Houdini

 

 Do you believe in magic? 

 

On the last century there was a talented man called Harry Houdini who was born in Budapest and died in Detroit.

In 1904, thousands watched as he tried to escape from a special handcuff commissioned by London's Daily Mirror, keeping them in suspense for an hour. 

Another stunt saw him buried alive and only just able to claw himself to the surface, emerging in a state of near-breakdown.

 

  

While many suspected that these escapes were fabricated, it is ironic that Houdini was meanwhile presenting himself as the scourge of fake magicians and spiritualists. As President of the Society of American Magicians, he was keen to uphold professional standards and expose fraudulent artists who gave practitioners a bad name. He was also quick to sue anyone who pirated his own escape-stunts.

Houdini made a number of movies, but quit acting when it failed to bring in money. He was also a keen aviator, and aimed to become the first man to fly a plane in Australia, but according to the official definition of sustained flight, he was beaten to it by two others.

Even the circumstances of his death were dramatic and mysterious. According to one version, a student in Montreal asked him if his stomach was hard enough to take any blow, to which he replied that it was, whereupon the student rained a series of blows on it before Houdini had had time to tense up. A few days later, he died of a ruptured appendix. But this may have been unconnected, as he had already been suffering appendicitis and refusing to seek medical attention.

I don't want to say that ilusionists nowadays are untalented or their work is so easy that everybody can do it, but there's no doubt that in these days it's very difficult to find a man capable to do such an amazing tricks and get so many people together to admire his performances.