HOUDINI'S FILM FAILURE.
TO ERR is human, and Houdini was a human being. He did not make many mistakes during his lifetime, but it must not be supposed that his judgment was always infallible. The greatest blunder he ever made was to act for the films.
Harry had an idea that he could make a fortune on the movies. He decided to produce a film bringing in his more daring escapes and was convinced that he would be an enormous success. Pride, they say, goes before a fall.
Houdini was never cut out for film acting. Some years later he told me that his venture had cost him more than £100,000. But that was not all. Arnold de Biere, who had been persuaded to put some money into the scheme, also lost several thousands. In this manner was a long and affectionate friendship smashed beyond repair.
De Biere and Houdini were very great friends before the unhappy failure. Afterwards they became bitter enemies. De Biere's long and painful story casts very little credit on the American magician.
I remember Houdini calling on me one morning in one of his ugliest moods.
"Hello, Harry," I said pleasantly. "A friend of yours has just been in."
"Oh? Who's that?"
"De Biere."
"That b--," cried Houdini, using an epithet that would have sounded better from the lips of a bargee. "Does he often come in here?"
"Yes, quite often."
"Well, if I meet him, I'll fling him down the stairs. So to save you any bother, p'raps I'd best not see him. Say, how do you switch on that light outside your door?"
"I have a switch on my desk."
"That's O.K. When be Biere's in here with you, switch on the light. If I come up the stairs and see the light on, I'll know who's in, and come back later."
I sighed. "Alright, Harry," I said. "It's a fine idea."
After his film failure, Houdini decided to return to vaudeville. He remembered the magical apparatus that had been stored since his failure in England, and thought the time had come when he should again present his conjuring act. Yes, he would stage a programme that America had never seen before, and call it the "HOUDINI ROAD SHOW."
Now he wanted the American Press to boost him again, and it was some time before he hit on the right scheme. At last he had an idea inspired by a number of spiritualistic lectures which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had been giving in the States. Houdini would expose the spiritualists!
So Harry, the hero of sensational escapes, disguised himself and attended several of the séances which were being held as a direct outcome of Sir Arthur's tour. Then he declared he had discovered that Spiritualism was nothing but a gigantic fraud. He invited several pressmen to follow his lead, and find out the truth for themselves As he had anticipated, his "disclosures," as he called them, created a great sensation,
As a spiritualist myself, I know Houdini was not sincere in his statements. Every Jew believes through his religion that the spirit which passes out from the body at death, lives on. And Houdini was really a good Jew. On the death of his mother, he prayed that her spirit would be guarded and protected, and that she would be eternally happy. No real disbeliever would do that.
When he had the Press of the country with him, Houdini put his show on the road. His campaign against the spiritualists had met with such astounding success, that he decided to incorporate further propaganda in his programme. His performance consisted of
- Magic and illusions.
- Escapes (he could not entirely forget his old love).
- A lecture against spiritualism, introducing apparatus which, he declared, was used by "mediums" for faking spirit effects.
During the course of this lecture Houdini was in the habit of throwing a photograph of myself on to the screen. "This is a friend of mine in England," he would tell the audience. "He is a magician, an author, and an inventor. But what astounds me more than anything else is this--he is a firm believer in Spiritualism!"