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Houdini: How Did He ...? (His Secret Inventions, Tech & Stagecraft)

Mighty_Emperor

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Houdini Exhibit Is Letting the Trick Out of the Trunk

Magicians Protest, Threaten To Start Rival Museum; A Stunt for the Nimble

By RACHEL EMMA SILVERMAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 25, 2004; Page A1

A small museum in Harry Houdini's boyhood hometown revealed plans to change an exhibit after 15 years. Then, some angry magicians appeared.

They say the museum in Appleton, Wis., stands to jeopardize their livelihood by unveiling a big trick of their trade. As part of its exhibit, the Outagamie County Historical Society is planning a display of Houdini's signature "Metamorphosis" act in which a magician, handcuffed inside a sack inside a trunk, frees himself and switches places with an assistant standing by the trunk. Visitors will be able to climb inside the trunk to see how it works.

The stunt, popularized by Houdini at the turn of the century, remains the climax of many magic shows from cruise ships to Las Vegas acts. Magicians argue that their code of ethics prohibits revealing such secrets to the public.

After word of the museum's pending changes spread last spring on magician Web sites, magicians started calling and e-mailing the museum to object. Ron Lindberg, a magician who performs under the stage name "Rondini," set up a protest Web site and urged boycotting the museum. One collector of Houdini memorabilia took back artifacts he had loaned the museum. Collectors are now talking about starting a rival museum in Las Vegas.

"Houdini would have hated it," says David Copperfield, the illusionist, famous from his Broadway performances and TV specials, who called the historical society to protest the exhibit.

The museum says it wanted to modernize its Houdini exhibit, a static arrangement of artifacts in glass display cases, to keep pace with other museums, which have become more interactive in recent years. Many of its 45,000 annual visitors requested a more hands-on exhibit, museum officials say. Houdini is a small but important focus of its collection. Another current exhibit: "Tools of Change: The Work, Workers, and Tools of Outagamie County and the Lower Fox River Valley, 1849-1950."

"We had no idea we would have had this reaction," says Terry Bergen, executive director of the Outagamie County Historical Society. "The common words I've heard are betrayal, heresy, how can we commit such an atrocious deed in his house, on sacred ground."

Ms. Bergen and other museum officials met with two of the angry magicians last summer to discuss the matter. The museum says the contentious "Metamorphosis" display, which it plans to open in June and leave up for a decade, is a small part of a broader exhibit that will examine the life and times of Houdini. Houdini, whose real name was Ehrich Weiss, emigrated to Appleton from Budapest at age 4 in 1878, when his father became the town rabbi.

To try to appease the magicians, the museum added a "spoiler alert," warning that secrets will be exposed. The museum changed its floorplan for the exhibit to put the mechanics of the trick in a separate alcove so that visitors wishing to avoid it can.

Typically, for the illusion, also called the "substitution trunk," an assistant puts a handcuffed magician into a sack, which is tied shut and placed inside a locked and chained trunk. The assistant stands by the trunk which has been thoroughly inspected by the audience, and unfurls a cloth, covering the performer and trunk. The two performers, who must coordinate carefully and be speedy and nimble, change places in seconds, with the help of a hidden escape hatch to get in and out of the trunk. Magicians must master undoing handcuffs and getting in and out of a sealed bag before attempting the complicated stunt. Houdini and his wife Bess advertised that they could do the exchange in just three seconds.

In reality, few museum visitors are likely to be able to do the trick anyway because of its acrobatic demands, and they'll be trying a simplified version of it. "Though we doubt seriously that they will be able to achieve the illusion, they will be given the equipment to try," says Ms. Bergen. "Houdini was in great shape, strong and agile and willing to withstand discomfort."

The exhibit's curator, Kimberly Louagie, says she learned how the trick works from public-library books. The required trunk, along with instructions, can be purchased online or in magic stores. Blueprints to build a trunk cost as little as and a complete trunk about
Houdini Exhibit Is Letting the Trick Out of the Trunk

Magicians Protest, Threaten To Start Rival Museum; A Stunt for the Nimble

By RACHEL EMMA SILVERMAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 25, 2004; Page A1

A small museum in Harry Houdini's boyhood hometown revealed plans to change an exhibit after 15 years. Then, some angry magicians appeared.

They say the museum in Appleton, Wis., stands to jeopardize their livelihood by unveiling a big trick of their trade. As part of its exhibit, the Outagamie County Historical Society is planning a display of Houdini's signature "Metamorphosis" act in which a magician, handcuffed inside a sack inside a trunk, frees himself and switches places with an assistant standing by the trunk. Visitors will be able to climb inside the trunk to see how it works.

The stunt, popularized by Houdini at the turn of the century, remains the climax of many magic shows from cruise ships to Las Vegas acts. Magicians argue that their code of ethics prohibits revealing such secrets to the public.

After word of the museum's pending changes spread last spring on magician Web sites, magicians started calling and e-mailing the museum to object. Ron Lindberg, a magician who performs under the stage name "Rondini," set up a protest Web site and urged boycotting the museum. One collector of Houdini memorabilia took back artifacts he had loaned the museum. Collectors are now talking about starting a rival museum in Las Vegas.

"Houdini would have hated it," says David Copperfield, the illusionist, famous from his Broadway performances and TV specials, who called the historical society to protest the exhibit.

The museum says it wanted to modernize its Houdini exhibit, a static arrangement of artifacts in glass display cases, to keep pace with other museums, which have become more interactive in recent years. Many of its 45,000 annual visitors requested a more hands-on exhibit, museum officials say. Houdini is a small but important focus of its collection. Another current exhibit: "Tools of Change: The Work, Workers, and Tools of Outagamie County and the Lower Fox River Valley, 1849-1950."

"We had no idea we would have had this reaction," says Terry Bergen, executive director of the Outagamie County Historical Society. "The common words I've heard are betrayal, heresy, how can we commit such an atrocious deed in his house, on sacred ground."

Ms. Bergen and other museum officials met with two of the angry magicians last summer to discuss the matter. The museum says the contentious "Metamorphosis" display, which it plans to open in June and leave up for a decade, is a small part of a broader exhibit that will examine the life and times of Houdini. Houdini, whose real name was Ehrich Weiss, emigrated to Appleton from Budapest at age 4 in 1878, when his father became the town rabbi.

To try to appease the magicians, the museum added a "spoiler alert," warning that secrets will be exposed. The museum changed its floorplan for the exhibit to put the mechanics of the trick in a separate alcove so that visitors wishing to avoid it can.

Typically, for the illusion, also called the "substitution trunk," an assistant puts a handcuffed magician into a sack, which is tied shut and placed inside a locked and chained trunk. The assistant stands by the trunk which has been thoroughly inspected by the audience, and unfurls a cloth, covering the performer and trunk. The two performers, who must coordinate carefully and be speedy and nimble, change places in seconds, with the help of a hidden escape hatch to get in and out of the trunk. Magicians must master undoing handcuffs and getting in and out of a sealed bag before attempting the complicated stunt. Houdini and his wife Bess advertised that they could do the exchange in just three seconds.

In reality, few museum visitors are likely to be able to do the trick anyway because of its acrobatic demands, and they'll be trying a simplified version of it. "Though we doubt seriously that they will be able to achieve the illusion, they will be given the equipment to try," says Ms. Bergen. "Houdini was in great shape, strong and agile and willing to withstand discomfort."

The exhibit's curator, Kimberly Louagie, says she learned how the trick works from public-library books. The required trunk, along with instructions, can be purchased online or in magic stores. Blueprints to build a trunk cost as little as $25 and a complete trunk about $1,000.

The magicians' code of ethics allows a trick's secrets to be told only to those serious about studying magic, and it is unlikely all museum visitors satisfy this requirement. That's why magicians say a museum display is more damaging than books and instructions purchased online.

Learning the secret "robs you of the fun and delight," says Walter "Zaney" Blaney, president emeritus of the World Alliance of Magicians. He helped found the Alliance to prevent magic tricks from being revealed to the public after the Fox TV network ran a series of specials in the late 1990s called "Breaking the Magician's Code," which did just that.

Houdini took steps to carry his magic secrets to his grave. In his will, he left his magic apparatus to his brother, an escape artist who performed under the name Hardeen. Upon Hardeen's death, Houdini instructed that the equipment be "burnt and destroyed." Hardeen, however, passed the bulk of Houdini's artifacts on to a young protégé named Sidney Radner, whom he met at a magic convention in the 1930s. The Appleton museum's old display showcased Mr. Radner's collection.

Today, Mr. Radner, 84 years old, says, "I know secrets about Houdini that nobody knows, and they are going to die with me. I think the mystery is better than the knowing."

Last year, however, the museum, which has had its funding cut in recent years, didn't renew its long-term contract to lease his items, which cost it more than $27,000 in 2003. The museum told him to pack up his Houdini collection.

Angry, Mr. Radner, a retired carpet retailer who splits his time between Holyoke, Mass., and Palm Beach, Fla., cut the museum out of his will and began talks of setting up a rival museum, which are now gaining momentum from the fight over the "Metamorphosis" display. A few months ago, Mr. Radner shipped about 75 boxes of his Houdini goods from Appleton to Las Vegas. He placed the artifacts in the care of Geno Munari, a magic-store-chain owner who until recently also operated a small Houdini exhibit at The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas. Mr. Munari is spearheading the effort to found the rival museum. For now, Mr. Radner's collection sits in a locked and guarded warehouse.

Mr. Radner says he isn't sure what to do with his collection which he says is valued at about $4 million. "I am losing sleep over this," he says. He adds he doesn't want his goods to return to Appleton because "I don't want my name in a museum that has anything to do with exposure" of a trick.

Some magicians urge other collectors to follow Mr. Radner. Last month, another major Houdini collector, Tom Boldt, took back the artifacts he had loaned the Appleton museum and says he is considering displaying them in Las Vegas as well.
,000.

The magicians' code of ethics allows a trick's secrets to be told only to those serious about studying magic, and it is unlikely all museum visitors satisfy this requirement. That's why magicians say a museum display is more damaging than books and instructions purchased online.

Learning the secret "robs you of the fun and delight," says Walter "Zaney" Blaney, president emeritus of the World Alliance of Magicians. He helped found the Alliance to prevent magic tricks from being revealed to the public after the Fox TV network ran a series of specials in the late 1990s called "Breaking the Magician's Code," which did just that.

Houdini took steps to carry his magic secrets to his grave. In his will, he left his magic apparatus to his brother, an escape artist who performed under the name Hardeen. Upon Hardeen's death, Houdini instructed that the equipment be "burnt and destroyed." Hardeen, however, passed the bulk of Houdini's artifacts on to a young protégé named Sidney Radner, whom he met at a magic convention in the 1930s. The Appleton museum's old display showcased Mr. Radner's collection.

Today, Mr. Radner, 84 years old, says, "I know secrets about Houdini that nobody knows, and they are going to die with me. I think the mystery is better than the knowing."

Last year, however, the museum, which has had its funding cut in recent years, didn't renew its long-term contract to lease his items, which cost it more than ,000 in 2003. The museum told him to pack up his Houdini collection.

Angry, Mr. Radner, a retired carpet retailer who splits his time between Holyoke, Mass., and Palm Beach, Fla., cut the museum out of his will and began talks of setting up a rival museum, which are now gaining momentum from the fight over the "Metamorphosis" display. A few months ago, Mr. Radner shipped about 75 boxes of his Houdini goods from Appleton to Las Vegas. He placed the artifacts in the care of Geno Munari, a magic-store-chain owner who until recently also operated a small Houdini exhibit at The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas. Mr. Munari is spearheading the effort to found the rival museum. For now, Mr. Radner's collection sits in a locked and guarded warehouse.

Mr. Radner says he isn't sure what to do with his collection which he says is valued at about million. "I am losing sleep over this," he says. He adds he doesn't want his goods to return to Appleton because "I don't want my name in a museum that has anything to do with exposure" of a trick.

Some magicians urge other collectors to follow Mr. Radner. Last month, another major Houdini collector, Tom Boldt, took back the artifacts he had loaned the Appleton museum and says he is considering displaying them in Las Vegas as well.

online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB108017263810464833-IJjfYNolaR3oJ2qaXmIaaqIm4,00.html
Link is dead. No archived version found.


I don't want to wee in their soup or anything but anyone half interested in the trick will probably have already seen it demonstrated by The Masked Magician.

Emps
 
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What does it matter if people know how these tricks are carried out? Yes, it's a TRICK. It's not 'magic' and it's about time these people stopped calling themselves magicians. :rolleyes: They are tricksters, illusionists - highly skilled individuals but they don't have supernatural powers. They need to grow up and stop treating the general public as credulous fools.
 
Wasn't this trick one of the ones shown on that "Masked Magician" series, and hence it's a bit late to bolt the stable door?
 
The magicians who are complaining probably aren't terribly good to start with.
Didn't see Copperfield mentioned there. Guess that proves my point.

Has anyone got a response from the Magic Circle? They usually don't care so much about this stuff, despite what Penn and Teller claim.

If a magician still depends on the secrets of hoaky old tricks like Metamorphosis to get crowds in, they should take up another trade.

I know how lots of this type of trick is done, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying watching it done well. In many cases, knowing how escapology is done makes it more impressive.

I found out by reading it in a book. Does Copperfield think any books that explain it should be burned?
 
So the general public might discover how the trick was done - big, fat, hairy deal!

While half the entertainment is trying to figure out how a stunt is performed, no one actually thinks magic is being demonstrated. The "magicians" are being incredibly petulant and childish about this. If they hadn't made such a fuss then I doubt if the museum would've hit the headlines - and pulled in more tourists. The curator is probably rubbing his hands with glee at all the wonderful free publicity that this is bringing in.

The "professionals" should stick to pulling rabbits out of top hats and being burnt at the stake by religious fundamental nutters ...
 
Good. Make the magicians think up some new acts, instead of the same tricks over and over again.
 
Yes, and they should stop calling the disappearing coin trick by that name and call it the "I palm the coin and hide it from you" trick.

Come on. Not knowing how the trick is done is part of how the trick works. Knowing which is the fade and which is the show does detract from the trick.

They should stop calling themselves magicians? Get a grip, could you?

"they don't have supernatural powers. They need to grow up and stop treating the general public as credulous fools".

Speaking of growing up - do you actually believe that magicians hold themselves out to the public as having supernatural powers?
 
Not most of them, no. But then, most of them don't care if people know how these tricks are done.

I've got a book somewhere that shows how Metamorphosis is done. I don't recall anyone complaining about that.

Look, I know how many simple sleight of hand tricks, and one or two big stage illusions, are done. That hasn't ruined my enjoyment of them, when they are well done.

Some of these complainers, however, don't even do them well.
 
anome said:
Look, I know how many simple sleight of hand tricks, and one or two big stage illusions, are done. That hasn't ruined my enjoyment of them, when they are well done.

Yep that is how I feel - you can ohhhhh and ahhhhh only so long over a trick. Knowing how it is done gives you an appreciation for the skill and ingenuity of the magician (you sometimes feel it would be easier if they did use magic ;) ). If it makes them develop new tricks then thats all to the good.

Emps
 
Magicians Up In Arms About Houdini Museum Exhibit

POSTED: 8:57 am EDT June 2, 2004

APPLETON, Wis. -- Anyone who's ever wondered how Harry Houdini could be handcuffed inside a sack and locked in a trunk -- and still trade places with an assistant on the outside -- now has the chance to find out.

A museum in Houdini's hometown of Appleton, Wis., is now revealing the famous "Metamorphosis" escape as part of an exhibit called "AKA Houdini" -- and magicians across the nation are not at all happy about it.

Many magicians including David Copperfield and Ronald "Rondini" Lindberg have reportedly called the museum to protest the exhibit saying their code of ethics prevents them from revealing secrets of the trade.

The museum however says it's not exposing anything not already on the Internet or published in books.

local10.com/travelgetaways/3372189/detail.html
Link is dead. The MIA news item (quoted in full above) can be accessed via the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/2004060...ocal10.com/travelgetaways/3372189/detail.html


Magicians Take Sides Over Houdini Exhibit

Updated: Wednesday, Jun. 2, 2004 - 2:38 PM

By CARRIE ANTLFINGER
Associated Press Writer

APPLETON, Wis. (AP) - How did Harry Houdini do his signature "Metamorphosis" escape, where he was handcuffed inside a sack and locked in a trunk and yet somehow managed to switch places with an assistant on the outside?

Visitors to an exhibit that opened Wednesday at the Outagamie Museum in Houdini's hometown found out the secret. (IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW IT, DO NOT READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH.)

Among other things, visitors learned, the trunk has a side panel that allows someone inside to sneak out.

The disclosure has some in the business tied up in knots.

Magicians say their code of ethics prohibits revealing secrets to the public. The famous and not-so-famous alike, including David Copperfield and Ronald "Rondini" Lindberg, have called to protest its "A.K.A. Houdini" show.

"It's just that this is a very, very passionate thing that magicians feel about and what the museum is doing is wrong," Lindberg said.

But museum officials in Appleton, a city of about 70,000, insist the exhibit hasn't revealed anything not already available in books and on the Internet. They also say people will appreciate magic more by knowing the secrets.

The exhibit _ set to run for 10 years _ includes 38 artifacts, 190 documents and hands-on displays. There are a straitjacket and a jail cell from which visitors can try to escape, plus Houdini items such as handcuffs and lock picks.

The part of the exhibit showing how tricks were actually performed is in a "backstage" area. A sign warns visitors: "Those who do not want to know how Houdini performed his magic should avoid this area."

In the "Metamorphosis" trick, also known as the "substitution trunk," a magician, handcuffed in a sack inside a trunk, frees himself and switches places with an assistant standing by the trunk.

The exhibit lets visitors climb inside the trunk to see how it works. Houdini first performed the trick more than 100 years ago with his wife.

Kim Louagie, the museum's curator of exhibits, said before the exhibit opened that it had received more than 200 e-mails and 40 phone calls from people against the idea of revealing secrets. But she said it has also received much support from museum members and others in the community.

"In some ways what we're doing here increases the value of magic rather than making it something cheap," she said.

She said there had been rumors in Internet chat rooms of plans to sabotage the exhibit, and police had been contacted to step up patrols around the area. But there was no trouble when the museum opened at 10 a.m.

Bob Rath, a professional magician and small business owner, comes down on the museum's side. It would take hours of practice to do the trick successfully, he said.

"The performance is more important than the secret, and just because somebody is going to know the secret to Metamorphosis isn't going to make them any great magician, he said. "It's a very complicated and very difficult effect to do."

The Houdini Club of Wisconsin, however, is displeased about the trick's exposure because it has bylaws that prohibit such a thing, said Rath, the club's vice president. Besides, he said, there are many magicians around the world still using it.

"There are a lot of people in the organization that are real upset," Rath said.

Houdini was born Ehrich Weiss in 1874, in Budapest, Hungary. His family moved to Appleton when he was 4, when his father became the town rabbi. They stayed for four years.

He embarked on a career in magic and later focused on escapes. He died of peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix in Detroit on Halloween 1926.

___

On the Net:

Outagamie Museum: http://www.foxvalleyhistory.org/museum.html

wtop.com/index.php?nid=104&sid=209471
Link is dead. The MIA news item (quoted in full above) can be accessed via the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20040706144602/http://www.wtop.com/index.php?nid=104&sid=209471
 
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Magic makers angry as Houdini spell is broken

Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Friday June 4, 2004
The Guardian

Stop reading now. The information that follows should not be published and, should you choose to read it, should not be shared with others.

A museum in what claims to be the home town of the great illusionist and escapologist Harry Houdini has opened an exhibition which explains the secret behind one of his - and magic's - most famous secrets.

A sign inside the exhibition at the Outagamie Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin, warns visitors: "The 'backstage' area shows some of the secrets to Houdini's tricks. Those who do not want to know how Houdini performed his magic should avoid this area."

Unsurprisingly, few people turn away. Visitors can learn how Houdini executed one of his trademark escapes, known as the Metamorphosis, in which he was handcuffed, put in a sack, and then inside a locked trunk. Within three minutes Houdini was free.

While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, among others, may have been convinced that Houdini possessed paranormal powers, the solution is slightly more down to earth. A panel in the trunk was removed to let Houdini swap places with an assistant.

David Copperfield has protested at the museum's breach of magical protocol, as have other lesser-known luminaries from the world of fez hats and charming assistants, including Ronald "Rondini" Lindberg and Walter "Zaney" Blaney.

"From what I understand," Blaney told the town's Post-Crescent newspaper, "all magicians have decided among themselves that they will boycott the museum. I'm talking worldwide."

The museum has hired security guards to thwart any attempt to sabotage the exhibition. Plainclothes guards will mingle with the crowds looking for ill-tempered illusionists. "There are a lot of people in the organisation that are real upset," Bob Rath, magician and vice-president of the Houdini Club of Wisconsin told the Associated Press.

Many magicians around the world, still used the trick, he said. Children from the Houdini elementary school in Appleton visited the exhibition this week. After watching the video tutorial on how to carry out the trick, the 6- to 9-year-olds enthusiastically jumped into the trunk to try it for themselves.

But that does not mean they know how to do it, said Rath. "The performance is more important than the secret, and just because somebody is going to know the secret to Metamorphosis isn't going to make them any great magician. It's a very complicated and very difficult effect to do."

Houdini first performed the feat with his wife 100 years ago. She reputedly passed him the key to the padlock when the two kissed before he was placed inside the trunk.

Houdini, who was not born in Appleton as he sometimes claimed but in Hungary in 1874, would be unlikely to be upset by the revelation of one of his most famous tricks.

In 1922 the Society of American Magicians formed an expose committee to investigate the escapologist after he published an article which revealed the secret of the "talking kettle", one of the standard props of magicians' acts at the time.

The talking kettle, Houdini told readers of Popular Radio magazine, contained a radio receiver.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1231258,00.html

Posted June 03, 2004


Houdini controversy vanishes

Uproar absent as display reveals secret to magician’s famous trick

By Steven Hyden
Post-Crescent staff writer

APPLETON — It was exactly what some magicians feared.

About 50 children — from Houdini Elementary School, appropriately enough — lined up Wednesday morning to learn the secret of the “Metamorphosis” trick at the Outagamie Museum’s new “AKA Houdini” exhibit.

The students, ranging in age from 6 to 9, were among the first people to see the display that has created a yearlong headache for museum officials.

The controversy over whether Harry Houdini’s hometown museum had the right to expose the man’s sleight of hand has made national headlines, but according to Houdini first-grade teacher Carla Sexton, the children knew little about all that stuff. They were at the opening because they love magic.

“They feel close to him because of the name of the school,” Sexton said.

Mostly kids like Chris Donovan and Abbie Van Handel, both 9 and from Appleton, were curious about “Metamorphosis,” a classic illusion where an assistant switches places with a magician locked in a trunk.

The interactive display includes a trunk resting behind a curtain and a televised tutorial giving basic instructions on how to perform the trick. Children bounded into the trunk to try it out while friends watched and applauded from nearby benches.

“Metamorphosis” is one of several interactive displays in the 1,700-square-foot exhibit, which also has tests of flexibility, balance and endurance against the cold.

“AKA Houdini” documents Houdini’s childhood, including his years in Appleton, as well as his vaudeville career and campaign against psychic fraud in a colorful, multimedia presentation.

Roger and June Van Dyke of Royal Oak, Mich., stopped by “AKA Houdini” on the way home from visiting relatives in Minnesota.

Roger read about the exhibit in the Wall Street Journal and figured they would check it out since they were in the neighborhood.

“So far I’m enamored with it,” he said after looking at, but not participating in, the “Metamorphosis” section. He didn’t see anything wrong with exposing the trick, “but I’m not a magician, so I have nothing to hide.”

June Van Dyke agreed, though she conceded that, “if I was a magician I might feel differently.”

One magician not bothered by the “Metamorphosis” exposure is Charlotte Pendragon, who visited the exhibit with husband and partner Jonathan before Wednesday night’s museum benefit performance at Lawrence University’s Stansbury Theater.

“It’s a learning experience, just as if you were going to buy a kit from a magic store,” she said.

“What we do takes a great deal of skill. I couldn’t teach people how to do it.”

Gene Mason of Appleton, another early visitor to “AKA Houdini,” did not agree with the museum’s decision to divulge Houdini’s secrets.

“I’m definitely against exposure,” Mason said.

“I see no reason why certain things should be exposed, even after all these years.”

If there was an aspect of “AKA Houdini” that fell short of expectations for some visitors, it was a lack of protesters inside or outside the exhibit.

Museum officials have employed security guards through the weekend and contacted police just in case somebody attempted to vandalize the “Metamorphosis” trunk.

“We were out there at 9:15 a.m. expecting a crowd,” early arriver June Van Dyke said. “And we were the crowd.”

Museum director Terry Bergen, the target of most of the criticism from the magic community, split her time Wednesday between the exhibit and talking with local and national media, including CBS News, U.S. News and World Report, and National Public Radio.

An interview with “The Today Show” on NBC was bumped at the last minute, preventing what would have been Bergen’s second appearance in almost as many months.

“It’s rewarding to see people in the exhibit, not just children but the adults last night,” Bergen said, referring to Tuesday’s special preview reception for museum members and donors.

“We opened; that’s the big thing.”

wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_16366270.shtml
Link is dead. No archived version found. The MIA item is presumably quoted in full above.


Fri 4 Jun 2004


Revealing Houdini's secrets spells disaster for Magic Circle

JACQUI GODDARD IN MIAMI

HIS death-bed wish was that the secrets of his great illusions be destroyed, but 76 years later a row has erupted over the unlocking of one of Harry Houdini’s most famous mysteries.

Curators at a Wisconsin museum have launched a controversial exhibition featuring a step-by-step guide to the stage maestro’s trademark Metamorphosis illusion, in which he appeared to escape magically from a locked trunk while handcuffed and tied inside a sack. It took him just three seconds.

Magicians and illusionists from all over the world, including David Copperfield, have called the Outgamie Museum in Houdini’s boyhood town of Appleton to accuse officials of betraying the master performer’s legacy.

"The art of magic is reliant on not knowing how the trick is done. All that sense of wonder and awe will be gone once the secret is revealed," complained magician Ron "Rondini" Lindberg, one of the most vocal critics of the AKA Houdini exhibition. "The museum does not understand the ethics or the concept of what is right and what is ‘selling out’."

But museum director Terry Bergen, who has hired security guards to patrol the exhibit for fear of sabotage attacks, says the answers to Metamorphosis have long been available in books and on the Internet. He has dismissed magicians’ complaints as "playground posturing".

"They perceive our museum role to be a shrine for Houdini. We don’t see ourselves that way, we see ourselves as an educational institution that explores local history," he told the Appleton Post-Crescent newspaper.

"It’s not a point of view that magicians understand at all. The entire industry of magic is based on deception and withholding information, it’s been a match made in heck from the beginning."

While the Houdini Club of Wisconsin, Society of American Magicians, International Brotherhood of Magicians and World Alliance of Magicians have registered firm but polite protest, other individuals have been unrestrained in their criticism.

Born Ehrich Weisz in Hungary in 1874, the boy who was later to become the world’s greatest escapology pioneer moved to the US with his parents at the age of four. Among his early feats was the ability to crack the lock on his mother’s pantry to steal apples.

So inspired was he by the works of French magician Jean Robert-Houdin that at the age of 15 he added the letter ‘i’ to his hero’s name, took it as his own - Houdini - and went on the road. He performed Metamorphosis more than 11,000 times during his career and developed an impressive repertoire that included escaping from buried coffins, burglar-proof safes, a plate-glass box, the Death Row prison cell once occupied by US President James Garfield’s assassin and even from the inside of a giant squid carcass.

Yet even he got into trouble with fellow magicians for revealing the methods behind some of the most popular tricks. He published a book giving away various handcuff secrets, a magazine article lifting the lid on a curious act known as the talking tea-kettle, and freely explained how he managed to wriggle out of strait-jackets by deliberately dislocating both shoulders.

While the museum gives up the secret of his Metamorphosis trunk - in short, it involves a trap door - defenders say the real magic and awe of the maestro lay not in his equipment but in the unmatchable speed with which he could perform the act - just three seconds.

They point to the performer’s incredible stamina, unique physical skills and mind-over-matter attitude as the real focus of the Houdini mystery, citing his mantra: "My brain is the key that sets me free."

thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=634332004
Link is dead. The MIA article (quoted in full above) can be accessed via the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/2004122...n.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=634332004
 
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This 2017 Smithsonian Magazine article provides an overview of Houdini as an inventor and innovator, and suggests how his technical prowess fit into his era's socio-cultural context.
Escape Artist Harry Houdini Was an Ingenious Inventor, He Just Didn’t Want Anybody to Know

More than just a magician, Houdini was also an actor, aviator, amateur historian and businessman

Harry Houdini is most often remembered as an escape artist and a magician. He was also an actor, a pioneering aviator, an amateur historian and a businessman. Within each of these roles he was an innovator, and sometimes an inventor. But to protect his illusions, he largely avoided the patent process, kept secrets, copyrighted his tricks and otherwise concealed his inventive nature. ...

The great magician Teller, one half of the famous duo Penn and Teller, recently recalled how he discovered one of Houdini's inventions at a Los Angeles auction held by the late Sid Radner, who amassed one of the largest collections of Houdini materials in the world.

“I got a big black wooden cross, which I thought wouldn't go for much at auction. . . I bought the thing thinking this was a good souvenir,” Teller told me in a telephone interview.

“After I had bought it, Sid came up and said, 'be careful you don't have kids around this thing.' I said, 'why not?' He said, 'you don't want them sticking their fingers in here.' It has holes where you lash a person to it and they try to escape. What I didn't realize is that it is an elaborate mechanism. With a simple movement of your foot, you could sever all of the ropes simultaneously.” ...

Harry Houdini was part of a generation admiring new types of heroes—inventors and daredevils. As America moved into the 20th century, automobiles, airplanes, wax cylinder rolls and moving pictures would capture the public's imagination. Technology and Yankee ingenuity were admired and inventors sought patents to protect their ideas.

But Houdini realized early in his career that filing for a patent required that a piece of technology be clearly illustrated and described for public record. The technology of a patent needs to be clearly explained so that other people can avoid infringing on it. As a magician, secrecy was part of his stock in trade. Houdini, the inventor, filed for only a handful of his inventions in the United States and abroad. His U. S. patents include a toy Houdini that escapes from a straitjacket and a special diving suit, designed to allow the occupant to escape quickly in the event of danger.

According to Kenneth Silverman's book, Houdini!: The Career of Ehrich Weiss, in 1900 Houdini filed for a British patent on the handcuff act he was performing at the time. His application is listed as “abandoned.” Other creations were patented but never actually used. In 1912, he applied for German patents on a watertight chest that would be locked and placed inside of a larger water-filled chest that was also locked. His design was intended to allow him to remove himself from the nested boxes without getting wet or breaking the locks. This was never performed on stage. Nor was another German patent for a system of props that would allow him to be frozen inside of a giant block of ice. ...

While hidden detaching panels and rope-slicing blades have been found in some of Houdini's surviving inventions, most of his secrets have remained just that—secrets. Even 90 years after his death on October 31, 1926 from complications of appendicitis, much is still unknown, says Teller. ...

Eventually, Houdini found a backdoor way of protecting an act as intellectual property without patenting them. He copyrighted it. ...

One of his best-known escapes is his “Chinese water torture cell.” Houdini had his ankles locked into a frame, from which he was dangled upside down over a tank of water. He was lowered head first into the water and locked in place. To prevent anyone from copying the act, Silverman tells of how Houdini gave a single performance of the trick as a one-act play in England before an audience of one. This allowed him to file for a copyright on the act in August of 1911, which legally prevented imitations without explaining how the trick worked. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smit...-innovator-didnt-want-anybody-know-180961078/
 
l learned yesterday that one of Houdini’s inspirations was a - to me - unknown Scots magician of the Victorian era, John Henry Anderson.

JohnHenryAnderson.jpg


Anderson was christened “The Great Wizard of the North” by Sir Walter Scott, and is believed to have been the first man to pull a rabbit out of a hat on stage.

12067832_831078247006922_1631119_21245653-655x564.jpg


When Houdini came to Scotland in 1909 he had himself photographed beside Anderson’s grave, and arranged to pay for its upkeep.

maximus otter
 
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