LA JOLLA, California — Houdini is a name to conjure with. For many the word “Houdini” is equivalent to ‘magician’. More than eight decades after his premature demise, he is returning to California. Not Houdini per se, but his artifacts, his story and the multiple works which he inspired – originally displayed at The Jewish Museum in New York City. (The show opened October 29, 2010 – approximately the anniversary of his untimely death which is remembered at Halloween time- what a showman! To arrange to die on an annual celebration of mystery, is a trick).
And what about the return ‘to California’: Beginning April 28, 2011, the exhibit can be seen at The Skirball Museum in Los Angeles (through September 04, 2011) and then at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA (from September 30, 2011 through January 16, 2012) Following that, the Houdini exhibition returns to Wisconsin (not Appleton from which he ‘hailed’ and often erroneously said was his birthplace) but to Madison where it will be on view at The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (February 11, 2012 through May 13, 2012).
In fact, Houdini was born in Budapest, Hungary and as far as Appleton was concerned, Houdini was said to remark that his greatest escape was ….from Appleton, Wisconsin. The legendary run-away, runs away to join the circus. Houdini did.
In a sense the master illusionist metamorphsed himself, from an immigrant, runaway, son of an unsuccessful rabbi, who with Houdini ultimately attempted to survive by sewing neckties, and become world-reknown with a name equated to escape artist, daredevil. Houdini was the master of self promotion.
It is likely that afficianados of conjuring will know much about Houdini, and the miraculous escapes witnessed around the world. N.B. He worked for-a-time with a locksmith. His challenge “nothing can hold him” was true until the last. As a skeptic of wonders, he campaigned against ‘spiritualists’ who deceived the gullible, he warned. Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the master of ratiocination, Sherlock Holmes, paradoxically was a believer in the ability of the ‘gifted’ to communicate with the dead. He believed that Houdini had ‘powers’ which modesty prohibited him from acknowledging. Out of respect for Doyle, when Doyle’s second wife channeled with Houdini’s beloved deceased mother, Houdini refrained from calling her a charletan. Doyle’s wife wrote the message that she said was from the here-after in English, with a symbolic crucifix on the top of the page! Houdini’s mother could not speak English and as an Orthodox Jewess, she would never have ‘sent’ a crucifix.
Eexcept for an intense devotion to his mother, Houdini’s Jewish roots were not much manifest. His life partner, Bess Rahmer, was not Jewish. His name Ehrich Weiss was an anglicized phonetically similar version of ‘Errie’ i.e. Harry. In tribute to the great French magician, Robert Houdin, (the father of Modern Magic) he took the name “Harry Houdini”.
Testimony to Houdini’s ambivalence, he had a secret pact with his wife, Bess, that if it were possible he would send a code message in a seance setting on the anniversary of his death. For many years, this ritual was observed with no communication from the beyond. On the last year, disappointed as Bess left the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood where the ceremony took place, there was a sudden and unpredicted torrent flash of rain. A sign? It was not the word that he and Bess had arranged to confirm authenticity (BELIEVE) but believers still put their stock in mysteries.
The Jewish Museum in New York and Yale University Press have published a 280 page hardbound catalogue with contributions, illustrations, essays written by Kenneth Silverman (Houdini biographer) and E.L. Doctorow (famous novelist) et al. The catalogue is available for purchase from the publishers.
The exhibit guest curator was Brooke Camin Rapaport.
In an ironic twist, some might say, Houdini is buried in the Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, New York in a bronze casket fabricated for his buried alive stunt.
A highlight of the Houdini exhibit is entitled “Cremaster 5: The Ehrich Weiss Suite (1997) by Matthew Barney. A room-sized work includes views of an acrylic casket with live pigeons who naturally deface the coffin. The message is that nature endures while life is fleeting. Conversely, one may say that Houdini proved that fame is enduring and universal when emotions are stimulated.
See for yourself. Take advantage of the Jewish-Museum Houdini exhibit when it comes to a locality near you.
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Moskowitz is a freelance writer based in La Jolla
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