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Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by The_Jazz
Toaster, he's a magician by trade, not an endurance athlete or specialist. I just expect a magician to do magic. I don't know any other magicians that do this kind of stuff, but maybe Blaine's "transcended" magic.
Whatever. I don't care much either way, and I still think he's a douchebag. But that's just the opinion of a fat, lonely internet troll/virgin who still lives in his mom's basement and collects Star Wars cards professionally. Except that I'm not.  |
The two current popularized street performers, David Blaine and Cris Angel both follow Houdini closely. I haven't met Blaine before but I used to see Cris all the time at Tannen's in NYC and the LIRR, he lived near me when I lived in Hicksville. Both do tradtional magic and also escape artist feats.
Below is a snippet of Houdini's history
Quote:
<P><B>1899-1907: Vaudeville and Fame</B><BR>The year 1899 was a watershed in Houdini's life. The great impresario Martin Beck advised the struggling performer to shed traditional magic and to concentrate upon escapes. Beck then booked Houdini on vaudeville's Orpheum Circuit. The dime museum days were over; <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3g03277+3c12436))">the King of Handcuffs</A> came to the fore. <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3d02100+3c12422+3c12415))">The Houdinis were on the brink of prosperity.</A> In 1900, Houdini <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3g03276+hs009))">left for Europe, emerging as a star</A> and carefully promoting his persona through <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3g03275+3g03286))">letterhead</A>, <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12442))">photographs</A>, and <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12430+3c12407))">early film</A>. <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12439))">His brother Theodore Hardeen</A> joined him abroad. <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3g03287))">A vibrant poster from the Berlin Wintergarten</A> documents the international context within which a triumphant Houdini now performed. </P>
<P>In 1904, Houdini bought a brownstone home in the German section of Harlem, New York. In 1905, <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12419))">he returned to America, flourishing his chains</A>. His brother <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12440))">Hardeen continued to perform.</A> When, on January 7, 1906, Houdini escaped from the Washington, D.C. jail cell of Charles Guiteau--the assassin of President Garfield--the magician's <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(hs012+3b06615+3c12382+3c12412+3c12429+3b26687))">reputation as both a jail breaker and handcuff king</A> was assured. Now an established performer, he could <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12388))">reflect in depth upon the history of magic</A> and undertake <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(hs004+hs050))">his own publications</A>. The happiness of this period is manifest in <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12416+3c12427))">family photographs.</A> </P>
<P><B>1908-1918: The World Stage</B><BR>In 1908, Houdini published <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3b26689))"><I>The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin,</I> a sweeping history of the art of magic.</A> It included references to spiritualism that he subsequently developed in <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12378+3c12384+3c12397))"><I>A Magician Among the Spirits.</I></A> Houdini began the year <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3b26684))">in Indianapolis.</A> On January 27, 1908, he introduced <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12435))">the milk can escape</A> in St. Louis. Then, later in the year, he took it on tour in Europe, where he appeared, in Germany, as <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3g03293))">the star of Circus Busch.</A> From March 30 to April 4 of 1908, Houdini performed at Hammerstein's Theatre in New York in <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3g03289+3g03283))">the famous Weed Tire Grip Chain Escape.</A> Later in April he made <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3a27316+3a27318+3a27313+3a27317))">one of his stunning manacled jumps</A> from Boston's Harvard Bridge. </P>
<P>In 1910, positioning himself as a pioneer aviator, Houdini was proclaimed <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12401+3c12402+3c12403+3b13889+3c12414+3c12426+3c12410+hs008))">the first person to sustain flight over Australia.</A> In 1913, he introduced <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12434+3g03290+hs013))">his celebrated Upside-Down Water Torture Cell,</A> and soon undertook <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3b13881+3c12418+3b13907+3b26690+3d02099))">upside-down straitjacket escapes.</A> Photographs now captured the image of <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3b26675+3c12433+3b13903+3c12406+3c12393+3b26676+3c12400+3d02074+3b2668+3b26685+3c12420+3b26683+3b26678))">a hero on the world stage who had also become a mature statesman of magic.</A> In 1913, however, even the magician's <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(hs006+hs007))">letterhead</A> reflected his intense grief at his mother's death. <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3b26680+3b26682+3b26679))">The Weiss gravesite</A> gained new importance for him, as did <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12385))">the family that remained.</A> </P>
<P>In 1914, the Houdinis <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3f04893+3f04892+3f04894+3c12437+3b13894+3c12376))">met Theodore Roosevelt when they sailed aboard the Hamburg-American Line</A> from Europe to New York. It was another year of <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(hs010+3b13908))">great escapes.</A> The year 1915 brought <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3b13880+hs014))">classic magic,</A> <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3b26677))">reunions,</A> and <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(hs016))">participation in the community of magic,</A> <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(hs017+hs011+3c12411))">preoccupations that shaped 1916 and 1917</A> also. In 1918, Houdini performed <A href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@FIELD(NUMBER(3c12421+3b13882+hs046))">his largest stage illusion, vanishing Jenny the elephant</A> at New York's Hippodrome . Always ready to enhance a sensation, he claimed that she weighed ten thousand pounds. </P>
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