The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero [Audio Download]

THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI: THE MAKING OF AMERICA'S FIRST SUPERHERO (2006) by William Kalush and Larry Sloman, New York, ATRIA books, 591 pages.

This is truly the greatest biography of Harry Houdini that has ever been written. Working from millions of pages of material, the authors give the finest account of Houdini's life, skills, accomplishments and impact. If there are two things slightly amiss here, they are simple: the title should have been kept short, and the personality of Houdini should have been better described (i.e., the authors never even agree on the color of Houdini's eyes, which were coincidentally the same color as mine).

The animadventures of Houdini's parents, which would lead to his successes, is outlined with loving care and accuracy. Houdini trained at a circus, with acrobats, contortionists, magicians and escape artists starting at age 12. By the time he was 20, he was performing great shows and would soon serve as a ('lay'?) policeman, and as a spy for the Secret Service. The disgusting Spiritualist movement and its probable responsibility for the death of Houdini is explored - and it is at that juncture this book becomes a haunting, addicting read.

As an example of the book's thoroughness - and seeming controversy of that thoroughness - here and only here you'll read about the fight to the death between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Houdini. This may feel wrong to the English reader; yet the exposé is intense and accurate. Doyle had wanted Houdini to be the Spiritualist poster boy; Houdini was keeping Sir Arthur at arm's length. Houdini wanted to believe, but he had no sympathy for frauds.

Their friendship destroyed, both men went on the warpath, but Doyle's conduct is a disgrace. What is not commonly known is Houdini suffered at least two previous assassination attempts. Were these the work of Sir Arthur? Not only is Sir Arthur convincingly implicated in Houdini's death; the biography demonstrates the cynical way in which Sir Arthur pursued Houdini's widow Bess to join the cause after Houdini died (he referred to her in a disparaging way as "the widow"). Lonely, alcohol- and drug-addicted, Bess went along with any fakery proposed to her until she could take it no more.

Harry Houdini is a deserved global icon. He singlehandedly invented spycraft as we understand it - including his invention of the disposable one-time camera - and put it to good use prior to (and during) WWI. Houdini created strides in law enforcement and penology that were second only to the original work of Vidocq.

He laid the foundations of modern stage illusion, magic, even film stunt work. He served as an inspiration for, and was a lifelong friend of, Buster Keaton's (legend has it that Houdini gave Buster the nickname). Houdini's sad, agonizing death, likely at the hands of a Spiritualist-hired assassin, will leave you weeping.
Though I am refreshed by the pure information in the book, it is a minor irritant that there is not one single note or even a decent bibliography here - which I view as heresy. Instead, the authors opted to publish their notes online, and I will not go digging for them. I promise, by the time you get to page 13, you will not want to go digging either.

The book is too good and if I may contradict myself, frankly it is refreshing to keep the notes and annoying footnotes out of the way.

Erik "Harry" Weisz, a handsome, caring boy, the rabbi's son, grew to be an amateur scientist, the first scientific 'paranormal researcher', an inventor, author, engineer, machinist, spymaster, police/prison consultant, exposer of frauds, lobbyist for new American "anti-psychic fraud" laws, film producer and star, Secret Service Agent, spy and master illusionist (he made an elephant disappear in the middle of a circus ring, in my opinion his greatest trick).

To say he was a mere magician is an insult. He has inspired countless characters, undeservedly cheesy films have been made of his life, and everyone always fouls the details of his sad, untimely death.

This is the book to read to get all the details.
This is the book about that great man who came to be known as HOUDINI.

In this comprehensive and thoroughly researched biography of Harry Houdini we are introduced to one of the most complex and sensational entertainers of the early part of the 20th century. Born Erik Weisz to a poor Jewish family in 1887 Budapest, they migrated to Minneapolis in the 1890's where his father eked out a living as a Rabbi and Talmud teacher. From a young age Erik discovered a fascination for locks and other contraptions and the skill to escape from them which lead him along his career path from itinerant escapologist; magician; aviator film maker and finally campaigner against "fraudulent mediums" and spiritualists. Each of his career changes would warrant a book in themselves and this is a tome of a book packed with details of his various ingenious escapes ; his dangerous exploits both on and off the stage; his work as an aviator and a spy for British and American intelligence whilst touring Germany and Russia; and his sometimes fractious relationships with other magicians and performers. Often turning friends into enemies and then vice versa. He even attacked Robert-Houdin, whose name he had taken in a book on him for faking many of his tricks whilst maintaining his continued admiration for him.

Houdini was a showman, a raconteur and someone known to bear a grudge and used his influence within magician's circles to lambast others who he felt were either frauds or plagiarisers of his inventions within his profession. However he was clearly out of his depth when he took on the likes of Conan Doyle, previously a friend through their shared interest in seances and medium ship when Houdini exposed Lady Doyle, a famous psychic and medium as a fraud starting off a feud that was to last for years and steering Houdini into the direction where he saw it as a religious duty to expose fraud in that rather frightening and sinister world. And no one were more sinister than the Crandons, Dr and Mina aka Margery,a celebrity medium known expelling ectoplasm from her vulva of all places, who galvanised the entire Spiritualist community against Houdini's denunciations.

It seems that none of Houdini's exploits were as dangerous as taking on this world which the authors characterise as corrupt, exploitative, and sexually perverse, with the Crandon couple as a veritable evil pair. Conan Doyle is depicted as a sad credulous dupe who seemed to have lost hie powers of deduction to what Houdini described as "religious mania". It seemed that the Crandon's and their followers would stoop to nothing in attacking Houdini including racial abuse via the spirit world and predictions of his death.

For me this was the most fascinating part of book. For others it could be the detailed descriptions of his escapes from prisons around Europe, after he would challenge prison authorities to imprison him in the impregnable cells. Or his work as an illusionist.

My two criticisms of the book are that it was somewhat over descriptive and fairly spare on details about his long marriage with Bess Houdini, which was not always so happy but far from loveless; his numerous affairs including with the widow of his friend the author Jack London, Charmaine London, and the sometimes difficult relationships with his siblings and their families. Secondly the conclusion of the book is slightly disappointing. It hints strongly at Houdini being murdered by the Spiritualists even suggesting a level of complicity from Conan Doyle and his wife( Houdini famously described him as more Dr Watson the Sherlock Holmes).

Unfortunately there is only circumstantial evidence for this and no one is precisely sure what eventually did kill Houdini at the age of 52. However as an entertaining and in depth account of his strange life I doubt that this volume could be bettered.

Kalush and Sloman's biography of Houdini's event-filled life starts out by pointing to some new ideas it puts forward about Houdini's connection to the intelligence communities of the USA and Great Britain, thanks to new revelations from the MI5 archives. Astoundingly though, these connections to the nascent secret services are the least fascinating elements of the tale.

Featuring a mixture of reported conversations and correspondence within the context of the narrative, the book goes some ways to providing a picture of Houdini's personality whilst detailing his great genius and ingenuity. But there are no overt judgments in the text, whether talking about his affairs, his outbursts of temper and rabid need to be acknowledged, which is a good trick that allows the reader to come to a decision without being told what side of the fence they should fall on.

A weighty tome at over 500 pages, the intrigue never palls. From his humble, beginnings as the child of an immigrant family, through his hungry efforts to break into show business, to the height of his powers, to his war against spiritualism, there is a lot to chew on and think about. Some of the methodology of his tricks is revealed along the way for those interested in the magic, a lot is revealed about his philosophy and the extreme commitment that he had that made him a success. There are many highs, even as there seems to have been ructions in his personal life.

There are Presidents, Kaisers and fellow magicians to meet. All are fascinating characters. Arthur Conan Doyle is here too, portrayed in a less than positive light.

There is a shift in tone as the book heads to its conclusion. There is great darkness in Houdini's battle against fake mediums and the explanations of how they worked and the lengths they went to to stop Houdini from exposing them is quite disturbing. The term "psychic mafia" seems quite apt.

It is a fascinating tale of a man with a frightening number of skills, and a frightening drive to succeed. Of a man who made friends amongst the mighty, and enemies too. It's inspiring.