791
and he calls them
my two girlfriends.
1190
00:53:48,893 --> 00:53:52,828
NARRATOR: In July
1913, Houdini set sail
1191
00:53:52,930 --> 00:53:55,998
for a command performance
before the King of Sweden.
1192
00:53:56,100 --> 00:53:57,666
His mother called to him from
the dock asking him to bring
1193
00:53:57,768 --> 00:54:00,102
her a pair of woolen slippers.
1194
00:54:00,204 --> 00:54:02,238
Days later, she
suffered a stroke
1195
00:54:02,340 --> 00:54:06,342
and died before he could return.
1196
00:54:06,477 --> 00:54:09,478
It took him completely apart.
1197
00:54:09,580 --> 00:54:11,480
He lost all of his energy.
1198
00:54:11,582 --> 00:54:14,850
He kept on performing
because that's what you do,
1199
00:54:14,986 --> 00:54:16,585
you keep performing.
1200
00:54:16,687 --> 00:54:19,755
NARRATOR: Stark reminders
of Houdini's great loss
1201
00:54:19,857 --> 00:54:22,024
are seen in the letters from
Sydney Radner's collection.
1202
00:54:22,126 --> 00:54:24,460
I bought one letter that I
was very much in love with.
1203
00:54:24,562 --> 00:54:29,665
It's the first letter that
Houdini sent his brother
1204
00:54:29,767 --> 00:54:33,502
on his brand new stationery,
which had a black border
1205
00:54:33,604 --> 00:54:35,304
because his mother had died.
1206
00:54:35,406 --> 00:54:37,139
Dash, it's tough.
1207
00:54:37,241 --> 00:54:39,808
I can't seem to get over it.
1208
00:54:39,910 --> 00:54:42,344
Sometimes I feel all right,
but when a calm moment arrives,
1209
00:54:42,446 --> 00:54:44,747
I'm as bad as ever.
1210
00:54:44,849 --> 00:54:46,448
Time heals all wounds
but a long time
1211
00:54:46,550 --> 00:54:49,451
will have to pass before it
will heal the terrible blow.
1212
00:54:49,553 --> 00:54:52,421
NARRATOR: Houdini called it the
shock from which he could not
1213
00:54:52,523 --> 00:54:53,822
recover.
1214
00:54:53,924 --> 00:54:56,625
The enormous pain of
his mother's death
1215
00:54:56,727 --> 00:54:59,261
would propel him into the most
bizarre act of his career.
1216
00:55:05,503 --> 00:55:06,502
NARRATOR: The second great
act of Houdini's career
1217
00:55:06,604 --> 00:55:09,538
came with the end of
World War I and took him
1218
00:55:09,640 --> 00:55:11,840
from the entertainment
pages to the front page.
1219
00:55:11,942 --> 00:55:14,977
It all began with a 60-year-old
religious movement called
1220
00:55:15,079 --> 00:55:17,980
Spiritualism that professed
to use seances and spirit
1221
00:55:18,082 --> 00:55:20,282
mediums to contact the dead.
1222
00:55:20,384 --> 00:55:23,452
People who had lost sons,
husbands, daughters, and loved
1223
00:55:23,554 --> 00:55:26,322
ones in the war were interested
in trying to contact them.
1224
00:55:26,424 --> 00:55:28,824
NARRATOR: With all the
great technological advances
1225
00:55:28,926 --> 00:55:31,994
at the turn of the century,
raising spirits of lost loved
1226
00:55:32,096 --> 00:55:34,530
ones was sold not only
as possible but based
1227
00:55:34,632 --> 00:55:35,597
in real science.
1228
00:55:39,236 --> 00:55:43,772
the inside of your skeleton,
why not talk to the dead?
1229
00:55:43,874 --> 00:55:46,008
When we look at that right now,
we think, oh my God, how naive.
1230
00:55:46,110 --> 00:55:47,609
But no.
1231
00:55:47,712 --> 00:55:52,614
People are torn between
the old modalities of living
1232
00:55:52,717 --> 00:55:55,617
and the new world with
technology and cities
1233
00:55:55,720 --> 00:55:57,820
and factories and cars,
and this is making
1234
00:55:57,922 --> 00:55:59,755
people question their religion.
1235
00:55:59,857 --> 00:56:01,857
Do I believe in religion?
1236
00:56:01,959 --> 00:56:03,092
Do I believe in science?
1237
00:56:03,194 --> 00:56:06,562
Isn't there some way
I can believe in both?
1238
00:56:06,664 --> 00:56:10,699
Spiritualism gives
you that answer.
1239
00:56:10,801 --> 00:56:11,567
Sort of.
1240
00:56:14,538 --> 00:56:16,672
to the beyond conducted
seances in which they summoned
1241
00:56:16,774 --> 00:56:19,274
supernatural phenomena
to demonstrate
1242
00:56:19,410 --> 00:56:21,510
the presence of real spirits.
1243
00:56:21,612 --> 00:56:23,445
Spirits of the
dead would come back
1244
00:56:23,547 --> 00:56:28,584
some time as luminous presences,
sometimes as voices, sometimes
1245
00:56:28,686 --> 00:56:30,886
they would touch
the people sitting
1246
00:56:30,988 --> 00:56:33,322
around the seance table.
1247
00:56:33,424 --> 00:56:35,090
NARRATOR: The mediums
would go to great lengths
1248
00:56:35,192 --> 00:56:37,526
to prove there were
spirits in the room.
1249
00:56:37,628 --> 00:56:40,262
Candlesticks would levitate,
ghostly images and objects
1250
00:56:40,364 --> 00:56:40,729
would appear.
1251
00:56:43,501 --> 00:56:46,101
substance called ectoplasm.
1252
00:56:46,203 --> 00:56:48,203
Houdini knew better.
1253
00:56:48,305 --> 00:56:49,505
He recognized their
magicians tricks.
1254
00:56:49,607 --> 00:56:52,274
He saw around him
these spiritualists
1255
00:56:52,376 --> 00:56:55,577
performing effects where they
were obviously, to Houdini,
1256
00:56:55,679 --> 00:56:58,414
getting out of the cuffs,
getting out of the ropes,
1257
00:56:58,516 --> 00:57:01,517
getting out of the
binds that hold them.
1258
00:57:01,619 --> 00:57:02,651
There was a book called
"Revelations of a Spirit
1259
00:57:02,753 --> 00:57:05,254
Medium" that was sort
of a Bible to him
1260
00:57:05,356 --> 00:57:08,023
and that had a lot of that,
you know, being tied up
1261
00:57:08,125 --> 00:57:11,126
and escaping and getting back
in before the lights came on.
1262
00:57:11,228 --> 00:57:14,863
And of course, we see
that in the Metamorphosis.
1263
00:57:14,965 --> 00:57:18,434
He gets out of a rope tie, his
wife gets into the rope tie.
1264
00:57:18,536 --> 00:57:19,835
NARRATOR: Throughout
his career, Houdini
1265
00:57:19,937 --> 00:57:21,737
was wary of the spiritualists.
1266
00:57:21,839 --> 00:57:25,674
Distancing his acts of illusion
from their supernatural claims,
1267
00:57:25,776 --> 00:57:28,444
which he knew used some
of the same tricks.
1268
00:57:28,546 --> 00:57:32,247
But in 1922, an incident
involving his friend Sir Arthur
1269
00:57:32,349 --> 00:57:34,316
Conan Doyle, author of the
Sherlock Holmes novels,
1270
00:57:34,418 --> 00:57:36,185
launched him into action.
1271
00:57:36,287 --> 00:57:39,621
Arthur Conan Doyle lost a
son in the First World War,
1272
00:57:39,723 --> 00:57:41,557
killed in action,
and he went to see
1273
00:57:41,659 --> 00:57:44,426
a medium who produced his son.
1274
00:57:44,528 --> 00:57:46,962
The son came into the room and
kissed him on the forehead.
1275
00:57:47,064 --> 00:57:49,264
Houdini and Conan
Doyle were friends,
1276
00:57:49,366 --> 00:57:51,800
yet this was something they
fought about all the time,
1277
00:57:51,902 --> 00:57:55,504
was whether the psychic
phenomena was real or not.
1278
00:57:55,606 --> 00:57:58,106
Conan Doyle even believed
that the way Houdini got out
1279
00:57:58,209 --> 00:58:01,643
of his Metamorphoses trunk,
escaped from the binds
1280
00:58:01,745 --> 00:58:05,314
and from the box was
that he dematerialized
1281
00:58:05,416 --> 00:58:07,950
and re-materialized
outside the box.
1282
00:58:08,052 --> 00:58:11,253
Lady Doyle was a
spiritualist and did
1283
00:58:11,355 --> 00:58:13,255
what we call spirit writing.
1284
00:58:13,357 --> 00:58:16,425
And on one occasion
in Atlantic City,
1285
00:58:16,527 --> 00:58:18,760
she offered to do the
seance for Houdini.
1286
00:58:18,863 --> 00:58:22,130
She purported to bring
Houdini's mother back
1287
00:58:22,233 --> 00:58:24,333
and she made some
fairly severe mistakes,
1288
00:58:24,435 --> 00:58:26,735
like writing in English
and putting a cross on it.
1289
00:58:26,837 --> 00:58:29,771
And since his mother
didn't speak English
1290
00:58:29,874 --> 00:58:32,808
and was the wife of a rabbi,
these seem fairly inappropriate
1291
00:58:32,910 --> 00:58:33,942
things to do.
1292
00:58:34,044 --> 00:58:36,512
NARRATOR: Houdini held his
tongue with Lady Doyle,
1293
00:58:36,614 --> 00:58:39,548
but his fury had been unleashed.
1294
00:58:39,650 --> 00:58:41,250
The only voices he
heard were the calling
1295
00:58:41,352 --> 00:58:44,953
to expose the so-called
spirit mediums.
1296
00:58:45,055 --> 00:58:49,157
I do think that he felt very
acutely the grief of people who
1297
00:58:49,260 --> 00:58:54,162
had lost relatives and that did
make him resent very strongly
1298
00:58:54,265 --> 00:58:55,898
people who were
exploiting that grief.
1299
00:58:56,000 --> 00:58:58,600
Houdini went to great
lengths against these mediums.
1300
00:58:58,702 --> 00:59:01,537
He would bust up seances.
1301
00:59:01,639 --> 00:59:03,372
He would come in with
local police sometimes
1302
00:59:03,474 --> 00:59:05,207
or he would come with reporters.
1303
00:59:05,309 --> 00:59:06,875
People were
falsifying this evidence
1304
00:59:06,977 --> 00:59:08,877
and giving people the
wrong image of the world.
1305
00:59:08,979 --> 00:59:11,813
They were giving them bad
information about life.
1306
00:59:11,916 --> 00:59:14,249
They were taking away
the precious memories
1307
00:59:14,351 --> 00:59:16,385
of dead people
and replacing them
1308
00:59:16,487 --> 00:59:21,623
with silly prattling of little
voices in darkened rooms.
1309
00:59:21,725 --> 00:59:24,059
He despised these people
and was very zealous in trying
1310
00:59:24,161 --> 00:59:25,794
to expose them all.
1311
00:59:25,896 --> 00:59:27,896
Some of the mediums were
extremely clever though.
1312
00:59:27,998 --> 00:59:29,464
I mean, Houdini was
very aware that he
1313
00:59:29,600 --> 00:59:33,835
was up against some
diabolically clever people.
1314
00:59:33,938 --> 00:59:35,270
There was one
headline where he
1315
00:59:35,372 --> 00:59:37,940
had taken a reporter
and a photographer
1316
00:59:38,042 --> 00:59:40,809
to this local medium's seance.
1317
00:59:40,911 --> 00:59:42,711
Well, in the dark, the
medium was supposed
1318
00:59:42,813 --> 00:59:45,948
to have her hands being held
by the people on either side
1319
00:59:46,050 --> 00:59:48,617
of her, and they had their
feet resting on her feet
1320
00:59:48,719 --> 00:59:50,686
so that she couldn't move.
1321
00:59:50,788 --> 00:59:53,956
But he had the photographer take
a flash picture in the dark,
1322
00:59:54,058 --> 00:59:55,557
and there she was
leaning backwards
1323
00:59:55,659 --> 01:00:01,863
with a megaphone up to her
lips making ghostly sounds.
1324
01:00:02,066 --> 01:00:03,665
NARRATOR: Even the
respected journal
1325
01:00:03,767 --> 01:00:06,234
"Scientific American" took
an interest in spiritualism.
1326
01:00:06,337 --> 01:00:08,637
"Scientific
American Magazine,"
1327
01:00:08,739 --> 01:00:11,840
which was hardly
naive, offered a prize
1328
01:00:11,942 --> 01:00:16,612
for any medium who
could show definitely
1329
01:00:16,714 --> 01:00:19,114
kinds of psychic phenomena.
1330
01:00:19,216 --> 01:00:22,317
Houdini got on the committee and
exposed really all the mediums
1331
01:00:22,419 --> 01:00:23,552
who tried out for the prize.
1332
01:00:26,690 --> 01:00:28,256
who knew a lot about deception.
1333
01:00:28,359 --> 01:00:29,725
I mean, there's nobody
in the world who
1334
01:00:29,827 --> 01:00:31,526
knew as much about deception.
1335
01:00:31,629 --> 01:00:34,062
You know, he kind of
needed an adversary,
1336
01:00:34,164 --> 01:00:36,164
and they were made to order.
1337
01:00:36,266 --> 01:00:39,267
Mediums, who would allow
themselves to be tied and then
1338
01:00:39,370 --> 01:00:41,970
still produce a bouquet
of flowers on the table
1339
01:00:42,072 --> 01:00:43,905
from the other world,
Houdini would say, well,
1340
01:00:44,008 --> 01:00:46,208
let me tie you.
1341
01:00:46,310 --> 01:00:49,044
And he would tie the
medium and no more flowers.
1342
01:00:49,146 --> 01:00:51,980
I mean, once Houdini tied
somebody that was it.
1343
01:00:52,082 --> 01:00:52,481
Nobody was going
to get out of it.
1344
01:00:55,319 --> 01:00:58,720
When he was playing Chicago,
he wasn't getting headlines
1345
01:00:58,822 --> 01:00:59,988
on the entertainment page.
1346
01:01:00,090 --> 01:01:02,124
He was getting front
page headlines.
1347
01:01:02,226 --> 01:01:06,228
By 1923, Houdini's feud
with the spiritualist
1348
01:01:06,330 --> 01:01:09,131
had become so well publicized
that the spirit mediums were
1349
01:01:09,233 --> 01:01:10,699
on the lookout for his visits.
1350
01:01:10,801 --> 01:01:14,670
He needed to find a
new way to expose them.
1351
01:01:14,772 --> 01:01:17,572
He had a detective
named Rose Mackenberg, who
1352
01:01:17,675 --> 01:01:20,809
would be in the next city and
she would be going to mediums.
1353
01:01:20,911 --> 01:01:23,445
And she would give them
this story, you know,
1354
01:01:23,547 --> 01:01:26,581
I want to hear from my
son, my son who passed on.
1355
01:01:26,684 --> 01:01:30,419
Well, she didn't have a
son, and then she would also
1356
01:01:30,521 --> 01:01:33,722
try to get herself ordained in
a local spiritualistic church.
1357
01:01:33,824 --> 01:01:34,456
Maybe you heard about that.
1358
01:01:38,328 --> 01:01:41,163
F. Raud, fraud.
1359
01:01:41,265 --> 01:01:44,499
And so now Houdini gets to town
and he's got a little dossier
1360
01:01:44,601 --> 01:01:49,504
on the phony mediums in town,
and he has an emissary present
1361
01:01:49,606 --> 01:01:50,906
them with tickets to the show.
1362
01:01:51,008 --> 01:01:52,274
And he said, Mr Houdini
intends to talk about you,
1363
01:01:52,376 --> 01:01:54,443
so they would
arrive all fired up.
1364
01:01:54,545 --> 01:01:56,712
And they would also maybe arrive
thinking that they were going
1365
01:01:56,814 --> 01:01:59,347
to be able to defend themselves,
and Houdini would just
1366
01:01:59,450 --> 01:02:01,116
eat them alive.
1367
01:02:01,218 --> 01:02:04,720
Lot number 370, lobby
display, Jail for medium.
1368
01:02:04,822 --> 01:02:05,821
Who'll say $500.
1369
01:02:05,923 --> 01:02:06,688
Thank you. $500.
1370
01:02:06,790 --> 01:02:09,024
I have for it, and $750?
1371
01:02:09,126 --> 01:02:09,191
Going to make it now.
1372
01:02:10,627 --> 01:02:11,593
Got to give him $750.
1373
01:02:11,695 --> 01:02:12,594
We're now at $750.
1374
01:02:12,696 --> 01:02:13,762
Got to say it now. $750.
1375
01:02:13,864 --> 01:02:16,398
And $1 $800.
1376
01:02:16,500 --> 01:02:17,432
$1,100.
1377
01:02:17,534 --> 01:02:18,366
$1,100 on the net.
1378
01:02:20,971 --> 01:02:21,636
15 you got to give.
1379
01:02:21,739 --> 01:02:24,873
I'm at $1,100. $1,100 for it?
1380
01:02:24,975 --> 01:02:29,911
All in and all out, sold
for $1,100 to the net.
1381
01:02:30,013 --> 01:02:31,913
NARRATOR: But proving
low rent spirit mediums
1382
01:02:32,015 --> 01:02:34,916
were duping their believers
was easy for Houdini.
1383
01:02:35,018 --> 01:02:37,419
The ultimate test for him
and the Scientific American
1384
01:02:37,521 --> 01:02:40,255
Committee lay ahead,
a respected woman
1385
01:02:40,357 --> 01:02:44,259
from Boston's high society
said to possess a psychic gift.
1386
01:02:44,361 --> 01:02:46,862
It seemed as if the
great Houdini had finally
1387
01:02:46,964 --> 01:02:47,729
met his match.
1388
01:02:52,569 --> 01:02:54,669
In 1924, an
attractive society woman
1389
01:02:54,772 --> 01:02:57,939
married to one of Boston's
most respected surgeons
1390
01:02:58,041 --> 01:03:00,742
began holding seances
free of charge.
1391
01:03:00,844 --> 01:03:04,146
Tables jumped, and the
dead spoke out loud.
1392
01:03:04,248 --> 01:03:07,749
Houdini heard reports of
the mysterious Margery
1393
01:03:07,851 --> 01:03:12,154
and grabbed the first
train to Boston.
1394
01:03:12,322 --> 01:03:13,855
Margery, the medium,
was a Boston socialite
1395
01:03:13,957 --> 01:03:16,191
named Mina Crandon.
1396
01:03:16,293 --> 01:03:18,293
Her husband taught at the
Harvard Medical School, seemed
1397
01:03:18,529 --> 01:03:22,497
to be a very reputable person.
1398
01:03:22,599 --> 01:03:24,533
Unlike other mediums who
charged a lot of money
1399
01:03:24,735 --> 01:03:26,468
for their seances,
Margery did not.
1400
01:03:26,570 --> 01:03:28,937
NARRATOR: Most
mediums demonstrated
1401
01:03:29,039 --> 01:03:30,772
either psychic or
physical phenomena.
1402
01:03:30,874 --> 01:03:32,440
Margery produced both.
1403
01:03:32,543 --> 01:03:35,377
Guests to her evening soirees
witnessed flashing lights,
1404
01:03:35,479 --> 01:03:41,449
ectoplasm, levitation, and most
memorably her spirit voice.
1405
01:03:41,552 --> 01:03:44,052
She channeled her older
brother, who had died,
1406
01:03:44,154 --> 01:03:45,253
named Walter.
1407
01:03:45,355 --> 01:03:47,722
NARRATOR: Walter
was a rowdy presence
1408
01:03:47,825 --> 01:03:50,425
in the seance, ridiculing
guests with limericks
1409
01:03:50,561 --> 01:03:52,227
and witty putdowns.
1410
01:03:52,329 --> 01:03:54,763
He spoke through Margery
or as a disembodied voice.
1411
01:03:54,865 --> 01:03:58,033
The husband, Dr. Crandon,
and the circle of friends
1412
01:03:58,135 --> 01:04:01,102
took it all very seriously, and
they began to get attention.
1413
01:04:01,205 --> 01:04:03,471
NARRATOR: Boston
Society turned out
1414
01:04:03,574 --> 01:04:06,474
for Margery's seances, which
seemed provocative even
1415
01:04:06,577 --> 01:04:07,108
by today's standards.
1416
01:04:09,813 --> 01:04:12,948
She'd have to wear a kimono,
a female member of the group
1417
01:04:13,050 --> 01:04:15,617
would check her to make sure
that she wasn't carrying
1418
01:04:15,719 --> 01:04:17,052
anything on her person
underneath the kimono,
1419
01:04:17,154 --> 01:04:18,587
and it's all kind of scandalous.
1420
01:04:18,689 --> 01:04:21,423
It kind of reminds me
a little bit of Houdini,
1421
01:04:21,525 --> 01:04:25,594
stripping as bare as a radish
and being locked in a jail
1422
01:04:25,696 --> 01:04:27,629
cell.
1423
01:04:27,764 --> 01:04:29,598
NARRATOR: The guests would
assemble in a special room
1424
01:04:29,766 --> 01:04:31,900
and sit around a small table.
1425
01:04:32,002 --> 01:04:34,369
My great grandmother
would go into a trance,
1426
01:04:34,471 --> 01:04:35,871
and they would all
be holding hands,
1427
01:04:35,973 --> 01:04:37,672
and she would have
her feet bound
1428
01:04:37,774 --> 01:04:41,243
to the people next to her,
and various different types
1429
01:04:41,345 --> 01:04:42,410
of things would happen.
1430
01:04:42,512 --> 01:04:43,178
The table would move.
1431
01:04:43,280 --> 01:04:44,779
Things on the table would move.
1432
01:04:44,882 --> 01:04:47,983
And her hands are
being held and her wrists
1433
01:04:48,085 --> 01:04:52,287
are taped to the arm chair and
they're controlling her legs,
1434
01:04:52,389 --> 01:04:55,223
and she produced a pigeon.
1435
01:04:55,325 --> 01:04:56,191
One of the things that's
kind of funny when you
1436
01:04:58,161 --> 01:05:00,161
is that she was really
very witty and very earthy.
1437
01:05:00,264 --> 01:05:02,797
You have her as Walter sort of
making fun of all the people
1438
01:05:02,900 --> 01:05:04,933
around the table and sort
of taking them down a notch,
1439
01:05:05,035 --> 01:05:06,935
or sort of playing with them.
1440
01:05:07,037 --> 01:05:09,571
She managed to fool
a whole bunch of guys,
1441
01:05:09,673 --> 01:05:11,907
educated men that maybe
should have known better.
1442
01:05:12,009 --> 01:05:14,142
They weren't looking
for parlor tricks.
1443
01:05:14,244 --> 01:05:15,810
They were looking for something
profound, and they found it.
1444
01:05:15,913 --> 01:05:18,647
The writer Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle
1445
01:05:18,749 --> 01:05:22,417
and others were ready to award
Margery the $5,000 Scientific
1446
01:05:22,519 --> 01:05:26,154
American prize and the
credibility that went with it.
1447
01:05:26,256 --> 01:05:28,590
Houdini was determined to
debunk the so-called medium.
1448
01:05:28,692 --> 01:05:30,191
The "Scientific
American" staff
1449
01:05:30,294 --> 01:05:31,793
wanted to believe
that she was real,
1450
01:05:31,895 --> 01:05:33,628
wanted to give her the award.
1451
01:05:33,730 --> 01:05:36,197
Houdini was very
distressed by this,
1452
01:05:36,300 --> 01:05:38,767
didn't believe she was real and
went on a crusade to the debunk
1453
01:05:38,869 --> 01:05:39,935
her.
1454
01:05:40,037 --> 01:05:43,505
Margery's milieu was that
of the educated people,
1455
01:05:43,607 --> 01:05:46,341
and the Scientific
American crew that he went
1456
01:05:46,443 --> 01:05:47,876
and investigated with,
these were all these
1457
01:05:47,978 --> 01:05:50,612
like terribly educated
college professors.
1458
01:05:50,714 --> 01:05:54,616
And he was out to say, I may
just be a self-taught guy,
1459
01:05:54,718 --> 01:05:57,218
but you guys are the ones
who were the suckers.
1460
01:05:57,321 --> 01:05:59,621
And I think that chip was
always on his shoulder
1461
01:05:59,723 --> 01:06:01,323
and always driving him.
1462
01:06:01,425 --> 01:06:03,258
NARRATOR: The tension
was thick when
1463
01:06:03,360 --> 01:06:06,361
Houdini arrived for the first of
his five seances with Margery.
1464
01:06:06,463 --> 01:06:09,464
In the first, a bell
box mysteriously rang
1465
01:06:09,566 --> 01:06:11,933
and the spirit tossed a
megaphone at his feet.
1466
01:06:12,035 --> 01:06:14,869
In the second, the table rocked
violently, knocking the bell
1467
01:06:14,972 --> 01:06:17,405
box to the floor.
1468
01:06:17,507 --> 01:06:19,474
Nothing, of course,
fooled Houdini,
1469
01:06:19,576 --> 01:06:22,744
who after a lifetime of
manipulating escape apparatus
1470
01:06:22,846 --> 01:06:25,313
with his toes and mouth,
recognized a true parlor
1471
01:06:25,415 --> 01:06:26,648
magician.
1472
01:06:26,750 --> 01:06:30,018
Houdini made his case to the
Scientific American committee
1473
01:06:30,120 --> 01:06:32,721
but Margery had the support of
many sophisticated and educated
1474
01:06:32,823 --> 01:06:33,088
Undeterred,
people.
1475
01:06:36,626 --> 01:06:38,360
built that would allow
contact with other sitters
1476
01:06:38,462 --> 01:06:41,129
but would restrict her ability
to use her head or feet.
1477
01:06:41,231 --> 01:06:43,398
With her credibility
on the line,
1478
01:06:43,500 --> 01:06:45,300
Margery agreed to the box.
1479
01:06:45,402 --> 01:06:47,569
One of the things that I
find the most interesting
1480
01:06:47,671 --> 01:06:51,072
is that there would be
these scientific discussions
1481
01:06:51,174 --> 01:06:53,808
of, well, to really prove this
beyond a shadow of a doubt,
1482
01:06:53,910 --> 01:06:56,644
what we need to see is X.
Well, she would then produce X
1483
01:06:56,747 --> 01:06:58,680
two days later.
1484
01:06:58,782 --> 01:07:00,048
Houdini had published
a book showing
1485
01:07:00,150 --> 01:07:03,818
how although her legs
would be tied up,
1486
01:07:03,920 --> 01:07:07,222
she was able to move
the calf up and down,
1487
01:07:07,324 --> 01:07:10,825
to use her toes to do something.
1488
01:07:10,927 --> 01:07:13,495
NARRATOR: She had used a free
hand to ease the megaphone
1489
01:07:13,597 --> 01:07:16,531
onto her head like a
dunce cap, and then
1490
01:07:16,633 --> 01:07:20,535
jerked her head so it would
fly off in Houdini's direction.
1491
01:07:20,637 --> 01:07:23,838
Her way of making the table
levitate in the darkness
1492
01:07:23,940 --> 01:07:28,276
was that she had a
long and flexible neck,
1493
01:07:28,378 --> 01:07:30,879
and while people were
holding her arms and legs,
1494
01:07:30,981 --> 01:07:32,747
she was able to get
her neck way down
1495
01:07:32,849 --> 01:07:34,449
onto the ledge of the
table and lift it up
1496
01:07:34,551 --> 01:07:37,118
on the back of her head.
1497
01:07:37,220 --> 01:07:40,188
NARRATOR: In early 1925, Houdini
took his battle to the people.
1498
01:07:40,290 --> 01:07:42,624
He staged a showdown
in front of an audience
1499
01:07:42,759 --> 01:07:46,594
offering $10,000 to Margery to
prove her paranormal abilities.
1500
01:07:46,696 --> 01:07:49,764
Margery never appeared, so
he entertained the audience
1501
01:07:49,866 --> 01:07:52,767
with demonstrations of her
alleged psychic skills.
1502
01:07:52,869 --> 01:07:57,238
Lot number 369 is a large
lobby display, the $10,000
1503
01:07:57,340 --> 01:07:57,439
Challenge.
1504
01:07:59,709 --> 01:08:01,342
Thank you, Jimmy.
1505
01:08:01,445 --> 01:08:01,943
10,000.
1506
01:08:02,045 --> 01:08:04,579
15,000. $20,000 now.
1507
01:08:04,681 --> 01:08:05,513
$20,000, going to make it now.
1508
01:08:05,615 --> 01:08:07,482
20, got to give him 20.
1509
01:08:07,584 --> 01:08:07,982
You got 25.
1510
01:08:10,353 --> 01:08:11,052
$30,000.
1511
01:08:11,154 --> 01:08:12,087
Now $30,000.
1512
01:08:12,189 --> 01:08:14,322
$35,000.
1513
01:08:14,424 --> 01:08:17,592
$40,000 I got here.
$45,000 I got there.
1514
01:08:17,694 --> 01:08:18,426
$50,000 if you
want it at $50,000.
1515
01:08:18,528 --> 01:08:21,329
All in, all out.
1516
01:08:21,431 --> 01:08:26,468
Any more at $45,000?
1517
01:08:26,570 --> 01:08:27,469
$45,000.
1518
01:08:27,571 --> 01:08:36,244
Thank you, sir, for
your bidding. $45,000.
1519
01:08:36,346 --> 01:08:38,213
I definitely don't think
that it was something
1520
01:08:38,315 --> 01:08:40,882
that she meant to unleash.
1521
01:08:40,984 --> 01:08:44,252
I think it was something that so
many people got involved with,
1522
01:08:44,354 --> 01:08:48,857
and so many people had such
high stakes in that it became
1523
01:08:48,959 --> 01:08:53,361
its own beast.
1524
01:08:53,463 --> 01:08:54,829
NARRATOR: In time, Houdini's
battle with Margery
1525
01:08:54,931 --> 01:08:57,265
faded, but his battle
with spiritualism
1526
01:08:57,367 --> 01:09:00,168
took him all the way
to Washington DC.
1527
01:09:00,270 --> 01:09:02,303
In 1926, Houdini appeared
before Senate and the House
1528
01:09:02,405 --> 01:09:04,806
subcommittees to
testify on behalf
1529
01:09:04,908 --> 01:09:07,275
of an anti-fortunetelling bill.
1530
01:09:07,377 --> 01:09:10,078
Hundreds of angry
spiritualists turned out
1531
01:09:10,180 --> 01:09:12,180
and the hearings nearly
turned into a riot
1532
01:09:12,282 --> 01:09:15,049
when Houdini called
mediums mental degenerates.
1533
01:09:15,152 --> 01:09:16,584
When he was testifying
before Congress
1534
01:09:16,686 --> 01:09:22,257
against the spiritualists,
he was asked whether indeed,
1535
01:09:22,359 --> 01:09:24,559
the things he did on
stage were actually
1536
01:09:24,661 --> 01:09:27,061
done by psychic powers.
1537
01:09:27,164 --> 01:09:30,765
And Houdini's response
to this was just
1538
01:09:30,867 --> 01:09:34,135
simultaneously so
honest and so self
1539
01:09:34,237 --> 01:09:37,605
promoting that it
makes me proud.
1540
01:09:37,707 --> 01:09:39,240
He said, some of
the spiritualists
1541
01:09:39,342 --> 01:09:40,642
say that I'm psychic.
1542
01:09:40,744 --> 01:09:43,011
I'm not.
1543
01:09:43,113 --> 01:09:45,547
Everything I do is
by natural means,
1544
01:09:45,649 --> 01:09:48,883
but I do tricks that
nobody can figure out.
1545
01:09:48,985 --> 01:09:51,252
That was always a
big thing for Houdini.
1546
01:09:51,354 --> 01:09:54,155
I mean, that there were no
supernatural powers in him
1547
01:09:54,257 --> 01:09:57,692
or in any other
magician or human being,
1548
01:09:57,794 --> 01:10:01,729
that everything
could be explained.
1549
01:10:01,831 --> 01:10:03,598
There was no supernatural.
1550
01:10:03,700 --> 01:10:04,899
NARRATOR: The protection
of freedom of speech
1551
01:10:05,001 --> 01:10:06,401
prevented the
anti-fortunetelling bill
1552
01:10:06,503 --> 01:10:10,071
from passage, but Houdini's
persistent campaign
1553
01:10:10,173 --> 01:10:13,441
against spiritualism had
damaged the movement.
1554
01:10:13,543 --> 01:10:15,476
He was still not ready to
step out of the spotlight.
1555
01:10:15,579 --> 01:10:17,745
He had one last great act
up his magician's sleeve.
1556
01:10:23,887 --> 01:10:27,021
NARRATOR: After 26 years of
breathtaking escapes on city
1557
01:10:27,123 --> 01:10:30,592
streets and in vaudeville
halls around the world,
1558
01:10:30,694 --> 01:10:33,595
Houdini made his bid for
class and respectability
1559
01:10:33,697 --> 01:10:36,931
opening a three act extravaganza
on the Great White Way, New
1560
01:10:37,033 --> 01:10:40,034
York City's Broadway, playing
alongside shows by George
1561
01:10:40,136 --> 01:10:43,104
Bernard Shaw and Henri Gibson.
1562
01:10:43,206 --> 01:10:44,038
What mattered to
Houdini very, very much
1563
01:10:44,140 --> 01:10:46,674
was that it played on Broadway.
1564
01:10:46,776 --> 01:10:50,078
Houdini always longed for real
theatrical respectability.
1565
01:10:50,180 --> 01:10:52,914
He saw himself as
part of the theater.
1566
01:10:53,016 --> 01:10:54,749
For this kind of wonderful
return to magic that
1567
01:10:54,851 --> 01:10:57,352
he has at the end of his career.
1568
01:10:57,454 --> 01:10:59,153
NARRATOR: The show covered the
entire span of Houdini's life
1569
01:10:59,256 --> 01:11:00,955
in magic.
1570
01:11:01,057 --> 01:11:04,726
Houdini's last season, he was
doing a show that was basically
1571
01:11:04,828 --> 01:11:05,960
all him.
1572
01:11:06,062 --> 01:11:08,997
The first part he
did magic tricks.
1573
01:11:09,099 --> 01:11:11,633
Houdini was a great
historian of magic.
1574
01:11:11,735 --> 01:11:14,335
A lot of the tricks that he did
were tricks that had been made
1575
01:11:14,437 --> 01:11:16,938
famous by earlier magicians and
he was sort of paying homage
1576
01:11:17,040 --> 01:11:21,109
to his predecessors.
1577
01:11:21,211 --> 01:11:26,614
NARRATOR: Houdini opened
his Broadway show in 1926.
1578
01:11:26,716 --> 01:11:29,350
Dorothy Young, at the age of
17, was his youngest stage
1579
01:11:29,452 --> 01:11:31,452
assistant.
1580
01:11:31,554 --> 01:11:35,089
Houdini would bring me out
in this little burlap slave
1581
01:11:35,191 --> 01:11:39,861
costume with my
hands tied behind me,
1582
01:11:39,963 --> 01:11:43,097
and Houdini said, she's
been a naughty girl.
1583
01:11:43,199 --> 01:11:45,233
We have to tie her up.
1584
01:11:45,335 --> 01:11:49,404
So I stood at the pole, he
tied me with ropes from here
1585
01:11:49,606 --> 01:11:52,407
to my ankles.
1586
01:11:52,509 --> 01:11:55,510
And he would say, now
we'll put her in darkness,
1587
01:11:55,612 --> 01:11:57,712
and the curtain would
drop to the floor.
1588
01:11:57,814 --> 01:12:00,281
And the minute it would
drop to the floor,
1589
01:12:00,383 --> 01:12:04,852
I would come out in a beautiful
butterfly costume on my toes.
1590
01:12:04,954 --> 01:12:05,920
NARRATOR: The second
act would feature
1591
01:12:09,025 --> 01:12:11,459
of his great escapes.
1592
01:12:11,561 --> 01:12:13,995
But the real highlight was
an expose of spiritualism.
1593
01:12:14,097 --> 01:12:17,131
He called it do spirits return?
1594
01:12:17,233 --> 01:12:19,967
He would talk
about spiritualism,
1595
01:12:20,070 --> 01:12:22,904
and he would engage in debates
with mediums, who had been
1596
01:12:23,006 --> 01:12:24,872
given free tickets to the show.
1597
01:12:24,974 --> 01:12:26,541
He would sit on the
stage with a table,
1598
01:12:26,643 --> 01:12:28,976
have a person in the
audience come up,
1599
01:12:29,079 --> 01:12:30,912
and they would do the seance.
1600
01:12:31,014 --> 01:12:32,580
He would be handling things
underneath with his feet
1601
01:12:32,682 --> 01:12:34,615
underneath the table
and doing switches.
1602
01:12:34,718 --> 01:12:36,684
The audience would
see what was going on.
1603
01:12:36,786 --> 01:12:39,754
I was told by people who
saw that full evening show
1604
01:12:39,856 --> 01:12:43,091
that the third part of
the show where he debated
1605
01:12:43,193 --> 01:12:46,961
with the mediums and
baited the mediums
1606
01:12:47,063 --> 01:12:48,296
was worth the
price of admission.
1607
01:12:48,398 --> 01:12:50,631
I mean, it was just terrific.
1608
01:12:50,734 --> 01:12:54,435
So here we are 26 years
after he becomes a star,
1609
01:12:54,537 --> 01:12:58,172
and he's still got a
way to grab an audience.
1610
01:12:58,274 --> 01:13:00,508
That show was the
dream of his life.
1611
01:13:00,610 --> 01:13:05,046
OK, 368, large lobby
display right there.
1612
01:13:05,148 --> 01:13:06,280
Ivan, how much for
that one there?
1613
01:13:06,383 --> 01:13:08,816
He'll say $20,000 I have for it.
1614
01:13:08,918 --> 01:13:12,820
$25,000 is going to make it
now. $25,000 you've got to give.
1615
01:13:12,922 --> 01:13:14,122
25 I have, and 27 and a
half going to make it now.
1616
01:13:14,224 --> 01:13:14,489
27 and 1/2.
1617
01:13:15,792 --> 01:13:17,191
I got $30,000.
1618
01:13:17,293 --> 01:13:18,626
32 and 1/2 you got to give him.
1619
01:13:18,728 --> 01:13:20,228
32 and 1/2, yes or no?
1620
01:13:20,330 --> 01:13:21,562
Any more than $30,000?
1621
01:13:21,664 --> 01:13:22,563
You're all done
at $30,000 for it?
1622
01:13:22,665 --> 01:13:23,631
32 and a 1/2.
1623
01:13:23,733 --> 01:13:23,965
32 and 1/2.
1624
01:13:24,601 --> 01:13:25,633
I got--
1625
01:13:25,735 --> 01:13:26,234
37.
1626
01:13:28,638 --> 01:13:29,637
40,000 to you.
1627
01:13:29,739 --> 01:13:31,305
I need $40,000.
1628
01:13:31,408 --> 01:13:31,606
$40,000 I got for it.
Yep.
1629
01:13:35,512 --> 01:13:36,744
You got 41.
1630
01:13:36,913 --> 01:13:37,478
It's still yours at 41.
1631
01:13:37,580 --> 01:13:38,212
$41,000, in or out.
1632
01:13:38,314 --> 01:13:40,581
He's out at $40,000.
1633
01:13:40,683 --> 01:13:42,383
It goes to your bidder,
Gary, here at $40,000.
1634
01:13:42,485 --> 01:13:43,684
You got it.
1635
01:13:43,787 --> 01:13:48,990
567.
1636
01:13:49,092 --> 01:13:51,225
NARRATOR: But even in
triumph, Houdini still
1637
01:13:51,327 --> 01:13:53,294
loved a challenge, and
he found it in and up
1638
01:13:53,396 --> 01:13:55,696
and coming magician
named Rahmin Bey.
1639
01:13:55,799 --> 01:13:59,767
Not long before Houdini died,
and it may have contributed
1640
01:13:59,869 --> 01:14:05,173
to his early demise, there
was this Egyptian mystic named
1641
01:14:05,275 --> 01:14:08,176
Rahmin Bey, and Rahmin Bey
was getting a lot of attention
1642
01:14:08,311 --> 01:14:09,977
around New York, and
he was being booked
1643
01:14:10,079 --> 01:14:11,479
to play some of the
society parties,
1644
01:14:11,581 --> 01:14:14,115
and he was getting
theater bookings.
1645
01:14:14,217 --> 01:14:17,585
And he was doing
publicity stunts that
1646
01:14:17,687 --> 01:14:20,087
were very much like the
sorts of things Houdini did,
1647
01:14:20,190 --> 01:14:23,925
and he had himself
placed in a metal coffin
1648
01:14:24,027 --> 01:14:27,161
and held underwater for an hour.
1649
01:14:27,263 --> 01:14:29,163
And he said that he accomplished
this by putting himself
1650
01:14:29,265 --> 01:14:33,000
into a trance.
1651
01:14:33,102 --> 01:14:35,269
NARRATOR: Houdini didn't believe
in the power of Rahmin Bey's
1652
01:14:35,371 --> 01:14:36,370
trance.
1653
01:14:36,473 --> 01:14:39,173
He had done many
of the same stunts
1654
01:14:39,275 --> 01:14:41,008
and had exposed those
tricks in his writing.
1655
01:14:41,110 --> 01:14:44,212
He offered to duplicate the
underwater stunt without going
1656
01:14:44,314 --> 01:14:47,281
into Bey's so-called trance.
1657
01:14:47,383 --> 01:14:49,617
He had an identical
coffin made,
1658
01:14:49,719 --> 01:14:52,753
scientists had said there
was enough air for about
1659
01:14:52,856 --> 01:14:54,255
five minutes.
1660
01:14:54,357 --> 01:14:57,692
Well, that's how much good air
there was, but by staying calm,
1661
01:14:57,794 --> 01:14:59,827
he managed to live
on the bad air.
1662
01:14:59,929 --> 01:15:01,863
NARRATOR: But Houdini
was not in the same shape
1663
01:15:01,965 --> 01:15:04,232
as he was 20 years earlier.
1664
01:15:04,334 --> 01:15:07,668
At 50 minutes, he was
having trouble breathing.
1665
01:15:07,770 --> 01:15:10,671
The temperature inside the
coffin rose above 99 degrees.
1666
01:15:10,773 --> 01:15:13,674
At an hour and 28
minutes, he began
1667
01:15:13,776 --> 01:15:17,745
seeing yellow lights, a sign
of severe oxygen deprivation.
1668
01:15:17,847 --> 01:15:19,480
He stayed in it for
an hour and 31 minutes,
1669
01:15:19,582 --> 01:15:22,817
beat the guy's
time by 31 minutes.
1670
01:15:22,919 --> 01:15:26,020
NARRATOR: He triumphed, but
had Houdini finally taken
1671
01:15:26,122 --> 01:15:28,489
a death defying stunt too far?
1672
01:15:28,591 --> 01:15:32,226
When he came out of
the box, he looked bad.
1673
01:15:32,328 --> 01:15:34,629
Being in a soldered
coffin underwater
1674
01:15:34,731 --> 01:15:38,266
for an hour and a half, I
mean, very, very risky stuff.
1675
01:15:38,368 --> 01:15:40,568
NARRATOR: Following the
underwater coffin stunt,
1676
01:15:40,670 --> 01:15:42,870
Houdini took his Broadway
show on the road.
1677
01:15:42,972 --> 01:15:44,972
He was slowing down,
but was looking forward
1678
01:15:45,074 --> 01:15:46,707
to playing legitimate theaters.
1679
01:15:46,809 --> 01:15:49,377
After a few engagements
on the East Coast,
1680
01:15:49,479 --> 01:15:53,214
Houdini arrived in Montreal
on October 18, 1926
1681
01:15:53,316 --> 01:15:56,083
for a three day engagement.
1682
01:15:56,185 --> 01:15:58,419
He had lectured earlier in
the week at McGill College
1683
01:15:58,521 --> 01:16:00,988
and some college
students came by
1684
01:16:01,090 --> 01:16:03,157
to visit him between the
matinee and evening show.
1685
01:16:03,259 --> 01:16:07,194
So he was lying on the little
couch in his dressing room,
1686
01:16:07,297 --> 01:16:10,431
and one of the boys, a fellow
named Sam Smilovitz was doing
1687
01:16:10,533 --> 01:16:12,066
some sketches of him.
1688
01:16:12,168 --> 01:16:14,902
And then another boy
came in named Whitehead.
1689
01:16:15,004 --> 01:16:17,572
NARRATOR: According to
legend, Houdini had always
1690
01:16:17,707 --> 01:16:20,841
bragged that he could withstand
any blow to the abdomen.
1691
01:16:20,944 --> 01:16:23,044
The 6 foot 1"
Whitehead challenged
1692
01:16:23,179 --> 01:16:25,446
the 52-year-old illusionist.
1693
01:16:25,548 --> 01:16:28,115
Houdini got up from the
lounge where he was resting
1694
01:16:28,251 --> 01:16:30,384
and said, go ahead, you can
punch me as hard as you want.
1695
01:16:30,553 --> 01:16:31,686
The guy hits him
in the stomach.
1696
01:16:31,788 --> 01:16:33,588
Wow, it's really hard.
1697
01:16:33,690 --> 01:16:36,357
He hits him again and again
and again, because after all,
1698
01:16:36,459 --> 01:16:39,493
Houdini is a tough
guy. is Superman.
1699
01:16:39,596 --> 01:16:41,395
He didn't give him a
chance to flex his muscles.
1700
01:16:41,497 --> 01:16:44,765
NARRATOR: Houdini took three
to four hard painful punches.
1701
01:16:44,867 --> 01:16:47,301
Doctors at the time said the
blows caused his appendix
1702
01:16:47,403 --> 01:16:48,202
to rupture.
1703
01:16:48,304 --> 01:16:51,205
Later, experts,
medical experts
1704
01:16:51,307 --> 01:16:53,774
think that Houdini was
suffering from appendicitis
1705
01:16:53,876 --> 01:16:55,910
during his tour.
1706
01:16:56,012 --> 01:16:58,846
That the appendix would not have
ruptured unless it had already
1707
01:16:58,948 --> 01:17:00,448
been inflamed.
1708
01:17:00,550 --> 01:17:02,917
And as sick as he was
and in agonizing as was he
1709
01:17:03,019 --> 01:17:05,186
went on that night.
1710
01:17:05,288 --> 01:17:08,089
He got through
the show that night
1711
01:17:08,191 --> 01:17:12,560
and another magician Max Malini
and Max's teenage son Ozzie
1712
01:17:12,662 --> 01:17:14,428
saw Houdini to the train.
1713
01:17:14,530 --> 01:17:16,497
And as he was
getting on the train,
1714
01:17:16,599 --> 01:17:19,600
Houdini said to Max
Malini, who he'd
1715
01:17:19,702 --> 01:17:21,636
known for most of his life.
1716
01:17:21,738 --> 01:17:24,505
He said, I led a college kid
punch me in the stomach today
1717
01:17:24,607 --> 01:17:26,240
and he caught me wrong,
and it's killing me.
1718
01:17:26,342 --> 01:17:30,144
By the time he got to
Detroit, the appendix had really
1719
01:17:30,246 --> 01:17:31,545
ruptured.
1720
01:17:31,648 --> 01:17:37,785
He has got a monumental
staph infection
1721
01:17:37,887 --> 01:17:42,623
of the peritoneal cavity, and
there are no sulfa drugs then.
1722
01:17:42,725 --> 01:17:45,760
There's absolutely nothing
that can save him at this time.
1723
01:17:45,862 --> 01:17:49,830
So he gets to Detroit on
Sunday, and they've got a doctor
1724
01:17:49,932 --> 01:17:50,931
waiting to see him at the show.
1725
01:17:51,034 --> 01:17:52,633
The doctor comes
down to the theater
1726
01:17:52,735 --> 01:17:56,937
and has Houdini stretch
out in a prop room floor,
1727
01:17:57,040 --> 01:17:59,740
and he feels his lower abdomen.
1728
01:17:59,842 --> 01:18:01,142
He says, you've got
an appendicitis.
1729
01:18:01,244 --> 01:18:03,177
You've got to go to
the hospital right now.
1730
01:18:03,279 --> 01:18:04,845
And Houdini gave him
the classic line,
1731
01:18:04,947 --> 01:18:06,681
no, those people
are here to see me.
1732
01:18:06,783 --> 01:18:07,815
NARRATOR: Houdini
took to the stage
1733
01:18:07,917 --> 01:18:10,317
with a temperature of 104.
1734
01:18:10,420 --> 01:18:12,820
He collapsed after
the first act,
1735
01:18:12,922 --> 01:18:17,291
was revived, finished the
show, and collapsed again.
1736
01:18:17,393 --> 01:18:20,261
There were some
magicians in the audience.
1737
01:18:20,363 --> 01:18:22,663
One guy had only seen
Houdini once before,
1738
01:18:22,765 --> 01:18:24,765
and he was with a friend who'd
seen Houdini eight times.
1739
01:18:24,867 --> 01:18:26,100
And all through the
show, the friend who'd
1740
01:18:26,202 --> 01:18:29,370
seen Houdini eight times, was
saying there's something wrong.
1741
01:18:29,472 --> 01:18:30,805
The fellow who had only
seen Houdini once before
1742
01:18:30,907 --> 01:18:32,740
thought it was a good show.
1743
01:18:32,842 --> 01:18:35,042
NARRATOR: Houdini refused
to go to the hospital.
1744
01:18:35,144 --> 01:18:37,044
It wasn't till 4
o'clock in the morning
1745
01:18:37,146 --> 01:18:39,547
that his New York doctor
persuaded him to go to Grace
1746
01:18:39,649 --> 01:18:42,416
Hospital, and they
operated on him,
1747
01:18:42,518 --> 01:18:45,653
and they gave him
eight hours to live.
1748
01:18:45,755 --> 01:18:47,621
Oh, and he was in agony.
1749
01:18:47,724 --> 01:18:48,789
Agony.
1750
01:18:48,891 --> 01:18:51,392
But he didn't die immediately.
1751
01:18:51,494 --> 01:18:53,327
He should have been dead, but
because he was so powerful,
1752
01:18:53,429 --> 01:18:57,198
he was such a strong man,
he lived for seven days.
1753
01:18:57,300 --> 01:19:00,568
A relative of his,
who was a doctor,
1754
01:19:00,670 --> 01:19:07,108
came in and was praising
Houdini's career,
1755
01:19:07,210 --> 01:19:12,213
and Houdini said back
to him, everything
1756
01:19:12,348 --> 01:19:14,615
that I do is more
or less as a fake.
1757
01:19:14,717 --> 01:19:16,917
You're the one who
really does things.
1758
01:19:17,019 --> 01:19:19,920
That's real heroism, and
I think ultimately Houdini
1759
01:19:20,022 --> 01:19:22,723
was aware of that
and sort of made
1760
01:19:22,825 --> 01:19:26,994
that clear in this
deathbed sort of scene.
1761
01:19:27,096 --> 01:19:30,030
He said, I'm
going to lick this.
1762
01:19:30,133 --> 01:19:33,734
I'm going to lick it, and
then finally, after a week,
1763
01:19:33,836 --> 01:19:36,437
he said, it's finished.
1764
01:19:36,539 --> 01:19:38,139
That's what he said.
1765
01:19:38,241 --> 01:19:39,673
It's finished.
1766
01:19:39,776 --> 01:19:42,443
That's it.
1767
01:19:42,612 --> 01:19:46,347
NARRATOR: Houdini died
on October 31, 1926.
1768
01:19:46,449 --> 01:19:49,617
He was only 52 years old.
1769
01:19:49,719 --> 01:19:51,285
He had been a performer
for most of his life
1770
01:19:51,387 --> 01:19:54,755
and in the spotlight for
more than half of it,
1771
01:19:54,857 --> 01:19:57,892
but even after his death his
fans wouldn't forget him.
1772
01:20:04,801 --> 01:20:07,401
Throughout his career, Houdini
had cheated death nightly
1773
01:20:07,503 --> 01:20:09,503
and before adoring audiences.
1774
01:20:09,605 --> 01:20:13,107
His fans were not
about to forsake him.
1775
01:20:13,209 --> 01:20:15,409
For nearly 80
years, his followers
1776
01:20:15,511 --> 01:20:17,545
have gathered on the
anniversary of his death
1777
01:20:17,647 --> 01:20:21,982
on Halloween of all days
to try and raise his ghost.
1778
01:20:22,118 --> 01:20:23,884
We'll all place our
hands on the table
1779
01:20:23,986 --> 01:20:27,388
in the position of mediums.
1780
01:20:27,490 --> 01:20:29,857
We ask you to come through now.
1781
01:20:29,959 --> 01:20:33,127
Come through in the show
business capital of the world.
1782
01:20:33,262 --> 01:20:36,430
Prove once and for
all that you can break
1783
01:20:36,532 --> 01:20:38,666
through the veil of death.
1784
01:20:38,768 --> 01:20:43,170
Show that it is possible.
1785
01:20:43,272 --> 01:20:47,675
NARRATOR: In death, as in
life, Houdini drew huge crowds.
1786
01:20:47,777 --> 01:20:50,177
Thousands attended his
funeral in Times Square
1787
01:20:50,279 --> 01:20:53,280
on November 4, 1926.
1788
01:20:53,382 --> 01:20:57,351
He was buried beside his beloved
mother in Queens, New York.
1789
01:20:57,453 --> 01:20:59,920
As he instructed,
her letters to him
1790
01:21:00,022 --> 01:21:03,190
were bundled together and
placed beneath his head.
1791
01:21:03,292 --> 01:21:07,862
Across America, newspapers led
with the story of his passing.
1792
01:21:07,964 --> 01:21:11,999
Headlines proclaimed tricks
go to grave with magician,
1793
01:21:12,101 --> 01:21:14,835
but his secrets were very
much alive and in the hands
1794
01:21:14,937 --> 01:21:17,071
of his brother Hardeen, who
performed Houdini's escapes
1795
01:21:17,173 --> 01:21:20,241
for years to come.
1796
01:21:20,343 --> 01:21:24,545
His wife Bess had her own way
of keeping his memory alive.
1797
01:21:24,647 --> 01:21:26,447
During his years
debunking psychics,
1798
01:21:26,549 --> 01:21:28,382
Houdini had warned Bess
that spirit mediums would
1799
01:21:28,484 --> 01:21:29,984
try to raise his ghost.
1800
01:21:30,086 --> 01:21:32,253
To protect against
this fraud, Bess
1801
01:21:32,355 --> 01:21:35,155
was to conduct seances
of her own armed
1802
01:21:35,258 --> 01:21:36,824
with special codes which
they arranged between them
1803
01:21:36,926 --> 01:21:38,926
before his death.
1804
01:21:39,061 --> 01:21:42,730
It was a letter from Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle to him,
1805
01:21:42,832 --> 01:21:47,468
and he circled 10 words in this
letter, put them in an envelope
1806
01:21:47,570 --> 01:21:50,571
and had a code made up of
10 words, which I carry
1807
01:21:50,673 --> 01:21:55,042
in my pocket, and those
10 words plus the words
1808
01:21:55,144 --> 01:21:58,178
inside this envelope were to be
the message that he would bring
1809
01:21:58,314 --> 01:22:00,648
back if he could come back.
1810
01:22:00,750 --> 01:22:03,250
NARRATOR: Bess held
seances every Halloween,
1811
01:22:03,352 --> 01:22:05,753
the anniversary of
Houdini's passing.
1812
01:22:05,855 --> 01:22:09,390
On the 10th anniversary
of Houdini's death,
1813
01:22:09,492 --> 01:22:12,393
she held a seance in
the Knickerbocker Hotel
1814
01:22:12,495 --> 01:22:14,061
on the rooftop.
1815
01:22:14,163 --> 01:22:16,664
There was a worldwide
radio broadcast.
1816
01:22:16,766 --> 01:22:20,534
The seance in Los Angeles was
Bessie and her manager Edward
1817
01:22:20,636 --> 01:22:21,735
Saint.
1818
01:22:21,837 --> 01:22:23,103
Edward Saint wan
an old carny man,
1819
01:22:23,205 --> 01:22:24,638
and he really makes a pitch.
1820
01:22:24,740 --> 01:22:26,707
Speak, Harry.
1821
01:22:26,809 --> 01:22:28,709
Speak through the trumpet.
1822
01:22:28,811 --> 01:22:30,144
Open the handcuffs, Harry.
1823
01:22:30,246 --> 01:22:31,845
Ring the bell.
1824
01:22:31,948 --> 01:22:35,516
And he goes on like that and
really gives it the college
1825
01:22:35,618 --> 01:22:39,787
try, and he doesn't
manage to contact Houdini.
1826
01:22:39,889 --> 01:22:43,190
And Bessie said, my
last hope is gone.
1827
01:22:43,292 --> 01:22:45,960
10 years is long enough
to wait for any man.
1828
01:22:46,062 --> 01:22:49,697
For 10 years, the light
has burned faithfully
1829
01:22:49,799 --> 01:22:49,997
in the Houdini shrine.
1830
01:22:52,835 --> 01:22:55,936
NARRATOR: And with that,
Bess laid her Houdini seances
1831
01:22:56,038 --> 01:22:57,771
to rest.
1832
01:22:57,907 --> 01:23:00,741
But other magicians picked
up where she left off.
1833
01:23:00,876 --> 01:23:03,544
Sidney Radner, a protege of
Houdini's brother Hardeen,
1834
01:23:03,646 --> 01:23:06,947
began doing seances in the
1930s and has continued them
1835
01:23:07,049 --> 01:23:08,582
to this day.
1836
01:23:08,684 --> 01:23:11,352
Each year, Mr. Radner
gathers top magicians,
1837
01:23:11,454 --> 01:23:14,788
like Penn Jillette and
his partner Teller,
1838
01:23:14,924 --> 01:23:16,156
to the official Houdini seance.
1839
01:23:16,258 --> 01:23:18,625
An inner circle of
Houdini enthusiasts
1840
01:23:18,728 --> 01:23:21,128
conduct the yearly event
according to the safeguards
1841
01:23:21,230 --> 01:23:24,231
devised by Houdini
and Bess decades ago.
1842
01:23:24,333 --> 01:23:26,800
They haven't
gotten it right yet.
1843
01:23:26,902 --> 01:23:28,702
NARRATOR: They are a
room full of skeptics,
1844
01:23:28,804 --> 01:23:31,772
yet every one of them got
started in magic because they
1845
01:23:31,874 --> 01:23:33,073
wanted to believe,
and every one of them
1846
01:23:33,175 --> 01:23:36,410
would love to hear from
Houdini on this night.
1847
01:23:36,545 --> 01:23:37,811
Would he finally answer them?
1848
01:23:37,913 --> 01:23:39,780
Please, come through tonight.
1849
01:23:39,882 --> 01:23:42,616
Prove it can be done.
1850
01:23:42,718 --> 01:23:46,053
This is your one chance to pull
the greatest stunt of all time.
1851
01:23:46,155 --> 01:23:49,323
Make the table vibrate
if you can do that.
1852
01:23:49,425 --> 01:23:54,194
All of us that are in the magic
world were influenced by you.
1853
01:23:54,296 --> 01:23:56,764
You took magic to
a greater place
1854
01:23:56,866 --> 01:23:59,633
that it had ever been before.
1855
01:23:59,735 --> 01:24:01,835
Shall we all chant
when I count to three?
1856
01:24:01,937 --> 01:24:02,569
Harry come back.
1857
01:24:02,738 --> 01:24:04,738
1, 2, 3.
1858
01:24:04,840 --> 01:24:07,574
Harry come back.
1859
01:24:07,676 --> 01:24:09,043
Harry come back.
1860
01:24:09,145 --> 01:24:09,743
Harry come back.
1861
01:24:14,116 --> 01:24:18,218
Well, my friends, I think
we have to admit something
1862
01:24:18,320 --> 01:24:23,023
that on every seance people
have had to sadly conclude,
1863
01:24:23,125 --> 01:24:27,995
including the widow of Harry
Houdini, Bess, who very sadly
1864
01:24:28,097 --> 01:24:30,798
said at the Knickerbocker
Hotel many, many years ago,
1865
01:24:30,900 --> 01:24:33,600
Harry isn't coming back.
1866
01:24:33,702 --> 01:24:34,635
Switch off the light.
1867
01:24:34,737 --> 01:24:37,071
It isn't going to happen.
1868
01:24:37,173 --> 01:24:37,871
For the whole set.
1869
01:24:37,973 --> 01:24:39,440
How much for the whole set?
1870
01:24:39,542 --> 01:24:41,742
NARRATOR: The collectors
at this auction
1871
01:24:41,844 --> 01:24:45,612
are also trying to hold on to
memories of the great Houdini.
1872
01:24:45,714 --> 01:24:47,848
Houdini was a
collector as well.
1873
01:24:47,950 --> 01:24:49,383
He collected everything
about the history of magic,
1874
01:24:49,485 --> 01:24:52,219
and then anything
associated with it.
1875
01:24:52,321 --> 01:24:54,088
He built one of the great
theater libraries in the world.
1876
01:24:54,256 --> 01:24:56,824
I mean, it's supposedly the
third largest theater library
1877
01:24:56,926 --> 01:24:58,192
collection.
1878
01:24:58,294 --> 01:25:01,028
I think that's now at Harvard
in the Harvard Library.
1879
01:25:01,130 --> 01:25:02,796
His house got quite
cluttered before he died.
1880
01:25:02,898 --> 01:25:04,431
I mean, he had everything.
1881
01:25:04,533 --> 01:25:06,967
To an extent, it was because
he was doing research,
1882
01:25:07,069 --> 01:25:10,137
but any collector
knows that research
1883
01:25:10,239 --> 01:25:12,039
is a sort of a handy excuse
for having a lot of stuff
1884
01:25:12,141 --> 01:25:14,441
around you.
1885
01:25:14,543 --> 01:25:17,077
It is interesting that he,
a collector his whole life,
1886
01:25:17,179 --> 01:25:20,114
has now engendered this
auction of effects.
1887
01:25:20,216 --> 01:25:22,616
It's kind of a big,
weird full circle.
1888
01:25:22,718 --> 01:25:23,083
900 your way, young man.
1889
01:25:23,185 --> 01:25:24,651
There we go.
1890
01:25:24,753 --> 01:25:27,087
Ladies and gentlemen,
the water torture cell.
1891
01:25:27,189 --> 01:25:29,590
This is the most famous trick.
1892
01:25:29,692 --> 01:25:30,390
There is a museum.
1893
01:25:33,062 --> 01:25:34,394
It's going to go on
permanent display
1894
01:25:34,497 --> 01:25:36,430
or in someone's
private collection,
1895
01:25:36,532 --> 01:25:37,064
that much I'll guarantee.
1896
01:25:39,935 --> 01:25:42,603
First caller $200,000 for it.
1897
01:25:42,705 --> 01:25:43,437
250, got to make it in 250.
1898
01:25:43,539 --> 01:25:44,238
Got to give him 250.
1899
01:25:44,340 --> 01:25:44,805
Got to make it now.
1900
01:25:44,907 --> 01:25:47,574
I have 250, Gary.
1901
01:25:47,676 --> 01:25:48,642
275 we're going to make it now.
1902
01:25:48,744 --> 01:25:49,409
275?
1903
01:25:49,512 --> 01:25:50,210
275, if you're interested.
1904
01:25:50,312 --> 01:25:52,045
275 if he wants it.
1905
01:25:52,148 --> 01:25:53,614
It's at 250.
1906
01:25:53,716 --> 01:25:54,715
275 you got to make it now.
1907
01:25:54,817 --> 01:25:56,049
275 you've got to give.
1908
01:25:56,152 --> 01:25:57,251
Yeah.
1909
01:25:57,353 --> 01:25:59,620
And 285 we're going
to make it now.
1910
01:25:59,722 --> 01:26:00,187
285 you got to give.
1911
01:26:01,590 --> 01:26:02,489
285 I got.
1912
01:26:02,591 --> 01:26:05,025
Now it's $300,000, who wants it?
1913
01:26:05,127 --> 01:26:06,827
It's $300,000 now.
1914
01:26:06,929 --> 01:26:07,694
Anyone 285?
1915
01:26:07,796 --> 01:26:09,530
It's $300,000 you got to give.
1916
01:26:09,632 --> 01:26:10,397
You want it at 300?
1917
01:26:10,499 --> 01:26:10,731
Yes or no?
1918
01:26:10,833 --> 01:26:12,799
300.
1919
01:26:12,902 --> 01:26:13,867
$300,000 I have for it.
1920
01:26:13,969 --> 01:26:15,669
$300,000 I have.
1921
01:26:15,771 --> 01:26:18,105
I have $300,000.
1922
01:26:18,207 --> 01:26:21,441
Any more than $300,000?
1923
01:26:21,544 --> 01:26:22,376
Bang.
1924
01:26:22,478 --> 01:26:27,181
It's sold at $300,000.
1925
01:26:27,283 --> 01:26:30,350
It's sold at $300,000.
1926
01:26:30,452 --> 01:26:32,352
NARRATOR: The great
Houdini auction
1927
01:26:32,454 --> 01:26:34,054
was a tremendous success.
1928
01:26:34,156 --> 01:26:39,393
More than 450 lots sold totaling
over $1.1 million in bids
1929
01:26:39,495 --> 01:26:43,197
from magicians and collectors
all over the world.
1930
01:26:43,299 --> 01:26:46,800
David Copperfield walked away
with some of the biggest items.
1931
01:26:46,902 --> 01:26:49,036
If Houdini walked
into this room now,
1932
01:26:49,138 --> 01:26:51,471
he would feel like amazing,
like he was home again.
1933
01:26:51,574 --> 01:26:53,207
His awards are over there.
1934
01:26:53,309 --> 01:26:54,541
His baby shoes over there.
1935
01:26:54,643 --> 01:26:56,009
His first magic wand.
1936
01:26:56,111 --> 01:26:58,912
His most famous
escapes, the milk
1937
01:26:59,014 --> 01:27:03,450
can, the water torture cell,
the Iron Maiden, strait-jacket,
1938
01:27:03,552 --> 01:27:06,453
substitution trunk, even his
keys, so it's pretty good.
1939
01:27:06,589 --> 01:27:09,122
NARRATOR: For nearly
80 years, magicians
1940
01:27:09,225 --> 01:27:11,191
have tried to
recapture his magic
1941
01:27:11,293 --> 01:27:15,362
and unlock the secrets of
his incomparable career.
1942
01:27:15,464 --> 01:27:18,398
Tonight I'd like to present
Houdini's most famous escape,
1943
01:27:18,500 --> 01:27:21,168
the Houdini
strait-jacket escape.
1944
01:27:21,270 --> 01:27:23,770
This is the trick he did the
longest throughout his career.
1945
01:27:23,872 --> 01:27:26,506
This is the trick that
made Houdini famous.
1946
01:27:26,609 --> 01:27:28,809
Now to do this, I'm going to
need a little bit of help,
1947
01:27:28,911 --> 01:27:31,812
and we have with us
tonight Mr. Sid Radner.
1948
01:27:31,914 --> 01:27:32,546
Sid, how are you?
1949
01:27:32,648 --> 01:27:33,614
Fine, thank you.
1950
01:27:33,716 --> 01:27:34,681
How are you?
1951
01:27:34,783 --> 01:27:35,849
Thank you very much.
1952
01:27:35,951 --> 01:27:38,385
Now, Sid, the jacket goes
on like a normal jacket
1953
01:27:38,487 --> 01:27:41,121
only backwards.
1954
01:27:41,223 --> 01:27:43,757
And if you can just help pull
that up onto my shoulders.
1955
01:27:43,892 --> 01:27:45,626
There you go.
1956
01:27:45,728 --> 01:27:47,527
Now, Sid, you'll notice up
here on my left shoulder,
1957
01:27:47,630 --> 01:27:49,329
there's a bucket, and
on my right shoulder,
1958
01:27:49,431 --> 01:27:50,864
there's a strap.
1959
01:27:50,966 --> 01:27:54,234
Place that strap
right into the buckle.
1960
01:27:54,336 --> 01:27:55,969
And that's it.
1961
01:27:56,071 --> 01:27:58,839
Buckle it right in just like
a belt. Just start at the top
1962
01:27:58,941 --> 01:28:01,408
and work your way down to
the bottom of the jacket.
1963
01:28:01,510 --> 01:28:03,977
Now the straight
jacket was originally
1964
01:28:04,079 --> 01:28:08,148
designed to restrain
the criminally insane.
1965
01:28:08,250 --> 01:28:09,416
How are you doing there, Sid?
1966
01:28:09,518 --> 01:28:09,583
Get Fine.
1967
01:28:10,419 --> 01:28:11,585
Great.
1968
01:28:11,687 --> 01:28:13,253
Now, Sid, you'll notice
there's an extra buckle down
1969
01:28:13,355 --> 01:28:14,955
at the bottom of the jacket.
1970
01:28:15,057 --> 01:28:16,990
You see that?
1971
01:28:17,126 --> 01:28:19,626
You see that strap
between my legs?
1972
01:28:19,728 --> 01:28:20,027
Don't grab.
1973
01:28:20,462 --> 01:28:20,727
.
1974
01:28:22,865 --> 01:28:24,898
Last come the arms.
1975
01:28:25,000 --> 01:28:28,135
They cross in the front.
1976
01:28:28,237 --> 01:28:30,937
Sid, there's a strap right
there on this sleeve,
1977
01:28:31,040 --> 01:28:32,239
and there's a buckle
on that sleeve.
1978
01:28:32,341 --> 01:28:35,108
Go ahead and put that strap
right into the buckle.
1979
01:28:35,210 --> 01:28:39,646
I want you to make this one as
tight as you possibly can, OK?
1980
01:28:39,748 --> 01:28:43,684
I don't think Houdini himself
could have done a better job.
1981
01:28:43,786 --> 01:28:45,452
OK.
1982
01:28:45,621 --> 01:28:48,855
You've seen the
buckling in process.
1983
01:28:48,957 --> 01:28:53,260
Now comes the hard part
escaping from the straitjacket.
1984
01:28:53,395 --> 01:28:56,930
And as I do this I'm going
to explain exactly what I'm
1985
01:28:57,032 --> 01:28:58,398
doing every step of the way.
1986
01:28:58,500 --> 01:29:01,401
If you ever find yourself
in this predicament,
1987
01:29:01,503 --> 01:29:03,704
you'll know what to do.
1988
01:29:03,806 --> 01:29:08,742
The first step is to force one
of your arms up over your head.
1989
01:29:12,614 --> 01:29:15,716
They say Houdini could actually
dislocate both of his shoulders
1990
01:29:15,818 --> 01:29:18,819
to do this.
1991
01:29:18,921 --> 01:29:20,053
I don't know if that's true,
but it sure would help.
1992
01:29:28,597 --> 01:29:32,933
The next step is to work
on the buckles in the back.
1993
01:30:00,996 --> 01:30:02,929
The Houdini straight jacket.
1994
01:30:06,101 --> 01:30:09,803
NARRATOR: Nothing could hold
Harry Houdini, whether slipping
1995
01:30:09,905 --> 01:30:11,772
free from his Chinese
water torture cell
1996
01:30:11,874 --> 01:30:13,607
or breaking loose
from a steamer trunk
1997
01:30:13,709 --> 01:30:17,444
dropped in the Potomac
River, he faced his,
1998
01:30:17,546 --> 01:30:24,651
and by extension, society's
greatest fears and triumphed.
1999
01:30:24,753 --> 01:30:26,119
Harry Houdini inspired
generations of magicians,
2000
01:30:26,221 --> 01:30:27,854
including me.
2001
01:30:27,956 --> 01:30:30,390
As Bess Houdini once
said, every magician
2002
01:30:30,492 --> 01:30:32,592
knows where the trap door lies.
2003
01:30:32,728 --> 01:30:37,063
The magic was in this
man's personality.
2004
01:30:37,166 --> 01:30:39,366
I'm Lance Burton for
The History Channel.
2005
01:30:39,468 --> 01:30:41,101
Thanks for watching.
2006
01:30:41,203 --> 01:31:03,289
[theme music]
154033
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.