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Inside the Houdini-Industrial Complex: The surprising, secret influence of the great escape artist

Inside the Houdini-Industrial Complex: The surprising, secret influence of the great escape artist

  By Rachel Shteir for SALON

There are two take-aways from the largest auction of Harry Houdini memorabilia in a decade—it netted over $500,000— that happened recently at Potter and Potter auction house in Chicago. The first is that in our decidedly unmagical age, Americans are more fascinated than ever by the great twentieth-century escape artist. There is plenty of evidence for my theory besides the auction, including, beginning this past Monday, the History Channel miniseries starring Adrien Brody as Houdini. (Other high-profile projects near launch date include a Broadway musical supposedly starring Hugh Jackman as Houdini and a book about the escape artist’s relationship with the psychic Margery by the screenwriter David Jaher.)

The allure of Houdini should not be surprising. Since his death in 1926, the escape artist has never been out of fashion. As Adrien Brody put it in a TV interview, Houdini resonated with immigrants trying to achieve the American Dream. His achievements touch nearly every important domain of the twentieth century, including aviation and cinema.

But there is one irritating thing about Houdiniana today that also dates back to his life: the code of secrecy mystifying his tricks…

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For Adrien Brody, History’s Houdini Is a Dream Come True

For Adrien Brody, History’s Houdini Is a Dream Come True

Sadie Gennis for TV Guide

Adrien Brody might have already won an Oscar at 29 for his work in The Pianist, but for the actor, playing the legendary magician Harry Houdini for History’s latest miniseries was a real bucket list moment.

“He was a very heroic person to me as a boy,” Brody tells TVGuide.com. Much like the magician he idolized, Brody grew up in New York City the child of a Hungarian-Jewish mother and took up magic at an early age, performing at children’s birthday parties as The Amazing Adrien. “What he represented to me then was a real bravery and a fearlessness,” Brody says. “I think what magic represents is this ability to kind of defy the laws of nature.”

His love of magic soon transformed into a love of acting, solidifying Houdini as one of “the greatest influences” in Brody’s life and making Houdini a personal project for the star. “I spent a lifetime poring over magic books and loving magicians,” Brody says. “My mother’s a photographer and she’s photographed Penn and Teller at Houdini’s grave. I’ve visited his grave, it’s in my neighborhood. He’s been present somehow in my life.”

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Get a Piece of Houdini Before He Disappears

Get a Piece of Houdini Before He Disappears

A death-defying magical box. Handcuffs. A scrapbook kept by the magician himself. Eighty-eight years after Harry Houdini’s death, his mystery and legend persist…and are now for sale.

In 1974, a small classified ad in an issue of Magic Magazine allegedly offered up an unusual prop for sale. A wooden box, slightly larger than 2 feet by 3 feet, with a quadruple-padlocked lid that secured a removable, oversized milk can inside. Built in 1909 and dubbed the Double Fold Death Defying Water Mystery, it was designed for the world’s greatest escape artist, a man who could slip out of anything—straitjackets, beer barrels, coffins, even the most secure jails.

The magical box entered Houdini’s repertoire as a stepping stone between his milk can escape trick and his famously elaborate Water Torture Cell. In the early 1910s, the Double Fold Death Defying Water Mystery was the centerpiece of Harry Houdini’s world-renowned performances. He would fold himself into the milk can, which was filled with water by an assistant, and remain inside until the nerve-wracked audience was gasping for air, only to escape and emerge dripping wet, but unharmed.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/22/get-a-piece-of-houdini-before-he-disappears.html