The Adventurous Life of a Versatile Artist: Houdini

By Good Press

"The Adventurous Life of a Versatile Artist: Houdini" by Anonymous. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: May 19, 2021
• ISBN: 4057664607492

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Anonymous

The Adventurous Life of a Versatile Artist: Houdini

Published by Good Press, 2022

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EAN 4057664607492

Table of Contents

OFFICIAL POLICE NEWS FROM GERMANY! HARRY HOUDINI, THE AMERICAN HANDCUFF KING, SUES THE COLOGNE POLICE FOR LIBEL, AND WINS!!!

HOW HE PICKED THE MIRROR HANDCUFFS IN ONE HOUR AND TEN MINUTES.

MIGHTY AUDIENCE.

HOUDINI HANDCUFFED.

FALSE HOPE OVERTHROWN.

A WELCOME CONCESSION.

FROCK COAT SACRIFICED.

VICTORY.

AN EPISODE IN HOUDINI'S LIFE.

Condemned Murderers Released by Houdini.

OUT OF GUITEAU CELL.

CROWD QUICKLY GATHERS

PONDEROUS BARRED DOORS.

PRISONERS ARE DUMBFOUNDED

SOME OF THE GREAT FEATS ACCOMPLISHED BY HOUDINI.

WIZARD IN GAOL.

SURRENDERS TO POLICE.

STARTLED PRISONER

ANOTHER EXPERIMENT

SECOND ESCAPE

Houdini Outwits Fiji Islander Swimming Champion.

HISTORICAL LOCK PICKERS.

2,000 HISS J. WILLARD.

Half-an-hour with Houdini, THE EXPERT OF EXTRICATION

THE HANDCUFF KING

A TENSE MOMENT

HIS GREATEST STUNT

Minister uses Houdini's name for Sermon

20,000 People see Houdini Thrilling Air Struggle.

WIZARD IS ON TIME

EVERY MOVE IS WATCHED

STRAPS ARE FASTENED

HANGS IN MID-AIR

A STAND FOR JUSTICE Houdini's Protest

HOUDINI ESCAPES FROM CITY PRISON

CLOSELY SEARCHED FOR KEYS.

THE LITERARY HOUDINI

HOUDINI PICTURE CORPORATION

Scenes from Photoplays

Picture Plays, Confessions Album. No. 14.—MR. HARRY HOUDINI

How does he do it?

(Revised 1922 Edition).

HARRY HOUDINI, the World's Handcuff King and amazing Prison Breaker, a title universally and unanimously bestowed upon him, has had a career as adventurous and romantic as the most imaginative writer could possibly conjure.

Indeed, this wonderful genius, with a science concerning bolts, bars, locks, and chains that will yet revolutionize the world's methods of safeguarding itself against the men that prowl in the night, confirms the truth of the ancient adage that truth is stranger than fiction.

Just remember for a moment that he is the man to whom the shrewdest police, the sharpest detectives, and the most watchful jail wardens look with awe and anxiety.

And they are eminently right in this attitude of disquiet, because they know that buried in the brain of Houdini lies the secret of an unknown power he alone possesses that makes their prisons as powerless as Japanese screens, and renders their multiple-locking handcuffs, leg irons, and all the other prison paraphernalia, no more binding than store twine.

Suppose the innate and inherent integrity of character that Houdini possesses, in common with most men brought up within the circle of a mother's sweet influence, were to be swept aside by the desire for riches not his own. There are many men of many millions to-day whose money is not their own. Suppose he should be captured by a band of desperate men determined to wrest from Houdini this secret worth millions. Suppose a great hypnotist were to obtain dominance over this mystery-enveloped genius and use his baneful powers for evil designs. What then?

A slight knowledge of the marvels Houdini has accomplished mixed with a little imagination would create as many more suppositions of this kind as this book could contain.

But, to be brief, admitting the possibility of the happening of any of these suppositious instances, and you will gain a clear idea of the extraordinary character and quality of Houdini's powers. It is often the best way to see the full scope of a cause by carefully ascertaining its effect. This analytical method is equally applicable to Houdini, and recognizing the harm he would receive were his secrets confided to unworthy hands, you gain an adequately impressive idea of the enormity of responsibility that rests upon him.

Time and time again Houdini has encountered such perils, and in every case he owes his life and the preservation of his secret to his extraordinary acuteness of perception, to his marvelous knowledge of human nature, to his physical prowess that is far greater than appears from a merely superficial inspection, and, last and greatest of all, to the fact that the majority of people witnessing his wonders attribute a quasi supernatural power.

His press clipping books teems with stories proving the truth of one and all of these assertions. To glance over its pages enchains the reader's attention more closely that if he were absorbing an exciting romance. Accounts of thrilling jail-breaking feats are pasted beside stirring chronicling of handcuff escapes. Columns upon columns of laudatory press criticisms crowd colored cartoons and caricatures that connect Houdini and the great men of Europe in the great political crisis of the last few years.

It being true that genius is but the capacity for hard work, then it is only a proper introductory tribute to Houdini to state that he is not a mushroomgrowth, sprouting and decaying in a night.

In the development and perfection of his astounding powers over metallic components Houdini has labored as tirelessly as Galileo constructing his astronomical theory, as Stephenson building the first locomotive, as Edison bringing to view the telephone, as Marconi revealing the wireless telegraph.

How does he do it? is the universal query.

Of course, he does not, he dare not tell what exertions of power, natural or supernatural, he makes in freeing himself from handcuffs, and in escaping from the dungeons that have held felons until the grave finally hid them forever.

Guesses are multiplied many, many times by all sorts and conditions of men and women.