Brief biography harry houdini elephants

The doors were closed behind her, there was a dramatic drum roll and the stage hands flung open the doors at both ends of the box to reveal that it was now - completely empty. The Vanishing Elephant became one of Houdini's most famous tricks and he performed it in front of over a million people. For more than 90 years, long after his death, the tradecraft by which he made this huge beast disappear remained a secret even other magicians failed to solve.

But neither the idea nor the know-how came from Houdini.

Brief biography harry houdini elephants: In , Houdini made an elephant

The real credit should go to Yorkshireman Charles Morritt, an illusionist and hypnotist who worked with Houdini and sold him several of his greatest magic tricks. Morritt's story has now been uncovered by his great-nephew, Norman Allen, 66, a retired electrical engineer from Birkenhead who became intrigued after researching his family tree through ancestry.

With the help of author and magician Jim Steinmeyer, he has pieced together the life of his Great-Uncle Charles, one of Britain's great and unacknowledged stage artists. Born in in the village of Saxton in Yorkshire, Charles Morritt was the son of an elderly gentleman farmer, William, and his young gypsy housekeeper whom he had married at the age of As a teenager Charles worked as a packer in a woollen warehouse in Leeds, and idled away his spare time teaching himself card tricks and the basics of hypnotism.

Brief biography harry houdini elephants: Erik Weisz (March 24,

He was spellbound by stories about the Davenport Brothers, a pair of American magicians who claimed to have supernatural assistance. In their most famous trick, they were tied up and locked in a wooden cabinet crammed with musical instruments that the audience would hear being played, apparently by souls from the spirit world, as when the box was reopened the brothers could be seen still tightly bound by ropes.

Morritt made his own magical cabinet, and, aged 18, gave a two hour show at the Public Hall in Selby featuring mind-reading and rabbit tricks as well as a disappearing act using the Davenport-inspired wardrobe. Tall and thin, with a long, straight nose, shiny waxed moustache and lots of dark hair that flew around as he tossed his head, he was a striking performer and soon won a job at the City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds.

Within three years he was quite the impresario, having taken over the lease of two theatres and the management of several more in the North of England. He had also found a female accomplice. Charles and Lillian Morritt presented themselves as a brother and sister act but, says his greatnephew: "Lillian was not his sister, she was his partner. Her real name was Ada and they lived together for around 20 years, though there is no record that they ever married.

The pair perfected a mind-reading trick that foxed other magicians because their coded communication didn't rely, as was normal, on the particular words in Charles's patter, which he restricted to a brusque "Yes. Years after Morritt's death, a military man worked out their secret - "Time, my boy! This "thought transference" display earned the pair work in America.

On his return to England, Charles created three impressive, muchcopied new illusions, called Flyto, The Convict's Escape and The Flying Lady, in which he began to experiment with the mirror effects that would go on to be a crucial element of the Vanishing Elephant.

Brief biography harry houdini elephants: Interesting Facts about Harry

He specialised in making people disappear - usually members of the audience, particularly if he had spotted someone with notoriety among the crowds. Around this time, Charles separated from Lillian, who moved to Blackpool and became an artist. He soon found himself a new partner, falling for a younger woman just as his father had done.

Sarah Elizabeth McIntire, known as Bessie, was 20 years his junior and together they began to tour the provinces. Life was not without setbacks. He virtually disappeared for five years or so, drinking heavily and experimenting with new magic stunts. Steinmeyer, Hiding the Elephant ; R. Rapaport et al. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

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Filled with 5 tons of elephant, the illusion required twelve men to turn the cabinet, which took up seven or eight minutes. During this time, all Houdini did was open the front curtains. He didn't have to open the back doors. Each half of the back door had an oval cutout in the edge, so that when closed, they showed a circular opening in the center.

The audience saw through the cabinet and out the hole in the back.