h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thank you, Dmitri.
An excellent take well told.

It leaves me wondering if the later, more famous
magician, Harry Houdini, was a relative or simply
using the name to cash in on the fame.


~jwf~

Thanks, jwf.

Harry Houdini (real name Erik Weisz) picked his stage name from Robert-Houdin. Later, he wrote a book 'debunking' Robert-Houdin...let me see if I can find it...

Here it is: http://www.archive.org/details/unmaskingrobert00houdgoog

'The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin'. I don't know what his quarrel was, though. Seems more like professional jealousy to me.

Wow. I just read Houdini's introduction.
The death scene blew me away.
Amazing and poignant.

Thank you for this journey.

~jwf~

I should go back and read it completely, as well, instead of browsing through it. Thanks for the reminder.

If you do read it, I'd like your opinion on the veracity
of that final scene in the Introduction. Houdini was a
master showman (and a convincing writer using the same
dramatic techniques) so I have to wonder if he invented
the drama of the death scene as an act of showmanship.

He was a master of illusion and theatrics and no doubt
his life was as dramatic and exciting as any and probably
more-so than most - but the coincidence he describes are
just on the edge of credibility. I will however accept
them as written if only because it makes a better story.


~jwf~

You know, I had the same thought. I'll bet we can't even prove or disprove that account.

As I keep telling people, these anecdotes improve with repetition. I'm with you - I suspect that's a bit overdramatised.

I've been fascinated by Houdini's research into the history of 'magic'. You know, it's really the history of a kind of engineering. What were those guys building, if they weren't printers, and robots, and the precursors to computers? I'm amazed.

I also suspect that he was right about the exaggerations in Robert-Houdin's memoirs. But, hey, it was an 'as told to' book, and you know how ghostwriters build up suspense. (See our view of Houdini, above. )