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Speaker 1: You know, he would actually strip down, sometimes apparently completely naked,

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Speaker 1: or sometimes to his underwear, his closed to be placed

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Speaker 1: outside a cell. He'd be locked in a cell in handcuffs,

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Speaker 1: and the commissioner and various boys will go into another

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Speaker 1: room and sit down for a cup of tea, and then,

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Speaker 1: you know, ten minutes later, fifteen minutes later, he would

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Speaker 1: appear fully dressed.

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Speaker 2: I'm Jen Kelly from The Herald Son and this is

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Speaker 2: In Black and White, a podcast about some of Australia's

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Speaker 2: forgotten characters. Welcome to the very last in Black and

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Speaker 2: White episode after five years and almost two hundred and

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Speaker 2: eighty episodes. I'm immensely proud to have been able to

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Speaker 2: bring you a little slice of Australian history every week

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Speaker 2: for so long. I'll share some special messages at the

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Speaker 2: end of this final two part episode. Today's final episode

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Speaker 2: is fittingly enough with one of our most regular guests,

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Speaker 2: the brilliant Andrew McConville from State Library, Victoria, whose wealth

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Speaker 2: of knowledge of Australian history seems to be limitless, and

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Speaker 2: today he's sharing the story of none other than the

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Speaker 2: great Harry Houdini, the escape artist and illusionist. Hoodini certainly

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Speaker 2: wasn't Australian, but he caused a sensation on his Australian

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Speaker 2: tour with his spectacular stunts, including a death defying dive

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Speaker 2: in handcuffs into the Arrow River in Melbourne and the

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Speaker 2: historic first powered flight in Australia. Here's Andrew now with

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Speaker 2: part one. Come back tomorrow for part two. Welcome back

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Speaker 2: to the podcast, Andrew.

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Speaker 3: Thanks very much. Janet's great to be here now.

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Speaker 2: Obviously, we can without doubt say that Houdini was the

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Speaker 2: world's most famous entertainer in his era. But one of

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Speaker 2: the interesting things about Hoodini is that he's still incredibly

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Speaker 2: famous today. And just out of interest, I've got four

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Speaker 2: kids of my own, their age from twelve to seventeen. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: in this modern age of video games and YouTubers and influencers,

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Speaker 2: they have very a very different set of people that

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Speaker 2: they consider to be famous. But I checked with them

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Speaker 2: and they all instantly knew who Whodini.

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Speaker 3: Was and what he did.

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Speaker 2: And I just thought that was extraordinary that the name

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Speaker 2: Whodini is still so well known today.

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Speaker 1: Well, it is amazing, isn't it. And it has become

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Speaker 1: I mean, very few people have their name become part

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Speaker 1: of the language, really, but he is certainly someone, and

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Speaker 1: you can look up any newspaper every period of time

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Speaker 1: and there'll be some reference to Whodni, which will normally

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Speaker 1: be to do with escapes. And I mean obviously at

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Speaker 1: the time he was working, there were very famous illusionists,

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Speaker 1: very famous magicians, but their names haven't lived on to

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Speaker 1: the same extent. I think part of it might be

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Speaker 1: that his was genuinely death defying. I mean, while he

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Speaker 1: had tricks, he still was putting himself in very dangerous

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Speaker 1: situations and situations that people could right to. I mean,

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Speaker 1: everybody's terrified of drowning, so that sort of thing would

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Speaker 1: have been very resonant, I think. But also he did

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Speaker 1: huge public performances and that probably enhanced his fame and

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Speaker 1: meant that it lived on, and probably because he was

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Speaker 1: pretty original, I mean that idea. There were other escopologists,

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Speaker 1: and there has been subsequently, but he probably was doing

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Speaker 1: something that he made really famous. So it wasn't that

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Speaker 1: he was carrying on a long tradition. He really made

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Speaker 1: it very famous. But it's hard to put an exact

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Speaker 1: finger on but really it's probably an element of the

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Speaker 1: fact that what he was doing was quite unique, and

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Speaker 1: the big public spectacles he was putting on were quite unique,

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Speaker 1: and so they have resonated well beyond his lifetime and

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Speaker 1: as I say, have become part of the normal language.

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Speaker 1: And you see, his name would appear somewhere in the

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Speaker 1: world every day, I would think, And.

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Speaker 2: Even though he is still so famous, there are a

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Speaker 2: couple of incredibly spectacular and daring feats that he pulled

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Speaker 2: off while he was here in Melbourne during his Australian tour,

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Speaker 2: and I feel like those things have really been forgotten

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Speaker 2: over time, and that's why we've decided to do this

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Speaker 2: episode today. So excited that we're going to tell those

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Speaker 2: stories a little bit later in this episode. But let's

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Speaker 2: begin with his early life, because it's interesting that, like

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Speaker 2: so many great achievers, he came from great poverty.

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Speaker 1: He certainly did. He was born in nineteen seventy four

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Speaker 1: in Hungary and came over to America with his family

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Speaker 1: when he was only four, but they lived in pretty

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Speaker 1: much dire poverty. At one stage. He was quoted as saying,

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Speaker 1: we lived in New York, or rather I should say

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Speaker 1: we starved in New York. So they moved around quite

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Speaker 1: a bit. His father was a rabbi and his work

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Speaker 1: was really to establish a congregation that would then support him,

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Speaker 1: but he was pretty unsuccessful of that and the congregation

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Speaker 1: in effect fired him, so he was not bringing in

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Speaker 1: virtually any money, and young well Eric Weiss as he

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Speaker 1: was originally known Harrahudoni, he ran away from home when

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Speaker 1: he was eleven and just worked at odd jobs, and

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Speaker 1: he had.

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Speaker 3: Very little education.

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Speaker 1: He was a very intelligent man and really created an

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Speaker 1: enormous library over his lifetime, but he had very little

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Speaker 1: formal education. And when he was very young, about thirteen

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Speaker 1: or fourteen, he was working as a messenger boy. And

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Speaker 1: then his only real job outside of show business, and

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Speaker 1: he lasted any time at all, was as a cutter

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Speaker 1: in a tie factory, so he did that for a

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Speaker 1: short time, but he basically headed off on the road

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Speaker 1: when he was about seventeen to be a performer. And

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Speaker 1: even in those early days as a performer, it was

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Speaker 1: a very very hand of mouth existence, and he had

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Speaker 1: to take on any sort of work that he could.

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Speaker 1: I mean, they're often, you know, what might be called

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Speaker 1: dime shows or little itinerant circuses, and at that stage

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Speaker 1: he wasn't doing the capology he was trying his hand

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Speaker 1: as very magic tricks.

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Speaker 3: And one of the dime circuses.

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Speaker 1: He was working at they advertised a wild man that

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Speaker 1: they didn't actually have. Supposedly someone rescued from the deepest jungle.

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Speaker 1: So Harry put on oin cloth and put his hair

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Speaker 1: out in all directions and grunted and raved and raw

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Speaker 1: meat for the entertainment of the public. So he was

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Speaker 1: sort of willing to do anything. And he and his

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Speaker 1: wife he married very young. They married when he was

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Speaker 1: only about twenty and his wife was eighteen, and they

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Speaker 1: then performed together, but often they'd struggle to find anywhere

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Speaker 1: to stay. They often went without food. It was a

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Speaker 1: very tough existence, to the point where early in his

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Speaker 1: career he was almost ready to give up and try

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Speaker 1: something else.

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Speaker 2: And when and where did he get his first taste

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Speaker 2: of fame, Well.

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Speaker 3: It's really he started to experiment.

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Speaker 1: I think one of the things about him was he

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Speaker 1: had a very as I say, he had a very

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Speaker 1: good mind, and he was very interested in working out

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Speaker 1: how things were done and how things worked. And he

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Speaker 1: would do that when he talks about and sometimes what

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Speaker 1: he says about his early life can be questioned because

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Speaker 1: he was in show business, and he did like a

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Speaker 1: good story.

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Speaker 3: But he did talk about.

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Speaker 1: Saying when he was very young seeing a magician in Milwaukee,

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Speaker 1: and what he was concentrating on was how the tricks

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Speaker 1: were done, working out what was behind the trick, and

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Speaker 1: he became quite a depth at working locks, and so

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Speaker 1: he incorporated handcuffs into his stage show in ninety five,

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Speaker 1: and he still wasn't that successful. He was doing other

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Speaker 1: tricks and as a standard magician doing card tricks, he

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Speaker 1: called himself the King of Cards, and at one stage

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Speaker 1: he and his wife Beatrice were acting as spiritualists. I

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Speaker 1: think he was professor who Doney at that stage and

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Speaker 1: she was the psychometric madam whatever that means. So they

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Speaker 1: would do really anything. But he did start to incorporate

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Speaker 1: handcuff tricks. And then at about eight ninety nine, a chap

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Speaker 1: called Martin Beck, who worked for the Orphium Circuit, which

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Speaker 1: was a large circuit of vaudeville theaters. Sorry Schawan was

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Speaker 1: taken with the handcuff tricks and told him to drop

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Speaker 1: the other things because he was a competent magician, but

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Speaker 1: not outstanding, not above the rest, but his handcuff tricks

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Speaker 1: and those ideas of escape might be his future, and

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Speaker 1: he became successful in that orphium circuit and that really

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Speaker 1: set off a pretty metioric rise in America, but particularly

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Speaker 1: in Europe after that.

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Speaker 2: So, just going back to talking about picking the locks,

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Speaker 2: so obviously he was an illusionist, it sounds like you're

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Speaker 2: saying he really was getting himself out of those locks.

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Speaker 2: You never know with magicians, and illusionis what's real and

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Speaker 2: what's not real. But you're saying that he really was

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Speaker 2: learning to get himself out of those locks in a

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Speaker 2: matter of seconds.

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Speaker 1: He certainly had enormous skill at that. I mean, I think,

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Speaker 1: and I guess magicians and he, more than anyone, wouldn't

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Speaker 1: give away his tricks. And certainly, you know, he did

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Speaker 1: things that were seemingly impossible, which obviously you know there

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Speaker 1: were tricks involved. But he was I mean, he was

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Speaker 1: a phenomenal athlete. He was a great runner, He was

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Speaker 1: a terrific swimmer. He could hold his breath longer than

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Speaker 1: almost anybody for over three minutes, So he had enormous

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Speaker 1: physical skills. He did understand locks too, and worked out

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Speaker 1: how locks could be undone. And I think part of

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Speaker 1: it is that there's a mystake about handcuffs that they're

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Speaker 1: impossible to get out of. But when you think about it,

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Speaker 1: people don't spend a lot of time in handcuffs, and

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Speaker 1: usually if they're in handcuffs, they've got a couple of

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Speaker 1: police standing next to them, so I don't get much

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Speaker 1: chance to pick the locks. So he was someone who

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Speaker 1: studied them, and so he did have enormous capacity to

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Speaker 1: undo locks.

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Speaker 3: But he also used a few tricks. Some of his

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Speaker 3: sometimes had.

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Speaker 1: Supposedly a little bits of why that might be in

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Speaker 1: his mouth or in his hair that he could use

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Speaker 1: to pick a lock. But he certainly was very adept

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Speaker 1: at picking locks. So there were tricks, but probably more

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Speaker 1: than other magicians, a lot of it was through enormous

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Speaker 1: natural skill, that being able to escape from various perilous situations.

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Speaker 2: Now it sounds like he began using that name Ujinie

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Speaker 2: fairly early on. Where did he get that name from?

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Speaker 1: Well, there was a great French magician who was named

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Speaker 1: Jean Eugene Robert hoo Dan, So Robert who Dan was

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Speaker 1: his surname, and he died a few years before who

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Speaker 1: Deney was born. But he was considered, you know, a

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Speaker 1: father of modern magic, and he wrote a biography that

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Speaker 1: Who Deney read as a young boy and was very

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Speaker 1: taken with, and so that's where he took his name from.

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Speaker 1: So he took the second half of Robert hoo Dan's

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Speaker 1: name and just added an eye to it, and then

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Speaker 1: later on called himself Harry and became Harry Who Deny.

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Speaker 2: Now, I'd love you to tell us more about how

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Speaker 2: he became just so world famous in his various publicity

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Speaker 2: stuff and exactly what the show was like and all

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Speaker 2: the different tricks that he would do.

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Speaker 1: He was a master of publicity and he had some

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Speaker 1: very clever ways of getting publicity. He probably as a

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Speaker 1: stage magician, he probably didn't have the great pattern and

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Speaker 1: the great stage presence that perhaps a card someone doing

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Speaker 1: car tricks.

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Speaker 3: Or whatever would have and would rely on.

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Speaker 1: He was probably the type of magic he did, or

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Speaker 1: the type of escapes he did, really suited his demeanor.

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Speaker 1: But he have big public events that would attract crowds

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Speaker 1: and obviously enhance his fame. And one of the first

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Speaker 1: things he did was he would challenge various police stations

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Speaker 1: to lock him up in a cell and lock him

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Speaker 1: in handcuffs, and they would take that on because they thought, oh,

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Speaker 1: you know, this guy was a bit of a smart

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Speaker 1: elecant will show him, and you know, he would actually

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Speaker 1: strip down, sometimes apparently completely naked, or sometimes to his underwear.

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Speaker 1: His clothes would be placed outside a cell. He'd be

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Speaker 1: locked in a cell in handcuffs, and the commissioner and

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Speaker 1: various boys would go into another room and sit down

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Speaker 1: for a cup of tea, and then, you know, ten

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Speaker 1: minutes later, fifteen minutes.

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Speaker 3: Later, he would appear fully dressed.

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Speaker 1: And so part of that was that he may have had,

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Speaker 1: you know, things like bits of why things that you

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Speaker 1: can pick locks with. But I think he was also

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Speaker 1: extremely good at picking locks, and so that sort of

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Speaker 1: gained him fame. And then beyond that as he became

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Speaker 1: more famous, I mean when he went to after he

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Speaker 1: did the circuit at the Orphium Vaudeville theaters and he

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Speaker 1: gained some fame in America, he actually went off to

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Speaker 1: London without any sort of bookings, and that was in

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Speaker 1: I think god ninety nine, and he was holding a

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Speaker 1: press conference and there was another chap who felt that

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Speaker 1: he could escape from handcuffs, named the Great Circle, and

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Speaker 1: he challenged to Jerney, which he Jerney loved because he

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Speaker 1: was always felt that he was the best, and he

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Speaker 1: probably was. And of course the Great Circuit couldn't get

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Speaker 1: out of the handcuffs, and who Doney had handcuffed him

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Speaker 1: in Who Doney got out of Circle's handcuffs in about

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Speaker 1: five minutes, So that was great publicity. So he would

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Speaker 1: do a lot of things like that. One of the

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Speaker 1: most famous ones was when he was touring, and he

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Speaker 1: was very popular in Europe. And one of the theories

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Speaker 1: was that, particularly in count who is like Germany and Russia,

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Speaker 1: where the regimes kept very strict control of their populations

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Speaker 1: and people would often disappear in the jar without much trial,

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Speaker 1: that people were delighted to see someone who could escape

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Speaker 1: from handcuffs and could, to an extent make a bit

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Speaker 1: of a fool of the authorities. And in Russia they

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Speaker 1: had a train that used to take prisoners to Siberia,

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Speaker 1: and supposedly, once it was locked, the only key to

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Speaker 1: open that was in Siberia.

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Speaker 3: So of course he had himself locked.

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Speaker 1: In this train, in this prison train, and the publicity

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Speaker 1: was that if he didn't get out, he'd end up

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Speaker 1: in Siberia before he could get out, and of course

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Speaker 1: he did get out, and this sort of embarrassed the authorities,

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Speaker 1: but of course made him much more popular with the people.

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Speaker 1: And there was a whole range of things like that,

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Speaker 1: and they got a little bit more extreme. I mean,

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Speaker 1: later on he incorporated straight jackets into his routine, and

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Speaker 1: he was able to get out of straight trackets in

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Speaker 1: full view of people.

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Speaker 3: Often with his magic, as.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk about in a minute, a screen will be

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Speaker 1: put across and he would then appear after he'd escaped.

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Speaker 1: But with the straight jackets, he would be hanging forty

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Speaker 1: meters up in the air from the side of a

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Speaker 1: building in a straight jacket upside down and he would

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Speaker 1: wriggle out and then be lowered down and there might

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Speaker 1: be twenty thirty thousand people watching that. And the same

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Speaker 1: with was when he started to do his dives into

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Speaker 1: rivers around the world handcuffed.

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Speaker 3: And again, if you're handcuffed.

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Speaker 1: And you drive into a river, you haven't got many

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Speaker 1: minutes to get out, otherwise you'll drowned. But he would

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Speaker 1: always get out very quickly. So I mean, there are

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Speaker 1: enormous public events that many people attended but also got

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Speaker 1: enormous publicity for him. So that's one of the reasons.

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Speaker 1: I think why his name is so enduring because he

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Speaker 1: was able to build such an enormous amount of fame

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Speaker 1: through a lot of these public events that enhanced his

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Speaker 1: stage shows and enhanced his fame and had him press

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Speaker 1: all over the world. So he was pretty good at publicity.

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Speaker 1: But also, you know, what he did was regardless of

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Speaker 1: what tricks he used, it was still enormously skillful. And

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Speaker 1: there was that element of him, you know, literally but

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Speaker 1: he may die in this, and that wasn't that was

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Speaker 1: a risk. I mean, you know, if you're locked in

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Speaker 1: somewhere in an enclosed space in water, then there is

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Speaker 1: a risky you will drown. So whereas I think with

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Speaker 1: magicians on stage, even if they was sawing a woman

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Speaker 1: in half, I don't think anybody quite believed they'd saw

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Speaker 1: someone in half. But with who doney he was diving,

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Speaker 1: it was a nightmare for people, you know, to dive

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Speaker 1: in handcuffed into water. Everybody would feel that a great nightmare.

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Speaker 1: And often with those water tricks, people would try to

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Speaker 1: hold their breath and they could never hold it.

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Speaker 3: As long as he denie.

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Speaker 1: So I think he bought that that absolute death defining

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Speaker 1: literally death defying element that wasn't part of other other magicians' work.

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Speaker 2: And when he was doing these publicity stunts in rivers,

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Speaker 2: these were just open for hundreds or thousands of people

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Speaker 2: to watch for free, I assume.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, And often they'd be in the city where

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Speaker 1: he was performing, so it was like an opportunity for

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Speaker 1: people for publicity for him, but also they would gain

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Speaker 1: publicity right around the country. So he would do those

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Speaker 1: and there'd be twenty thousand and thirty thousand people there,

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Speaker 1: but all of those were potential people to come and

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Speaker 1: see his shows, so his shows would sell out, and

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Speaker 1: for him, they probably there were big events for that town,

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Speaker 1: but he was just they didn't take him that long

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Speaker 1: because he was so quick at getting out, but they'd

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Speaker 1: give him enormous publicity, and he was very good at

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Speaker 1: a whole range of things. He'd often, you know, at

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Speaker 1: wherever he went with his shows, he would ask people

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Speaker 1: to concoct challenges that he would then try and escape from,

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Speaker 1: which again would enhance the publicity. So he was very

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Speaker 1: good at creating publicity and that made him a world figure.

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Speaker 2: I think did he make a lot of money from

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Speaker 2: his shows?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, certainly, once you know, by the turn of the century.

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Speaker 1: Once he became farmers, he made huge amounts of money.

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Speaker 1: He was sometimes getting paid, you know, a thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: a week or more, which was phenomenal money in the

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Speaker 1: early part of the twentieth century. It was probably you know,

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Speaker 1: one hundred times what somebody.

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Speaker 3: Would else would earn a week or more.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't great with money, though, I think after he died,

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Speaker 1: I think his wife found that, you know, he really

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Speaker 1: hadn't saved too much of his money, and he did

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Speaker 1: make a few bad investments. Probably might mention his film

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Speaker 1: crelated but he made a few bad investments, starting a

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Speaker 1: film company, a verse things like that. So he certainly

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Speaker 1: made a lot of money, but he also spent a

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Speaker 1: lot of money. And it was an expensive show to

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Speaker 1: put in and travel. But he was a very, very

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Speaker 1: highly paid entertainer of his day.

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Speaker 2: But he basically liked to put his money back into

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Speaker 2: his show. It wasn't like he was living the high

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Speaker 2: life or living lavishly, no.

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Speaker 3: To an extent.

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Speaker 1: I mean, he did have a nice house, but he

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Speaker 1: didn't live there that often. He was a great book

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Speaker 1: collector and a great collector of things that took his fancy.

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Speaker 1: So one of the things I think his wife did

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Speaker 1: after he died was to sell for a lot of

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Speaker 1: his items.

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Speaker 3: I mean he did all the tricks too.

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Speaker 1: Would have cost quite a bit of money, because I

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Speaker 1: mean there was an enormous amount of imitation going on,

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Speaker 1: and so he was coming up with new tricks and

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Speaker 1: they did require, you know, quite sophisticated apparatus. And he

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Speaker 1: would travel around with a number of very loyal helpers

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Speaker 1: who would probably know that whatever tricks he had, but

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Speaker 1: never divulge them. And even you know, we'll get on

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Speaker 1: to Australia in a minute, but you know, bring an

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Speaker 1: aeroplane and a mechanic act for Australia would be quite

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Speaker 1: expensive as well. So I think he probably spent his

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Speaker 1: money fairly freely. He probably wasn't great with looking after

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Speaker 1: his money, but his life was, you know, to a

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Speaker 1: great extent, on the road, really and.

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Speaker 2: I can imagine that he must have been more motivated

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Speaker 2: by adrenaline than money.

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Speaker 3: I think so.

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Speaker 1: And I think, you know, there was always that thing

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Speaker 1: of this you know, impoverished boy.

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Speaker 3: My.

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Speaker 1: I mean it was like the American dream, wasn't it,

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Speaker 1: This impoverished migrant making a huge name for himself. So

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Speaker 1: I think he did, you know, and you love the

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Speaker 1: adulation as you would, but I think it was, you know, adrenaline.

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Speaker 1: It was sort of the enormous popularity he got from

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Speaker 1: the from the public and what he got back from

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Speaker 1: the public, which would be a creative adrenaline, adrenaline rush.

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Speaker 1: But I think it was probably also someone coming from

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Speaker 1: such poverty, who had so little opportunities, so loot of education,

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Speaker 1: to have this idea of well, I am really worth something.

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Speaker 1: All these people say I'm worth something, and that would be,

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Speaker 1: you know, an enormous amount of motivation. But yeah, I'm

386
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Speaker 1: sure there was a fair bit of a in it,

387
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Speaker 1: because I mean, I'm not a swimmer, so I would

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Speaker 1: be horrified to be thrown into a river handcuffed.

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Speaker 2: Tell us more about the water trick. So was he

390
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Speaker 2: always handcuffed but otherwise free? Was he ever lowered into

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Speaker 2: the water in a box for equaently?

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Speaker 3: Yes?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so they got, as with most things, they got

394
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Speaker 1: a bit more extreme. I mean he did start with

395
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Speaker 1: diving into various rivers. He drove off the dove, off

396
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Speaker 1: the Paris Morgue, into the Seine. He dive off rivers here,

397
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Speaker 1: there and everywhere, and obviously in Melbourne and in Sydney

398
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Speaker 1: he did the same thing. But he did later, yes,

399
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Speaker 1: have himself blowered into the water in a sealed box,

400
00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:41,199
Speaker 1: which was a very dangerous trick. Whatever tricks he had

401
00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,200
Speaker 1: to get out, it was still dangerous, still a chance

402
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:44,840
Speaker 1: of drowning.

403
00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:48,520
Speaker 3: But he did do that successfully. But I mean he did.

404
00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:51,439
Speaker 1: His tricks obviously had to become a little bit more

405
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Speaker 1: extreme as he went because once he became the handcuff king,

406
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Speaker 1: they became a lot of other handcuffed royalty that were

407
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Speaker 1: following him and really copying him.

408
00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:03,400
Speaker 3: And so then he had to move on to other

409
00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:05,280
Speaker 3: tricks and other tricks that were perhaps a bit more

410
00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:06,639
Speaker 3: extreme or a bit more elaborate.

411
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Speaker 2: We'll be back soon to hear what happened to Hu

412
00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:19,960
Speaker 2: Deni next, So stay with us. Tell us now about

413
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:20,919
Speaker 2: his Australian to her.

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Speaker 1: He obviously was very famous when he came to Australia.

415
00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,679
Speaker 1: He'd been very famous for you know, at least ten years,

416
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Speaker 1: and he arrived in Australia back in the start of

417
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Speaker 1: February nine hundred and ten. When he arrived at Fremantle,

418
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Speaker 1: he did an interview. Some enterprising journalists got on the

419
00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:40,439
Speaker 1: ship and did an interview, and he did say that

420
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Speaker 1: he would have dived off the ship into the ocean,

421
00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,320
Speaker 1: but he was scared of sharks. So he arrived in

422
00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:48,760
Speaker 1: Melbourne a few days later and then appeared on stage

423
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Speaker 1: his stage show in Melbourne. I mean he did later

424
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Speaker 1: in life, he did do much longer stage shows and incorporated,

425
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Speaker 1: you know, the sort of traditional magic that he hadn't

426
00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:59,119
Speaker 1: done for a long time. But in Melbourne his stage

427
00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,400
Speaker 1: show was enormous popular, but he was only on stage

428
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Speaker 1: for twenty or twenty five minutes, and he had quite

429
00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:09,639
Speaker 1: a few support acts. There were acrobats and comedians and

430
00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:13,120
Speaker 1: various other people who supported him, and he only did

431
00:20:13,119 --> 00:20:15,840
Speaker 1: about three or four tricks on stage. He got well reviewed,

432
00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:18,080
Speaker 1: although the reviewer did suggest that it would have been

433
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:19,639
Speaker 1: nice if he come back for an encore and just

434
00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,639
Speaker 1: done a few handcuff tricks, because by that stage I

435
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,119
Speaker 1: do refer to the fact that he's noted as a

436
00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:27,600
Speaker 1: handcuff king, but there was not a handcuff in sight.

437
00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,240
Speaker 1: So I mean, he started that show in Melbourne with

438
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Speaker 1: a couple of films actually off him diving chained into rivers,

439
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:37,520
Speaker 1: So there was a couple of films and then he

440
00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:40,600
Speaker 1: did a few different tricks. He had audience members come

441
00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:43,040
Speaker 1: and tie his hands together and in no time he'd

442
00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:47,160
Speaker 1: undone those He did a trick in a straight jacket,

443
00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,679
Speaker 1: or he released himself from a straight jacket, and that

444
00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:53,800
Speaker 1: was not so much a trick, more just an ability

445
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:58,000
Speaker 1: to manipulate his shoulders and to work around with the

446
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,520
Speaker 1: straight jacket. And you know, they refer to the fact

447
00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:03,360
Speaker 1: that it appeared as though there were policemen there tightening

448
00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:06,439
Speaker 1: the straight jacket, and you can see films on YouTube

449
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,879
Speaker 1: in fact of various efforts he made doing straight jacket

450
00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,720
Speaker 1: escapes and the various early policemen tightening it up to

451
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:16,200
Speaker 1: a great extent. So that was something that he did

452
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,159
Speaker 1: off and he did things behind a screen so he

453
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:20,720
Speaker 1: would be trussed up. They put a screen over the front,

454
00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:23,520
Speaker 1: the band would play, people would sing along, and there'd

455
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,480
Speaker 1: be anticipation, and then he would suddenly appear holding the

456
00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:27,600
Speaker 1: straight jacket in his hand.

457
00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,120
Speaker 3: But his main trick was one that he'd done.

458
00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:32,800
Speaker 1: With his wife Beatrice since about eight ninety five, which

459
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,520
Speaker 1: was called I think metamorphosis, and that was where he

460
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,680
Speaker 1: was locked in a big trunk or a cupboard and

461
00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:41,000
Speaker 1: he would perhaps have. In this case, he had a

462
00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:42,720
Speaker 1: coat from a member of the crowd and someone had

463
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 1: tied his hands and he was locked away, and I

464
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:48,400
Speaker 1: think he was secured in a bag and locked away

465
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,280
Speaker 1: in the cupboard or the cabinet, and a screen was

466
00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:53,959
Speaker 1: put across and then lie and behold he would appear,

467
00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:56,600
Speaker 1: screen will be taken back. He would then make a

468
00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,679
Speaker 1: big play of untrusting the cabinet that had chains all

469
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,960
Speaker 1: over it, and his wife or his assistant Beatrice would

470
00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:05,399
Speaker 1: appear in the coke with a hands bound as well.

471
00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:07,280
Speaker 1: So even though that was a bit of a trick,

472
00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:09,679
Speaker 1: there was probably a false back in the cupboard. It

473
00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:11,960
Speaker 1: also had to be done very very quickly, and the

474
00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:14,679
Speaker 1: showmanship was that sort of play of this is so

475
00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:16,760
Speaker 1: hard to unlock and things like that.

476
00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:19,760
Speaker 2: So tell us now about his famous dive into the

477
00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:20,640
Speaker 2: era in Melbourne.

478
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,240
Speaker 1: Andrew, Yeah, Well it was on the seventeenth of February

479
00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:26,000
Speaker 1: nine hundred and ten a Coensbridge and he had twenty

480
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: thousand people turn up to watch him dive into the era.

481
00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,680
Speaker 1: And there's photos of him being handcuffed and the paper

482
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,080
Speaker 1: refers to him as being chained, handcuffed and peglocked and

483
00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 1: he's there in his swimsuit and he jumps off, and

484
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:41,720
Speaker 1: then a couple of minutes later he appears holding the

485
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 1: handcuffs and chains triumphantly in his hand and been picked up.

486
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:45,840
Speaker 3: By a boat.

487
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:48,800
Speaker 1: So it was all over relatively quickly, as you would imagine,

488
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:50,320
Speaker 1: because he's holding his breath underwater.

489
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:53,560
Speaker 3: But it created obviously a huge.

490
00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:56,440
Speaker 1: Sensation and a huge amount of publicity for his ongoing shows,

491
00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:58,800
Speaker 1: and that was something he tended to do in most

492
00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:00,159
Speaker 1: parts of the world.

493
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:00,639
Speaker 3: Did he to it?

494
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,240
Speaker 1: He certainly did it in Sydney as well. One of

495
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,280
Speaker 1: the things that I suspect is probably not true, but

496
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,000
Speaker 1: he's reported much later in papers and in books, is

497
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:13,520
Speaker 1: that supposedly there was a dead body caught on branches

498
00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:15,560
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the era and he dislodged it.

499
00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:18,000
Speaker 1: But given that it's not reported in the papers, I

500
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,120
Speaker 1: suspect that might be apocryphal.

501
00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:22,320
Speaker 3: But anyway, it's another bit to add to his legend.

502
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:24,160
Speaker 2: Oh how was ah?

503
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:24,640
Speaker 3: Now?

504
00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:27,480
Speaker 2: There are photos of his dive in the State Library collection,

505
00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:28,960
Speaker 2: aren't there? Can you tell us about those?

506
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:32,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are there's photos of him sort of leaping in,

507
00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:35,960
Speaker 1: you know, to your photos actually showing him being handcuffed

508
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,040
Speaker 1: by a barly policeman and then leaping into the Era

509
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:43,480
Speaker 1: and then emerging triumphant being carried with in a rowboat

510
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,399
Speaker 1: back to shore. So that is a great record of

511
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:49,439
Speaker 1: that event. And obviously you know, twenty thousand people turned up,

512
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,159
Speaker 1: which was a pretty big crowd for nine hundred and

513
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,199
Speaker 1: ten to come and just crowd around the Era to

514
00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:55,920
Speaker 1: watch this man jump into the river and a few

515
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:56,840
Speaker 1: minutes later appear.

516
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,320
Speaker 3: So I did create a huge sensation in Melbourne and.

517
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:02,240
Speaker 2: You can only imagine how many of those people then

518
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:04,639
Speaker 2: would have gone out to buy tickets to the show

519
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:06,480
Speaker 2: that night or over the next few days.

520
00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:09,240
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I mean, it was a brilliant piece of publicity

521
00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,160
Speaker 1: that he did in so many cities, and it got

522
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,640
Speaker 1: him enormous press coverage and just you know, absolutely would

523
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:16,920
Speaker 1: have prompted ticket sales.

524
00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,960
Speaker 2: So Andrew, just thinking about what the Yarraw River was

525
00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:23,120
Speaker 2: like in nineteen ten, that in itself must have been

526
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:24,840
Speaker 2: quite the hazard for Houdini.

527
00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:27,480
Speaker 1: It would have been an enormous hazard, I would think,

528
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,399
Speaker 1: because at that stage, there were of course lots of

529
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 1: factories along the Arrow in Collingwood, and lots of their

530
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:35,440
Speaker 1: whatever they were using would end up in the Ara,

531
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,280
Speaker 1: So it was a very fetid body of water, certainly

532
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:40,320
Speaker 1: not as clean as it is today. So I think

533
00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:41,960
Speaker 1: if he escaped in a couple of minutes, that would

534
00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:43,439
Speaker 1: have been a very good thing, because I don't think

535
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 1: you'd want to spend too much time in the water

536
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,400
Speaker 1: because it was a very very polluted waterway at that stage.

537
00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:50,720
Speaker 2: Did he tour us through a regional Victoria or was

538
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:52,560
Speaker 2: he really just traveling through the big cities?

539
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,200
Speaker 1: Well, really only Melbourne and Sydney. So he did about

540
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 1: a month or so in Melbourne and then similar in Sydney,

541
00:24:58,800 --> 00:24:59,840
Speaker 1: and similar shows.

542
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 3: Did different things.

543
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: I mean, one of the things that he always did

544
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 1: was to encourage the public, and again this is a

545
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 1: great publicity thing. Through the newspapers, he would challenge the

546
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:12,560
Speaker 1: public to come up with some sort of trick that

547
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:14,879
Speaker 1: or something that would contain him that he would be

548
00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:17,280
Speaker 1: able to get out of, and various people did that.

549
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:18,560
Speaker 3: You had sailors who.

550
00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:21,960
Speaker 1: Challenged him to get out of knots that they would

551
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,600
Speaker 1: time in, and he took up that challenge and of

552
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,680
Speaker 1: course he did it successfully. He had another one where

553
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,000
Speaker 1: a group of carpenters built a packing case and he

554
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:34,680
Speaker 1: to do with his publicity. He created this poster about

555
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:38,520
Speaker 1: a challenge to Houdini, the undersigning expert carpenters and joiners

556
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,159
Speaker 1: here by challenge you to allow us to constructure large

557
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:43,880
Speaker 1: and secure packing case from one inch tim by making

558
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:45,720
Speaker 1: use of two and a half and three inch flat

559
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:49,159
Speaker 1: headed wire nails. So and then they said they were

560
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 1: going to box that and rope it and nail the ropes,

561
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,119
Speaker 1: and he had it on his poster, and then a

562
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,560
Speaker 1: few days later he appeared on stage secure it in

563
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 1: this box, was put over the front and the band played,

564
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 1: and then he escaped. In about eleven minutes or so,

565
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:07,280
Speaker 1: he'd escaped from that box. And I'm not sure how

566
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:09,640
Speaker 1: he did that, because I think they were fairly genuine challenges,

567
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:12,119
Speaker 1: and some of them in other parts of the world

568
00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,240
Speaker 1: did really challenge him. There was one occasion where somebody

569
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:18,680
Speaker 1: constructed these almost unbreakable handcuffs and it took him about

570
00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 1: an hour and a half to get out, and when

571
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,560
Speaker 1: he got out his hands were all blooded. So he

572
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:24,960
Speaker 1: usually was fairly careful to only take challenges that he

573
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:27,640
Speaker 1: was fairly sure of getting out of. He would often

574
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 1: inspect the proposed challenge apparatus beforehand, but they were still

575
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:35,880
Speaker 1: you know, these were still I think, pretty genuine challenges.

576
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,959
Speaker 1: So whatever tricks he had, and he did have tricks,

577
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:44,479
Speaker 1: but he was extraordinary at extraordinary dexterity and athleticism and

578
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,200
Speaker 1: also bravery to be able to get out of these

579
00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,119
Speaker 1: sort of vines that he was placed in.

580
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,440
Speaker 2: We'll leave part one there for now, but come back

581
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:55,800
Speaker 2: tomorrow for part two of the story of Harry Houdini

582
00:26:56,119 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 2: and our final episode of In Black and White. Thanks

583
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 2: for listening. This has been In Black and White, a

584
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:12,920
Speaker 2: podcast about some of Australia's forgotten characters, written and hosted

585
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,560
Speaker 2: by me Jen Kelly, edited by Harry Hughes, and produced

586
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,639
Speaker 2: by John Tyburton. You can find all the stories and

587
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,560
Speaker 2: photos associated with our episodes at haroldsun dot com dot

588
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:28,760
Speaker 2: au slash ibaw. If you've enjoyed this podcast, we'd love

589
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,919
Speaker 2: you to leave a five star rating on Apple Podcasts.

590
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 2: Even better, leave a review. It's one simple way you

591
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:37,840
Speaker 2: can help us get the word out to more listeners.

592
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:41,919
Speaker 2: Any comments or questions please email me at In Black

593
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:47,480
Speaker 2: and White at Heroldsun dot com dot au. Any clarifications

594
00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 2: or updates will appear in the show notes for each

595
00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:51,040
Speaker 2: episode