Houdini, 100 Years Later: The Forgotten Images That Illuminate His Legend
On October 31, 1926, Harry Houdini died in Detroit. A century later, his name remains known far beyond the world of magic. It still evokes escape and spectacular disappearance.
In music, Kate Bush, Dua Lipa, and Eminem have all given a song the title Houdini. Each plays with the image of the artist who disappears or escapes in their own way: Kate Bush evokes the illusionist himself, Dua Lipa makes it a metaphor for escape, while Eminem plays on the idea of disappearance and return. Television has also taken hold of it: in The Simpsons episode The Great Simpsina, Lisa learns of the escape of a milk jug, a nod to Houdini's water tank number; Houdini can also be found at Bellewaerde, where the park dedicates an attraction to him, the Houdini House.
These references say something about the place he still occupies in the collective imagination. But behind this popular image, there are still many stories to discover. On the occasion of the centenary of his death, professional magician Charles Greene III tells Thibault Ternon how he rediscovered photographic plates related to Houdini. Houdini, a name that became a legend Houdini did not only mark minds with his escapes, he also knew how to make people talk about him, shaping the image of an artist capable of staging his discipline. Public challenges, appearances, and the way of presenting his exploits allowed him to establish his notoriety. This last one was such that his name surpassed his own history. In 1920, an English dictionary introduced the verb Houdinize, which meant escaping from a place, freeing oneself. Even today, Houdini remains a familiar reference in popular culture whenever escape is concerned.
In the episode of Détours de magie, Charles Greene III brings Houdini close to the British stage magician Ionia on one precise point: their sense of communication. Ionia's father was in contact with Houdini, and both knew how to attract attention and build their notoriety. Their forms of magic were however very different: Ionia practiced grand illusion, while Houdini became known for his escapes, his sleight-of-hand tricks, and his physical endurance feats.
Their example remains telling today and comes to remind that an artist is not known solely by what he presents on stage. The way of telling his work, creating an appointment with the public, and making people want to discover what comes next also counts.
A sale in Ohio, and nearly 60 forgotten imagesCharles Greene III's investigation begins with an auction announcement. In early September 2024, he spots a sale in Newark, Ohio, dedicated to contents from abandoned bank vaults. Two lots are reported as containing photographs related to Houdini.
Charles makes the trip and wins one of the lots. He discovers fragile glass photographic plates. Examining them, he recognizes images of Houdini he had never seen before. He documents nearly sixty of them. His book, Exposing Houdini: 52 Lost Glass Plate Images, revisits this discovery.
The sale is only the last known stage of a much longer journey. The plates supposedly belonged to Houdini, who would have passed them to mentalist Joseph Dunninger. Upon Dunninger's death, his wife Billie would have inherited them. Then their trace is lost, until their reappearance in the abandoned vaults of Newark. A brief announcement, forgotten boxes, a fragile object resurfacing... As in The Last Dance, these archival images invite us to rediscover a mythical figure. But finding images is not enough: it remains to understand where they come from, who took them, and what they teach us about Houdini.
For Charles, this research counts as much as the sharing of the images. Without context, a photograph remains an enigma. The dates, places, and people associated with it allow to transform an isolated image into a piece of history. Documenting these images is also preserving a part of Houdini's history.
What magicians can learn from archives Charles Greene III advises magicians who are interested in the history of their art to start with the resources available in libraries. Books and their references can open new leads. One research often calls for another: we find a photograph, we search for its origin, then we discover other documents that allow us to understand it better. This historical research may seem far from daily practice, but it feeds curiosity and helps to better understand the art that one practices. Charles also reminds that tutorials are not enough to master magic: one must practice and continue to search.
Houdini's history also shows that a magician's culture is not limited to techniques. Knowing the artists who preceded him, understanding how they presented their work, and examining the traces they left can feed one's own practice. A century after Houdini's death, these plates remind us that a legend is never completely frozen. Forgotten documents can still bring up new questions, provided someone takes the time to search for them, document them, and share them.
To hear Charles Greene III tell this discovery and his investigation, find his exchange with Thibault Ternon in the episode of Détours de magie.
C’était très intéressant cette vidéo concernant Harry HOUDINI. C’est incroyable que 100 ans après on découvre des photos de lui. Merci de nous faire viré ces moments magiques
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C’était très intéressant cette vidéo concernant Harry HOUDINI. C’est incroyable que 100 ans après on découvre des photos de lui. Merci de nous faire viré ces moments magiques