Houdini and Spiritualism, need some help

[James196471]

Alright, I'm doing a 1500 word term paper and decided to write about Houdini and the three greatest factors in his success and fame. I've come to the conclusion that they are: His image or character, involvement with law enforcement, and exposure of spiritualism. Right now I've got the first two pretty much down, but I'm having trouble finding things on spiritualism. So what do I do when I have the rest of the class laughing at my topic and need to know more about Houdini's debunking of spiritualists? I come to my magical friends over here at Theory11 for help. So if any of you guys could give me a summary, list anti-spiritualism pamphlets written by Houdini or list some of the more important events that would be most appreciated. I have Kalush and Sloman's "The Secret Life of Houdini: The making of America's first Superhero" and access to Questia.com, so book names and page #s would be great too. I also understand that Chris Kenner has contributed to the aforementioned biography, so if you drop by, please help me out.

Thanks in advance!
James

 

[burnin_ice]

try watching the movie entitled "Death defying acts"

It's also about houdini and his link to spiritualism.

 

[Brad Henderson]

Perhaps the real secret of Houdini's success was who he was, when he was.

Houdini portrayed himself as a first generation descendant of immigrants. While he was actually born in Hungary, he rewrote his past to proclaim that he was born in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Houdini, then, was one of the people. He, like them, was only one steppremoved from foreign birth. He would have known what it was like to be brought up the victim of oppression and discrimination. He knew that while America was the Land of Opportunity, it was also fraught with challenges. He grew up poor. He was one of the people.

So, when this Jewish, son of an immigrant walked onstage and proclaimed "No chains can hold him" he wasn't just talking about links of metal. He was a living symbol of his time. A promise that with hard work and dedication, no matter who you are or where you came from, no matter the burdens you face or the oppression you feel, you too can break free.

Houdini was the right person in the right place at the right time.

He became a symbol for an age.

Brad Henderson

 

[mattjones]

I watched a documentary called "Houdini: Unlocking the Mystery" on the History channel and it had a lot of good information about his life, but I'm not sure if you can watch it in time to finish your paper...
Here are some highlights: http://www.history.com/media.do?id=holidays_halloween_houdini_broadband&action=clip

Hope I helped,
Matt

 

[Chr!s]

How About...

how about getting the book 'houdini on magic'. In it, houdini details the methods used by fake spiritualist mediums, and the methods he employed to expose and debunk them. it is written by the man himself.

C!

 

[RikAllen]

I dont know when your paper is due. I have the book 'The Secret Life of Houdini' and one thing that stuck out to me was his failures actually boosted his career.

Two examples being: He was doing a challenge escape from handcuffs-that ended up being plugged so they were impossible to open. He struggled for hours and by the time he gave up the audience was gone-but his show sold out for the remainder of its time in the city.

The second being when he accidentally left the key to his metamorphosis trunk backstage and trapped his wife inside. The panic lead to them almost destroying the trunk-but the suspense and i guess sense of danger helped to bring in bigger crowds.

The revelation that making escapes look difficult instead of going behind a curtain and popping them off quickly also made his shows more appealing.

I would recommend you get and read the book (as well as the ones mentioned above) if you like Houdini (maybe after you write the paper.)