Houdini, the great transitional figure between "magical" acts and ingenious tricks, was at pains to explain that everything he did was a trick; he offered rewards, never collected, for any "supernatural" act he could not explain. The Amazing Randi carries on in the same tradition, bending spoons as easily as Uri Geller. And yet in Houdini's time, there were those who insisted he was doing real magic; how else could his effects be achieved?
Daniel Mark Epstein wrote about the Houdini believers in a 1986 issue of the New Criterion, which I read as I read everything I can get my hands on about Houdini. The thing was, Houdini really did free himself from those fetters and chains and sealed trunks dropped into the river, and survived the Chinese Water Torture (an effect used prominently in The Prestige night after night). But there were those who argued his tricks were physically impossible, and thus must be supernatural.
--
Roger Ebert, in a review for The Prestige (7 September 2007)Harry Houdini
» Harry Houdini - all quotes »
The effects produced at some of Houdini's "seances" were brilliant, and had he claimed the possession of genuine psychic powers he would have made a fortune.
Harry Houdini
People either didn't believe Houdini when he said that his tricks on film were real, or they didn't care. Illusion became big bigness, and the magicians were out of work.
Harry Houdini
You're the top!
You're the Great Houdini!
You're the top!
You are Mussolini!Benito Mussolini
Rosabel believe
Not even eternity
Can hold Houdini!Harry Houdini
Rosabel believe,
Not even eternity
Can hold Houdini!
"Rosabel, believe!"Kate Bush
Houdini, Harry
Houghton, Richard Monckton Milnes
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