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Who do you think fooled houdini by punching him in the stomache before he had time to tighten his muscles?

"fooled" might not be the right word. The guy was basicly a heckeler who killed Houdini.

Heckelers may be (occasionaly) smart, but seldom do they "fool" a magician. Usually they just ruin it for the other specs... or in this case for the rest of the world.

Do you happen to know his name by any chance?

Sorry, I don't know.

The guy's name was Joselyn Whitehead, and the incident itself is not completely cut and dried.

Joselyn Whitehead did strike Houdini repeatedly in the stomach, when Houdini had not prepared himself. Houdini had invited him to, but was going to stand first (he had a broken ankle from performing the water torture escape several days earlier), he had been reclining on a couch for a sketch artist to do a portrait of him.

This may well have aggravated Houdini's appendicitus, which he was not suffering from at the time but which quickly flared up after the
incident.

Houdini struggled through another show that day, and one the following day. He travelled to detroit, and was in bad shape. He didn't manage to complete the show in detroit, retiring during the third act. (He neither collapsed on stage, nor was the axe-man required to hack him out of
the water-torture chamber - both these events are 'poetic licence' by film-makers)

He repeatedly refused medical attention, despite running a temperature of 104F, and being advised that he would need immediate surgery.

When he finally demured and was operated on they found that his appendix had burst, and the infected contents had caused peritonitus - a nasty condition that is easily treatable today, but back in 1926 the lack of antibiotics made his survival chances slim.

He was operated on once more before his death a week later. (31 Oct 1926) More than eight days after Whitehead had struck him.

So Whitehead's blows may have aggravated an existing condition, but they didn't kill him.

It is fairly common, even now, for a sufferer of appendicitus to suffer in silence, believing it to be a 'stomach bug', and find that when they are operated on their appendix has either burst already or is so swollen that it bursts during the operation.

Enough information for you? Search for 'harry houdini life story' on google if you want to know more.

If there was anyone how fouled the great houdini it was the 'professer' Di Vernon he preformed an ambitious move and it is known now as the houdini fouler.

i believe it was the request for houdini to perform his escape from a milk can filled with not milk but beer instead -- so when houdini tried to get air at the top of the can, he engulfed posinous vapors. He had to be axed out of the can.

I remember reading that at a private show for a magic society houdini failed to escape from handcuffs because the type of cuffs used were the ones with a cog wheel and holes in the 'rod'

What someone had done was to put a ball bearing into one of the holes so there was no way at all to remove the cuffs without hacksawing them off later!

regards,
Valentino

Blimey - you guys are getting a bit deep!

The magician who has the reputation of fooling Houdini was indeed the Professor Dai Vernon. He performed what seemed like an impossible ambitious card routine using a diabolical and almost invisible gaffed setup.

Houdini could not possibly fathom it out - even after repeated watching of the effect - and the transposition was so instantaneous it defied any special moves like a pass or a side-jog & steal.

It's interesting to see the other suggestions, though, and I'm sure they hold lots of water - pardon the pun...

This post has encouraged me to dig out my old Houdini biography that I have. It is:

The Secrets of Houdini by J C Cannell
ISBN 0-486-22913-0
Publisher: Dover
Softback 279 pages

I was slightly wrong about the handcuffs. Chapter 2 tells of the event happening at a sideshow during his early career.

The magic society event was even more amusing. At a social gathering for the Magicians' Club of London (he was the President of the club at that time) there was a power cut during his show. On trying to find the meter to fix the fuse they found the cellar door locked. Houdini pulled out a collection of fake keys that he always carried and proceded to pick the lock. But after a long failed attempt he turned round to his spectators and said:

"Fetch some candles and get on with the show."

As well as being a great biography of his life the book also goes into great depth on how he achieved his illusions and stunts and includes many drawings and photos.

regards,
Valentino

Hi there,

New to the forum so I hope you don't mind if I throw in my tuppence worth - and I notice that this is an old thread.

It's true that Dai Vernon has been credited as 'the magician that fooled Houdini', but this accolade can also be given to Emil Jarrow, a magician on the Keith Vaudville circuit who in 1922 'fooled' Houdini with a vanish.

Houdini subsequently used the effect as part of his 'medium bashing' and demonstrated it to a group of New York magicians in May 1923.

( I won't go into details as I'm new to the forum and don't want to hack people off - If folks out there are genuinely interested e-mail me and I can give you the details).

Cheers
The Wizard.

firstly id like to welcome you to the forum, especially as your scottish... heh heh

and for one id definately be interested in hearing more about this

Yup! More details please!

Information freely exchanged is one of the strengths of this Forum - and it makes a change from Aardvarks!

i have scotish family mog does that count ??

please indulge us, we like to hear from anyone, they even let me ramble on mostly to myself at 3am, all alone on this message board

please fill my boring life (when I'm not doing kids parties), i need mental stimulation, my wife having died several years ago.

you've peeked my interest please please go on thnxs.