![]() The show will be in San Francisco until next January. ![]() "Many artists have made the analogy between art and making magic," Solomon said.ĭon't expect to learn how Houdini did his tricks though. The exhibit includes works by artists inspired by Houdini. Finally, she stopped, saying 10 years is long enough to wait for any man. Houdini died on Halloween 1926 and for 10 years, on every Halloween, his wife would conduct a séance hoping he would return. Later in life, he went on a crusade to debunk people who claimed to have supernatural abilities. Years later, Hollywood made a film about him starring Tony Curtis. ![]() However, the Milk Can was widely imitated by other escape artists, so in 1912 Houdini introduced a far more difficult and dangerous escape that would become his greatest. Houdini didn't stop with theatre performances he went to Hollywood and became a silent film star. The Water Torture Cell Houdinis first death-defying onstage water escape was his Milk Can. ![]() In San Francisco, he hung from the Hearst Building at 3rd and Market in 1923.īefore that, he escaped from a locked box in Aquatic Part during the Pan Pacific explosion in 1915. Always a showman and promoter, he'd conduct his tricks on newspaper building so he'd get press conference. Further lies and cheats reside within Houdini’s famed Chinese Water Torture Cell. In this act, Harry would be locked, upside down in stocks to a tank of water. Thousands of people would watch him in the era of television. The Chinese Water Torture Cell: Due to the popularity of his Milk Can Escape act and the many people who tried to imitate it, Houdini was forced to replace it with the Chinese Water Torture Cell. "The fact that he died in the 20s is amazing because people think about him as so living and vibrant," Solomon said. Houdini was the son of a rabbi from Budapest who became America's biggest star. There is still notoriety today: The escape from the water torture cell and getting out of handcuffs. "People are forever on the edge of their seats when the think people are in peril and not going to make it," said curator Dana Solomon, "so that sort of transcends time." ![]() Houdini was a master at drawing media coverage to his exploits. He was lowered head first into the water and locked in place. Houdini had his ankles locked into a frame, from which he was dangled upside down over a tank of water. Harry Houdini, the ultimate magician and escape artist. One of his best-known escapes is his Chinese water torture cell. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |