Finally, of special interest to many readers are Houdini’s accounts of great magicians of history and of Houdini’s own battles with spiritualists and fraudulent mediums. These are illustrated with diagram sequences that cover every step in performance. There are also instructions for performing 44 stage tricks, including the coin and glass, the Indian needle trick, and other standards. This book is Houdini’s own account of these exploits, supplemented with rare photographs and posters, first-hand material from periodicals and pamphlets, and behind-the-scenes revelations of some of the master’s most prized secrets: how he picked locks, how he sawed a girl in half to become twins, how he walked through a brick wall, how a girl can vanish from a sheet of plate glass without trapdoors, hoists, mirrors, or other such apparatus. He sought to create a large, unified national network of professional and amateur magicians.
He is remembered for his daring escapes and for inventing many of the modern techniques of stage magic. He permitted himself to be thrown, manacled, into the Hudson River to be nailed into packing cases and lowered into the ocean to be suspended by the ankles, strait-jacketed, hundreds of feet above the ground - and in every case escaped easily. Houdini began performing as a magician and escape artist when he was 17 and later developed a successful career in the United States, performing as The Handcuff King and The King of Cards. Many of his fabulous escapes, indeed, now sound more like legend than history, yet they really happened. Harry Houdini’s fame is secure as the greatest magician of modern times.
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