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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:06,600 Tonight on "History's Greatest Mysteries"... 2 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:12,440 He was the greatest escape artist of all time, 3 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:17,000 and his name was the embodiment of mystery and wonder. 4 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:22,760 I'm Laurence Fishburne. 5 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:26,160 Even though Harry Houdini has been dead for nearly a century, 6 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:28,720 key questions remain about his life. 7 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:32,040 On tonight's mystery, Houdini's diaries, 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,360 kept under lock and key in New York City, 9 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:37,400 may answer some of those questions. 10 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,000 It is the first time they have been made public. 11 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,760 Goodwin: For the first time, we're getting to see Houdini in his own words, 12 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,720 the most unfiltered version of the man. 13 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:52,920 Fishburne: What do the diaries reveal 14 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:55,560 about the real Harry Houdini, his background, 15 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,120 and how he became the world's greatest showman? 16 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:01,800 Caveney: Houdini wanted to be bigger than life 17 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,480 and he would do anything towards that end. 18 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:07,640 What was the secret of his mass appeal? 19 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:12,560 Teller: Houdini was certainly the person who made the idea 20 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:15,880 of an escape artist mean something to the world. 21 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:18,800 Jilette: "I defy the jails of the world to hold me." 22 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:22,040 That is a better slogan than "All you need is love." 23 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:24,600 How much did he risk to stay famous? 24 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:27,160 Cox: Up until this point, the stakes were 25 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:29,320 if Houdini fails, it's humiliation. 26 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:31,120 Now the stakes are life and death. 27 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:33,760 Fishburne: And did his all‐out war 28 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,360 against the people who claimed to speak to the dead 29 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:38,640 get him killed? 30 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:43,560 Were spiritualists bad enough to commit murder? 31 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:49,080 Yes. Can a university student punch wicked hard? Yes. 32 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:54,560 The legacy and life of a legend who cheated death until it found him. 33 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:58,880 ( music playing ) 34 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:14,000 The most famous magician today is Harry Houdini. 35 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:19,120 The first magic name people can name? 36 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,160 Harry Houdini. 37 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:22,760 Kids on the street know his name 38 00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:25,080 when they don't know Penn and Teller. 39 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:28,760 Culliton: In any famous person's life, 40 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:33,160 there are at least three different stories for any one event. 41 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:35,160 Except in Houdini's life, 42 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:37,920 there are 10 stories to any one event. 43 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:45,080 Fishburne: Harry Houdini kept diaries throughout his life. 44 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,160 While some have been released, thousands of pages‐‐ 45 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:49,840 some handwritten, some typed‐‐ 46 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:53,840 have remained a mystery, hidden from public view. 47 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,360 A handful of trusted magicians and Houdini scholars 48 00:02:57,520 --> 00:02:58,880 have been allowed to read them. 49 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:02,960 At last, the custodian of the diaries, 50 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:04,960 magic historian Bill Kalush 51 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:08,760 has agreed to make them available. 52 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:13,360 The diaries now being made available through this documentary 53 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:14,800 is a really big thing. 54 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:16,560 This would be the first time 55 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,160 that we'll be able to peruse these diaries 56 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,560 and learn more things about Houdini's life and career 57 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:25,360 than we could ever have in any other way. 58 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,840 Fishburne: The diaries have been organized to help decipher 59 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:31,960 the key chapters in Houdini's life 60 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,480 where secrets and questions remain‐‐ 61 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:36,680 starting at the beginning. 62 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:46,880 Culliton: Harry Houdini was a personality invented 63 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:51,720 by a very ambitious young man named Erik Weisz. 64 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,000 Fishburne: When he was 30 years old, 65 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:59,960 Houdini lies about where he was born in his own diary. 66 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:01,640 Cox: What's the first mystery of Houdini? 67 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:03,440 And it starts with his birth. 68 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:08,160 Houdini was born in Budapest, Hungary, on March 24th, 1874, 69 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,160 yet his diary says, 70 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:14,920 "Harry Houdini born April 6th, Appleton, Wisconsin." 71 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:19,840 Kalush: Houdini absolutely knew he was born in Budapest, 72 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,440 March 24th 1874. 73 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,200 He knew he was four years old when he came to the U. S., 74 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:29,280 so the question is why. 75 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,160 Lynch: So, Houdini was born Erik Weisz and no one exactly knows 76 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,280 why the family would move to Appleton. 77 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,800 The legend that Houdini apparently would always tell 78 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:43,760 was that his father got in a duel 79 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,360 with some member of the Hungarian royal family 80 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:51,160 and ended up killing him and had to flee to America. 81 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,320 Fishburne: What is known for sure is that Erik's father 82 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:59,680 has a respectable position waiting for him in Appleton. 83 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:01,320 Kalush: They had a number of Jewish families, 84 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:03,160 so they needed a rabbi, 85 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,960 and that's what his father Rabbi Weisz did. 86 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,760 He came of consciousness in this idyllic small town 87 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:13,480 where his father is an honored man. 88 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,240 There's beautiful fields, there's creeks to swim in. 89 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,320 It is the American ideal, and that's the world 90 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:21,840 Erik Weisz comes to know. 91 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,760 Fishburne: Though life is initially good for the Weisz family, 92 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:32,360 circumstances soon take a turn for the worse. 93 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:35,960 Kalush: When Erik was not very old, 94 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:39,160 they fired his father as the rabbi. 95 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:43,160 And they left Appleton for Milwaukee, 96 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:44,760 and things took a bad turn. 97 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:46,400 They lived in poverty at that point. 98 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:48,320 They lived very poorly. 99 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,080 And it was a time that he wouldn't even recount. 100 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,640 He wouldn't talk about his time in Milwaukee because it was so painful. 101 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:59,160 Cox: Schooling falls out of the picture and he goes right to work. 102 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,240 He understands very early, "I've gotta help. 103 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:03,840 I've gotta help support this family." 104 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,560 Kalush: He went out and did whatever it took 105 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:08,600 when food needed to be on the table, 106 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:11,000 from selling flowers to shining shoes, 107 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,120 to selling papers or being a messenger boy. 108 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:18,560 Work became all important and he was a workaholic his whole life. 109 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:20,560 Zenon: It probably gave him that drive, that grit, 110 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:22,680 and he was determined to make himself into something. 111 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:25,240 But that lack of education was going to go on to haunt him. 112 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:31,360 To help his son escape the harsh reality 113 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:32,960 of the poverty they were living in now, 114 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:35,560 Mayer Weisz took his son to see a magic show. 115 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,080 It was a particular trick that Houdini remembered, 116 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:40,360 throughout the rest of his life in fact. 117 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,760 Kalush: He saw Dr. Lynn, who was a famous magician, 118 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:46,640 and he did an effect called palingenesia, 119 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:48,560 where it appeared as though he took a knife 120 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:51,440 and cut the limbs off of a living person and then restored them. 121 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:54,960 To a young, clearly imaginative young boy, 122 00:06:55,120 --> 00:07:00,800 seeing somebody perform this incredibly dark and macabre act, 123 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:02,760 it would have just been captivating. 124 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:04,960 It's going to fire his imagination. 125 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:06,840 It's going to be the thing that he's talking about 126 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:08,400 and will remember for the rest of his life. 127 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:13,760 Fishburne: In one of the newly released diary entries, 128 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,040 Houdini recounts the gruesome act. 129 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,760 "I saw Dr. Lynn do it 30 years ago 130 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,760 when I was ten years of age in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 131 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:25,080 He pretended to use chloraform, 132 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:27,160 and at the time I really believed 133 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:31,360 that the man's arm, leg, and head were cut off." 134 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:33,160 I think Dr. Lynn's palingenisia 135 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:35,080 might have been quite formative for Houdini. 136 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:36,960 My own experiences, when I was a kid 137 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,160 I watched the "Twilight Zone" and Alfred Hitchcock, 138 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:41,560 and ever since, I've wanted to do things 139 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:43,560 that have to do with life and death and creepy stuff. 140 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:45,360 So, I wouldn't be surprised if Houdini said, 141 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:47,320 "Hmm, I want to do that." 142 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:51,200 Zenon: After Milwaukee, Mayer Weisz moved the family 143 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:52,880 to New York City to look for work 144 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:54,760 and it was almost as though 145 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:56,560 that was the place where the Houdini persona 146 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:58,640 started to take shape in young Erik. 147 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:00,760 Young Houdini's life in New York 148 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,760 was what really opened up the possibilities to him. 149 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:06,160 It was not until he got to Manhattan 150 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:08,160 that I think he suddenly looked up 151 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:10,280 and saw the potential of America 152 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:12,480 and of making his name there. 153 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:16,320 Cox: He becomes very, very interested in athletics. 154 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:18,240 That really is a natural for him, 155 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:20,960 for his competitive nature, for his love of physical fitness. 156 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:23,440 He becomes a boxer. He becomes a champion runner. 157 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,880 His drive was more like an athlete's drive than an entertainer's, 158 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:30,960 and it really starts here in New York. 159 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:32,760 Caveney: The great thing about athletics is 160 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:35,680 if you win that race, you are the best, 161 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:37,960 you are number one, 162 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,080 and they give you a little medal to prove it. 163 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:43,560 Cuiffo: I think that photograph of Houdini with all the medals 164 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,960 is very telling of his earnest personality 165 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:51,400 and desire for acceptance and success 166 00:08:51,560 --> 00:08:54,160 and showing people that he was 167 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:56,760 not just another one of these nameless, 168 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:59,240 faceless immigrants running around the city. 169 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:03,640 On closer examination, some of them appear to be genuine medals 170 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,560 and some of them are sort of milk bottle caps 171 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,640 that he's fashioned into medals. 172 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,560 Cuiffo: So not only did he have the medals that he'd earned, 173 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:14,960 and there were quite a few of those, 174 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:16,440 he'd had added a couple. 175 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,320 He was a natural exaggerator. 176 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:21,960 Clearly, Houdini wanted to be bigger than life 177 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:25,760 and he would do anything towards that end. 178 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:30,360 Fishburne: In 1889, 179 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:34,480 a chance discovery changes everything. 180 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:36,360 Zenon: So the young Erik in New York City stumbled 181 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:38,400 across a book by Robert‐Houdin, 182 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:40,360 "The Memoirs Of Robert‐Houdin," 183 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,600 and that seems to have been a real turning point for him. 184 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:45,120 It was about a fully rounded character, 185 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:47,240 and that's what I think inspired him to create his own. 186 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:50,760 Caveney: Robert‐Houdin is known as the father of modern magic. 187 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:52,160 He was one of the first people 188 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,360 to ever levitate another human being. 189 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:57,680 And Robert‐Houdin levitated his little son, 190 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,040 and he called it the ethereal suspension. 191 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:05,560 And people believed it. 192 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:09,360 Robert‐Houdin said that a magician is an actor 193 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:11,920 playing the part of someone with real power. 194 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:14,360 Zenon: Houdini took this on board I think 195 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:17,160 and realized that he had to inhabit the character 100 percent. 196 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:19,360 He had to be the character he created. 197 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:21,400 Now that he'd got the blueprint for the persona, 198 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:23,040 what he needed was a name for it. 199 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:32,160 Cox: Erik Weisz gets a job at H. Richters and Sons‐‐ a tie factory. 200 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,160 While he's working there, he meets a friend, Jacob Hyman. 201 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:37,760 And the story goes that it was Jacob who said, 202 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:42,960 "If you take the name Houdin and add an I on to the end, 203 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:45,600 in French that means 'like Houdin'." 204 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:47,160 And there it was. 205 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:50,960 There it was, the name that you can never forget. 206 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,360 One of the reasons people say his name so often 207 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:56,960 is because it comes out so well. 208 00:10:57,120 --> 00:10:59,680 Houdini. Houdini. 209 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:05,040 Lynch: Erik Weisz made his own destiny in becoming Houdini, 210 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,080 and that was kind of the first stage in his transformation. 211 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:13,520 Brandon: Erik Weisz was the boy who worked in a tie shop. 212 00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:16,760 And Houdini was the result of his decision 213 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:18,960 that he was going to express himself. 214 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:21,200 He wasn't Erik Weisz. He was Houdini. 215 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:27,560 Fishburne: Erik Weisz now has a blueprint to change his life. 216 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:29,360 He decides to commit himself 217 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:31,720 to the character of Houdini completely, 218 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:34,080 even if that means leaving his true past 219 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:36,880 and his real birthplace behind. 220 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,760 Cox: He always claimed that he was an American, 221 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:44,160 because I think he felt like he was a product of this new America. 222 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:48,360 In his own words he says, "Robert‐Houdin became my hero and guide. 223 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:50,160 This book became my gospel." 224 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:55,160 It gave him a path to fame and fortune 225 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:57,880 and respectability through magic. 226 00:11:58,040 --> 00:11:59,560 Brandon: For a child like Houdini, 227 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,240 who was extremely intelligent, 228 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:03,760 who felt hemmed in, if you like, 229 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:05,800 by his utter lack of education, 230 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:08,400 there suddenly was his road of escape. 231 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:19,040 Fishburne: By 1891, Erik Weisz has changed his name 232 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:22,800 to Harry Houdini and is mapping out a route to the big time. 233 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:26,600 Houdini decides to quit his very good job at the tie factory 234 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,600 and go after the dream of becoming a magician. 235 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:31,800 And actually, Jacob Hayman joins him 236 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:34,760 and they form a partnership, the Brothers Houdini. 237 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:40,400 Where they could get work at that time were dime museums. 238 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:43,920 Culliton: The dime museums were entry‐level show business. 239 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:46,600 You paid your dime and you went in, 240 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:49,400 and there might be Cardo the Magician 241 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:52,800 doing his card manipulations on one platform. 242 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:57,560 On the next platform, there might be a performer who was eating fire. 243 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,200 So, if the audience lost interest in you, 244 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,560 they would just drift over to the fire‐eater or the comedians. 245 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,760 You get to do the same thing over and over and over again. 246 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:10,280 Sometimes, you know, 15, 20 times a day. 247 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,600 If you've swallowed your needles and regurgitated them threaded 248 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:18,200 15 times a day for two years, you're gonna get good at it. 249 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:24,000 Fishburne: While honing his skills on the dime museum circuit, 250 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:26,120 Houdini gets terrible news. 251 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:33,200 So, Houdini was performing in New York in 1892, 252 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:37,520 when somebody ran up and said, "Hey, magician, your father's dying." 253 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:40,000 Cuiffo: The story goes, 254 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:42,400 his father was almost waiting for Houdini. 255 00:13:42,560 --> 00:13:44,400 Everybody else was gathered around the bed, 256 00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:48,000 and his father made Houdini swear an oath 257 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:49,880 to take care of his mother 258 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:52,480 and take care of his family after he passed away. 259 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:57,800 Cox: Erik Weisz took this very, very seriously, 260 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:02,400 and spent the rest of his life honoring that oath 261 00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:04,280 to take care of his mother. 262 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:05,600 And that drove him. 263 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,600 That drove him his entire life. 264 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:10,200 Zenon: There are countless entries in the diaries 265 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:11,880 about how much money he's sending home. 266 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:14,200 But the fact that he's writing it down kind of suggests 267 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:16,800 that he's almost reassuring himself 268 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:19,200 that he's doing what he should do. 269 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:21,200 Kalush: He's trying to prove to himself 270 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,200 that he's honoring his commitment to his passed father. 271 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:28,000 Fishburne: But at this point in his life, 272 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:29,400 Houdini doesn't have the skills 273 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:31,920 to become a successful performer. 274 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:38,640 Houdini was‐‐ like any other hack magician, really, you know, 275 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:43,400 he was playing in dime museums trying to scrape a living. 276 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:47,320 He's got no prospects, and he's going to go, potentially, broke. 277 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:49,400 He goes back and lives with his mother 278 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:51,280 on the Upper East Side in New York City. 279 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:52,800 And he's desperate. 280 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:54,720 He's willing to sell his best secrets. 281 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:57,960 He's willing to sell anything he knows. 282 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:00,000 And that doesn't work. There's no real demand. 283 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:04,000 Fishburne: By 1898, the 24‐year‐old Houdini, 284 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:08,360 now married to fellow performer Bess Rahner, is going nowhere. 285 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:11,920 Yet within a year, 286 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:14,560 he'll be the most famous magician who's ever lived. 287 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:15,680 But how? 288 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:26,200 Around 1899, Houdini has developed or bought a new act, 289 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:28,800 which was escaping from handcuffs. 290 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:33,160 He would challenge the audience to bring handcuffs to the theater, 291 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:35,400 and he would escape from them. 292 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:38,800 It was kind of Houdini's first step into the world of escapology. 293 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:42,000 The problem is not many people own handcuffs. 294 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:44,480 Then, very quick on his feet, 295 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:46,000 he realized, well, who has handcuffs? 296 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:47,720 And he starts going to the police departments. 297 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:49,440 And he escapes from them, 298 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:51,400 and this is a great calling card for the show. 299 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:56,200 Jillette: "I defy the jails of the world to hold me." 300 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:00,600 It is a literal celebration of freedom 301 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:02,800 from all these people who were, uh, you know, 302 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,440 first‐generation Americans. 303 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:10,400 Fishburne: As he arrives to perform in Chicago in 1899, 304 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:14,520 he has an idea that will change his fortunes forever. 305 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,600 He went to the local police station 306 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:22,240 and he challenged them to lock him up. 307 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:24,400 And he took the press with him 308 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:27,000 so that they could document what happened. 309 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:30,120 Kalush: He gets put on the front page of the Chicago paper 310 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:34,960 with a drawing of Houdini's face, which is a stepping off point. 311 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:38,800 Houdini immediately understood how critical this was and how important this was. 312 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:41,400 Caveney: The first time Houdini saw his name and his picture 313 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:43,200 on the front page of a newspaper, 314 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,600 this must have been like a drug to him. 315 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:52,000 The incident in Chicago was arguably the greatest turning point 316 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:54,800 of his entire career and created the blueprint 317 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:58,080 of how his success evolved from then on. 318 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:02,400 Fishburne: Just a few months later, Houdini met a man 319 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:05,600 who would launch him into the big‐time. 320 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:08,800 So, in St Paul, Minnesota, Houdini met a man 321 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,600 who was probably the most influential person 322 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:13,600 that he'd met in his life up until that point, 323 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:15,600 and maybe ever actually. 324 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:17,000 His name was Martin Beck. 325 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:20,400 Beck was a vaudeville impresario 326 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:23,200 and he ran the Orpheum circuit. 327 00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:25,400 Caveney: So, Martin Beck had a lot of clout, 328 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:27,400 and he saw Houdini and he did his magic tricks, 329 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:29,520 but he also did his escapes. 330 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:31,480 And he thought that's something different. That's interesting. 331 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:33,600 So Beck said, "Look, Houdini, 332 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:36,800 I can put you into the Orpheum Theatre chain. 333 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:39,240 But forget about the magic. Lose the magic. 334 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:41,880 Just concentrate on escapes. 335 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:44,600 Be the guy who can escape from anything." 336 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:50,200 Goodwin: The advice that Beck gave Houdini in that moment 337 00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:52,880 was the thing that changed the course of history. 338 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:02,800 Fishburne: By the summer of 1899, 339 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,400 Houdini had been booked to play a chain of prestigious theaters 340 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:08,280 all across the west coast of America. 341 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,000 And every time he arrived somewhere new, 342 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:13,600 Houdini makes a beeline for the police station. 343 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:16,000 Each time he would arrive in a new city, 344 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:18,600 he would go to the police department and challenge them. 345 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:21,560 And of course, he made sure the newspaper reporter was with him. 346 00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:25,000 It was a great system 347 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,760 to be able to walk into a police department 348 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:31,320 and walk out with a front page newspaper story. 349 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,640 Jillette: Houdini was really, really good 350 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,600 at getting people to tell stories about him. 351 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:41,400 Yeah, he was probably 352 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:45,040 the first person to really use the press 353 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,680 in a way that would be recognized today. 354 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:52,600 Manipulating the press corresponded with his rise as a performer. 355 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,520 They go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. 356 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:01,000 Fishburne: By 1900, 26‐year‐old Houdini, 357 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,400 the man who could escape from anything, is a huge draw. 358 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,520 And he's got a new strategy for getting attention‐‐ 359 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:10,240 the legendary Houdini challenges. 360 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:18,400 The challenges are critical to understanding Houdini. 361 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:22,000 You can't understand Houdini and his fame, 362 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,240 why he's enduring in our culture, 363 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:25,800 you can't understand any of those things 364 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:27,200 if you don't understand the challenges. 365 00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:29,800 Fishburne: In every town where he plays, 366 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:34,200 Houdini lets himself be put to the test in some new way. 367 00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:36,400 Zenon: In one case it was a giant paper bag, 368 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:38,000 which doesn't sound difficult to get out of, 369 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:39,800 but he had to do it without tearing the bag. 370 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:43,840 He would escape from inside a giant American football. 371 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:45,800 Lots of safes as well. 372 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,400 I believe there was one escape that he did from a large dead whale. 373 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:50,880 Goodwin: Escapes are inherently boring, 374 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:54,080 but the moment you put a human element to it, 375 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:55,800 now all of a sudden there's stakes 376 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:57,800 that the audience can relate to, 377 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,000 and they're gonna pick a side. 378 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:01,680 "Who's gonna win, Who do you want to win?" 379 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:03,600 And it was really smart. 380 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,800 Not only the things that he was doing were, you know, 381 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:09,200 unique, and so would get new press attention. 382 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:12,800 But at the same time, was our town 383 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,280 going to be the town that beat Houdini? 384 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,800 Fishburne: There's only one problem. 385 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:21,320 In all these provincial towns, 386 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:23,000 you might not have enough people 387 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,000 to volunteer to do challenges 388 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,200 or even to respond to you to do challenges 389 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:28,760 to keep the show up every night. 390 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:32,000 Fishburne: For years, people have wondered 391 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,000 how these challenges came about. 392 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:36,800 A lost diary entry provides the answer. 393 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:40,600 Writing about a show in England, Houdini says, in a kind of gibberish, 394 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,200 "Friday challenge, box built on stage. 395 00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:45,400 Had three men of Burrows sawmill, 396 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:47,400 same firm as last time. 397 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:50,000 Gave the foreman Cockburn pray pound. 398 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,120 The other two men received 'be quick'." 399 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,600 Kalush: There's something that I didn't understand until reading the diaries, 400 00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,800 and that's that Houdini would actually pay people 401 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:02,160 to come up on stage and challenge him. 402 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,400 He would write it in a secret code in his diary. 403 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:10,200 I can't really explain why he would only put those bits in code. 404 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:13,440 Maybe he just didn't like the idea that he paid. 405 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,200 Challenges were really delivered to Houdini's door. 406 00:21:16,360 --> 00:21:18,800 He most often arranged the challenge 407 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:20,760 and then dramatized it. 408 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:25,800 Fishburne: Thanks to his formula, Houdini becomes a sensation 409 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:27,840 throughout the United States and Europe. 410 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:32,200 But it is in Russia that the persona of Harry Houdini, 411 00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:35,000 the man who could escape from any shackles, 412 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,200 really sets fire to the imagination. 413 00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:40,600 When Houdini gets to Russia, he gets the idea 414 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:42,720 to challenge the police to escape 415 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,720 from the Siberian transport cell, 416 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:51,000 which is the boxcar that you get thrown in and taken to Siberia. 417 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,400 So, it has this lure around it as the ultimate, 418 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:55,680 ultimate, you're done for. 419 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,200 Well, they lock Houdini in and they're very diligent. 420 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:01,000 They search him in every possible place you can imagine 421 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:03,400 that could hide any sort of implements. 422 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,520 And they lock him in and he escapes. 423 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:11,200 The news of this just went across the country as fast as it could. 424 00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:13,600 Cuiffo: It immediately transported him 425 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:18,720 to the status of iconic folk hero legend. 426 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,000 The themes of his act really were relatable 427 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,600 no matter where you were in the world. 428 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,600 People in Russia and people in the UK 429 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:29,920 and people in America, 430 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:32,600 they all wanted to see somebody 431 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:34,800 get one over on authority. 432 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:37,400 They wanted to see the underdog succeed, 433 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:39,640 and those are universal themes. 434 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,800 He's now arguably the most famous man in Russia. 435 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:47,200 He's the most famous person in Germany, London, and America. 436 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:52,720 He's dotting his way to becoming the most famous performer in the world. 437 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:59,200 Fishburne: In his diary, Houdini revels in how he's treated by fans, 438 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:01,800 and possibly embellishes the details. 439 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:05,200 He writes, "Was cheered over and over again as they sang, 440 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:07,480 'And will you no come back again.'" 441 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:11,600 In another, he writes, "Mob waited for me and took me shoulder high. 442 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:16,200 Carried me home and upstairs. Had to make a speech from the window." 443 00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:21,800 It just seems very odd that the audience wouldn't go home, 444 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:24,880 they would wait out in front of the theater for him to come out, 445 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:29,880 and then pick him up on their shoulders and carry him to a hotel. 446 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,080 It's just too much for me to buy into. 447 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:36,320 Brandon: I think when Houdini wrote in his diary, 448 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:40,320 it was a part of an ongoing fantasy life that he had, 449 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:46,720 and part of that fantasy was an extreme exaggeration of what went on. 450 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:52,480 It was how Houdini would have wanted reality to be, so he wrote it down. 451 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,480 Because if it was in his diary, maybe it happened. 452 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:59,600 Maybe in his imagination he was carried shoulder high around the town. 453 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:03,600 Caveney: I have to think that he was writing these 454 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,000 with the idea that in the future 455 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:07,720 other people are gonna be reading this. 456 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:13,360 And he wanted to make sure that they knew how great he was. 457 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,240 For Houdini, it's all about legacy. 458 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,760 Fishburne: By 1905, the transformation is complete. 459 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,880 All traces of Erik Weisz have been destroyed. 460 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:28,000 The persona of Houdini is a fresh start, 461 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:33,080 a man without a past he could build a legend around. 462 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:35,640 When you get to the point when you're as famous as Houdini 463 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,560 and you have a narrative, it was really important for him that it was upheld. 464 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:40,800 He knew the diaries were gonna be found. 465 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,800 If you know your narrative will be told one day, 466 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:45,320 why not try to control it while you're alive? 467 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:47,360 He wanted to be the all‐American boy. 468 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:53,320 That whole self‐liberation thing just maps right on 469 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:55,720 to the way America saw itself. 470 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:57,600 Erik Weisz might've been born in Budapest, 471 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:00,680 but wasn't Houdini born in Appleton, Wisconsin? 472 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:13,760 Fishburne: The 31‐year‐old Houdini return 473 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:16,960 to reclaim his position as the country's greatest showman. 474 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:20,160 And his diaries reveal 475 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:21,960 he is prepared to stop at nothing 476 00:25:22,120 --> 00:25:24,240 to keep his seat on the throne. 477 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:32,160 By about 1905, Houdini was hugely famous in Europe, 478 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:35,840 but it came at the cost of his fame in America. 479 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,600 Problem was, in the void of him being gone, what happens? 480 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:41,760 A lot of copycats started to spring up, 481 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:44,520 a lot of guys that were trying to do his act, 482 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:46,600 and there were even guys that were copying his name. 483 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:50,360 Goodwin: Everybody was the new Houdini, Boudini, Moudini, 484 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:54,160 all of the different iterations of him. 485 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,160 He showed up at people's performances and challenged them. 486 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:01,760 Oh, really cleverly orchestrated to make great little stories, 487 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,560 but I wouldn't have wanted‐‐ I would not have argued 488 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:06,360 with Houdini over a parking spot. 489 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:08,320 He was a scrappy little mother. 490 00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:11,360 Fishburne: In Houdini's lost diaries, 491 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:14,560 for the first time we find evidence 492 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:16,960 of a secret plan to destroy a fellow performer 493 00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:18,600 with calculated precision. 494 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,160 "I'm going to make a rival act for 'Minerva' 495 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,160 so have advertised for good swimmer females." 496 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,960 Rehearsing Wanda Timm in Rose's office for the new act. 497 00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:33,360 Shall call her Oceana." 498 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:37,160 Caveney: Minerva was a female escape artist. 499 00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:39,280 Houdini wanted the whole world to believe 500 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,760 that he used his superhuman strength 501 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,680 and ability and cunning to affect all of his escapes. 502 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:49,160 Brandon: He was the symbol of indestructible virility. 503 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:51,480 So if some small woman could do his act, 504 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:55,760 that completely undermined this whole aspect of his character. 505 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:58,720 He had to just destroy her career. 506 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:02,360 And one way to do that was to find another woman 507 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,200 that he could control and build her up, 508 00:27:05,360 --> 00:27:08,160 give her the advertising that she needed, 509 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:11,160 and to get her in there to destroy Minerva. 510 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,160 Houdini was a battler, he was a fighter, 511 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:21,000 and that is a kind of person I don't understand. 512 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,560 My heart is not with him on the jealousy 513 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,200 and on the insecurity. 514 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:32,840 That's just a part of him that is sad and I don't relate to. 515 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,680 The only reason you could think that he feels threatened 516 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:37,480 by these guys is his ego. 517 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,760 It wasn't enough for Houdini to succeed. 518 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:44,600 Everybody else had to fail. 519 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,800 Fishburne: Houdini's vendetta doesn't stop with his peers. 520 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:55,160 In 1908, he turns on the very man 521 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:57,560 who gave him the blueprint for his persona, 522 00:27:57,720 --> 00:27:59,160 Robert Houdin. 523 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,360 There was a point in his career where he was wealthy. 524 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,360 He was famous all over the world. 525 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:07,360 So he achieved that goal. So what's next? 526 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:11,400 And I think for Houdini, something that he longed to be 527 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:15,760 was recognized as a great scholar and a great writer. 528 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:19,760 Sandford: He had a lifelong desire, 529 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,080 almost a sort of pathological one, 530 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:25,800 to be accepted on an intellectual level 531 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:27,960 as a serious figure, 532 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:30,920 as someone who was not just physically agile 533 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:32,760 and a clever stageman, 534 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:36,480 but also who was worth listening to. 535 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,560 Zenon: And this probably harks back to his his childhood 536 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:42,320 when he had to give up his education. 537 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:44,760 His father had been an academic, 538 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:46,960 and it really riled him that he didn't have that respect. 539 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,880 Caveney: But you can't go back and redo all those years 540 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:53,240 of schooling that he missed. 541 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:55,360 So he thought the way to do this 542 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,760 is to write this very scholarly history of magic. 543 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:03,280 I think he thought, "That will be the crowning piece of my career." 544 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:06,760 When Houdini got the idea to write this encyclopedia of magic, 545 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:10,960 it was natural for him to want to go visit the source of it all, 546 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,560 which would be the birthplace of Robert‐Houdin, 547 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:17,320 his namesake, and attempt to see his family. 548 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:22,560 Caveney: And he thinks he is gonna be welcomed with open arms. 549 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:25,560 And they go, "What? Houdini's here? 550 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,080 So what? What are we supposed to do?" 551 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:29,480 And they didn't even want to talk to him. 552 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,160 His daughter gave him the big brush‐off. 553 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,240 She really wasn't interested. 554 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:36,160 That was the one thing he couldn't take. 555 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:38,960 He couldn't bear being dismissed. 556 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:40,200 So, he got his own back. 557 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:46,560 Cox: The Houdini approach is to turn everything into a wrestling match. 558 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:48,560 Everything is a takedown. Everything is a challenge. 559 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:50,240 That's what the public likes. 560 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:52,320 So, hey, how about combining the history of magic 561 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:56,200 with a takedown of the most famous magician of all time? 562 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:58,680 That's a very Houdini thing to do. 563 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,120 Cuiffo: He took on in full force to kind of assassinate 564 00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:03,680 the character of Robert‐Houdin, 565 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:07,760 mainly by trying to show that a lot of the effects 566 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:12,360 and things that Robert‐Houdin claimed to be his were not his, 567 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,360 were created by others and stolen by Robert‐Houdin. 568 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:22,760 Fishburne: Destroying the legacy of his former hero becomes an obsession. 569 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:27,360 He writes, "Wrote material for magicians' biography all day. 570 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:28,960 Did not even dress. 571 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,360 Worked from 6 AM to 12 midnight." 572 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:35,560 In 1908, Houdini releases his book, 573 00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,360 "The Unmasking Of Robert‐Houdin." 574 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:41,160 But his takedown backfires. 575 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:43,480 Caveney: Not only was the book saying Romero‐Houdin 576 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,560 was not the father of modern magic, 577 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:48,960 but the tone of it was just so intense. 578 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:51,400 "The prince of pilferers," I think Houdini said. 579 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:55,760 I think he hurt his argument by being so intense. 580 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,520 I do think this was the biggest black eye Houdini ever suffered. 581 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,760 And if Houdini were here with us today, 582 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:03,240 I think he would agree. 583 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:07,280 Kalush: He had to show the world how smart he was. 584 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,760 And I think that this was just his ego crying out to say, 585 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:13,600 "Look at me. I'm also intelligent." 586 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:17,960 I think it was a shameful moment. 587 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:21,040 Zenon: To further compound his woes about the reaction 588 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:22,760 to his "The Unmasking Of Robert‐Houdin," 589 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:25,120 his ticket sales had started to slow a bit as well. 590 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:31,560 Terbosic: Harry's not playing those big, big theaters he was used to, 591 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:34,200 and it might've been because people were starting 592 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,000 to kind of be tired from his handcuff act. 593 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:40,760 Fishburne: His lost diaries reveal Houdini's anger 594 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:44,480 at not making it onto the posters for a Cleveland performance. 595 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:48,160 He writes, "I did not want Ma to come to theater 596 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:51,960 as I was ashamed to let her see the class of show I was with." 597 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,960 In another he writes, "Am not featured. 598 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:58,560 Is this week the first step toward oblivion?" 599 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:01,760 Goodwin: I think that the diary entries really show 600 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:04,360 that he understood that he'd had the success, 601 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:06,040 but it was slipping out of his grasp. 602 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:10,560 Houdini realized that he had one of two options. 603 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:12,760 He could either reinvent himself, 604 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:17,120 or he was on the downward trajectory of his career already. 605 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:29,720 Fishburne: 1907. The appeal of Harry Houdini is faltering. 606 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,360 Audiences are losing interest, 607 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:36,680 so he needs to find a way to win them back. 608 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:40,720 The option he picks is the most dangerous imaginable. 609 00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:48,360 The avenue that Houdini chose in order to broaden 610 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:52,360 the scope of his appeal was jeopardy, was death. 611 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:53,960 Cox: Houdini himself would say, 612 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:55,160 "Human beings don't want to see 613 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:56,640 another human being die, 614 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,320 but they do love to be there when it happens." 615 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:04,160 Smart magicians make life and death a central part of magic. 616 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:06,160 Dumb magicians don't. 617 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:08,360 If all you're doing is producing, you know, 618 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,360 little bouquets and bunnies, 619 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,760 you probably won't find your way deeply into the heart of the public. 620 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,400 Goodwin: His bridge jumps were really the first introduction 621 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:23,200 of danger and jeopardy 622 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:25,960 into the Houdini cannon of performance. 623 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:29,360 He would go to a bridge, highly publicized, 624 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:31,320 surrounded by thousands of people 625 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:32,800 that were coming to see him. 626 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:37,960 And he would be restrained with handcuffs. 627 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,760 And then he would jump into the river below. 628 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:47,440 Terbosic: There are said to be 10,000 people 629 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:49,560 on the banks of this river and on this bridge 630 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:51,560 to see Harry to do this jump 631 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,000 and to do this crazy, death‐defying escape. 632 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:58,080 The thrill of watching somebody live or pass, 633 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:00,280 I mean, that's a great story to have. 634 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:03,960 Teller: What could be a more perfect dramatic gesture 635 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:08,640 than leaping off a bridge in danger of drowning because you're manacled, 636 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:12,360 pausing, and then emerging triumphant at the surface? 637 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:14,960 It's a perfect symbol of resurrection. 638 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:27,560 Fishburne: In a lost diary entry, Houdini reveals 639 00:34:27,720 --> 00:34:30,600 that the bridge jumps were not just to drive ticket sales, 640 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:33,280 but to impress the person he loved most. 641 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:37,960 "Bridge jump and mother along. 642 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:39,560 I wanted to have her with me, 643 00:34:39,720 --> 00:34:41,000 it being my first big jump manacled. 644 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:43,960 Ma saw me jump." 645 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:47,400 The sentence that haunts me most 646 00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:49,560 about Houdini and his mother 647 00:34:49,720 --> 00:34:53,160 is when he was doing bridge jumps, 648 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:55,680 and the entry he makes... 649 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:02,480 ...is, "Ma saw me jump." 650 00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:05,880 And I think about that a lot. 651 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:11,760 It seems like, at least in my experience, 652 00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:14,360 if you're a performer, there is a sense in which 653 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:17,000 you're always performing for your parents. 654 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,720 Terbosic: Harry's mother Cecelia was everything to Harry. 655 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:25,360 I mean, he made an oath with his dad 656 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:28,080 that he would forever look after his mother. 657 00:35:28,240 --> 00:35:33,200 And this moment in time was to show his mom that he'd done well for himself 658 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:37,080 and lived up to what he said he was going to. 659 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:39,760 Teller: He certainly idolized her. 660 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:41,800 She was a very, very formidable figure 661 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,920 that he was spending his entire life trying to impress. 662 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:47,560 Fishburne: However, in the same entry, 663 00:35:47,720 --> 00:35:51,360 Houdini writes, "I thought something might happen." 664 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:55,160 He knew that these jumps could easily prove fatal. 665 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:58,360 Goodwin: The bridge jumps are without doubt, 666 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:01,280 the most dangerous thing that he ever performed. 667 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,840 If you hit the water wrong from thirty feet, 668 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:08,760 then you could really, really hurt yourself or even die. 669 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,360 Obviously, it's very difficult to swim when you're restrained. 670 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:12,760 There could be a current. 671 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:14,000 There could be something 672 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:15,400 underneath the surface of the water 673 00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:17,240 that he's gonna hit and spike himself on. 674 00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:21,760 Fishburne: A lost diary entry Houdini made in 1910 675 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:25,680 shows just how dangerous these jumps actually were. 676 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,360 "Dived 31 feet manacled. 677 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:30,560 Jumped. Made a bad jump. 678 00:36:30,720 --> 00:36:32,400 Received a terrible smash in the face 679 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,360 from the water on right side and knocked the wind out of me 680 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:37,440 and gave me a swollen cheek. 681 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,360 Goodwin: What's really interesting about the diary entry, 682 00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:42,760 you can tell that that was something that had scared him. 683 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:46,200 He's really taking his life in his hands. 684 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:51,200 But at the same time, he knew that that was a level that he had to go to 685 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:52,840 to make the public care. 686 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,560 Up until this point, the handcuff act, 687 00:36:56,720 --> 00:37:00,080 the stakes were if Houdini fails, you know, it's humiliation. 688 00:37:00,240 --> 00:37:03,560 But now the stakes are life and death. 689 00:37:03,720 --> 00:37:04,960 Cuiffo: He's pushing the boundaries 690 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:06,800 of what a human body can do. 691 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:12,320 So, that naturally lifted his persona to another level. 692 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:15,160 Zenon: Houdini was transforming himself 693 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:17,520 into a superhero, a superman. 694 00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:25,960 But by 1909, he was kind of being eclipsed by a new type of daredevil. 695 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:27,800 It was the early days of aviation 696 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,360 and there was an obsession with it pretty much worldwide. 697 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:32,760 Lots of people doing it and stealing the headlines, 698 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,200 but it was still very, very dangerous at that point. 699 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:40,800 Kalush: Flight had become a topical thing, 700 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:42,160 and it was quite magical. 701 00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:43,760 I mean, people want to fly. 702 00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:46,200 That's just, I think, something that's in our nature. 703 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:48,760 We all have something in us that wants to be able to do that. 704 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:50,880 So, people are rooting for pilots. 705 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:55,640 Caveney: And I'm sure that Houdini thought, 706 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,520 "Hey, I should be getting all that acclaim. 707 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:00,560 Why aren't you paying attention to me?" 708 00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:02,360 So, of course, what does he do? 709 00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:04,680 He buys an airplane and becomes a pilot. 710 00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:10,960 The very first pilots, these were real daredevils. 711 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:13,240 I mean, these guys were dropping like flies. 712 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:17,360 And there's lots of entries in his diary that show almost‐‐ 713 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:18,960 you could say it's almost morbid, 714 00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:20,600 but he would keep track of people, 715 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:23,720 and when they died, he'd mark "dead." 716 00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:26,960 Caveney: It does seem a little macabre 717 00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:28,760 that Houdini would cut these pictures out 718 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:31,280 and stick them in his diary, 719 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:35,760 as if he was trying to convince himself of how dangerous this was, 720 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:39,240 and if he could succeed, 721 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,280 he has now beaten all of these people who died trying. 722 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:46,120 Zenon: His first flight was a disaster. 723 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:47,520 He crashed quite badly. 724 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:48,960 Although I think it's quite telling 725 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:50,320 that in the diary entry for that 726 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:51,760 he talks about the cost of the crash 727 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:53,680 rather than the risk to his life. 728 00:38:55,240 --> 00:38:56,120 Fishburne: "Smashed machine, 729 00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:58,360 broke propeller all to hell. 730 00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:02,520 Have now paid 12,000 marks on machine biplane." 731 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:05,160 Houdini's entire life 732 00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:09,360 was built around his being able to do 733 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:12,160 any exploit better than anyone else. 734 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,760 So, how could he possibly allow himself not to be 735 00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:18,960 the first person to break a flying record? 736 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:24,360 Caveney: So, it's like Houdini had to find a country 737 00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:26,360 where no one had flown an airplane yet. 738 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:28,960 It didn't matter which one it was, 739 00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:32,160 but Australia is the one that was available. 740 00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:34,280 So, off he went. 741 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:37,760 Fishburne: In January 1910, Houdini, his wife, 742 00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:39,760 and his precious French biplane 743 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:43,760 board a steamer and sail to Melbourne, Australia. 744 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:46,960 The shock when Houdini got there was that various people 745 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:49,640 are also trying for this prize to be the first, you know? 746 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,160 Caveney: This drove Houdini crazy. 747 00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:53,960 He'd spent a lot of money and a lot of time 748 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:56,360 and a lot of effort to own that crown, 749 00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:58,280 and now he was on the verge of losing it. 750 00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:02,880 Fishburne: From Houdini's diary, 751 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:05,000 we learned how almost immediately after arriving, 752 00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:07,560 his competitor Ralph Banks 753 00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:10,760 experiences a terrifying crash. 754 00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:15,360 He writes, "Came down after a terrible dive, head first. 755 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:16,960 Banks escaped with a blackened eye, 756 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:19,360 torn lips, and a scratched limb. 757 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:21,440 'Twas a miraculous escape." 758 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:23,080 Caveney: What I take from that diary entry 759 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:26,160 is that Houdini saw this as a great opportunity. 760 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:30,640 The door was cracked open, and he still had the opportunity to be first. 761 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:33,160 The only thing that would've made him happier 762 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:36,040 is if Ralph Banks had crashed and killed himself. 763 00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:45,960 Fishburne: Two weeks later, Houdini manages to beat Banks to the prize. 764 00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:48,160 His diary records his delight. 765 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:49,960 "First real flight in Australia. 766 00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:51,560 I went up three times. 767 00:40:51,720 --> 00:40:54,560 Never in any fear and never in any danger." 768 00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:58,360 Caveney: I don't know how much effect that first flight in Australia 769 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:00,120 had elsewhere in the world, 770 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:03,160 because all over the world there were people 771 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,360 who were the first to fly in that country. 772 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:11,160 He had to figure out other ways to keep his name in the headlines. 773 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:14,240 And of course, when you're doing things that are death‐defying, 774 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,160 you have to keep upping the ante. 775 00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:20,120 And that's a slippery slope to be trapped on. 776 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:32,200 Fishburne: In 1916, determined to cement his persona 777 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:33,920 as the greatest showman who ever lived, 778 00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:36,400 the 42‐year‐old Houdini 779 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:39,400 unleashes his masterpiece to the world‐‐ 780 00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:43,200 a highly potent combination of danger, jeopardy, and drama 781 00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:47,640 that is still today perhaps the most iconic image in magic history. 782 00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:51,800 The aerial straitjacket escape. 783 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,000 Teller: Houdini figured out how to take what could be a crappy little trick, 784 00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:56,200 which is getting out of a straitjacket, 785 00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:57,960 and figured out how to make that 786 00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:00,680 into a gigantic outdoor spectacle. 787 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:03,760 There is nothing like that image, 788 00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:08,360 just a man upside down hung by his ankles, 789 00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:11,000 holding this restraint before he drops it to the ground. 790 00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:14,720 It's like the Mona Lisa. It's a one of a kind. 791 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:20,480 Teller: I have a photograph of Houdini escaping 792 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:23,240 from a straitjacket upside down. 793 00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:26,360 The traffic is completely stopped. 794 00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:27,760 There's no room for a car to move, 795 00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:29,960 but there is one car in place. 796 00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:33,360 And that car has on the top of it 797 00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:38,560 a 15‐year‐old boy leaning on his elbow like this 798 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:43,160 and gazing up at what is obviously an iconic hero. 799 00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:47,160 There is a look in that of pure love 800 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:49,080 and pure identification. 801 00:42:49,240 --> 00:42:52,360 The kind of thing that we often see nowadays 802 00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:54,800 with great football players, 803 00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:58,760 he was able to pull that out of people 804 00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:01,560 doing what was essentially a magic act. 805 00:43:01,720 --> 00:43:02,880 That's a miracle. 806 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:11,560 Fishburne: Houdini takes the most dangerous path imaginable 807 00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:14,760 to win back the adoration of the crowd. 808 00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:16,160 But the more daring he becomes, 809 00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:19,080 the more his audience expects. 810 00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:25,760 Houdini had found a niche 811 00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:28,880 in adding danger into his performances. 812 00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:32,840 There were thousands of people there to see him risk his life. 813 00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:38,360 And I guarantee that the thought process from that moment was, 814 00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:42,160 "Okay, this is great, but how do I bring this on stage? 815 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:44,280 How can I bring all of the elements 816 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:47,960 that I get from the bridge jump into my show?" 817 00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:50,360 And so, that was his challenge. 818 00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:53,560 A lot of Houdini's escapes and stunts revolved around the theme of water. 819 00:43:53,720 --> 00:43:55,360 He almost had an obsession with water. 820 00:43:55,520 --> 00:43:58,760 Having been a championship swimmer when he was younger, 821 00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:00,680 there was the manacled bridge jumps into the river. 822 00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:02,360 Then he started doing it on stage 823 00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:04,920 padlocked inside a milk churn full of water. 824 00:44:07,720 --> 00:44:10,760 But the ultimate one was the Chinese water torture cell. 825 00:44:10,920 --> 00:44:12,640 And the great thing about this was the visual. 826 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:14,600 For one, it made a perfect poster. 827 00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:17,640 Teller: It's a nightmare image. 828 00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:20,360 It's a great, great, great nightmare image. 829 00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:23,760 If I walked by a theater and saw a poster 830 00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:26,200 with that image, I would buy a ticket. 831 00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:30,760 Tersebic: It really was like a human sacrifice for the gods. 832 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:32,720 Cox: It looked like a torture device. 833 00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:37,880 Some crazy despot's idea of what to do with Christians. 834 00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:41,440 Instead of feeding them to the lions, drop 'em in this tank. 835 00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:48,840 Tersebic: Doing the water torture cell escape is extremely dangerous. 836 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:52,040 It's essentially a glass coffin onstage. 837 00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:57,360 He would have an apparatus of shackles 838 00:44:57,520 --> 00:45:00,760 that would come to attach around his ankles. 839 00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:02,960 They could slowly on his command 840 00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:05,440 lower him down into the icy water. 841 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:09,960 And the minute they start dipping you down into that water, 842 00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:13,560 your whole body is now flooding with endorphins. 843 00:45:13,720 --> 00:45:15,560 The adrenaline is rushing. 844 00:45:15,720 --> 00:45:18,160 And at the same time you want to remain calm 845 00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:20,160 because you're still controlling your breathing. 846 00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:23,640 So you don't want the moment to get the best of you. 847 00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:28,760 Teller: So, already, in your mind as an audience member, 848 00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:30,960 you're seeing this incredible dramatic moment 849 00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:33,040 when Houdini's in there struggling and drowning. 850 00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:36,760 Zenon: The genius bit of showmanship 851 00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:38,960 was asking the audience to hold their breath with him. 852 00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:42,160 So, you're kind of invested emotionally. 853 00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:44,760 Goodwin: Franz Kukol was his main assistant at the time, 854 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:47,160 and he would stand clutching an axe, 855 00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:48,920 increasingly agitated, 856 00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:52,160 as a giant stopwatch ticked down the seconds 857 00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:54,040 that Houdini was underwater. 858 00:45:54,200 --> 00:45:56,240 And all over the audience you could hear people going... 859 00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:58,960 ( exhaling ) 860 00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:00,360 ...as they ran out of air. 861 00:46:00,520 --> 00:46:01,760 Three minutes, four minutes. 862 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:03,240 How‐‐ this is impossible. 863 00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:06,120 He's some kind of, you know, superhuman. 864 00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:08,560 And some guy comes in with an axe and breaks it. 865 00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:11,160 And the glass explodes and the water explodes, 866 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:12,600 and all of this is happening. 867 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:14,160 It never happened, mind you, 868 00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:16,680 but this has now happened in your head. 869 00:46:16,840 --> 00:46:19,960 And just at the point where everybody thought, 870 00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:22,360 "Well, that must be it. He's he's a goner. 871 00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:23,760 He's gotta be dead in there." 872 00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:25,560 Houdini would whip back the curtain, 873 00:46:25,720 --> 00:46:29,000 completely drenched, out of breath, but succeeded. 874 00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:31,920 And the crowd went wild. 875 00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:38,960 Out of Houdini's whole repertoire, 876 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:41,800 the kind of two iconic images really 877 00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:44,600 are the suspended straitjacket escape 878 00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:47,160 and the dangling upside down in the water torture cell. 879 00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:51,520 Those two images, oddly enough, would secure his legacy. 880 00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:54,560 So, he's escaped from everything you can imagine escaping from, 881 00:46:54,720 --> 00:46:57,280 and there's only one thing that you can't escape from. 882 00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:02,760 Fishburne: His diaries offer evidence 883 00:47:02,920 --> 00:47:06,160 that death is already on Houdini's mind. 884 00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:10,960 He writes, "Ma, Bess, and I go to the photographers Gulekurst 885 00:47:11,120 --> 00:47:12,960 and have our photos taken‐‐ 886 00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:15,360 I hope not the last time together. 887 00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:18,840 Who knows? The old must die and the young can." 888 00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:25,240 Cuiffo: That diary entry is very interesting in‐‐ 889 00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:29,160 one, in the fact that it's Houdini really expressing a lot of emotion, 890 00:47:29,320 --> 00:47:31,000 which again, up to that point, 891 00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:34,960 his writings are very practical and scientific in a way. 892 00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:39,760 And perhaps it's part of his process of his awareness of life moving on, 893 00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:43,040 and he's coming to a new phase in his life 894 00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:45,400 and knows that his mother is going to die. 895 00:47:45,560 --> 00:47:48,160 Kalush: You do think of these things. 896 00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:50,760 What would I do without this person? 897 00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:53,280 And I think Houdini thought of that quite often, 898 00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:55,560 because she was a very central point to the family. 899 00:47:55,720 --> 00:47:57,960 Caveney: After Houdini's father died, 900 00:47:58,120 --> 00:48:00,560 he became the head of the house. 901 00:48:00,720 --> 00:48:02,960 And with this oath to take care of his mother, 902 00:48:03,120 --> 00:48:05,360 he's starting to see her getting frailer, 903 00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:09,480 and we can see it in photographs of her at that time. 904 00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:12,160 Fishburne: In August 1913, 905 00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:14,480 Houdini boards a ship for Denmark. 906 00:48:14,640 --> 00:48:16,560 "The gang plank was pulled away, 907 00:48:16,720 --> 00:48:17,960 and we started in to throw those 908 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:19,760 long paper colored strips overboard 909 00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:21,960 to the folks onto the pier. 910 00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:25,400 Ma caught a few of them that I threw adroitly to her, 911 00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:27,720 and eventually we steamed away, 912 00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:29,760 and that was the last sight I saw 913 00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:32,440 of my darling mother alive." 914 00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:37,560 Cox: His mother had a stroke while he was on the ship 915 00:48:37,720 --> 00:48:40,520 and his brother sent telegrams. 916 00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:42,360 And when he finally opened the telegram and read 917 00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:45,200 that his mother had died, he fainted. 918 00:48:51,720 --> 00:48:53,360 He canceled a contract. 919 00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:57,280 He got right back on the ship and went home. 920 00:49:01,240 --> 00:49:02,400 Cuiffo: The story about sitting 921 00:49:02,560 --> 00:49:04,880 by his mother's bedside was legendary. 922 00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:08,560 This is probably the closest account we have of him 923 00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:11,360 facing real death of somebody who he really loved 924 00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:13,640 in a way that he didn't love anybody else. 925 00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:18,760 Fishburne: That night, Houdini places a gift by his mother 926 00:49:18,920 --> 00:49:21,960 and writes, "She looked so dainty and restful, 927 00:49:22,120 --> 00:49:23,960 only a small spot on her cheek, 928 00:49:24,120 --> 00:49:25,560 and the face which haunted me 929 00:49:25,720 --> 00:49:28,760 with love all of my life is still and quiet. 930 00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:30,520 And when she does not answer me, 931 00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:33,360 I know that God has taken her to his bosom 932 00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:38,880 and given her the peace which she denied herself on this Earth." 933 00:49:39,040 --> 00:49:42,120 Some of the prose in that diary entry about, 934 00:49:42,280 --> 00:49:46,360 you know, I'm sure she's peaceful in heaven and all of that sort of stuff, 935 00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:48,960 is less powerful to me than the fact 936 00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:52,360 that he brought home a pair of slippers 937 00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:55,760 that she had requested before he left 938 00:49:55,920 --> 00:49:59,880 so that he could put those slippers in the coffin with her. 939 00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:03,240 It's very touching. It's very touching. 940 00:50:06,920 --> 00:50:09,360 Brandon: Once his mother has died, 941 00:50:09,520 --> 00:50:12,080 he really starts to question his place in the world. 942 00:50:13,720 --> 00:50:15,760 That anchor that drove him for so many years 943 00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:17,760 to provide for her and achieve success 944 00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:21,560 and fulfill the oath of his father was now gone. 945 00:50:21,720 --> 00:50:23,360 In a sense, he had fulfilled it. 946 00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:27,200 But now here he is facing the question, what's next? 947 00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:33,160 Fishburne: As he turns 50, his life is at a turning point. 948 00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:36,560 His beloved mother is gone and his diaries reveal 949 00:50:36,720 --> 00:50:39,080 his body is beginning to fail, too. 950 00:50:39,240 --> 00:50:43,840 The pursuit of immortality is taking its toll. 951 00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:47,960 He writes, "Dr. Parsons examines my body and ankle. 952 00:50:48,120 --> 00:50:50,200 Claims I am in danger of death." 953 00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:54,360 Zenon: His body's not holding out, 954 00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:55,960 he's got a lot of injuries, 955 00:50:56,120 --> 00:50:57,760 and his escape career kind of feels as though 956 00:50:57,920 --> 00:50:59,680 it's behind him now pretty much. 957 00:50:59,840 --> 00:51:01,360 So he's got to find something new. 958 00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:04,360 He's not a guy to just lie down and take it, you know? 959 00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:06,720 It's as though he needs a new challenge. 960 00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:16,320 Fishburne: By 1920, 50‐year‐old Houdini 961 00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:20,120 is about to undertake the greatest challenge of his life. 962 00:51:20,280 --> 00:51:26,000 He wages war against the new scourge sweeping the nation‐‐ spiritualism. 963 00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:35,240 Zenon: In its most basic form, spiritualism is a belief 964 00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:37,400 that you can communicate with the dead. 965 00:51:37,560 --> 00:51:40,800 Cox: Spiritualism has this tremendous resurgence in the 1920s, 966 00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:43,360 especially after World War I. 967 00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:46,720 Fishburne: With millions dead, families are desperate 968 00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:48,920 to speak to their lost loved ones, 969 00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:52,720 and a new breed of performer emerges, the medium, 970 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:56,640 a person who claims they can commune with the dead. 971 00:51:56,800 --> 00:52:00,520 Spiritualism at the time is‐‐ 972 00:52:00,680 --> 00:52:02,840 it's a combination of a lot of things. 973 00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:06,520 It is without a doubt a religion. 974 00:52:06,680 --> 00:52:09,920 And at the same time, it is organized crime. 975 00:52:10,080 --> 00:52:12,240 At the same time, it is fraud. 976 00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:17,120 But spiritualists were not just wrong. 977 00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:18,920 They were really immoral. 978 00:52:21,600 --> 00:52:25,480 Cox: Houdini was very conflicted over the question of spiritualism. 979 00:52:25,640 --> 00:52:27,760 He wasn't an out and out skeptic. 980 00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:31,120 Zenon: He didn't really believe that you could communicate with the dead. 981 00:52:31,280 --> 00:52:35,320 However, he would've given anything to be able to contact his mother after she died. 982 00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:37,720 Brandon: But every time he approached someone 983 00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:40,360 who claimed to be able to do that, 984 00:52:40,520 --> 00:52:42,720 it was always crass rubbish 985 00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:45,920 and he could see how the tricks were done. 986 00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:48,320 Fishburne: Desperate to find out the truth for himself, 987 00:52:48,480 --> 00:52:51,520 Houdini embarks on his own investigation. 988 00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:55,720 Cox: I think he thought this was a great intellectual pursuit. 989 00:52:55,880 --> 00:52:57,920 But actually, Harry Houdini was entering 990 00:52:58,080 --> 00:53:02,160 into probably the most dangerous part of his career. 991 00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:05,320 Zenon: In 1920, he decided to reignite 992 00:53:05,480 --> 00:53:08,440 his literary ambitions by writing a book about spiritualism. 993 00:53:08,600 --> 00:53:10,280 And it's possibly an odd choice, 994 00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:12,720 bearing in mind how badly he got burnt after writing 995 00:53:12,880 --> 00:53:16,080 "The Unmasking of Robert‐Houdin" a few years previously. 996 00:53:16,240 --> 00:53:18,920 Houdini reached out to Arthur Conan Doyle, 997 00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:21,440 who was kind of spiritualism's leading light, really, 998 00:53:21,600 --> 00:53:23,880 the main advocate if you will. 999 00:53:24,040 --> 00:53:25,560 He was very famous at the time, 1000 00:53:25,720 --> 00:53:27,760 being the author of Sherlock Holmes, obviously. 1001 00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:30,520 He had a very keen antennae always 1002 00:53:30,680 --> 00:53:32,840 for any sort of celebrity endorsement. 1003 00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:38,840 Cox: Lady Doyle was holding her own seances 1004 00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:43,480 and ostensibly building her own powers of psychic ability. 1005 00:53:43,640 --> 00:53:45,120 Kalush: She was an automatic writer. 1006 00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:48,120 That meant she went into a sort of a trance. 1007 00:53:48,280 --> 00:53:51,520 Sandford: A pen in her hand would appear to flow 1008 00:53:51,680 --> 00:53:55,960 across a piece of paper with words that were not hers 1009 00:53:56,120 --> 00:53:59,320 but that she was receiving from an unseen entity. 1010 00:54:02,840 --> 00:54:05,720 Fishburne: By way of introduction, Houdini sends Conan Doyle 1011 00:54:05,880 --> 00:54:08,080 "The Unmasking of Robert‐Houdin." 1012 00:54:08,240 --> 00:54:11,880 And within a month, Doyle invites him to visit. 1013 00:54:15,080 --> 00:54:19,520 Cox: Doyle said, "Listen, I agree with you that there's fraud, 1014 00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:21,320 but I've found the real thing." 1015 00:54:21,480 --> 00:54:22,760 Houdini was excited. 1016 00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:24,520 Fishburne: Houdini's lost diaries 1017 00:54:24,680 --> 00:54:28,000 suggest genuine anticipation, not skepticism. 1018 00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:31,920 "Met Lady Doyle and the three children. Had lunch with them. 1019 00:54:32,080 --> 00:54:35,120 They believe implicitly in spiritualism. 1020 00:54:35,280 --> 00:54:38,920 Sir Arthur told me he has spoken six times to his son. 1021 00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:41,640 No possible chance for trickery." 1022 00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:43,720 There's no doubt that Houdini wanted to believe 1023 00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:45,920 that you could contact the dead, you know? 1024 00:54:46,080 --> 00:54:48,520 He had a vested interest in his mother's case, obviously. 1025 00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:51,520 In the summer of 1922, 1026 00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:54,840 Arthur Conan Doyle invites Houdini and Bess down to Atlantic City 1027 00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:57,560 to spend the weekend and have a good time. 1028 00:54:59,440 --> 00:55:00,920 Cox: And it's during this time 1029 00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:04,240 that Doyle invites Houdini to a private seance. 1030 00:55:04,400 --> 00:55:06,320 Doyle said, you know, 1031 00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:10,200 "Your mother is trying to get in contact with you through Lady Doyle." 1032 00:55:10,360 --> 00:55:13,000 Houdini didn't go there or even consider it 1033 00:55:13,160 --> 00:55:17,920 that Doyle was going to try to defraud him or fool him. 1034 00:55:18,080 --> 00:55:20,520 He was really wondering whether it would work. 1035 00:55:20,680 --> 00:55:23,680 He really hoped perhaps his mother might come through. 1036 00:55:25,480 --> 00:55:27,520 Fishburne: This extraordinary diary entry 1037 00:55:27,680 --> 00:55:29,400 details what happens in the room. 1038 00:55:29,560 --> 00:55:32,120 "Sir Arthur asked Lady Doyle, 1039 00:55:32,280 --> 00:55:33,720 who was standing alongside of me, 1040 00:55:33,880 --> 00:55:36,520 and was it my mother? 1041 00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:38,920 Lady Doyle's hands struck the table three times 1042 00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:40,520 signifying, yes, 1043 00:55:40,680 --> 00:55:44,120 that my mother was alongside of me." 1044 00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:45,680 Sandford: Shortly thereafter, 1045 00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:49,960 a pencil in Lady Doyle's hand began to move, 1046 00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:52,200 apparently of its own accord. 1047 00:55:52,360 --> 00:55:57,080 Cox: And he received a several pages long message from his mother. 1048 00:56:00,280 --> 00:56:02,560 Fishburne: Houdini transcribes everything Lady Doyle 1049 00:56:02,720 --> 00:56:04,520 had claimed his mother told her. 1050 00:56:04,680 --> 00:56:08,120 Cox: He's cautious and he is recording everything 1051 00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:10,520 that happened in this seance because this is going 1052 00:56:10,680 --> 00:56:13,120 to become a point of dispute later on. 1053 00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:16,320 It's very important. 1054 00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:18,040 Fishburne: Part of that message reads, 1055 00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:22,840 "Never had a mother such son. Tell him not to grieve. 1056 00:56:23,000 --> 00:56:26,920 God bless you, too, Sir Arthur, for what you are doing for us. 1057 00:56:27,080 --> 00:56:29,520 A happiness awaits him that he has never dreamed of. 1058 00:56:29,680 --> 00:56:31,640 His eyes will soon be opened." 1059 00:56:33,880 --> 00:56:35,320 And Houdini didn't show it at the time, 1060 00:56:35,480 --> 00:56:37,520 but I think it must've enraged him. 1061 00:56:37,680 --> 00:56:41,320 Because in looking at that, what he can see is, 1062 00:56:41,480 --> 00:56:44,000 "I'm being manipulated. They think I'm stupid." 1063 00:56:47,880 --> 00:56:50,720 Teller: Now, of course, Houdini's a superstar. 1064 00:56:50,880 --> 00:56:52,480 Arthur Conan Doyle is a superstar. 1065 00:56:52,640 --> 00:56:55,320 They are going to drag him into press interviews 1066 00:56:55,480 --> 00:56:58,200 like Britney Spears is dragged into interviews. 1067 00:56:58,360 --> 00:57:01,520 They're going to say, "What did you think?" 1068 00:57:01,680 --> 00:57:03,600 And at this point Houdini says, 1069 00:57:03,760 --> 00:57:08,240 "I don't believe it was real. It couldn't have been." 1070 00:57:10,280 --> 00:57:13,800 Fishburne: On December 19th 1922, the gloves come off. 1071 00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:19,480 Houdini writes a deposition that declares Lady Doyle to be a fraud. 1072 00:57:19,640 --> 00:57:23,520 Of course, Conan Doyle and his wife Lady Doyle took great umbrage to this. 1073 00:57:23,680 --> 00:57:25,520 They were very upset. They took it personally. 1074 00:57:25,680 --> 00:57:28,920 Sandford: The fact that his wife's medium‐ship 1075 00:57:29,080 --> 00:57:31,120 specifically was being questioned 1076 00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:32,520 was I think really what lit 1077 00:57:32,680 --> 00:57:34,240 the blue touch paper with Doyle. 1078 00:57:34,400 --> 00:57:36,480 He was absolutely incensed. 1079 00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:39,120 Fishburne: Writing in the press, 1080 00:57:39,280 --> 00:57:43,320 Houdini vows that he will seek out and expose all fake mediums. 1081 00:57:43,480 --> 00:57:46,720 Teller: Houdini felt that absolutely gut‐level 1082 00:57:46,880 --> 00:57:50,560 as a moral issue of the greatest power. 1083 00:57:50,720 --> 00:57:54,640 Houdini was facing a pretty powerful, 1084 00:57:54,800 --> 00:57:58,160 essentially mafia of spiritualists. 1085 00:58:00,080 --> 00:58:02,320 Jillette: People were making money hand over fist. 1086 00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:04,720 And it was popular with the upper crust, 1087 00:58:04,880 --> 00:58:08,160 so that there was a lot of money to be stolen. 1088 00:58:08,320 --> 00:58:10,240 It was a real, real good racket. 1089 00:58:10,400 --> 00:58:15,520 These people were really crazy successful and rolling in dough. 1090 00:58:15,680 --> 00:58:18,920 Kalush: There had been mediums in the past who had poisoned people 1091 00:58:19,080 --> 00:58:22,120 or beaten people or killed people over these very issues. 1092 00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:24,760 He went into it with open eyes. 1093 00:58:32,200 --> 00:58:33,840 Fishburne: 1923. 1094 00:58:34,000 --> 00:58:35,840 Houdini's war against bogus mediums 1095 00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:37,440 is about to accelerate. 1096 00:58:41,400 --> 00:58:47,240 And to bolster his case, he teams up with "Scientific American Magazine." 1097 00:58:47,400 --> 00:58:49,840 Kalush: "Scientific American" offered a $2,500 prize 1098 00:58:50,000 --> 00:58:51,640 if you could demonstrate something 1099 00:58:51,800 --> 00:58:54,880 that would be essentially supernatural 1100 00:58:55,040 --> 00:58:58,600 in the presence of their committee. 1101 00:58:58,760 --> 00:59:01,240 Cuiffo: One of the members of the "Scientific American" committee, 1102 00:59:01,400 --> 00:59:05,240 Malcolm J. Bird, proposed a woman named Margery, 1103 00:59:05,400 --> 00:59:07,240 who was a medium in Boston, 1104 00:59:07,400 --> 00:59:10,000 to be one of the candidates for this prize. 1105 00:59:10,160 --> 00:59:14,040 Cox: When Houdini learned of this, he said, "Wait a minute. 1106 00:59:14,200 --> 00:59:18,520 No one's getting any prize until I sit with Margery." 1107 00:59:18,680 --> 00:59:21,040 Cuiffo: Margery was a very interesting medium. 1108 00:59:21,200 --> 00:59:25,040 Kalush: She was the third wife of Dr. Lee Roi Crandon. 1109 00:59:25,200 --> 00:59:30,440 She and her husband started doing these seances in their home, 1110 00:59:30,600 --> 00:59:34,160 inviting the top tier of Boston society. 1111 00:59:34,320 --> 00:59:37,400 Cox: And what went on in these seances was wild. 1112 00:59:37,560 --> 00:59:40,640 You know, some mediums might levitate a table 1113 00:59:40,800 --> 00:59:42,640 to show a spirit is present. 1114 00:59:42,800 --> 00:59:45,240 It's said that Margery's table would actually get up 1115 00:59:45,400 --> 00:59:47,480 and chase people out of the room. 1116 00:59:47,640 --> 00:59:50,640 People said they lost weight because of the psychic energy. 1117 00:59:50,800 --> 00:59:55,680 She channeled her dead brother, who told dirty jokes. 1118 00:59:55,840 --> 01:00:00,600 Margery also did her seances nude except for a silk kimono, 1119 01:00:00,760 --> 01:00:04,520 and you could search the medium if you so desired. 1120 01:00:04,680 --> 01:00:06,640 She was just the most interesting 1121 01:00:06,800 --> 01:00:08,400 and exciting medium of that time. 1122 01:00:08,560 --> 01:00:09,640 She was a star. 1123 01:00:11,600 --> 01:00:14,640 Behind the scenes, Conan Doyle and Crandon 1124 01:00:14,800 --> 01:00:16,440 were writing to each other and concerned 1125 01:00:16,600 --> 01:00:18,400 that Houdini was going to be on this committee 1126 01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:22,240 to try to prove that Margery wasn't real. 1127 01:00:22,400 --> 01:00:24,080 Cox: This is the championship bout. 1128 01:00:24,240 --> 01:00:25,720 The greatest medium 1129 01:00:25,880 --> 01:00:28,960 against the greatest exposer of fraudulent mediums. 1130 01:00:29,120 --> 01:00:31,120 Kind of everything hangs in the balance. 1131 01:00:35,600 --> 01:00:39,040 Kalush: It was probably a pretty tense night, that first seance. 1132 01:00:39,200 --> 01:00:41,160 They're sort of feeling each other out. 1133 01:00:41,320 --> 01:00:43,560 They didn't really know how Houdini was going to respond. 1134 01:00:47,400 --> 01:00:50,800 Cuiffo: Margery channeled her dead brother Walter to speak through her. 1135 01:00:50,960 --> 01:00:52,840 Sandford: The spirit said, 1136 01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:56,240 "What would you like me to do with this trumpet?" 1137 01:00:56,400 --> 01:01:00,240 And Houdini said, "Well, make it fall to the floor." 1138 01:01:00,400 --> 01:01:02,840 And sure enough, a second or two later in the darkened room, 1139 01:01:03,000 --> 01:01:04,800 it clattered to the floor. 1140 01:01:08,320 --> 01:01:10,000 Cuiffo: It actually hit Houdini on the feet. 1141 01:01:10,160 --> 01:01:12,840 Margery was thrown back in her chair, 1142 01:01:13,000 --> 01:01:14,800 and that was the main event. 1143 01:01:14,960 --> 01:01:20,040 And for Houdini, it was by the book classic fraud tricks 1144 01:01:20,200 --> 01:01:22,240 that he's known about for many, many years. 1145 01:01:22,400 --> 01:01:24,160 They go back to the hotel, 1146 01:01:24,320 --> 01:01:26,160 Houdini and the "Scientific American" committee, 1147 01:01:26,320 --> 01:01:28,240 and he says as much and wants to out her immediately 1148 01:01:28,400 --> 01:01:30,240 like they've done with other mediums before that. 1149 01:01:35,160 --> 01:01:36,840 Sandford: But other heads prevailed 1150 01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:40,200 and advised him to wait for at least one more seance 1151 01:01:40,360 --> 01:01:43,320 before they made any public statement about her. 1152 01:01:46,600 --> 01:01:49,560 Cuiffo: So for the second seance, he devised this contraption, 1153 01:01:49,720 --> 01:01:52,600 essentially a box that contained her entire body. 1154 01:01:52,760 --> 01:01:55,440 Kalush: Stopping her from doing anything, 1155 01:01:55,600 --> 01:01:59,040 proving in theory that it was the spirit Walter 1156 01:01:59,200 --> 01:02:01,440 that was actually doing the physical manifestations. 1157 01:02:01,600 --> 01:02:04,440 There's so many fascinating dynamics in that second seance 1158 01:02:04,600 --> 01:02:06,600 because Houdini does get his limitations put in place, 1159 01:02:06,760 --> 01:02:10,640 and that succeeds in stopping Margery 1160 01:02:10,800 --> 01:02:14,120 from making any physical manifestations from occurring. 1161 01:02:14,280 --> 01:02:17,720 It was an acrimonious seance, to put it very mildly. 1162 01:02:17,880 --> 01:02:22,040 Kalush: Walter started singing little songs, 1163 01:02:22,200 --> 01:02:25,720 calling Houdini epithets, anti‐Jewish epithets. 1164 01:02:25,880 --> 01:02:28,840 The phrase, "You're a son of a ‐‐, Houdini," 1165 01:02:29,000 --> 01:02:32,960 was the one‐‐ the sort of takeaway phrase of the seance. 1166 01:02:33,120 --> 01:02:35,840 Cuiffo: That must have affected him. 1167 01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:38,440 It was a direct personal attack on Houdini 1168 01:02:38,600 --> 01:02:40,400 and also the memory of his mother. 1169 01:02:40,560 --> 01:02:42,440 It did make him very angry, 1170 01:02:42,600 --> 01:02:45,040 and Walter then became threatening 1171 01:02:45,200 --> 01:02:47,240 started saying that Houdini wasn't going to live, 1172 01:02:47,400 --> 01:02:49,640 that he was going to put a curse on him 1173 01:02:49,800 --> 01:02:51,840 that was going to last until the day he died. 1174 01:02:54,000 --> 01:02:57,400 Cuiffo: Houdini had won this battle, had succeeded in stopping her. 1175 01:02:57,560 --> 01:03:01,040 And now it was just coming out as this vitriol 1176 01:03:01,200 --> 01:03:05,520 that would then soon really explode in the months to come. 1177 01:03:11,000 --> 01:03:14,640 In February 1925, the "Scientific American" 1178 01:03:14,800 --> 01:03:17,800 rejected Margery's claim to their prize. 1179 01:03:17,960 --> 01:03:22,640 Kalush: I think it was a major victory for Houdini. 1180 01:03:22,800 --> 01:03:24,640 If this had gone the other way, 1181 01:03:24,800 --> 01:03:26,040 I think it could have been very damaging 1182 01:03:26,200 --> 01:03:28,040 to Houdini's reputation. 1183 01:03:28,200 --> 01:03:31,440 He had this opportunity now to keep his name 1184 01:03:31,600 --> 01:03:34,160 in front of the public in a different way altogether. 1185 01:03:34,320 --> 01:03:37,600 Caveney: He discovered that he no longer had to jump off a bridge 1186 01:03:37,760 --> 01:03:42,760 into a freezing cold river to end up on the front page. 1187 01:03:42,920 --> 01:03:47,240 He could expose exactly how these mediums are doing what they're doing 1188 01:03:47,400 --> 01:03:50,040 and he still got huge press coverage. 1189 01:03:50,200 --> 01:03:51,840 So, he went for it, 1190 01:03:52,000 --> 01:03:55,040 despite the danger and regardless of the threats 1191 01:03:55,200 --> 01:03:58,680 and the other insults that were thrown his way. 1192 01:03:58,840 --> 01:04:03,840 Jillette: What Houdini I don't think knew he was monkeying with 1193 01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:07,840 was the level of complete immorality. 1194 01:04:08,000 --> 01:04:12,880 Spiritualists at the time were organized as criminals 1195 01:04:13,040 --> 01:04:15,240 and were also part of organized crime. 1196 01:04:15,400 --> 01:04:20,560 It's like you're dealing with, you know, a drug cartel. 1197 01:04:20,720 --> 01:04:23,960 Caveney: Many of these people wanted to see him dead. 1198 01:04:33,480 --> 01:04:35,200 Fishburne: 1925. 1199 01:04:35,360 --> 01:04:38,480 Houdini's secret diaries reveal he has a new obsession, 1200 01:04:38,640 --> 01:04:43,000 one that many believe would lead to his demise. 1201 01:04:45,280 --> 01:04:46,960 Cuifo: Houdini would go to these mediums himself, sometimes in disguise‐‐ 1202 01:04:47,120 --> 01:04:49,240 there's a great photo of Houdini as an old man‐‐ 1203 01:04:49,400 --> 01:04:50,560 partly for his own entertainment 1204 01:04:50,720 --> 01:04:52,760 under the guise of getting research. 1205 01:04:52,920 --> 01:04:56,040 Lynch: He would go in and get a reading and he would play along. 1206 01:04:56,200 --> 01:04:57,920 And then as soon as they slipped up, he would be like, 1207 01:04:58,080 --> 01:05:00,800 "Ah, it is I, Houdini, and I'm shutting this place down!" 1208 01:05:03,320 --> 01:05:05,720 Kalush: After this information was gathered, he would use it in his show, 1209 01:05:05,880 --> 01:05:09,520 and he would publicly expose the most egregious of these mediums. 1210 01:05:09,680 --> 01:05:12,560 Teller: I believe that Houdini's passion was absolutely genuine. 1211 01:05:12,720 --> 01:05:14,520 But I don't think at any point 1212 01:05:14,680 --> 01:05:18,040 he ever forgot that conflict makes a great story. 1213 01:05:18,200 --> 01:05:20,360 All of these things made great press 1214 01:05:20,520 --> 01:05:24,160 at the same time that they were actually making a very important point. 1215 01:05:24,320 --> 01:05:26,560 Fishburne: The mediums, 1216 01:05:26,720 --> 01:05:30,760 and their shrinking wallets, are livid. 1217 01:05:30,920 --> 01:05:35,160 Spiritualists were very fond of making indirect death threats. 1218 01:05:35,320 --> 01:05:36,920 "Houdini doesn't have long to live." 1219 01:05:37,080 --> 01:05:39,160 "Houdini is not long for this world." 1220 01:05:39,320 --> 01:05:43,160 So the atmosphere around him included 1221 01:05:43,320 --> 01:05:46,560 an element of really virulent hostility. 1222 01:05:49,640 --> 01:05:51,720 Cuiffo: People writing him letters threatening him, 1223 01:05:51,880 --> 01:05:53,760 putting curses on him. 1224 01:05:53,920 --> 01:05:56,960 It became a new level of aggression towards Houdini, 1225 01:05:57,120 --> 01:06:00,280 enough that he would mention it in newspaper articles. 1226 01:06:04,920 --> 01:06:06,280 Fishburne: For all of his public bravado, 1227 01:06:06,440 --> 01:06:08,960 Houdini is becoming greatly unnerved 1228 01:06:09,120 --> 01:06:11,280 by these constant threats. 1229 01:06:13,120 --> 01:06:14,880 Zenon: Obviously, Houdini was fronting it out, 1230 01:06:15,040 --> 01:06:16,560 but you get the idea that behind the scenes 1231 01:06:16,720 --> 01:06:18,160 he was actually quite worried. 1232 01:06:18,320 --> 01:06:20,760 These organizations had real clout behind them. 1233 01:06:20,920 --> 01:06:22,760 Teller: There's hostility in the air. 1234 01:06:22,920 --> 01:06:25,560 There's criminal activity on all sides. 1235 01:06:25,720 --> 01:06:29,760 There's this weird feeling of hatred that he, 1236 01:06:29,920 --> 01:06:32,440 I don't believe, previously had been living with. 1237 01:06:32,600 --> 01:06:35,560 I don't think he had been living with that poisonous sort of thing 1238 01:06:35,720 --> 01:06:40,160 where there's a group of people that just hate you all the time. 1239 01:06:40,320 --> 01:06:42,680 That's a difficult thing emotionally to deal with. 1240 01:06:42,840 --> 01:06:47,160 Fishburne: By the fall of 1926, 1241 01:06:47,320 --> 01:06:50,360 the feud is taking its toll. 1242 01:06:50,520 --> 01:06:52,760 Kalush: He seemed to be breaking a little bit. 1243 01:06:52,920 --> 01:06:57,600 He called a long‐time friend, Joseph Dunninger, 1244 01:06:57,760 --> 01:07:00,760 to come over at midnight in a rainy night. 1245 01:07:00,920 --> 01:07:02,760 Cox: He collects Houdini. They drive off. 1246 01:07:02,920 --> 01:07:04,800 And suddenly Houdini says, 1247 01:07:04,960 --> 01:07:07,000 "Turn around Joe. Go back to the house." 1248 01:07:07,160 --> 01:07:11,360 Houdini gets out, stands staring at his house, 1249 01:07:11,520 --> 01:07:14,560 and then gets back in the car and says, "Okay, we can go." 1250 01:07:14,720 --> 01:07:18,200 And they leave, and Dunninger turns and sees that Houdini's crying. 1251 01:07:18,360 --> 01:07:20,520 That's when Harry proclaims to Joe, 1252 01:07:20,680 --> 01:07:22,960 "That's the last time I've seen my house. 1253 01:07:23,120 --> 01:07:25,360 I will never see it again." 1254 01:07:25,520 --> 01:07:28,360 Cox: Turns out, that was the last time he saw his house. 1255 01:07:28,520 --> 01:07:33,040 But it's fascinating. Did Houdini have a premonition of his own death? 1256 01:07:36,160 --> 01:07:38,680 Goodwin: On October the 19th in 1926, 1257 01:07:38,840 --> 01:07:43,040 Houdini gave a lecture at McGill University in Montreal. 1258 01:07:43,200 --> 01:07:45,560 Cuiffo: Houdini was giving these spiritualistic lectures. 1259 01:07:45,720 --> 01:07:47,760 It was like his new act in a way, 1260 01:07:47,920 --> 01:07:49,240 and it was a much easier act to perform 1261 01:07:49,400 --> 01:07:50,760 because it was basically a lecture. 1262 01:07:50,920 --> 01:07:52,880 But he would demonstrate some of the methods 1263 01:07:53,040 --> 01:07:56,640 that fraudulent mediums would use. 1264 01:07:56,800 --> 01:07:58,560 Goodwin: He spoke very vitriolically 1265 01:07:58,720 --> 01:08:01,120 about Margery and Lady Doyle. 1266 01:08:01,280 --> 01:08:03,360 It raised the hairs on the backs of the reporters' necks 1267 01:08:03,520 --> 01:08:05,360 enough to mention in the papers 1268 01:08:05,520 --> 01:08:07,560 that it was quite a scathing attack, 1269 01:08:07,720 --> 01:08:09,960 which inevitably got back to them. 1270 01:08:12,600 --> 01:08:15,200 Goodwin: After the lecture, Houdini is relaxing 1271 01:08:15,360 --> 01:08:16,760 in a common room or dressing room. 1272 01:08:16,920 --> 01:08:18,160 He's surrounded by students 1273 01:08:18,320 --> 01:08:20,960 and people that wanted to talk to him. 1274 01:08:21,120 --> 01:08:25,720 Cuiffo: And it was at this casual gathering of students after this lecture 1275 01:08:25,880 --> 01:08:29,840 where he started to boast that he could withstand punches. 1276 01:08:32,320 --> 01:08:33,760 Cox: He said, "Hey, if anyone wants 1277 01:08:33,920 --> 01:08:35,360 to punch me in the stomach, I can take it." 1278 01:08:35,520 --> 01:08:37,760 And a student named Gerard Pickleman 1279 01:08:37,920 --> 01:08:39,680 did indeed punch him in the stomach. 1280 01:08:42,320 --> 01:08:44,560 Goodwin: And to his credit, Houdini didn't react, 1281 01:08:44,720 --> 01:08:47,200 didn't wince, and just stood there and took it. 1282 01:08:47,360 --> 01:08:49,480 And that was kind of the wrap‐up of the evening. 1283 01:08:49,640 --> 01:08:53,560 So that was ostensibly punch number one for Houdini 1284 01:08:53,720 --> 01:08:55,080 while he was in Montreal. 1285 01:08:58,880 --> 01:09:01,360 Tuesday, he does this performance. 1286 01:09:01,520 --> 01:09:04,120 Then that Friday, Houdini goes to the theater, 1287 01:09:04,280 --> 01:09:05,760 and he's met at the theater 1288 01:09:05,920 --> 01:09:07,920 by two students who want to chat with him. 1289 01:09:09,920 --> 01:09:11,360 They sit with Houdini. 1290 01:09:11,520 --> 01:09:13,160 Houdini's laying down on the couch relaxing 1291 01:09:13,320 --> 01:09:15,920 while this student begins to sketch him. 1292 01:09:16,080 --> 01:09:20,360 Shortly after, another student comes in‐‐ 1293 01:09:20,520 --> 01:09:21,840 J. Gordon Whitehead. 1294 01:09:24,600 --> 01:09:26,680 He came in and immediately started initiating 1295 01:09:26,840 --> 01:09:29,360 a lot of conversation with Houdini. 1296 01:09:29,520 --> 01:09:33,360 Sandford: Apparently the conversation turned towards his physical strength 1297 01:09:33,520 --> 01:09:36,360 and his ability to withstand a blow to the stomach. 1298 01:09:36,520 --> 01:09:39,400 Whitehead said, "Could I test your stomach muscles?" 1299 01:09:39,560 --> 01:09:41,760 Some people characterized it as sudden, 1300 01:09:41,920 --> 01:09:44,680 that Whitehead suddenly came at him and started punching him. 1301 01:09:48,520 --> 01:09:50,640 Sandford: And he hit him two or three times 1302 01:09:50,800 --> 01:09:53,400 before one of the other students told him to lay off. 1303 01:09:55,320 --> 01:09:58,480 By then, the damage had almost certainly been done. 1304 01:10:03,720 --> 01:10:06,480 I don't think he was aware of the severity of it. 1305 01:10:06,640 --> 01:10:10,360 Even the night that he was attacked in his dressing room, 1306 01:10:10,520 --> 01:10:12,080 he went on and gave a show. 1307 01:10:15,240 --> 01:10:17,360 They basically had to force him to go to hospital, 1308 01:10:17,520 --> 01:10:21,160 at which point they decided that they needed to operate. 1309 01:10:21,320 --> 01:10:24,360 And as soon as they opened him up, the doctors, the surgeon, 1310 01:10:24,520 --> 01:10:27,640 realized just how serious the situation was. 1311 01:10:29,920 --> 01:10:33,760 Kalush: They didn't have antibiotics like we have now. 1312 01:10:33,920 --> 01:10:36,240 Probably they knew that there wasn't much chance. 1313 01:10:36,400 --> 01:10:40,520 He basically hung on for‐‐ what was it? Seven or eight days. 1314 01:10:40,680 --> 01:10:44,560 He was in his brother Theo's arms, 1315 01:10:44,720 --> 01:10:48,160 and he said, "I'm tired of fighting. 1316 01:10:48,320 --> 01:10:49,760 I guess this thing is going to get me." 1317 01:10:49,920 --> 01:10:54,560 And we would lose Harry Houdini on October 31st, 1926. 1318 01:11:02,920 --> 01:11:05,840 Cox: Houdini's death really did shock people. 1319 01:11:06,000 --> 01:11:10,440 The Great Houdini, who couldn't be defeated, is suddenly dead. 1320 01:11:10,600 --> 01:11:11,960 It was truly shocking. 1321 01:11:12,120 --> 01:11:14,960 I think people had a hard time 1322 01:11:15,120 --> 01:11:17,680 accepting the fact that the great Houdini, 1323 01:11:17,840 --> 01:11:21,760 the guy that defied death all of his life, 1324 01:11:21,920 --> 01:11:24,400 was punched in the stomach by a college kid 1325 01:11:24,560 --> 01:11:25,960 and it killed him. 1326 01:11:26,120 --> 01:11:27,960 It's like, how can that be? 1327 01:11:28,120 --> 01:11:30,000 There's gotta be more to it than that. 1328 01:11:30,160 --> 01:11:33,160 Kalush: Almost immediately, 1329 01:11:33,320 --> 01:11:35,320 there were rumors in the newspapers 1330 01:11:35,480 --> 01:11:38,760 and swirling around that Houdini had been murdered. 1331 01:11:38,920 --> 01:11:40,720 Cox: And like any time a celebrity dies, 1332 01:11:40,880 --> 01:11:42,600 it opens the door to conspiracy theories. 1333 01:11:42,760 --> 01:11:45,360 The tabloid press begin 1334 01:11:45,520 --> 01:11:48,880 to make these suggestions almost from the beginning. 1335 01:11:49,040 --> 01:11:52,960 Kalush: All those threats, it just raises the question 1336 01:11:53,120 --> 01:11:55,760 as to were there plots against him? 1337 01:11:55,920 --> 01:11:57,360 Cox: What exactly happened? 1338 01:11:57,520 --> 01:11:59,160 How could Houdini be brought down so quickly? 1339 01:11:59,320 --> 01:12:00,680 Was there more to the story? 1340 01:12:11,960 --> 01:12:13,960 Fishburne: Halloween, 1926. 1341 01:12:14,120 --> 01:12:16,920 Houdini the superman is dead. 1342 01:12:17,080 --> 01:12:20,400 Immediately, rumors begin to swirl. 1343 01:12:20,560 --> 01:12:22,120 Had Houdini been murdered? 1344 01:12:25,840 --> 01:12:31,200 The first group that fall under suspicion are the spiritualists. 1345 01:12:31,360 --> 01:12:33,800 After their relentless campaign of death threats, 1346 01:12:33,960 --> 01:12:36,600 they are impossible to ignore. 1347 01:12:36,760 --> 01:12:39,200 Jillette: True believers, once you get someone 1348 01:12:39,360 --> 01:12:42,800 who's talking about God and the great beyond, 1349 01:12:42,960 --> 01:12:45,800 that's an end that justifies any means. 1350 01:12:45,960 --> 01:12:48,000 And I also know the spiritualists are, um, terrible, 1351 01:12:48,160 --> 01:12:50,600 terrible, awful criminals, 1352 01:12:50,760 --> 01:12:52,560 and are not beyond poisoning. 1353 01:12:55,160 --> 01:12:57,400 Cox: The great beneficiaries of Houdini's death 1354 01:12:57,560 --> 01:13:01,440 were spiritualists and people like Doyle and Crandon. 1355 01:13:01,600 --> 01:13:04,800 They'd become the leading lights in the spiritualist movement. 1356 01:13:04,960 --> 01:13:08,280 With Houdini out of the way, the world was their oyster. 1357 01:13:08,440 --> 01:13:11,800 Cuiffo: We know that the spiritualists 1358 01:13:11,960 --> 01:13:13,600 were definitely celebrating this moment. 1359 01:13:13,760 --> 01:13:16,600 Crandon was kind of gloating to Doyle 1360 01:13:16,760 --> 01:13:19,800 that Houdini was dead. 1361 01:13:19,960 --> 01:13:22,200 Kalush: The newspapers began reporting 1362 01:13:22,360 --> 01:13:25,640 that Doyle had been predicting Houdini's death. 1363 01:13:25,800 --> 01:13:28,600 Cuiffo: So it does seem plausible that perhaps 1364 01:13:28,760 --> 01:13:31,560 in this vast decentralized network 1365 01:13:31,720 --> 01:13:35,160 of fanatical spiritualists that somebody could take that 1366 01:13:35,320 --> 01:13:37,200 in very real way and act on it. 1367 01:13:37,360 --> 01:13:40,240 Kalush: So I think Houdini expected something to happen. 1368 01:13:40,400 --> 01:13:43,800 He took to carrying a gun. 1369 01:13:43,960 --> 01:13:49,320 Fishburne: People ask, "Was J. Gordon Whitehead part of a plot to kill Houdini? 1370 01:13:51,560 --> 01:13:56,600 People were trying to tie Whitehead to spiritualist movement 1371 01:13:56,760 --> 01:13:59,400 and say that he knew Crandon 1372 01:13:59,560 --> 01:14:01,600 and maybe they had colluded in some way 1373 01:14:01,760 --> 01:14:03,640 in order to murder Houdini. 1374 01:14:03,800 --> 01:14:07,400 Kalush: And it also seems quite evident 1375 01:14:07,560 --> 01:14:10,680 that Houdini was aware of who Whitehead was 1376 01:14:10,840 --> 01:14:13,000 before this happened in his dressing room. 1377 01:14:13,160 --> 01:14:15,800 It wasn't just a stranger who wandered in. 1378 01:14:15,960 --> 01:14:17,240 He was returning a book. 1379 01:14:17,400 --> 01:14:19,400 He also claimed in his deposition 1380 01:14:19,560 --> 01:14:22,800 that he was in touch with Houdini two more times 1381 01:14:22,960 --> 01:14:25,200 before Houdini left Montreal. 1382 01:14:25,360 --> 01:14:29,200 So, I think it's likely that Whitehead 1383 01:14:29,360 --> 01:14:33,560 was connected in some way to spiritualists. 1384 01:14:36,360 --> 01:14:40,000 Fishburne: Eyewitness testimonial, rarely seen in public since, 1385 01:14:40,160 --> 01:14:42,520 claims Whitehead asked Houdini a series of questions 1386 01:14:42,680 --> 01:14:47,400 before he punched him in the stomach. 1387 01:14:47,560 --> 01:14:50,400 Kalush: One of the tactics of the spiritualists at that time 1388 01:14:50,560 --> 01:14:53,600 were to try to turn the conversation to the point 1389 01:14:53,760 --> 01:14:59,160 where they said that Jesus and the apostles were actually mediums. 1390 01:14:59,320 --> 01:15:03,400 Man: And at one point, Whitehead does ask Houdini, 1391 01:15:03,560 --> 01:15:05,720 you know, how do you explain the miracles in the Bible? 1392 01:15:05,880 --> 01:15:08,320 Are those frauds? 1393 01:15:10,720 --> 01:15:12,120 Kalush: Houdini then said, 1394 01:15:12,280 --> 01:15:14,800 "Well, if I had lived back in those times, 1395 01:15:14,960 --> 01:15:16,680 what would they have thought of me?" 1396 01:15:16,840 --> 01:15:19,640 And this sort of set off Whitehead, 1397 01:15:19,800 --> 01:15:21,000 and Whitehead came forward 1398 01:15:21,160 --> 01:15:23,800 and punched Houdini in the abdomen. 1399 01:15:23,960 --> 01:15:26,600 And the stories have been on both sides, 1400 01:15:26,760 --> 01:15:28,000 but two of the witnesses say 1401 01:15:28,160 --> 01:15:30,240 that Houdini did not invite it or encourage it. 1402 01:15:31,760 --> 01:15:36,800 Were spiritualists bad enough to commit murder? 1403 01:15:36,960 --> 01:15:38,600 Yes. 1404 01:15:38,760 --> 01:15:41,000 Did people believe in spiritualism enough 1405 01:15:41,160 --> 01:15:42,800 that they would kill for that? 1406 01:15:42,960 --> 01:15:43,800 Yes. 1407 01:15:43,960 --> 01:15:47,120 Was Houdini kind of a macho‐‐ 1408 01:15:47,280 --> 01:15:49,800 wanted to show how tough he was? 1409 01:15:49,960 --> 01:15:51,520 Yes. 1410 01:15:51,680 --> 01:15:55,800 Can a university student punch wicked hard? 1411 01:15:55,960 --> 01:15:58,000 Yes. 1412 01:15:58,160 --> 01:16:00,440 Culliton: There's all kinds of ways to murder somebody. 1413 01:16:00,600 --> 01:16:03,200 You can shoot 'em, stab 'em, poison 'em, 1414 01:16:03,360 --> 01:16:04,720 push 'em out a window. 1415 01:16:04,880 --> 01:16:07,200 But who has ever murdered somebody 1416 01:16:07,360 --> 01:16:09,160 by punching them in the stomach? 1417 01:16:09,320 --> 01:16:11,200 It doesn't really make sense, 1418 01:16:11,360 --> 01:16:14,800 even by the wildest stretch of the imagination. 1419 01:16:14,960 --> 01:16:17,800 I don't think Houdini in his final hours 1420 01:16:17,960 --> 01:16:21,200 was ever under the impression that it had been anything 1421 01:16:21,360 --> 01:16:24,400 but a terrible accident or a misunderstanding. 1422 01:16:26,560 --> 01:16:28,400 Fishburne: In fact, on his deathbed, 1423 01:16:28,560 --> 01:16:30,800 Houdini himself ruled it out. 1424 01:16:30,960 --> 01:16:34,800 He stated to his nurse Sophia Rosenblatt that, 1425 01:16:34,960 --> 01:16:37,400 "The poor boy didn't mean it." 1426 01:16:37,560 --> 01:16:40,000 Sophie Rosenblatt's deposition says that, 1427 01:16:40,160 --> 01:16:42,960 you know, in a moment of lucidity, 1428 01:16:43,120 --> 01:16:46,200 Houdini says very clearly that if the blows were the cause of it, 1429 01:16:46,360 --> 01:16:49,240 that Whitehead didn't‐‐ didn't know what he was doing. 1430 01:16:49,400 --> 01:16:51,200 Houdini felt it was an accident. 1431 01:16:51,360 --> 01:16:53,200 And to hear him say "that poor boy" 1432 01:16:53,360 --> 01:16:56,440 is‐‐ is‐‐ is moving. 1433 01:16:59,360 --> 01:17:02,200 Fishburne: The official cause of death was peritonitis. 1434 01:17:02,360 --> 01:17:03,920 His appendix, hugely inflamed, 1435 01:17:04,080 --> 01:17:08,800 hadn't been operated on in time and had ruptured. 1436 01:17:08,960 --> 01:17:11,320 Goodwin: The truth is, how he died was very simple. 1437 01:17:11,480 --> 01:17:14,000 And I think it was very difficult for the public 1438 01:17:14,160 --> 01:17:17,000 and the media to accept it, 1439 01:17:17,160 --> 01:17:19,080 and they wanted to make something more of it. 1440 01:17:19,240 --> 01:17:22,000 So it's almost a sort of ridiculous end 1441 01:17:22,160 --> 01:17:24,400 to this fantastic, magnificent life. 1442 01:17:24,560 --> 01:17:26,400 And it's hard to accept, 1443 01:17:26,560 --> 01:17:30,600 but I believe the facts do support that. 1444 01:17:30,760 --> 01:17:35,000 Fishburne: So should responsibility for the death lie with Houdini himself, 1445 01:17:35,160 --> 01:17:39,800 allowing himself to be punched when he knew his body was failing him? 1446 01:17:39,960 --> 01:17:42,400 It seems the desire to cheat death at every turn 1447 01:17:42,560 --> 01:17:44,320 finally got the better of him. 1448 01:17:46,360 --> 01:17:49,200 On November 2nd, 1926, 1449 01:17:49,360 --> 01:17:52,440 people wept openly as Houdini's body was returned 1450 01:17:52,600 --> 01:17:56,240 to his adopted home city of New York. 1451 01:17:56,400 --> 01:17:57,440 Cox: People turned out. 1452 01:17:57,600 --> 01:17:59,320 They wanted to get one last look 1453 01:17:59,480 --> 01:18:01,080 at Houdini, you know, 1454 01:18:01,240 --> 01:18:04,120 in the box that he'll never escape. 1455 01:18:08,320 --> 01:18:10,800 Kalush: It's almost like a state funeral. 1456 01:18:10,960 --> 01:18:15,000 And it speaks to, A, not just how famous he is, 1457 01:18:15,160 --> 01:18:16,600 but also how well‐loved he was. 1458 01:18:16,760 --> 01:18:19,840 Terbosic: In Harry Houdini's obituary, 1459 01:18:20,000 --> 01:18:22,360 he was referred to as a scientist. 1460 01:18:22,520 --> 01:18:25,000 And I'm sure as a young Harry Houdini 1461 01:18:25,160 --> 01:18:27,200 who had dropped out of school, 1462 01:18:27,360 --> 01:18:31,600 that probably brought a smile to his face. 1463 01:18:31,760 --> 01:18:33,600 Fishburne: So having delved into the secrets 1464 01:18:33,760 --> 01:18:35,280 hidden in Houdini's lost diaries, 1465 01:18:35,440 --> 01:18:40,000 just who was the man behind the mask? 1466 01:18:40,160 --> 01:18:42,800 Kalush: I think Houdini was the American dream. 1467 01:18:42,960 --> 01:18:46,000 He came from almost nothing. 1468 01:18:46,160 --> 01:18:47,680 And through just grit, 1469 01:18:47,840 --> 01:18:51,200 and hard work and ingenuity and imagination, 1470 01:18:51,360 --> 01:18:53,760 he did everything in his life he wanted to do. 1471 01:18:53,920 --> 01:18:59,760 Very few entertainers or performers can become synonymous with their art. 1472 01:18:59,920 --> 01:19:04,680 His legacy as a performer will live on forever. 1473 01:19:08,560 --> 01:19:10,840 Jillette: And it's just so odd 1474 01:19:11,000 --> 01:19:15,880 that the superstar of the 20th century 1475 01:19:16,040 --> 01:19:17,560 ended up being a magician. 1476 01:19:17,720 --> 01:19:23,680 And all we can do is thank God he wasn't a ventriloquist. 1477 01:19:27,280 --> 01:19:30,120 Fishburne: Houdini's diaries are a chance to probe the mind 1478 01:19:30,280 --> 01:19:33,240 and personality of the first global celebrity. 1479 01:19:33,400 --> 01:19:37,000 While he was a complex and uniquely driven man, 1480 01:19:37,160 --> 01:19:39,400 Houdini succeeded because 1481 01:19:39,560 --> 01:19:41,840 in the turmoil and change of the 20th century, 1482 01:19:42,000 --> 01:19:45,840 he gave back to the world a sense of wonder and magic. 1483 01:19:46,000 --> 01:19:47,400 I'm Laurence Fishburne. 1484 01:19:47,560 --> 01:19:51,880 Thank you for watching "History's Greatest Mysteries." 125057

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