More on Houdini & Kellar

I just posted a blog about Harry Kellar and Harry Houdini over at Carnegie: Magic Detective. But I wanted to write a bit more about these two performers. For whatever reason I can't get enough of Kellar and Houdini. The more I find out about each of them, the more interesting they become.

Kellar of course was the first big named magician in America. Robert Heller and Herrmann the Great preceded him, but Heller was English and Herrmann was from France. Kellar was born in Erie PA so he was a native born son. It's said that Harry Kellar was the inspiration for the character of the Wizard in the Wizard of OZ. His posters SOLD his show. He was around before radio/TV/internet/movies, all of it. He had newspapers and outdoor signage and that was it.

There are a number of effects in Kellar's show that have always intrigued me, probably because I saw posters for them when I was starting out in magic and the images stuck with me. Two in particular were Flyto and OH!. Flyto was an illusion invented by Charles Morritt and it consisted of two upright rectangular cabinets on the stage set several feet apart. A woman would go into one and a man into the other and instantly they would change places.

OH! was kind of a challenge vanish, I think that's the best way to describe it. Both of these effects, with their original methods would probably not work well today but they deserve looking into and I'm doing just that! I can tell you there is something I'm borrowing from Kellar that will be part of my show later in the year. I can't wait!

HOUDINI amazes me about once a day. I would never have imagined that after all these years, new things about Houdini would continually show up. But new photos, new posters, new information on Houdini comes up all the time! Just tonight my friend John Cox over at WildaboutHoudini sent me a link to a Houdini photo I'd never seen. I'm hoping that eventually some of the lost Houdini posters and even props show up again.

In regards to his performing material I've always been intrigued with the escapes but lately it's his magic that is pulling me in. I never in a million years considered doing the East Indian Needle Trick, but I'm giving it some serious consideration now. It's an effect that has danger (real danger) and suspense and it appears totally impossible. It's frankly brilliant and Houdini recognized the trick for how powerful it was. He would do it in newspaper offices, he even did it on the stage at the Hippodrome Theatre, one of the largest stages in the world! Watch for it in my act, because it's coming.

Houdini's Walking Through a Brick wall is another piece that is simply genius. Though I don't expect to Walk Through a Brick Wall anytime soon (it won't fit in my Van). And frankly, I have a new found respect for the Milk Can after having done a ton of research on it. The Milk Can restarted a stalled career for Houdini and then when he was ready to replace it with the Water Torture Cell, he found continual uses for the Milk Can.

It's funny that Houdini and Kellar didn't really become friends until after Kellar retired. Houdini always looked up to Kellar which is amazing in itself because Houdini didn't really look up to anyone, at least not in the magic world.

But their relationship is a valuable lesson. No matter how big you get, there is always someone out there you can look up to. No matter how famous you are, there are people out there that you can admire.

There is one more lesson. Examining their lives is a great help to modern performers. Studying their contrasting styles and approaches to magic reveals so much incredible and useful information for the modern performer. As a working magician, or even as a hobbyist, you just can't go wrong studying those that came before us. I do, and I'm constantly inspired by these unbelievable showman of yesterday.

If you are interested in learning more about Houdini or Kellar here is a list of books that will help you.  I used all these books and a few others in my research for blog at Carnegie:Magic Detective on Harry Kellar and Houdini

Books on Kellar
Kellars Wonders by Mike Caveney and Bill Miesel, MAGIC Words Publishing
A Magician's Tour-Revisited by Harry Kellar and Phil Temple
Illustrated Magic by Ottokar Fischer
The Illustrated History of Magic by Milbourne Christopher
MAGIC A Pictorial History by David Price

Books on Houdini
The Secret Life of HOUDINI by Bill Kalush and Larry Sloman
HOUDINI: The Career of Erich Weiss by Kenneth Silverman
HOUDINI The Untold Story by Milbourne Christopher
HOUDINI Art and Magic by Brooke Kamin Rapaport
HOUDINI The Key by Houdini's Ghost/Patrick Culliton