As you may or may not know, I am a magic enthusiast. I am a member of SAM (The Society of American Magicians) and have made several pilgrimages to the wonderful Magic Castle in Hollywood, California, along with additional trips to Las Vegas, Nevada to see my idols Penn and Teller and The Amazing Jonathon. Introduced to magic by my college mentor Dr. Charles McCall, I have tended to shy away from actual performance (I don’t want my clumsy attempts to hurt the art, and unnecessarily expose secrets) but I’m absolutely nuts about the history of this greatest performance art form: conjuring and prestidigitation. -I love that word… Prestidigitation. So cool… Anyways:
The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero by William Kalush and Larry Sloman isn’t the first Houdini biography that I’ve read, but it is a very good biography that is quite well written and tells some previously unknown stories about Harry Houdini. The authors thankfully do away with the myth that Houdini had “mommy issues” as was put forward in another biography of the great magician.
The biggest shell shocking question that Kalush and Sloman ask is: Was Harry Houdini a spy? We’ve all heard of his exploits at escaping from handcuffs and straightjackets; heard how the first thing he would do upon arriving in town was challenge the local police chief or sheriff to lock him up in one of their unescapable cells — only to have Houdini escape immediately (in front of a throng of reporters and onlookers helped ensure that his show that evening would include a packed house.) This and more has given us the mythic image of Houdini that has survived thru the generations. But, was Houdini working for the US Secret Service (then the only national law enforcement agency and intelligence bureau) as well as for the newly formed MI-5 in England at the beginning of World War I?
The book also goes into great detail about Houdini’s relationship with the “Spiritualist Movement” that he devoted so much of his life to debunking. Houdini’s relationship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is probed as well, giving us a new view of the famous mystery author.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of magic or a student of history. Very well written and researched, I am sure this will become one of the standard texts on Houdini and of great value to those studying the era.
Also of interest is a book that I have formerly read dealing with magicians and the culture of the US Secret Service. Glen David Gold’s Carter Beats The Devil is the novelization of the life of magician Charles Carter (Carter The Great) that also delves into the operation of the US Secret Service in the 1920’s.
