The Secret Life of Houdini (92 page)

On that night, he didn’t stop to sit. He walked over to the 215th Street side of the building, climbed up onto the ledge, and jumped off. This was no magic stunt. He fell six stories, careening right past seven-year-old Gary Schmidt’s bedroom window, and he hit the pavement with a sickening thud. And with that, Dr. Leopold Weiss exited this world, and the remaining secrets of Harry Houdini departed with him.

Houdini—forever on tour.
Library of Congress

Acknowledgments

T
HIS BOOK WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE
incredibly generous support of the magic community. From David Copperfield to Ricky Jay to David Blaine to John McLaughlin, every single person in the world of magic overwhelmingly embraced our project (with the singular exception of the owner of a Midwest magic club for collectors) and we are humbled by their response.

If you’re ever in a room with Michael Weber, beware. He can read your mind. At once one of the most talented and creative magicians alive, Weber was instrumental in the conception of this project, spending hours with us brainstorming, and helped a great deal along the way. Without his input, there would have been no book.

As an illustrator/designer/writer, Steranko has cut a fierce path through the pop-culture universe, but magic has never been far from his creative heart. His daredevil stunts inspired the comic book superheroes Mister Miracle and The Escapist, in addition to the protagonist of
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
. He not only allowed us to tap his memorabilia and letters collection but also his knowledge and experience regarding Houdini’s methods and mentality, generating a level of understanding that otherwise would not have been possible.

Ricky Jay is the reigning godfather in the world of magic history. It’s exceptionally difficult to find a subject that he doesn’t know cold or one in which he hasn’t done original research. He promptly responded to every one of our frantic phone calls and worried e-mails; his replies were always infused with his own acute insight and arcane knowledge.

David Copperfield is the most successful magician who has ever lived. His International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts has more Houdini apparatus and personal effects than nearly all the other collections combined. If Houdini were to come back from the grave he could go to Mr. Copperfield’s museum and resume his show. We thank him for allowing us unlimited and unprecedented access to this unbelievable collection. Chris Kenner, one of the world’s finest sleight-of-hand men, spent many days helping us uncover all sorts of wonderful new details about Houdini. He is Mr. Copperfield’s right hand and he knows his collection like the back of it.

A big thank you to David Blaine—a great friend and inspiration to us both. We think Houdini would be proud to pass his mantle on to him. He was happy to make his one-of-a-kind Houdini memorabilia available to us for our research.

The magic world is full of people who know all about Houdini. Some know a little and some a lot. We believe that Patrick Culliton might be the most knowledgeable of them all. Patrick was eager to reply to every e-mail that was peppered with strange questions and he took the time to send us thousands upon thousands of pages from his great Houdini files. He is also the only Houdini scholar to have ever played the role of Franz Kukol in a movie.

Jim Steinmeyer is one of the great minds and historians in magic. We were lucky to have access to both his collection and his astute counsel.

Little did we know that when we met Anna Thurlow at Sid Radner’s annual Houdini séance, she would provide one of the major keys to unlocking some of Houdini’s mysteries. The charming great-granddaughter of the celebrated medium Margery invited us to her house, plied us with food and drink, and then unveiled what would become one of the centerpieces of our research—the Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection. Anna’s mother, Libbet, was an academic who had faithfully preserved every last scrap of paper in Dr. L. R. G. Crandon’s archive of Margery material. She had wanted to incorporate this information into a work about Margery before her untimely demise. We hope that this book will, in some small way, fulfill that wish.

Andrew Cook is one of the world’s leading experts on British espionage. Not only did he give us access to his personal collection but he also acted as a sounding board for our theories.

John McLaughlin took time from his unimaginably busy schedule to read our manuscript and write the preface. We’re also grateful to him for helping us check for material in the MI-5 archives.

Bill Liles is one of the world’s leading experts on Houdini. He helped us immeasurably in delving into the minutiae of Houdini’s history and methods. His insights were inspiring.

John Gaughan is one of the great geniuses of our time. He can build, rebuild, or restore anything. As magic historians we are truly lucky to have him among us. His knowledge of Houdini is vast, and, specifically, his comprehension of the mysteries of Houdini’s Water Torture Cell is perfect. He restored it once and then, when it mysteriously burned, he built it again. Only John could have done this next-to-impossible feat. Thank you, John, for your help with this project and allowing us access to your archives.

When we tracked down Thomas Tietze, he was expanding his wonderful 1973 book on Margery. He made his files available to us, and he was thrilled to talk about Margery for hours on end. His enthusiasm was absolutely contagious.

We had a hunch when we started this project that we would uncover previously unknown Houdini collectors. Dr. Bruce Averbook is one of those people. He made his awe-inspiring Houdini collection available to us and went to great trouble to provide us with many rare and unique photos.

George and Sandy Daily own and maintain an enormous collection of Houdiniana. We thank them for their generosity in sharing it with us and allowing us to use so many of the great images from their collection. George has gone above and beyond on so many occasions and selflessly helped us countless times.

Roger Dreyer, the CEO of Fantasma Magic, is one of the great Houdini collectors. We’re grateful for his generosity in providing us with both images and printed material for the book.

Many of the great images throughout the book have come from Kenneth M. Trombly’s excellent collection. After a hard day’s research at the Library of Congress, Kenneth entertained us in his home and we talked Houdini over wonderful burritos from Chipotle.

We are indebted to Kevin Connolly, a great Houdini collector, who went out of his way to answer each of our frantic phone calls for images by scanning items from his personal archives.

Mike Caveney, the curator of Egyptian Hall Museum, one of the great magic collections in the world, went to great lengths to address our questions and to make his material available.

On our way to do research in Appleton, Wisconsin, Houdini’s hometown, we ran into Tom and Renee Boldt. The Boldts have one of the largest private collections of Houdini letters and personal papers in existence. They were extremely hospitable and generous. Special thanks for the great photo of Houdini’s father.

Nestled in a large apartment in New York is another great Houdini collection. We thank Maurine Christopher, a gracious southern belle, for generously allowing us unfettered access to the enormous archives built by her late, great magician husband, Milbourne.

Sidney Radner helped us all along the way. He invited us to his Houdini séance and then entertained us in the Massachusetts home that he shares with his lovely wife, Helen. He has so much Houdini material that he couldn’t even find all of it.

The groundbreaking research into the men who delivered those fateful blows to Houdini’s midsection was done by the late Don Bell, a Montreal journalist and bohemian bon vivant. Two of Don’s children, Daniel and Valerie Bell, welcomed us to their city and helped us schlep boxes and boxes of their father’s archives to a local copy center. We wish Don was still around to see the fruits of his earlier labor.

We were privileged to meet the only surviving member of Houdini’s troupe. Dorothy Young invited us to her New Jersey seaside home and regaled us with tales of working with the Master Mystifier. Her appreciation and devotion to the man and not the myth was revelatory and enlightening to us.

French film producer Christian Fechner is one of the greatest magic scholars of our time. His collection is one of the best in the world and he has graciously shared it with us and others many times.

Volker Huber is one of the preeminent magic historians and collectors in the world. We are indebted to him for unearthing many interesting documents relating to Houdini’s birth.

Magic Christian is Vienna’s most prominent magician and historian. We’re grateful to him for finding obscure Houdini clippings from old Austrian papers.

In addition to the above, many other people contributed in some fashion during the creation of this project. Some opened their archives, some gave their counsel, and some answered our never-ending stream of questions. We are grateful for the assistance of Jim Alfredson, Dr. Michael Baden, Eric Baker, Steve Baker, Siri Baruc, Gordon Bean, David Ben, Norman Bigelow, Thomas Boghardt, Vanni Bossi, Gordon Bruce, Dr. Peter Bruno, Cliff Callahan, Christopher Cannon, John Cannon, Mark Cannon, Mario Carrandi, Dr. Gar Chan, Diane Coulson of
Fate
magazine, John Cox, Pat Croce, Frank and Barbara Cuiffo, Edwin Dawes, Trevor Dawson, Simon Dardick of Vehicule Press, Anthony DePalma, Mark De Souza, Diego Domingo, Jason Draper, Michael Edwards, Bob Farmer, Tim Felix, Jules Fisher, Sid Fleischman, the late Jack Flosso, Stephen Forrester, Steve Forte, Kiva Renee Foster, Gary Frank, Phyllis Galde of
Fate
magazine, Gary Garland, John Gaughan, Dr. Louis Goldfrank, Chris Gower, Gabriel Grayson, Lennart Green, Andy Gregit, Jim Hagy, Mick Hanzlik, George Hardeen, Paul Harris, Richard Hatch, Mrs. Ron Hilgert, Ed Hill, John Hinson, Jim and Carolyn Hougan, Derek Hughes, Gary Hunt, Penn Jillette, Roy Johnson, David Kahn, Todd Karr, Ken Klosterman, Peter Lamont, Peter Lane, Dean Richard Lariviere, Brian Lead, Robert Legault, Tina Lennert, Jim Lesar, the late Robert and Elaine Lund, Stuart Lutz, Bill Malone, the late Jay Marshall, Eric Martin, Dr. Gene Matsuura, Max Maven, Pierre Mayer, John McCulloch, Bill McIlhany, David McNaught, Janet Merrill, Austin Metze, Richard Milner, Stephen Minch, Mark Mitton, Gale Molovinsky, Arthur Moses, Andrew Muir, Norm and Lupe Nielson, Mrs. George O’Toole, Stanley Palm, Diana Parikian, Mark Pilkington, Fred Pitella, James Randi, Rev. William Rauscher, the late Bob Read, Charles and Regina Reynolds, Bernard Rosenthal, David Roth, George Schindler, Gary and Margot Schmidt, Mark Setteducati, Kenneth Silverman, David Singmaster, Christy Smith, Stephen Sparks, Richard Spence, Manny Sperling, Denise Stineman, Juan Tamariz, Fred A. Thomas, Philip Varricchio, Byron Walker, Tad Ware, Christoph Wasshuber, Bill Weber, David Williamson, Carolyn Withstandley, Roger Woods, Tim Wright, Harry Zarrow, Herb Zarrow, Phyllis Zarrow, and Josh “Chunk” Stern, Vicky Maude Derf, Pfc. Kate Rush.

We have spent the last two years visiting institutional collections all over the world. We are indebted to the following people for their assistance in gaining access to rich Houdini material: Clark Evans, Margaret Keickhefer, Mark Dimunation, and, especially, Joan Higbee at the Library of Congress, Helen Adair, Richard Workman, Pat Fox, Leslie DeLassus and Rick Watson at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Matthew Carpenter and Kim Louagie of the Houdini Historical Center at the Outagamie Historical Society, Betty Falsey, and Tom Ford of the Harvard University Houghton Library, Matthew Skidmore of the Harry Price Collection at the University of London’s Library, Nick Scheetz and Heidi Rubenstein at the Georgetown University Library, Wayne DeCesare at the National Archives Research Administration, Mike Sampson and George Rogers of the United States Secret Service, Nelda Webb and David Strader at the Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library, Dorothy Lickteig of the Anderson County Historical Society, Kristin Nute and Elena Tsvetkova from Blitz Research, Jamie Andrews of the British Library, Alan McCormick of Scotland Yard, Patrick Baird of the Birmingham Local Studies and History service, Professor Ellen Belcher of the John Jay College Special Collections, Rosemary Cullen of the John Hay Library at Brown University, Lynda Hammes of the Council on Foreign Relations, Sue Hodson and Gayle Richardson at the Huntington Library, Jennifer King at the George Washington University Library, Jennifer Lee of Columbia University, Ros Westwood of the Buxton Museum, Jozsef Berkes and Dorottya Szabo of the National Archives of Hungary, Ed Chichirichi of the Historical Society of Delaware, David Hibbert of the Magic Circle Library, Mike Keely of the Social Sciences Library, Manchester, Jim Klodzen of the American Museum of Magic, Anders Liljegren of the Archives for UFO Research, Louise Martzinek of the New York Public Library, Vern Morrison of the Cleveland State University Library, Christopher Morrison at the State Department, Susan Perkins of the Herkimer County Historical Society, Tuja van den Berg of the Theater Institutt Nederland, the American Museum of Natural History Research Library, Sotheby’s Auction House, Museum of the City of New York, the American Jewish Historical Society, Princetown University, the Montreal Public Library, the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, Brooklyn Public Library, Chicago City Archives, the Family History Center of Brooklyn, New York, Kathryn J. Hodson and Jacque L. Roethler of the Redpath Chautauqua Bureau Collection, University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa; Judah Magnes Center in Berkeley, California, the Milwaukee County Historical Society, the New York City Municipal Archives, New York University, Bobst Library, the Philadelphia City Archives, U.C. Irvine ASAP Information Services.