|
Post by Quettalee on Oct 30, 2006 6:26:59 GMT -5
The Secret Life of Houdini NEW YORK - Eighty years after his death, the name Harry Houdini remains synonymous with escape under the most dire circumstances. But Houdini, the immigrants' son whose death-defying career made him one of the world's biggest stars, was more than a mere entertainer. A new biography of the legendary performer suggests that Houdini worked as a spy for Scotland Yard, monitored Russian anarchists and chased counterfeiters for the U.S. Service — all before he was possibly murdered. "The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero" will be released on Halloween — the anniversary of Houdini's untimely death at age 52. Chasing new information on the elusive superstar eventually led authors William Kalush and Larry Sloman to create a database of more than 700,000 pages. "There's no way in the world we could have done this book without it," said Sloman of the huge electronic index. "It would have taken 30 years — maybe." The biography lays out a scenario where Houdini, using his career as cover, managed to travel the United States and the world while collecting information for law enforcement. The authors made the link after reviewing a journal belonging to William Melville, a British spy master who mentioned Houdini several times. Melville, while at Scotland Yard in the early 20th century, helped launch Houdini's European career by allowing the performer to demonstrate his escape skills. Houdini, at a demonstration arranged by Melville, slipped free from a pair of Scotland Yard handcuffs as an audition for a London theater owner. The book suggests that Melville's compliance was part of a quid pro quo in which Houdini worked as a spy. A similar situation occurred in Chicago, where Houdini's career took off after a publicity stunt aided by a local police lieutenant, the book said. "Finding the Melville diary — we knew there was a connection, we knew there was something there," said Kalush. "But finding that diary solidified a lot of other things." No less a Houdini enthusiast than Teller — the mute half of Penn and Teller, and one of the legendary performer's spiritual descendants — felt the link between the escape artist and the authorities was no leap. "Law enforcement is about bureaucracy and cronyism," Teller said. "So they're going to let some entertainer walk in and escape from their jail cells? That suggests to me that (the authors) are on the right track." Houdini was a relentless self-promoter in the style of P.T. Barnum, although he didn't play his audience for suckers. The biography recounts one 1902 escape, in Blackburn, England, where Houdini refused to surrender despite the use of plugged locks that made his freedom almost impossible. After two hours, Houdini escaped to a standing ovation. The next day his arms were "hideously blue and swollen, with large chunks of flesh torn out," the book recounts. Because of the way the chains and rigged locks were fastened, Houdini "had no choice but to tear out the chunks of his flesh to get free." That's entertainment. Houdini's renown was such that he was known around the world by a single name long before Sting or Madonna. "We know Houdini was a hero," said Sloman. "He could get out of anything — which was a myth, of course." Kalush said the myth eventually overshadowed the man. "It's part of us: He's a human, I'm a human, he can beat anything, so maybe I can beat some things," Kalush said. The biography's other hook is the suggestion that Houdini's relentless debunking of the Spiritualist movement, whose proponents included "Sherlock Holmes" author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, led to his death. The group believed they could contact the dead; Houdini believed they were frauds. Houdini, at the turn of the century, joined his wife Bess — "The Celebrated Clairvoyant" — in presenting a trumped-up act in which he worked as the barker and she as the medium. But Houdini eventually crossed over to the other side, exposing phony mediums much as he'd once exposed copycat escape artists. "I like the way that Houdini comes off as a real tough guy, which is no doubt true," said Teller. "He's not afraid to show up at somebody else's performance and scream, `This is my act you're doing. Why don't you try this trick?' "That's a rough and tumble thing you'll never see a modern magician do." The authors recount a pair of October 1926 incidents in which Houdini was viciously punched in the stomach, once by a college student in his dressing room and later by a stranger in a hotel lobby. Houdini — the book suggests the Spiritualists may have arranged the attacks — died days later in Room 401 at Grace Hospital in Detroit. His aura of invincibility seemed over. But as the authors discovered, it still lives on today. "He's compelling because of that myth, that he could not be restrained by anything," said Sloman. "The more successful he was, the more he became a symbol of the lone man resisting authority."
|
|
|
Post by Quettalee on Dec 4, 2006 8:42:16 GMT -5
*See: Wanna Play With Me? Is There a Santa Claus? (This famous editorial first appeared in the New York Sun, September 21, 1897) Dear Editor:
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says "If you see it in The Sun it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus? Virginia O'Hanlon 115 West 95th StreetVirginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. Ye, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exists, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas, how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believer in Santa Claus! You might as well not believer in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unsee-able in the world. You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
|
|
|
Post by gams on Dec 27, 2006 9:15:22 GMT -5
I never got back to this, Q, to respond, but thanks for posting it. I read it - I always do; "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" is one of my favorite holiday - and all through the year - stories.
Someone recently told me, 'for some reason, we stop reading to our kids'. And she was right - after a certain age, kids rarely get read to anymore. BP, of course, still gets read to by all of us; and she "reads" to us - sometimes her version of the story much more interesting than what's written on the page. Beginning to learn words by sight - the, and, with, she, he, etc - I have to bite my tongue and bide my patience when she sits on my lap when I sit down to read whatever I'm reading at the moment, and she points on the page to words she knows.
But LX - I admit, has not been read to since she started reading novels instead of picture books. She and I rectified that last night. She got a lot of books for Christmas - my brother finished off the Series of Unfortunate Events by giving her the last four books in the series, (I love these stories as much as she), a book along the same lines I purchased and read while I was working at her school's book fair, titled The Dead Days, and one I got her titled, The Little Big Book for Girls. I have in my collection of Halloween stuff, The Little Big Book of Chills and Thrills, and she's always enjoyed borrowing it. Cool books these "Little Big Books" are - a collection of literary excerpts, poetry, interesting facts, even recipes. The "Girls" has excerpts from Rebbecca of Sunnybrook Farm, National Velvet, Anne (with an "e") of Green Gables, Little House in the Big Woods, etc.
I thought this might be the perfect book to get started reading together again. I read to her the excerpt from "Harriet the Spy", (it teased her enough to want to read the book by leaving her hanging), poetry by Langston Hughes, and we sang together Carole King's "You've Got a Friend", (a sore-on-the-ears rendition). She then took a turn and we figured out which Greek goddess best represents our personalities, learned some new bad jokes, (Why didn't the broken pencil finish writing his biography? There was no point), and again, learned that we should not take our singing duet act on the road after we sang "You are so beautiful to me".
Despite the cringe producing vocals, it was one of those not-often-enough mother/pre-teen daughter moments in which no eye-rolling was involved by either of us.
|
|
|
Post by Quettalee on Dec 27, 2006 15:08:27 GMT -5
Wonderful story, Gams. Mary and the girls just left for the library. They both love to read.
They each had one "issue" on their respective report cards that grounded them from the tv over the holiday break, so we came up with a compromise of sorts.
They were given the choice to lay around and slug all week on their mp3 players and that's what they would have over the weekend....or they could take the time to read a mom-approved book and write a two-page report on it before the weekend. If we're satisfied with their reports, (they write great reviews) they earn a "not-so-grounded-tv" weekend. Yesterday, they chose to read and report on five current events from the daily newspaper--not the internet, but the newspaper. Works just as well for us!
Btw, I absoutely love Harriet the Spy. My fav line...something to the effect...'there are as many ways to live as there are people in the world'...is that how it goes?
I'm devouring the book! Wonderful, colorful passages that put you right there.
|
|
|
Post by Quettalee on Dec 27, 2006 15:13:01 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Quettalee on Dec 27, 2006 15:22:13 GMT -5
Damn! This is actually what I got up to post...not back on my correct sleep schedule yet....*sigh*.... Tifton is the exit that I take off I-65 when I'm going to Mom's. It is at the end of the longest, most-boring stretch of a very long four-hour drive from Atlanta to just an equally long 22-mile stretch of two-lane that you ever want to be on. I swear that part of the drive gets longer every time I've made it for the past 20 years! Anyhoo, I noticed one of the billboards that I have been driving by for the past 20 years read, "Reading Capital of the World". I instantly thought of you and that I must share. So this is what the two-minute drill gave me. OK, that's all. Just wanted to pass that along.
|
|
|
Post by gams on Dec 28, 2006 9:48:58 GMT -5
Cool two minute drill results, Q. Our town is doing something along the same lines for the first time, starting in just a couple weeks: One Community, One Book. It's a project that takes place in towns throughout the country, the premise being that the community will all read the same book at the same time. The book our town will be reading is the classic, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; I bought my copy at the used bookstore yesterday. Though reading is independent, there will be discussions about the implications of the topic, viewing of the movie, art displays from school students interpreting the book and other banned books, and a dramatization by the highschool drama department of scenes from the book. It kicks off with a bonfire and symbolic book burning. Should be interesting in the least.
I love what you and Mary came up with regarding your daughters' punishment. Dang, you guys are good. I'll have to try something similar with LX next time she does something that gets her grounded, (which never works anyway).
Oh, and was the link really not allowed?
|
|
|
Post by gams on Dec 28, 2006 9:49:58 GMT -5
Glad you're liking the book, btw! As I mentioned, it's one of my favorites.
|
|
|
Post by gams on Jan 10, 2007 1:05:29 GMT -5
BP and her books. This evening she was "reading" at the kitchen table while I cooked dinner. The book was titled, "What Mommies Do Best; What Daddies Do Best". It is one of those books that have two stories: one begins from the front, flip the book over, and the other begins from the back. Both stories are the same, the second just substituting "Mommy" for "Daddy".
She finished the first, flipped the book over to start the second, then flipped it back again. Over and over. Repeating with each flip. "Mommy's on top." "Daddy's on top." "Now Mommy's on top." "Now Daddy's on top." "Mommy's on top...." I couldn't help but think.....what acrobatics all that flipping around must take. What stamina!
Then she asks, "Which do you like better, Mommy on top, or Daddy on top?"
"Uhm....(snicker)." I had to leave the room.
|
|
katmandu
Kenin
kenin
Don't Mess With Me, I Bite! =D
Posts: 2,803
|
Post by katmandu on Jan 10, 2007 7:16:41 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Joxcee on Jan 13, 2007 18:04:15 GMT -5
Hey, Q. Thought these threads might interest you.
|
|
|
Post by Joxcee on Jan 22, 2007 1:50:34 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Joxcee on Jan 22, 2007 21:01:15 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Quettalee on Jan 24, 2007 10:20:14 GMT -5
Thanks, Jox'. I wish I had the energy to read a book! I stopped in the middle of the first book of the trilogy to zip through a little gem that was sent to me at Christmas...A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle....delightfully-written and charming little story.
I have been so overworked, everytime I try to pick up Nora, I don't get more than a dozen pages read before I'm nodding off. LOL.
|
|
|
Post by Joxcee on Jan 25, 2007 0:15:57 GMT -5
You're welcome. The great thing about books is . . . they'll wait for you to finish them. (Unless they're borrowed and have a set date of when they have to be returned. :sad: )
|
|
|
Post by gams on Jan 25, 2007 0:25:30 GMT -5
And there's no fast-forwarding through previews, rewinding, or looking for the ever roving remote.
|
|
|
Post by Quettalee on Mar 1, 2007 11:42:32 GMT -5
Ghost writers We promised not to reveal who is behind National Ghost Writer Week, but we can't resist giving a wink to those folks who quietly write for and in the name of another. As you might expect from people who are paid to keep quiet, ghost writers tend to be read and not talked about. Sometimes, of course, the light shines on the ghosts. That was the case with the Stratemeyer Syndicate, publisher of the Nancy Drew mystery books. Half a century after The Secret of the Old Clock, a court case revealed that Mildred Wirt Benson, then in her 70s, had been the original ghostwriter of the beloved series. After the secret of Carolyn Keene's identity had been revealed, it was less than shocking to hear former president Ronald Reagan joke about his autobiography "I hear it's a terrific book! One of these days I'm going to read it myself." Does this mean that ghostwriters are now working out in the open? Not necessarily, but the term literary collaborator can be a tipoff. And, just for fun, try keeping track of names in the acknowledgment and credit sections of books.
|
|
|
Post by gams on Apr 25, 2007 7:09:14 GMT -5
Kinda stalled in my reading right now. I started two at once - something I rarely do, because I don't like flipping back and forth, getting characters, places and such mixed up. But this time one book is fiction, the other is non-fiction. Too tired after work, and after the girls are in bed - my typical reading time - to pick either book up though.
And dang - I got a library notice yesterday. The biddies are on my back. Five dollars in over-due fines!!! When I was Library Mom, I would have strung them up by their toes for less than that!
Good thing the Library Biddies are too old to do such things. Thinking I'd better get down there quick today, and pay up, before they send out the Library Thugs to do their bidding.
|
|
|
Post by Quettalee on Apr 25, 2007 15:58:10 GMT -5
Thanks for the reminder, Gams. Mary has been on that same hit-list for over two weeks now. Reading your post jogged my memory enough to make sure she took them back today.
I am still in the Nora Roberts groove right now...other than the self-help, information-seeking, educating thingy I'm always seeking out.
Love to learn and can never seem to read enough, but that's also how I got away from the pleasure of reading a good novel. Such as the one I'm currently into...Dance on the Wind...number one in another of her trilogy collections. She is a wonderful writer.
|
|
|
Post by Quettalee on May 21, 2007 19:47:49 GMT -5
OK, so I moved on to another book #1 in another trilogy by Roberts. It is the Garden Trilogy and the name is Blue Dahlia. It is plotted around gardening (one of Robert's passions) and romance and a ghost-in-the-mansion and such...(not enough of the ghost part yet, imo)... anyway, I read this passage yesterday and I just had to share it with you Gams...it reminded me of you for some reason... ... "... OK, so he was sexy. Any well-built man doing manual labor looked sexy. Add some sort of dangerous tool to the mix, and the image went straight to the lust bars and played a primal tune..."[/b] See what I mean...it just reads like something you would write...or think...or both.
|
|