As a special treat for EMC 2011 attendees, we are offering a contest! Everyone that registered for the convention before July 4th has received special EMC 2011 level access to Ask Alexander. The challenge will be to use Ask Alexander to answer the question posted below as quickly as possible. The first person submitting the correct answer(s) will win ten decks of our playing cards, postage paid anywhere in the world! We hope that you have a good time using your complimentary Ask Alexander access and find many more things along the way!

Question:

A magician uses a double lift that can be described as “impeccable” in a legendary magazine for a feat that was “double”-y legendary. Search this magician’s name along with Peter Pit to find, if you look back, something out of place. What is it?

E-mail your answers to: EMCanswer1@conjuringarts.org Contest is closed…see the answer and the winner below!

Answer:

Congratulations to Frank Yuen for his correct answer of our contest question! The correct answer was “a card”. The answer can be arrived at by looking for Impeccable Double, a Howie Schwarzman technique from Professional Card Magic by Cliff Green, in Jon Racherbaumer’s The Legendary Hierophant. You will find a story of Persi Diaconis performing the technique with two doubles! Searching for Persi Diaconis and Peter Pit leads one to several pages, one of which is a trick in Genii magazine called the “The Card on the Back”, so, if you look back for something out of place, it is a card!

Hopefully everyone that attempted the contest enjoyed their search and is considering becoming a member of Conjuring Arts!

Thanks!

Regina and Charles (Levent Cimkentli Photo)

It is with great sadness that we write of Charles Reynolds’ recent passing. Brilliantly knowledgeable in magic perfomance and history, always friendly and charming, with his hat and cane (when he remembered them), Charles was persistently full of life all the moments he shared with us. While many have written wonderful thoughts about his life’s work and legacy of knowledge, I’d like to honor Charles by sharing a few of the things I learned spending time with him. So imagine Charles, at a meeting of magicians, jovially spoiling himself with a soda, or a scotch, telling stories full of famous magicians we all admire, remembering times and antics we are awed and humored by, all the while retaining his gentle nature and wise soul.

One story which Charles liked to tell was of a bit of conversation between Houdini and Al Flosso, which Charles had learned through Al’s son, Jackie. Al told Houdini, “Never, under any circumstances, tell the truth.” In fact, Charles’s memories of talking with these great characters always revealed small moments of personal experiences that don’t always come out in print. At one of our magic meetings, Charles related a bit of information about Houdini he had heard from Dunninger: That Houdini had a wonderful smile. Charles wistfully recalled Dunninger’s memory that, “Anything could go wrong at a Houdini performance and he could win them over with his smile.”

Charles in Study (Levent Cimkentli Photo)

I always thought small memories like these were great to hear from Charles, especially this one, since you don’t often hear about Houdini making any mistakes, and I had not heard any stories about his smile.

Here is a bit of advice from Ali Bongo related to us through Charles: “If you can’t hide it, paint it red.” Another bit of Charles wisdom culled from his wide historical knowledge, “Everytime you pick up a prop your price goes down.”

Apparently the Professor, Dai Vernon, had picked up a little bit of French and would say in a melancholy, albeit tongue in cheek, manner, “Partir c’est mourir un peu” whenever a pretty waitress left his dinner table. It meant “to leave is to die a little” or more loosely “it hurts to say goodbye”, and reflected the great loss he felt by this beautiful lady leaving his presence. I was quite pleased that Charles  decided to recount this little characteristic of the Professor’s.

Charles was not particularly technically savvy and was not interested in getting caught up in the latest technology, like e-mail. However, during one of the meetings, one of the attendees was using their iPad to show some video clips, and we ended up watching video of Borra and Richiardi on YouTube. Charles got rather interested and asked what else was available on “The YouTube.” We explained that practically everything was available and searched for some of Charles’ favorite performers. Even though we knew we had found a weakness in his technological disinterest, Charles still surprised all of us at the next meeting when we were informed that he had acquired an iPad!

After viewing any magic act, Charles’ go-to method of discovering how it might be improved, what was wrong with it, where it went right, etc. was to utilize 3 key questions that relate to the 3 aspects of any magic performance. He brought these questions up frequently during our discussions, and they never failed to bring about some insight. He also never failed to credit the source for these questions: his wife, Regina! For those that are interested, he wrote them down, along with a variety of other thoughts and some effects in his lecture notes, Observations & Effects.

Hopefully you found these jottings entertaining. Charles was quite a wonderful man, and I will miss him very much.

If you would like to learn more about Charles please check the resources below:

http://mnw.squarespace.com/magicnewsfeed/2010/11/4/broken-wand-charles-reynolds-by-levent.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/arts/08reynolds.html?ref=douglas_martin

http://askalexander.org/displaypdf.cgi?pid=1597798

http://www.magicmagazine.com/december10/ihw_charles-reynolds_08.html

The January 2011 Genii Magazine contains “In Memoriam: Charles Reynolds” by Jamy Ian Swiss

“A Conversation with Charles Reynolds” is in the December 2010 issue of MAGIC Magazine

Further information can be found in the excellent book, by Ann Beedham, Randini: The Man Who Helped Houdini which is available here.

“A Rich Cabinet of Magical Curiosities 280: Castleton’s House of Wonders: Randolph O. Douglas, His Museum and His Houdini Collection” by Edwin A. Dawes MIMC in the Magic Circular Issue 1027 Volume 96 February 2002

]]> http://conjuringarts.org/2010/10/bbc-features-randini/feed/ 0 http://conjuringarts.org/2010/04/ask-alexander-2-0-beta/ http://conjuringarts.org/2010/04/ask-alexander-2-0-beta/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:22:41 +0000 rickysmith http://conjuringarts.org/?p=1709 Those of you who have logged in to Alexander recently may have noticed the new look and some new features. We are calling it Ask Alexander 2.0, and, although we are still working on many neat ideas, it is coming along nicely.

The first thing you will notice is the new design which was elegantly conceived and created by Dave Buck. Second, you will notice a number of improved functions with regard to the search. These include thumbnail pictures of the book covers next to the results, more results, and, this is the big one, a much faster search! Try it and see, even a search for “Houdini” or other big search term returns the results almost immediately. Third, we have expanded upon the collections idea with a page feature called “My Alex”. Here you can assemble a bookshelf of your favorite books and give them ratings so you can locate them instantly. Additionally, there is a button to repeat your last search or to look at all of your previous searches.

Hopefully these new features will help you find some wonderful new knowledge and improve your magic! Thank you very much to Dan Smith, Dave Buck, and Dan Smith for all of their help in this and future iterations of Alexander. Also, if you have computer skills that may be of help to us, please consider volunteering as we could certainly use the help in making a great tool even better. Happy searching!

Each bust is handcrafted using methods and materials faithful to those used a hundred years ago when the original was made. The bust is just over a foot tall and the detailing is impeccable. Only 100 were made, so we feel very fortunate to have obtained the copy we did. Mr. Bard obtained the bust directly from Houdini as a gift. Later on, a young Jim Baldauf befriended Mr. Bard, who was then in his eighties, and was given this rare artifact as a gift. Additionally, he also received some other memorabilia, including a stage coat designed, made, and worn by Bess Houdini. It is through Mr. Baldauf that these spectacular reproductions are being offered.

The Secret Life of Houdini was one of the factors inspiring Mr. Baldauf to take on the task of reproducing these fascinating pieces due to the references to Jim Bard, and he has been kind enough to donate part of the proceeds from the sale of these to the Conjuring Arts Research Center.

Those that are interested can find more details here: Viking Magic and Stevens Magic Emporium

The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero

Handcuff King. Escape Artist. International Superstar.

Since his death eighty years ago, Harry Houdini’s life has been chronicled in books, in film, and on television. Now, in this groundbreaking biography, renowned magic expert William Kalush and best-selling writer Larry Sloman team up to find the man behind the myth. Drawing from millions of pages of research, they describe in vivid detail the passions that drove Houdini to perform ever-more-dangerous feats, his secret life as a spy, and a pernicious plot to subvert his legacy.

After years of struggling on the dime museum circuit, Harry Houdini got a break that put him on the front page of a Chicago newspaper. He never looked back. Soon Houdini was performing for royalty, commanding vast sums, and exploring the new power of Hollywood to expand on his legend. At a time when spy agencies frequently co-opted amateurs, Houdini went to London and developed a relationship with a man who would run MI-5. For the next several years, the world’s most famous magician traveled to Germany and Russia and routinely reported his findings.

After World War I was successfully concluded, Houdini embarked on a battle of his own. He created a group of disguised field operatives to infiltrate the seamy world of fake spirit mediums. In doing so, Houdini triggered the wrath of fanatical Spiritualists, led by the esteemed British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Death threats became an everyday occurrence, but the group would pose an even greater danger to Houdini’s legacy.

Rigorously researched, and as exciting as a good thriller, The Secret Life of Houdini traces the arc of the master magician’s life from desperate poverty to worldwide legend, initiating the reader along the way into the arcane world of professional magic. In this remarkable book, Kalush and Sloman decode a life based on deception, providing an intimate and riveting portrayal of Houdini, the man and the legend.

Atria Books, October 2006. 608 pages. Hardcover // Available for purchase in our store.

1. The Oath (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
2. Starving for a Living (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
3. The Celebrated Clairvoyants (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
4. Quid Pro Quo (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
5. The King of Handcuffs (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
6. M (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
7. Police State (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
8. Taming the Bear (Draft v1.2) Updated 01/02/2007
9. The Challenge of the Mirror (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
10. Leap of Faith (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
11. Kill Thy Father (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
12. Death Visits the Stage (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
13. Above the Down Under (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
14. The Emperor of Sympathy-Enlisters (Draft v1.1) Updated 11/09/2006
15. Chinese Water Torture (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
16. Forgive (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
17. Fighting Our Way To The Grave (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
18. Death by Misadventure (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
19. Art Imitates Life (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
20. Saul Among the Prophets (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
21. Little Sister Will Do Exactly As Big Brother Says (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
22. Margery’s Box (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
23. My Own Secret Service (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
24. I…Am A Fake (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
25. An Eye For An Eye (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
26. There is no Death (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007
27. Epilogue (Draft v1.1) Updated 01/02/2007

So begins THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI, the result of William Kalush and Larry Sloman’s years-long journey to discover the man behind the magic. Exhaustively researched, and chock-full of new facts and details, THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI gives readers an inside look at a complicated man who was much more than the world’s most famous escape artist.

Born Ehrich Weiss in Budapest on March 24, 1874, he emigrated to the U.S. and grew up in the small Wisconsin town of Appleton. As a child, Houdini was fascinated with all types of locks and fasteners and hardware, practicing at home by opening the drawers, closets and pantries of his house at will, using a small buttonhook. He became notorious in Appleton as the boy who unlocked all the doors to the shops on College Avenue one night.

Ehrich became enthralled with magic after seeing an English magician doing a decapitation effect. His childhood was scarred by extreme poverty after his father lost his job as Appleton’s first rabbi. Moving to Milwaukee, and then New York, Ehrich was charged by his frail, elderly father with the responsibility of caring for his mother and siblings in the event of his father’s demise.

While working in a necktie factory, he teamed up with a fellow worker and began doing a two-man magic act known as The Brothers Houdini. Ehrich had adopted the name Houdini in tribute to his hero, the French magician Robert-Houdin.

After his father’s death in 1892, Harry Houdini began touring as a magician. With his new wife Bess now added to the act, the Houdinis began their long struggle for supremacy in the field of magic.

He escaped from handcuffs, safes, and the notorious Black Maria, the Russian carette used to transport dangerous prisoners to Siberia. He jumped off bridges into rivers and bays, shackled. He was locked into a can filled with water (and later beer and milk) and freed himself. He devised an especially ingenious torture, The Chinese Water Torture Cell, where he was bound by the ankles and thrust head first into a small water-filled enclosure that was then locked. He escaped before a certain drowning death. He created the most ingenious outdoor publicity stunt ever, a harrowing upside down escape from a straitjacket while suspended hundreds of feet in the air.

Houdini’s relentless publicity seeking and his innate understanding of what was believable combined to push his name into the language. As early as 1899 the word Houdini began to be used synonymously with escape. Newspapers referred to escaped criminals as Houdinis or as “doing a Houdini.” By 1917, the guardians of the language noticed that cartoonists, lexicographers, preachers, the Literary Digest, and even a U.S. congressman were using Houdini’s name as a comparison for other people’s activities in elusion.

Houdini was the most popular entertainer of his age, and no one yet has filled his shoes as a magician. Fifty years after his death his name was added to the Oxford English Dictionary. When Googled today, his name comes up with 5,150,000 references. Harry Houdini may have been dead for 80 years, but his myth remains young and vital.

“The years of Houdini’s challenges created a cumulative effect that became the myth of the Superman. Houdini could get out of anything, he could defeat any device thrown at him. He was more than a man, he was a Superman. And every member of his audience both rooted for him and basked in his reflected glory. He was better than us, but in the end, he was one of us.” –from THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI

This was just one of the questions that intrigued authors William Kalush and Larry Sloman. To find the answers they sought, they did an incredible amount of research. They read and reread all of the previous books on Houdini, and many from the magic field in general. They gathered a massive amount of source material—photocopied documents, Houdini’s personal scrapbooks (17,000 pages alone!), as well as his letters and correspondence. They electronically searched as many as 200 million newspaper articles, and millions of census and government records. Ultimately, they created a fully text-searchable database that now contains 700,000 pages of material on magic, with tens of thousands of references to Houdini.

Early on in their research, the authors discovered an interesting letter from a man in Scotland who was reporting to Houdini that there were rumors circulating that he was a spy! When they looked back at why Houdini suddenly succeeded in Chicago after having done substantially the same act for years in anonymity, they found some stunning connections. The particular Chicago detective that boosted Houdini’s career was a member of an exclusive club called the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), made up of law enforcement officials from around the world. Another member was the chief of the U.S. Secret Service. They eventually discovered that the Chief was also a magician, and he admitted to using magician as operatives. Perhaps this was the opportunity Houdini had needed.

Houdini’s first trip out to the west coast in 1899 may also have been his first mission for the United States Secret Service. The counterfeiting of silver dollars in the western portion of the country was a major problem for the Chief of the U.S. Secret Service John E. Wilkie in the spring of 1899, and it is known that Houdini had been receiving orientation on counterfeiting techniques around the same time.

The authors made contact with Andrew Cook—one of the worlds leading espionage experts—who dropped a bombshell by revealing that he was in possession of a diary of England’s top spymaster, Inspector William Melville of Scotland Yard. A close examination of the document revealed many entries that showed that Houdini was doing espionage for Melville abroad, as well as tutoring him in escape and lockpicking techniques.

Houdini made inroads into the top echelons of the German police and then sent back reports to Melville. In The Right Way to Do Wrong, he also admitted to serving as a liaison between in the IACP in the United States and the top German police brass.

Houdini’s magic was so mystifying that he was asked to become an advisor to Czar Nicholas’ court on three separate occasions.