Let’s let this newsreel video, attributed to Pathé, lay to rest once and for all the pernicious myth that our pal Harry Houdini was a lousy magician. “Great showman,” even his detractors have to admit, “but not very good at the hand work.”
Tell us your own experiences with backpalming: it took us two years of constant practice just to perfect the move with one card, then another ten to perfect a routine. Hats off to Harry - he’s got the chops!
The idea that Houdini was a bad magician was pushed mostly by Dai Vernon, I believe, who lived long after Houdini died. He used it to get publicity for himself trading off the Houdini much bigger fame. A good ploy by Vernon as he got a lot of mileage with it. Needless to say Vernon did not achieve anywhere near the fame of Houdini. He was in not the same league as Houdini as a showman. Houdini worked the best venues in the world, mostly as a headliner getting top salaries probably before millions of people. Many were return engagements. As far as show business fame to the general public Vernon is invisible. As Al Flosso and Houdini, I believe, used to say, "There are the doers and the knockers.
ReplyDeleteI believe Houdini often amazed and challenged magicians with his one hand waterfall and other card work. Houdini was too driven to be bad at anything he set out to do. A lot of the things Houdini was famous for were in fact magic tricks and not escapes. Walking through a Brick Wall, The Needle Trick, The Vanishing Elephant, etc.
Dick Brookz & Dorothy Dietrich
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Thanks for your comments. Re Vernon: he was a master manipulator, but his famous Cups & Balls routine, for instance, always left me cold. It was confusing, bewildering and not really entertaining - except to him! A little more showmanship and a little less "work" would have gone a long way, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteVernon wasn't interested in becoming a famous showman; instead he preferred to be a life long student of magic. At one point in his life, he had the opportunity to jump start his Harlequin act but dropped it because the tedium of performing the same act repeatedly left him cold. Vernon's passion was in the study of magic, and everything else just got in his way.
ReplyDeleteYes, Vernon was not a fan of Houdini and he explained his reasons. He thought Houdini was egomaniacal, and not a very good magician. He must have seen Houdini perform and was not impressed. Vernon pointed out that magic is supposed to be mysterious and inexplicable. According to Vernon, wriggling out of a straitjacket was not magic.