How much do you know about Harry Houdini?? We start off October with the story of the most famous magician of all time; we feel very lucky that he was working at the beginning of cinema and at a time when we can have photos of him and his stunts. The choppy silent footage and the stage makeup add just the perfect touch of mystery to his already impressive mystique. Learn how this Hungarian Immigrant to the US toured the world and amazed kings, queens, tzars, and presidents with his illusions! Before tragically passing away on Halloween!
How much do you know about Harry Houdini?? We start off October with the story of the most famous magician of all time; we feel very lucky that he was working at the beginning of cinema and at a time when we can have photos of him and his stunts. The choppy silent footage and the stage makeup add just the perfect touch of mystery to his already impressive mystique.
Learn how this Hungarian Immigrant to the US toured the world and amazed kings, queens, tzars, and presidents with his illusions! Before tragically passing away on Halloween!
Sources:
Houdini: The Elusive American (Jewish Lives) - https://www.amazon.com/Houdini-Elusive-American-Jewish-Lives/dp/0300230796
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/278-W-113th-St-New-York-NY-10026/31547703_zpid/?
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of state of California versus Orenthal James Simpson, case number ba zero nine. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not.
>> Farz: What your country can do for you.
>> Taylor: Ask what you can do for your country.
>> Farz: And we are back.
Taylor: Happy Wednesday! Hello. Welcome. How are you doing
Taylor, happy Wednesday. How are you doing?
>> Taylor: I'm good. How are you?
>> Farz: I'm doing very, very well. Excited to be here. Excited for another exciting day and episode.
>> Taylor: I know last week we recorded late and we released on Tuesday and Thursday. And when we do that, it confuses me. The entire week on, like, Wednesdays, I have a heart attack that I haven't posted anything yet. And then I'm like, oh, wait, it's going to be Thursday. And like, it just like, this is such a. Such a thing they do every week that when I don't do it, I'm like, what's happening? Is it.
>> Farz: Has it always been me who's messed up our schedule? It has, hasn't it?
>> Taylor: No, I've definitely done it as well.
>> Farz: Okay, well, it's not the only one.
>> Taylor: Don't worry. Yeah. Well, Hello. We are doomed to fail. Welcome. We bring you history's most notorious disasters and epic failures twice a week, every week. Today is Wednesday, probably. And I'm Taylor, joined by far.
>> Farz: Yes, I'm here. It is probably Wednesday. Hopefully it is Wednesday. If not, who cares?
>> Taylor: We definitely got feedback that was like, no one gives a shit what day it is. I'm like, I know someone really?
>> Farz: Did someone really say that?
>> Taylor: Juan said that. My husband said that.
>> Farz: he's right. He's right. It's. It's good because it's an accountability metric for ourselves, but nobody else cares.
>> Taylor: And you can listen to this any day of the week.
>> Farz: It's on the. It's. It's, ah. It's wherever. Wherever you listen, whatever.
>> Taylor: Whatever you want. You do whatever you want. You're free.
>> Farz: and today is a you story day, right?
>> Taylor: Mm
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: Okay. Ready?
>> Farz: Yes.
>> Taylor: I have to scroll to the top of my Google Doc. Hello. Okay, I'm gonna try to do spooky things because it's how. It's October. We've been watching scary movies, and that's been very fun. And, I did put out a TikTok and ask if anyone had any spooky stories that we should cover. And someone suggested the Kansas City skywalk thing that you already did, which is nice. Thanks for the session. Yeah, definitely crazy. And then also the bell witch, which I know that one was super fun, too. So maybe both. So, yeah, we talked about the bell witch, for a second, because Andrew Jackson went to visit her for some reason. and so, yeah, that's a good one. So let's think of. And I'm just trying to think of scary things. If there's one that you have, let me know. But I want to talk about one that is, like, a little bit spooky, but mostly just really, really fun. And I'm glad that I read a book and learned a little bit about this person.
Today we're going to talk about the most famous magician of all time
so today I'm going to tell you about the most famous magician of all time. Can you tell me who it is?
>> Farz: It's got to be Houdini because it's playing on Copperfield.
>> Taylor: It's Houdini. We do mention Copperfield, but it is Houdini.
>> Farz: Nice.
>> Taylor: I watched a YouTube video and I read a book. so Houdini feels like, to me, a person that you can't really place in time. Can you guess when. When he was famous?
>> Farz: It had to be, like, the 1890s or something.
>> Taylor: Yeah, he was born in the. He was born in 1874, so it's, like, 1890s, early 19 hundreds. And I feel like. I feel there were, like, magicians and illusionists before him that we'll talk about. And they're also, you know, obviously there's stuff now, but I feel like he was just, like, at the perfect time when, like, the media was starting. Like, we have great photographs of him. We have video of him doing shit, like, dropping off a bridge and, like, getting out of handcuffs underwater. And it was just, like, the very beginning of all that stuff, which I think is really cool. And I think that may be why. Part of the reason why he's so famous is because he was the first one you could see, like, really accessibly, you know, like, he'd be in, like, a newsreel, that kind of thing. Yeah.
>> Farz: Makes sense.
>> Taylor: You know what I mean? So, yeah. And this kind of illusion is something you have to, like, really, you have to be there in person and, like, see it to believe it, which is, like, fun, because you have to get the. Or get the sense that it's done live. You know what I mean? Like a magic trick in a movie. You're like, oh, well, they can use movie things, but, like, you have to get the sense that it's happening live. Otherwise you don't believe it, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've been to magic shows in Vegas, and, I mean, when you see it on tv actually now, it's probably just as fine. But, like, back then, they didn't have the production value that we have now.
>> Taylor: In, like, in person.
>> Farz: Well, yeah. So, like, I mean, Houdini, you record what he's doing. I don't think you get the sense of the grandiosity of it if it's being recorded because their cameras were basically someone drawing it by hand, I assume.
>> Taylor: Yes. And, you know. Yeah. And there's no sound, and, like, it's all kind of choppy, you know, like. Like a silent film, you know, it's kind of like a weird thing. Yeah. That reminds me. Was it Diva Copperfield where someone sued him because they broke their ankle running underneath the stage or something? There was, like, a thing where, like, he moves an entire section of the audience during a bit, and it's like they're on the stage and then da da da da da. they're behind the rest of the audience. And what they do is they, like, go underneath the stage and they run, and then they're at the other side. But one guy, like, fell and hurt himself, and so he sued. But then they had to tell everybody how they did it.
>> Farz: Oh, that sucks. I think that must have been the Statue of Liberty one.
>> Taylor: It wasn't the Statue of Liberty because it was in Vegas, but I know Liberty one, it was just because, like, they moved the camera a tiny bit.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah.
>> Taylor: Or, like, the island or whatever.
Harry Houdini was born in Budapest on March 24, 1874
So, anyway, Harry Houdini would say he was born in Wisconsin, but he very much was not. He was born in Budapest on March 24, 1874, which makes him an Aries. I've never looked that up before, but I feel like I wanted to know his sign.
>> Farz: I don't know anything about signs, so I'll just go with, me either.
>> Taylor: But I felt like I really wanted to know. And so he's in aries. obviously, his mother didn't name him Harry Houdini, but his name was Eric Weiss, and he came to America following his father, who was a rabbi. His dad came to America first, and then the rest of the family came after they would end up in Wisconsin. In 1878, when Houdini, was four, they changed his name from Eric Weiss to Eric Weiss. It's just spelled very, very differently, but it's pronounced pretty much the same. To try to. Try to, like, americanize it a little bit. his dad was sort of a, He would be a rabbi for a little bit. He would have other sort of odd jobs. He never was, like, super successful. But one thing that Houdini does throughout his life is he makes his own myth. He's building it as he's living. So he would call his father, you know, a PhD and a doctor and an author and all these things that he wasn't. But he really wanted to like give him dad accolades that he didn't earn. Does that make sense? Just like he talked him up a lot.
>> Farz: It's the immigrant story.
>> Taylor: Yeah, exactly. So he lived in Appleton, Wisconsin, and he's one of seven children. one of his siblings lived until 1962, which I still think is just wild. It's wild when like history catches up, you know, that's like the weirdest time.
>> Farz: Because you're like, you were born like right after the civil war. Then you witness World War one, witness world War two. It's like you, you were part of like everything.
>> Taylor: I know. What a time to be alive. totally. so he's a child, obviously during a crazy time to be a child. and when he was twelve, he left his family to find a job. He became a trapeze artist kind of on his own. So imagine like a little street kid being like, hey, I'm gonna do some magic tricks and do some tricks and stuff. So he was doing that like trying to keep, you know, had like the personality of a performer. He always wanted to do that. He ended up coming back to his family and they all moved to New York City.
>> Farz: I was going to say when you were telling me that, I was like, I just kept seeing the little rascals in New York City.
>> Taylor: Exactly. It's exactly like that. Yes. And he lived in a tenement, in the Upper east side with his family. And there is a great book that I read a while ago called how the other half lives studies among the tenements of New York by Jacob Reese. He wrote it in 1890 and it's a good descriptor of what it was like to live in these tenements where like, you are living in a small room and everyone is rolling cigars and that's your job, you know? And I mean everyone, I mean, like the two year old is doing that as well. Just these like really, really deplorable conditions that entire families were living in, in a lot of these places. just as an aside, Teddy Roosevelt read that book and when he became police commissioner, he would go and visit the tenements and like kind of see how he could help. it's just like an interesting aside of what life was like in New York City. Like just kind of a wild time. it's mentioned early and often when you read about Houdini how fit he was. he did a lot of his tricks, like, either naked or mostly naked because the clothes would have been, like, impeding to, like, jumping in a river, you know, and trying to get handcuffs off. he had to be really physical fit. Like, he could hold his breath for you, you know, over three minutes. He, was a short. He was short. He was five'six. but he was like a little guy with a hot bod. He's definitely early. 19 hundreds. Handsome. So people were like, you know, they would go to see him partially because he was good looking. I think the thing that is jarring looking at photos of him from our side is the grandpa Munster hair.
>> Farz: You know, I'm not looking at a picture of him. I'm trying to picture that. I, do remember it's like a.
>> Taylor: It's like a side part and then, like, down and, like. But it's like, face is handsome. Not that matters, but I'm just saying.
>> Farz: Oh, yeah. No, I do remember seeing pictures of him and was like, this guy is, like, jacked for, like, 2024.
>> Taylor: He's jacked?
>> Farz: Yeah, like, he's you. He looks like he would be on steroids today, but they had no steroids, so he literally just did this himself.
>> Taylor: Yeah. And a lot of it. I'll tell you kind of why.
>> Farz: He's like, they don't have bench presses, then they don't have hacks. Hacks. squats back then. They don't have power racks. Like, they had. No, none of the stuff that we have right now they had back then. So what was he doing? Just lifting elephants? Like, I don't.
>> Taylor: They're like. They're like rocky in Russia. Like, chopping wood, you know? yeah, I don't know.
That kind of reminds me. This is about the Titanic time
That kind of reminds me. This is about the Titanic time. Have you ever seen pictures of, like, the gym on the Titanic?
>> Farz: Yeah, it looks like shit.
>> Taylor: That's what I mean, you know, maybe he's doing stuff like that. I don't know. He's jacked. He's a strong little guy.
Harry Houdini learns about magic from Jean Eugene Robert Houdin
so now the Weiss family is in New York City, and Harry starts to get into magic. This is vaudeville time, so you can be a vaudeville performer. You just kind of have to show up like little rascals. and he learns about magic or illusions. And a lot of it is from a man that you maybe have never heard of. I think it's because he's a little bit older. but there is a man named Jean Eugene Robert Houdin, who was born in 1805 in France. and Houdin. Robert Houdin was one of the first stage magicians. So he was a clockmaker and could and learn how to do fun things where, like, this is a trick that Houdini will do as well, where, like, he has his son on stage blindfolded, and then he, like, takes something from an audience member, and his son guesses what it is. But it's like, ah, you know, he'll be holding a watch and be like, oh, what is this? And the kid will be like, it's a watch. And it's like, speech patterns and things that they're telling each other that lets the kid know what he is looking at. but he's one of the first people to do that. also, Robert Houdin was one of the first people to take advantage of electromagnetism. So he could do things like have a box, like an iron box that a kid could lift up and then magnetize it to the ground and a man couldn't lift it up. That was magic. You know what I mean? M so he do stuff like that. obviously, Houdini heard about this dude and was like, that's a cool, creepy name. So I love it. So he changed his name to Harry Houdini in, like, reference of Robert Houdin, who was french. and then later, for no reason at all, really, Houdini wrote a book about how much Robert Houdini was a hack and how much he doesn't like him, even though he never met him and got a lot of inspiration from him. But he had wrote a book about, like, exposing his tricks, which people think is a little weird and mean.
>> Farz: Yes.
>> Taylor: Why would you do that after, but now Houdini is still young, trying to be magician inside shows. He has that personality. People really like him. He's okay at card tricks. but he's not the best. So he's trying to think of something else to do. he works with his brother, Theodore Harding, whose name is actually Friedrich Weiss. his name is. They call him Dash. So him and Dash are magicians together. his brother looks just like him, but bigger. There's, like, a bigger version of him. And they would also do things in the future that is going to be like the Houdini brothers rivalry, blah, blah, blah. But, like, they never were really rivals. It was just for the show, you know? M so dash, his brother, went on a date with a young woman named Bess Ranner, and she ended up marrying Harry, which, you know, sometimes you go on a date with the wrong brother. Wrong brother. and Bess, would become his assistant immediately, and she would be his assistant for the rest of his life. She, was also very small. She was 411, which is very helpful. Like, I think it'd be a lot harder to do these things if you were 7ft tall.
>> Farz: It seems like bank. Then everybody was kind of that small. Yeah, she's very irish with, like, rickety bones and.
>> Taylor: Exactly. They never have kids. And there's like, you know, people will always want to speculate why, you know? but one of the speculations is that she was so small and never fully matured. Like, maybe she didn't have her period and couldn't have kids, you know, so she's like, she's very little.
>> Farz: They still want kids, or maybe they.
>> Taylor: Still don't want kids, definitely. so they would do things, the same thing that Robert Houdin did. They would do all the time where, Bess would be on the stage and Houdini would go into the audience and he would talk to the person and everything he was saying. The words that he said matched the letter of the Alphabet to her, so she would know what he was holding, you know, so it was like a complicated thing where he was like, hello, ma'am, I love your hat. And if he said hat, that meant that there was, like a cue, you know, or whatever. So that would, like. That's how she would figure out what he was trying to, like, psychically say to her, okay. You know, but it was just like a speech pattern. He'd be like, hello. Pause, pause. Da da da. And the pause pause meant a certain thing, you know, interesting. I wouldn't say pause, but you know what I mean? It was like a code back to her. so they would do that a lot. and then he started to find out that he was really good at escaping from things. And people loved to see that in person. They'd love to see the escapism m. They loved to see escape artists. So that's where he became really, really good. And he started to travel and he went to Europe with Bess to try to make a name for themselves there. he was called the handcuff king, for a while because he could get out of handcuffs and it was like, not like his own handcuffs, either. There would be, like, the chief of police of the town he was at would put him in handcuffs and he'd get out of them. he traveled all over Europe and to Russia. Unfortunately, he did not meet Rasputin. I was like, oh, my God, did he meet Rasputin? But he met, Tsar Nicholas and Alexander two years before they met Rasputin.
>> Farz: If he had met Rasputin, Rasputin would have, like, stolen all of his tricks and just, like, made them his own.
>> Taylor: I just, like, I wish that that would have happened. I'm bummed that they never met. he would do things, like, when he went to a town, he would go first, like, to announce himself. He would go to the jail and then have himself locked in a cell with his clothes in a different cell. So, like, maybe naked, maybe in his undies. Like, he had, like, you know, boxers on. And then the police officers would lock him in the cell, lock his clothes in a different cell. They'd handcuff him in the cell, and then they'd go back to, like, the. I don't know, whatever, the lobby of the police station. And by the time they get back, sometimes he'd be there fully dressed already.
>> Farz: Can you just walk into a jail and say, put me in the jail and put my clothes in the other cell?
>> Taylor: Maybe not anymore. Maybe they'd be like. Maybe they'd be like, well, you can definitely come in a cell, but, like, I don't think you're gonna get out.
Houdini escaped without his clothes the first time
>> Farz: Right. Right. And it's not gonna be voluntary.
>> Taylor: Yeah. No. Once you lock you in there, you're in there. But he, like, the first time he did it, they only knew he escaped. He escaped without his clothes the first time. And they only knew he escaped because someone from the hotel that he, was staying at called the police station to have his clothes sent over, which was hilarious. And they were like, what? We can't believe it. Sometimes he would just be, like, knocked out the window and be like, what's up? Sometimes he'd come out handcuffed to another prisoner that he escaped. So he'd be like, oh, I got this guy out, too. And they'd be like, ta da.
>> Farz: And that guy, was your trick involved? Or he just, like, would slip through the bars.
>> Taylor: I think he just had. And we'll talk a little bit about what he did, but I think he just had, like, hidden lock picks around, you know, really good at picking locks really fast. It's, also, like, speed. A lot of it is speed, and a lot of it is, like, hidden things. this is also where he learned about straight jackets. So he was, like, in a jail trying to figure out how to get out of it, and then saw someone in a straight jacket for the first time and was like, give me one of those. And would start, to practice to do that. But the straitjacket thing is, part of his being, like, really physically fit is what he would do is he would, like, fill his lungs and, like, stretch out all of his muscles and stretch out his arms when they were putting him in the straightjacket so that he could relax a little bit and have a little bit of room, you know? So, like, part of that is, like, he made himself as big as possible. So they can make the straight jacket as tight as possible, and then he could make it a little smaller and then, like, be able to, like, wiggle a little bit better. so now people start to love it. They. This is, like, a huge thing all over Europe. His salary goes from, like, not a lot to, in our money, like, half a million dollars a year. He was taking $11,000 a week in our money. So he's making a ton of money. He's, also starting to collect things and start to, like, build his own. His own myth. So he will. He writes in a diary. He sends things back home, like playbills and posters. he also sends himself postcards from the places he goes to, which is a cute idea to send yourself a postcard from somewhere if you're traveling. and a lot of it was exaggeration, but this is, again, part of his myth making. so he and Bess are doing well, but mostly Harry Houdini is obsessed with his. With his mother. Like, he loves his mom so much, and he takes really, really good care of her. His dad dies, and Houdini builds a massive grave site in a cemetery on long island. It's still there. You can go visit it. it's where he is buried. Members of his family are buried. it's like a big marble monument. It says Houdini Weiss on it. There's a bust of Houdini on it, which is, like, not what you're supposed to do if you're jewish. It's supposed to be, like, very simple. You're not supposed to have any images in the cemetery of people.
>> Farz: Was he religiously jewish or just culturally jewish?
>> Taylor: I think just culturally. I mean, his dad was a rabbi, so he wasn't like, he knew about it, you know? But I think more of it was like wanting to be remembered on a grander scale. And that was more like. That was kind of eclipsing it. He, would say things to best, like, oh, Bess, like, you're my wife. I love you so much that you are the number two lady in my life because he loved his mom so much. You know, he's like a mom guy. at one point he bought a dress that was made for Queen Victoria and, gave it to his mom at a big party in Cologne in Germany. And that was like, he was like, this is the best day of my life. He just wanted his mom to be like super praised and all these things. it's also, I think worth noting that like he did at one point, Bess was not jewish and they did travel as a christian couple because you had to say your religion because this is a dangerous time, kind of always is, but a dangerous time to be traveling around Europe because it's right before World War one. And so he was doing all of that. as he's been traveling in Europe, he does buy a house in Harlem. It's like three blocks north of Central Park, 278 West 113th street. it is a 6000 sqft house. You can see the plans on Zillow. Zillow. So he bought it for $25,000, which is $847,000 in today's money. And right now on, Zillow, the zestimate is $3.5 million. So it's like worth that much more than it was then. Does that make sense? But also that seems fair for an entire building in New York City.
>> Farz: 6000 sqft in New York is. I mean, I could never afford it.
>> Taylor: But yeah, like, I'm not buying a $3 million, $300 million house in New York City, but like that seems fair. And then also when I was looking at this at his house in, on, online, on town and country magazine, I saw that the Menendez brothers house is 9000 sqft in Beverly Hills. Guess how much that house sold for last year.
>> Farz: Wait, 17 million?
>> Taylor: Yeah, 17.
>> Farz: Oh, wow. Was it really?
>> Taylor: Yeah, but that feels wild like that. you can buy Houdini's house for $3.5 million and again, I have zero million dollars. But like a $17 billion house in Beverly Hills that people were murdered in.
>> Farz: Why would you want that? It has to be. Is it cheaper because people were murdered in it or is it more expensive because it was a famous murderer?
>> Taylor: That's a really good question and I don't know the answer to it. I don't think the people that live there are like giving tours, but I would. Feels weird.
Taylor: Are you watching the new Menendez brothers show
Yeah, but I don't think they are. You know, they just wanted that big house in Beverly Hills.
>> Farz: They gotta build like get like some wax figures of like, the corpses and really fun haunted house. Taylor. Like, that would be.
>> Taylor: I would put, like, silhouettes of people in the windows and stuff. Blood splatter.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Are you watching the new Menendez brothers show?
>> Farz: No, I think I know too much about that to find anything new. Yeah, it's not going to be interesting.
>> Taylor: Yeah, we'll see what happens, to their kids. Anyway, so pool at's house in Harlem. It's huge. His whole family gets to live there. He also starts to build a library because he has a bunch of stuff there. So he continues to travel. He would do things like jump off bridges and straight jackets. jump off bridges, inside crates and all. This is, like, taking a toll on his body, obviously, you know, that's really hard to do over and over again. some of this stuff is on video, which is cool. Like, his first one of his jumps off of a bridge is on video. and it's fun because he'll pop his head up and be like, hello. People will be like, oh, my God, you're kind of waiting for him to die. And he never does and all that. so some of his big tricks just to walk through them. there's the chinese water torture cell. So he was upset down in a glass tank of water. And this is sort of what I like picture from, like, the magician movies. Remember that year when, like, nine magician movies came out?
>> Farz: David Boyd, the illusionist. And then, oh, God, he came out.
>> Taylor: One, but, like, upside down in the water. and his ankles were shackled and the tank was closed. And then a curtain would be drawn and he would escape. So what he was probably doing was, unlocking it with, like, a little hidden key or, like, a hidden, a hidden little lock pick. And also he probably was able to get out of the tank really easily with just, like, a button. he. But he still had to hold his breath for a long time to be able to do that. But he did it kind of behind a curtain. So it would happen, like, really fast. And then he'd come out and it would be locked and closed, and he would be soaking wet, you know. he did one that was called metamorphosis, where he would be locked inside of a trunk, and his wife, Bess, she would stand outside the trunk, and then a curtain was drawn around them, and then the curtain would drop, and they would be switched. She would be in the trunk and he would be standing there. and they would. They would do that, like, really fast. Just, with, like, they would kind of be. I feel like, you see these on, like, things where it's like a turning platform and then like, the box probably has like, a thing in the middle of it. So, like, you think someone's in it, but they're not. That makes sense at all. It happened real fast.
>> Farz: We saw that. Didn't you come with us when we did the magic castle in Ladenhouse?
>> Taylor: I didn't. I went a different time.
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: Yeah, but, but, but it's like the same idea. Like just what they're doing is it really fast and there's like hidden levers and stuff that make it easier. he had one where he was sealed inside a milk can filled with water. And the milk can's like maybe 3ft high. and he would get in it and he would, again, like, the, the, can would be rigged and he would be able to, like, pop out of it really easy. he did one where he would be nailed into a wooden crate and thrown off, like, off of a bridge and the same thing. He would have it, ah, the sides of the crate are probably really easy for him to remove underwater, but still, it's hard to do. and he would have to, you know, still swim to the surface after he had done all of that.
Is he the one that went off Niagara Falls? He didn't barrel somebody else
>> Farz: Is he the one that went off Niagara Falls? He didn't barrel somebody else?
>> Taylor: I don't think he did, but a lot of people have. And actually, we did get an instagram message about crazy things happened on Niagara Falls. That's something else we could talk about at some point because a lot of people died coming out of barrels.
>> Farz: Like, yeah, of course.
>> Taylor: Like, very dangerous.
>> Farz: That's a very dangerous stunt.
>> Taylor: Yeah, like, don't expect to be perfectly healthy after that. Fine. so he had, ah, the straitjacket, like I said, he would just. It was a lot of practice, but a lot of, like, making himself bigger when he was in, he. And then at the New York's Hippodrome theater, which I think we've talked about before. So the hippodrome was like Madison. Correct. Square garden, kind of before pt Barnum was down there. and in 1918, he made an elephant disappear, which is very exciting. and it was probably like mirrors and lighting, but it was like a really big box, and then there's an elephant in it and then there wasn't. And people were really excited about that. He would walk through a brick wall, which was probably like a trap door that would get him to the other side. and then he would also do a couple things where he'd be, like, buried alive. And even though he had tricks that were, like, he had a lockpick, he maybe had a hidden key, maybe there were some things, like, he was still buried and had to, like, climb out, and a couple times, like, almost died, because that's still very hard to do.
>> Farz: Right.
>> Taylor: You know?
>> Farz: Right.
>> Taylor: but a lot of it happened in, you know, in person. Big audiences, you know, who's coming to your town. You know, you get to see all these things. I mean, they're like, isn't a bridge in America he didn't jump off of in the early 19 hundreds. Like, really, it's just ton of it. there were also a ton of fakes, people who would do, like, obviously him and his brother had, like, a fake feud, but other people would, like, just like, he did. Like, he stole the name Houdini from Robert Houdini. And people then would be like, oh, I'm the great Boudini, or I'm the great Lou Dini, you know, like, whatever. Just, like, trying to be the same. he. It's also, the other time, I think it feels like he couldn't calm down. Like, he was just, like, super. Like, I have to be remembered. I have to write all this down. I have to do all these things. Like, he was writing books. and he may not have actually written them. He had, like, ghost writers write them, but he had books. He had a magazine called conjurers monthly. he also was in movies. So he started to do some things in movies, and some of them were okay. Some of them were not that great. So he wasn't like a movie star, but he, like, knew a lot of movie stars. he said in his own myth making, he said that he gave Buster Keaton the nickname Buster, but he said he did. and so people didn't love the magic movies because, again, they were like, oh, we realized that you can fake that in a movie, you know, even then. so they, like, the, they liked, you know, seeing it in person. And I think you also need that reaction. Like, if you ever watched like that, like, the David Blaine shows, like, you believe it because you see the person who's doing it live in their reaction.
>> Farz: You know, David Blaine's not a magician. He just hurts himself on purpose. Like, I don't remember.
>> Taylor: He did. But did you see that one where he was in Harrison Ford's kitchen with the orange?
>> Farz: I forgot what he. I know what you're talking about because I remember Harrison Ford's reaction to your point?
>> Taylor: Anybody knows how you do that trick where you put a card inside a piece of fruit? I think I saw that as a magic castle. I don't know how you do that.
>> Farz: Okay, yeah, yeah. Okay. So, fine, fine. That's magic. But, like, when he's like, I'm just gonna eat a glass cup. Like, that's not magic.
>> Taylor: Oh, no, I know. I hate when he does stuff where he's like, oh, I, like, got, ah, water. And, like, at my second stomach, and I'm throwing it up. You're like, what?
>> Farz: He, like, stabbed himself on one show? And, like, he was like, no, I just stabbed myself. I just know what part of, like, where the bones aren't in my hand and I just stabbed through. It's like, that's magic.
>> Taylor: Congratulations.
>> Farz: Yeah, we're flexible.
>> Taylor: But either way, Houdini really worked the best in person. he spent more time in Europe when, his mother passes away, he's in Europe, and he has them have her body. they don't bury her for, like, five days, so he can come back, which, again, is not something you're supposed to do if you're jewish. You're supposed to be buried right away. But, he waited until he could stay here one more time, and he was obviously devastated. and he also is going to meet a bunch of famous people. So at one point, he meets Teddy Roosevelt, and he's able to be like, oh, I know that you're gonna go on these trips and do these things. And he was amazed to tr. And he was like, is that real? Were you really able to do that? And allegedly, Houdini said, no, sir, it was just a bunch of hocus pocus. Cause he had, like, he knew what it was. It wasn't magic, obviously. he met Jack London. so he spent time with him and his wife.
Houdini had an affair with Jack London's wife after Jack died
Houdini had a little affair with Jack London's wife, Charmaine, after Jack London passed away, we saw both of them, Jack London and Charmaine, during the 1904 San Francisco earthquake. They were sent there to write about it, if you remember. I don't tie things together. and he also met Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who you know from Sherlock Holmes.
>> Farz: Yep.
>> Taylor: So Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a big spiritualist, which is, like, a huge deal during this time. Like, people want to talk to the dead. They have all these tricks where there's, like, you know, knocking on doors and, like, candles being out and tables moving and all that stuff. People love going to seances. They just, like, love that shit. I think we talked about this before. I can't remember when or, like, when I was thinking about this, but, like, a lot of people thought it was a logical next step after, like, all of this industrial stuff and science. And just, like, things are changing so rapidly at the turn of the century that a lot of it is like, well, wouldn't the next thing be to figure out why we're here? And if we can talk to the next plane? It felt like science could get us there. Yeah, if it could. And so, Houdini was pissed at this because he was like, my shit is illusions. Like, there is no magic. I don't want these people being like, there's, like, real magic. So he set off to, like, debunk a lot of the spiritualists. misses Conan Doyle did a seance where she said that she had. And Houdini was there where she said that she had talked to Houdini's mom. And Houdini was pissed because he was like, first of all, my mom didn't speak English, so, like, why would she be communicating through you in English, you know? And, he was like, it's fake. And he would go to the papers and be like, it's all a ruse, and this is how they do it. And him and Sir Arthur Conan Conan Doyle were friends, and then they were absolutely not friends. after this, there was also a thing where scientific American was like, we will offer $2,000 to anyone who can prove that they're actually, like, a psychic and actually able to communicate with the dead. And one woman got really, really close, and people were like, this is it. We think this is the one. We have to call on Houdini because he's the biggest skeptic. And he was like, no. He's like, she has her foot, does this thing. Little tricks where she would make a bell ring and things like that. But it was all, hocus pocus. Yeah.
>> Farz: I love when they had this, like, personal mandetta. One of my favorite, like, old videos on YouTube is this video of, like, there was a show where it was kind of like, america's got talent, where you get, like, three real magicians, and then somebody has to do, like, magic tricks in front of them. And there's one clip of this guy who's like, I'm talking to the dead kind of a guy and criss angels on the panel, and he's like, hey, listen, like, I just wrote out a $1 million check to your name. You can have it if you can tell me what. What is in this, like, thing. Like, you just helped me m up, like, an envelope, and the guy just loses his shit. He, like, rushes at criss angel. He's like, fuck you. He's like, you just destroyed my entire bit. And, like, it's on national television. It was. It's really funny. He gets so angry.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Because, like, it takes a lot of prep to do that stuff, because you're. It's all an illusion, and it's not. Not fun. It's super fun, you know?
>> Farz: Well, I think the offensive, part of it is that, like, you're giving people false hope.
>> Taylor: Yes, absolutely. I think that, like, the seance stuff, like, I feel like I would be very scared in a seance. Like, if you make it dark in a room and, like, there's a noise, I'm gonna be like, yeah, I don't.
>> Farz: Want to do it. I would. I wouldn't touch a ouija board, like, for a million dollars.
>> Taylor: Yeah, no, I mean, I think that. And that's so funny. Like, I know that a lot of it is, like, bunk, but also, I don't want to test it, but, yeah, I see, like, the false hope part is really sad. I feel like I've seen other shows where they debunk a person. You're like, why just, like, so sad to give people that hope that they can talk to their relatives and all of that. so he's very, very against spiritualism. he's just like, I'm a traditional illusionist magician. but he's getting older, and he's, 52 years old, and he's still traveling and still doing things, and he's getting tired. again, his job is 1000% more physical than our jobs.
>> Farz: I'd agree with that.
>> Taylor: I'm probably going to die because I sit so much. And he's a very fit mandehethere.
Houdini was punched several times backstage in 1912, according to legend
he is in Montreal on October 22, 1912. He's 52 years old, and a young man named Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead is, like, backstage for some reason, and he's like, houdini, I hear that you're very strong and that you can take punches. Houdini says, yes, I can. So, whitehead punches him, like, several times in the stomach. And there's a couple of stories that are like, he wasn't ready. He wasn't like, you can punch me right now. He's like, he has to brace himself and get ready. Also, Houdini's ankle was broken. He had broken his ankle in another, another thing. So another trick a couple days before. So he wasn't, like, ready to be punched in the stomach, and he got punched a couple times, and then that, like, he was like, okay, stop. And he was in a bunch of pain, so he went and continued. He did his, He did the. His show. The, Next couple days, he's in a lot of pain, and he finally goes to see a doctor. And what it sounds like happens is that the punches from Whitehead didn't kill him, but they ma. They. He thought that the pain he was feeling in his abdomen was from the punches, but it was really his appendix.
>> Farz: You're really tying this all together, huh?
>> Taylor: I know. I didn't even know this, but now I know this. so on October 24, two days later, Oh, wait. It's not 1912. It's 1926. I'm sorry. So, October 24, 1926. his last performance is in a Garrick theater in Detroit, and he had a fever of 104. He took the stage anyway, but he passed out during the show. And then, like, I think he ended up leaving, the show as well, and tried to do it, but who knows? So then he was, like, had to go to the hospital. He got an appendectomy. but he was too far. too sick. He was. His body was, like, fighting the infection. and he died on Halloween in 1926, October 31, which is pretty. Pretty freaking cool. there is obviously he had a lot of stuff. His, stuff is in museums kind of all over the country, all over the world. he had. Some of his treks were in Niagara Falls, in a museum that burned down, but some of it was able to escape. allegedly, there's a pair of his handcuffs at McSorley's pub in New York City, but I don't believe that, because McSorley's is gross, and I think that they do their own mythmaking. Some, of his stuff is in the library of Congress, and actually, a lot of his stuff is in Austin at the Harry Ransom center at Utah. Seriously, you could go see it anytime. And, then a lot of his things are obviously in a warehouse that David Copperfield owns in Las Vegas. So his stuff kind of. It's all over. when he died, he told Bess that if he could come back and, if he could talk to her, he would come back in ten years, and she should do a seance ten years after his death. So on October 31, 1936, Bess had a seance trying to contact him, and unfortunately, he didn't. He didn't make it, of course. Yep. They had, like, a secret code that he would have said, but, that did not happen.
>> Farz: I can't believe there's a museum here that has this stuff.
>> Taylor: Yeah, but you go see it. It seems fun. It's just such a fun time to be, like, I can go see a show and, like, the, you know, you just have a little bit of, like, belief and you've never seen anything like it before, and you don't have any, like, you know, you just get to see it, and that just sounds so fun. I still watch a guy jump off a bridge handcuffed.
>> Farz: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, offered. Who wouldn't? Yeah, no, there's, I did. I did go and see criss, angel in Vegas, and I didn't think it was that great.
>> Taylor: No. Boo. Is it because of his vibe?
>> Farz: It's like, it's like you're watching a man who at that point is like, 50 years old, acting like he's still 20.
>> Farz: Freak. And, like, it's just like, what are we doing? Like, this is like, even David Copperfield, like, his, like, later stuff, it's like, you're so rickety. I don't know, there's a. It's weird. It's weird.
>> Taylor: But when it, like, first happens, it's so exciting, you know?
>> Farz: M mind freak. A mind freak was awesome. I loved when that. When it was on. Yeah.
>> Taylor: Like, there's, I watched this movie, with Jamie Lee Carter. It's like an old horror movie on a train. it might be just called, oh, it's called terror Train. It's exactly what you think it would be. But it's like this, like, group of kids, like high school kids who are on a train, and, like, some people start getting murdered and, like, the train is moving the whole time, but for some reason, David Copperfield is there and he's just, like, magician. So he's like, playing a magician on this train for a bunch of kids. And, like, so just like, several times in the movie, he does a trick. It's delightful. He's super young. And like, it's just like, what is he doing here?
Do you remember when we were kids and he had a live show on ABC
>> Farz: Do you remember when we were kids and he had, like, a live show on, like, one of the major networks, ABC or whatever? And that was the one where that.
>> Taylor: Was statue of liberty, right?
>> Farz: It might have been statue of Liberty, but the one I remember was, there was a building that was just, like, rigged with explosive for an implosion, and he was, like, chained inside of it. But then he did this other trick right before commercial where he like, held some cards up or something and was like, I forgot how he did it, but it was somewhere, like, he guessed the number you were thinking?
>> Taylor: Mm
>> Farz: Like, through the tv. And I was like, this is insane. Yeah, it was really cool.
>> Taylor: I mean, we saw a magician for, like, a Girl scouts, like, last year, who was great. I don't know how he did the stuff he did, you know? And you're like, he's just like a, I'm sure that if I knew, it'd be like, whatever. But I was like, whoa. And I love that. That's. That that's fun.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Why not, you know?
>> Farz: Fun.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Harry Houdini. The Houdini box was, like, the first book that I asked my parents to buy me. They read it to us in third grade. I was like, we had to get this book. It's the best book I've ever read. And so that was the first book they ever got me.
>> Taylor: Oh, I want to look at that. We just had the book fair. I bought a lot of books. I'm buying a lot of graphic novels these days for the kiddos. That's cool. It looks fun.
>> Farz: Yeah. sweet.
You have a couple creepy things that you want to do this month
Well, thank you for sharing. Is this also in, And we didn't start the fire.
>> Taylor: It isn't? No, unfortunately. it's just a little. Yeah, no. but we'll probably get back to some of those. But I have a couple creepy things that I want to do. But let's, You have other ones that you want to hear? Like, I like this stuff. It's nothing. This was creepy. But I feel like it's marketed as being creepy, you know, like Houdini himself. And it's like a fun. It's a fun. I don't know. It's just fun.
>> Farz: I like it,
>> Taylor: I like him. I like his vibe.
>> Farz: Yeah. Yeah. And it's at that time, like, they didn't really. You know, they probably didn't understand that it was not real, you know?
>> Taylor: Yeah. Like, how cool. That just seems so fun. Like, I like, Do you ever, Do you ever watch the it crowd?
>> Farz: No.
>> Taylor: So funny. And there's one episode where the woman, Jen, and I'm sure that someone listening to this has seen it, where she, she's dating a guy, and they're like, oh, he looks like a magician. And she's like, what? And they're like, yeah. He. And then she can't unsee it. And so, like, they're at dinner, and he's like, giving her, like, salt and pepper, and he, like, just, like, looks like he's a magician. And then she tells him, and he, like, doesn't want to break up with her, so he tries to learn magic tricks, but he's so nervous, and he's, like, holding the cards like this, like, shaking, and he's like, is this your card? And she's like, no. Because he's, like, trying to be a magician. Because he looks like a magician. It was just so stupid and so funny.
>> Farz: That reminds me of, arrested development in job when he was trying to be a magician. That was one of the best storylines ever.
>> Taylor: It's the best. And I love everything about, job in. There he goes. It's not a trick, an illusion.
>> Farz: well, thank you for sharing. brought back some fun old memories.
>> Farz: and, yeah, I'm looking forward to this month. You're gonna have some good stories this month, I think.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I just thought of something else that I thought of and then forgot, so I need to think about it again. Things spooky. Yeah, there's lots of fun stuff.
>> Farz: Sweet. anything to read us out on?
>> Taylor: nope. Just please remember to find us on social media at Doom to fail pod and let us know what you want to hear.
>> Farz: We'll go ahead and cut it off there.