The Secret Life of Houdini; The Making of America's First Superhero

by William Kalush; Larry Sloman

• ISBN13: 9780743272070
• ISBN10: 0743272072
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-31
• Publisher: Atria

Summary

Using exclusive access to newly uncovered archives, Kalush and Sloman reveal the clandestine agreements in which the British and Americans recruited Houdini to be an active secret agent. In exchange for his cooperation, the governments of these two countries facilitated his rise to the top of the world stage. The authors give thrilling accounts of his assignments, such as his participation in early aerial surveillance and his use of his own magic magazine to communicate espionage-related information. After the war, Houdini embarked upon what became his most dangerous mission when he took on the Spiritualist movement. Convinced that Spiritualist mediums were frauds, he became obsessed with exposing them. But the Spiritualists were a powerful adversary. An organized network of fanatics, led by Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, worked relentlessly to orchestrate a campaign that would silence Houdini forever. Grounded in solid research, but as exciting and dramatic as a good thriller, THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI traces the magician's long and circuitous route from struggling vaudevillian to worldwide legend.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Introduction	xi
The Oath	1	(24)
Starving for a Living	25	(22)
The Celebrated Clairvoyants	47	(18)
Quid Pro Quo	65	(12)
The King of Handcuffs	77	(20)
M	97	(12)
Police State	109	(22)
Taming the Bear	131	(12)
The Challenge of the Mirror	143	(28)
Leap Of Faith	171	(28)
Kill Thy Father	199	(16)
Death Visits the Stage	215	(24)
Above The Down Under	239	(20)
The Emperor of Sympathy-Enlisters	259	(20)
Chinese Water Torture	279	(14)
Forgive	293	(18)
Fighting Our Way to the Grave	311	(20)
Death by Misadventure	331	(18)
Art Imitates Life	349	(26)
Saul Among the Prophets	375	(30)
Little Sister Will Do Exactly as Big Brother Says	405	(22)
Margery's Box	427	(24)
My Own Secret Service	451	(30)
I...Am a Fake	481	(36)
An Eye for an Eye	517	(20)
There is No Death	537	(14)
Epilogue	551	(10)
Acknowledgments	561	(8)
Index	569	(23)
About the Authors	592

Excerpts

1 The Oath The first shovel-load missed his torso and struck his neck, sending soil flying up his nostrils and into his mouth. He started choking and coughing. "Sorry, boss," Collins said, looking down into the hole. "I guess the wind took it." Stay calm. Conserve energy. Keep the heart rate down. Collins and Vickery continued to fill the cavity with moist Santa Ana soil. They had been at this since a little past dawn and their arms were beginning to ache with fatigue. They could only imagine how he must feel. Subconsciously, they moved into a rhythm, one scraping his shovel into the mounds of dirt piled high around them, the other sending his payload straight down into the dank hole. Vickery thought of how his friends would react when he told them of Harry's latest stunt. Of course, that would have to wait until after it was performed. He'd never forget that oath of secrecy that he'd sworn and how seriously Harry seemed to take it. Am I pushing myself too hard? I'm forty-one but I look fifty. I'm so gray. Vickery began to admit to himself his concern. He had expected his boss to have no problem with the one- and even the two-foot "plantings," as he called them, and he didn't. But the four- and five-foot escapes seemed to really have taken something out of him. What if he hurt himself now, like the time he did in Buffalo? Ever since Harry had burst that blood vessel getting out of those chains, he was in such intense chronic pain he'd had to sleep with a pillow under his left kidney. Vickery never forgave himself for allowing those bastards to pull the chains so tight. It's so much hotter down here. How can a few feet make such a difference? I'm starting to feel faint. Stay calm. By now the dirt had almost completely covered Houdini's body. The shackles that held his ankles together were completely buried, and the content of two or three more shovelfuls would obscure the last traces of the handcuffs. He knew that his head would be covered next so he braced for the assault of the heavy soil, so as not to eat some again. This would be so much easier if I did it in a coffin. We could gimmick a plank. I'd be able to disperse so much more soil using that instead of my bare hands. I'd be out in half the time. As soon as he was completely covered by the soil, he began to go to work. Even though his assistants were still filling in the last of the grave, he swiftly slipped out of the cuffs, crouched into a fetal position, and began working on the leg irons. Within seconds, he was free of them too. Now all he had to do was work his way up against the loose earth, slowly, methodically, timing it so that he would be just below the ground when they had finished filling in the hole. Then he'd claw through the loose topsoil and literally escape the grave. But he didn't figure on panicking. It wasn't the eerie darkness or the complete silence down there that horrified him; he had grown accustomed to that. It was the sudden realization that he was six feet underground -- the legal requirement for corpses -- that sent a chill up his spine. What if I die here? What a field day they'd have in the papers. Houdini Digs His Own Grave. I'd be a laughingstock. He gasped involuntarily. Now he began to claw and knee the soil without any concern that he'd get out before they had finished filling in the hole. But that momentary scare -- the irretrievable mistake of all daredevils -- had wasted a fraction of his breath, when every last fraction was needed to get out of the hole. Up above, Collins and Vickery and the others in the party had no idea of the drama that was unfolding four feet below them. No! This can't be! Out! Get out! GET OUT ! All of a sudden the weight of the earth above him felt like a thousand tons. His body stiffened and for one quic