Authors: William Kalush,Larry Sloman

The Secret Life of Houdini (93 page)

BOOK: The Secret Life of Houdini

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We were lucky to have such a wonderful team working with us, all of whom made vital contributions to the book. Steve Cuiffo, who is becoming very well known in New York as one of its finest young actors, is also one of its finest magicians. A gifted sleight-of-hand artist, Steve has proven to be a gifted researcher as well. He quickly mastered the myriad and complex new tools of the digital age and has been an enormous asset to our team. He diligently combed through millions of pages of records looking for our needles in the binary haystack. Whatever the job was, Steve would do it. He traveled with us around the globe and made numerous important contacts and discoveries. Without Steve this would have been a different book.

Our quirky “girl on the street” was Sarah Galvin, a 4.0 NYU grad who quickly proved to us that she could find anything anywhere. For the first several months she never even came into the office. She would text message or phone in for her assignments and then go about her mysterious sleuthing and later deliver the fruits of her research. She was so thorough at her work that she once found a critical heretofore-undiscovered article from a Detroit newspaper and then uncovered an important detail that had been published in the morning edition had been redacted in the afternoon edition. Sarah found documents that were never intended to be found. She also enlivened our in-house electronic forum with her witty and off-color posts.

Xenia Viray, Carrie Schulz, Dr. Lori Pieper, Sara Butler-Dockery, Kennlynne Rini, Jennifer Butler, Gary Au, Janie Brookshire-Kipp, and Maria Yakovenko, all of the Conjuring Arts Research Center, went above and beyond the call of duty. Jill Matheson and Carrie Schulz handled all of our transcribing duties. Pavel Goldin not only found photos we couldn’t but he also magically transformed some unusable photographs using his genius computer skills and made them sparkle with new life.

Alexander (www.askalexander.org) saved our lives on a daily basis. Without this amazing research tool, we couldn’t have written this book. For many years building something like Alexander had been a fantasy but with the collection of the Conjuring Arts Research Center and the diligent scanning of Sara Butler-Dockery, it became closer to reality. But when Gary Au wrangled the computer genius Mike Friedman, the dream was realized. Mike built the search engine in record time and then diligently kept improving it. It’s been many a late night that Mike received a frantic e-mail asking him to do some minor fix, and Mike always came through.

It was a pleasure to work with such consummate professionals at Atria Books. Working under severe time constraints so that the book could be published on the eightieth anniversary of Houdini’s death, everyone went the extra mile to ensure a smooth delivery. In an age when some publishing houses have become monolithic paper factories, it was refreshing to work with a core group of people who really care about the end result. Judith Curr, our publisher, was always supportive of our ideas and, on the few occasions that we disagreed, our interchange was enlightening and the end result was invariably an improvement. Greer Hendricks and Hannah Morrill encouraged us every step of the way and helped us meet every deadline (almost). Vivian Gomez assembled a crack team of copy editors and proofreaders. Linda Dingler and Suet Chong shepherded the book through the production process with dexterity. A very special thank you goes out to Peter Guzzardi, who under incredible time constraints worked around the clock in North Carolina and masterfully honed a massive draft into the final manuscript.

We are indebted to our agent David Vigliano for finding this book a home at Atria Books. David’s associates Elisa Petrini, Michael Harriot, Kirsten Neuhaus, Celeste Fine, and Kirby Kim were diligent in representing our interests.

We sent an early draft of the book to the following people and we are very appreciative for the time and effort they took to read it and send us their comments: Bruce Averbook, Jack Bramson, Patrick Culliton, George Daily, Richard Hatch, Paul Harris, Robin Harvey, Ricky Jay, John McLaughlin, Arthur Moses, Marianne Santo, Michael Simmons, Jim Steranko, Kenneth M. Trombly, Madeline Zero, and Harry Zimmerman.

Each of us has personal debts to repay incurred during this book.

William Kalush would like to thank:

My late father, Edward T. Kalush, who regaled me with stories about Houdini vanishing an elephant. My sister, Trudy Kalush, followed his lead, giving me gifts of handcuffs and my first and only straitjacket. My mother, Jean Kalush, and my aunt Flossie Finningsdorf facilitated my strange preoccupation by driving me to my first job (nonpaying) at Sorcerer’s Apprentice magic shop, where Brian DiPietro, Carl Jarboe, and Chuck King liberally augmented my education. Along the way I’ve become indebted to many great men, many of whom helped with this book. Some, like the late Carl Mainfort, taught me sleight of hand. Others, like the late Robert Lund, taught me to love the history of the art, and the late Jay Marshall taught me to love the people who made that history. Once the Houdini project started, I’ve relied on friends for all types of support, without which I couldn’t have done this work. Thanks to Lindsay Smith for all her support and help. Thanks as well to my friends Melissa Fazio, Catherine Hickland, and Mark Silverstein, who’ve helped me retain a modicum of sanity. A special thank you to Marianne Santo, who has helped me in some fashion on every day of this project. And also to the little monster Munito, always the center of attention and always a welcome distraction.

Larry Sloman would like to thank:

David Blaine, who introduced me to both the world of magic and my co-author on this wonderful journey to the heart of Harry. Kinky Friedman, who took time out from his Texas gubernatorial race to help facilitate our Texas research. Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, and Antony and the Johnsons, who provided the soundtrack to the writing of the book. Leonard Cohen for encouraging me to do this project, then cautioned, “Please don’t talk bad about Houdini—he loved his mother.” Jaromir Jagr and his teammates, who made a noble run for the Cup. Louie and Sal DiPalo of DiPalo’s, who fueled the furnace with their incredible Italian cuisine, along with J.D., who sent us wonderful pizza from Totonno’s. Jeff Lieberman, who put our Shallow Entertainment ventures on hold. John Alpert, who drove me to our hockey games and listened to more Houdini stories than he wanted to. Rick Rubin, who provided an air of mystery. Anthony Kiedis for the midday tea and diversion during the writing process. George Barkin, who checked in on me for a pulse periodically. Rachel Tadeo for brightening a grueling period by giving birth to a beautiful baby boy. Jade Bush for her understanding and for lowering the ring tones of her cell phone. And finally, special heartfelt thanks to my wife, Christy Smith-Sloman, and our dog, Lucy, who welcomed back the stranger who reentered their lives after the book was finally completed.

Index

Abbott, Jay
Academy of Music
Adamson, L. A.

Adler, Frederick
Aerial League of Australia
air shows
Albee, E. F.

Alburtus
Alexander II of Russia
Alexi, Prince
Allen, Elizabeth Akers
Allen, General James
Amateur Athletic Union
American Gaiety Girls
American Group of the International

Workingmen’s Association

American Society for Psychical

Research

anarchists
Anderson, John Henry
Antilles
Appleton, Wisconsin, see Houdini

Harry, in Appleton

Wisconsin

Arabian Nights, The
Arbuckle, Fatty,

Askenas Triplets, Marvelous
Australia, Houdini in, see Houdini

Harry, aviation in Australia

Australian Flying Corps
Australian National Aviation Museum
automatic writing

Bailey, Sam
Baker, Mark
Baker, Newton
Balfour, Earl of
Banks, Ralph C.

Banner of Life, The
Bantino, Joseph
Bard, Jim
Barrett, Sir William
Barry, Milla
Barrymore, John (Jack)
Barrymore, Mrs. John
Baruch, Bernard
Bean, Captain Charles
Beaumont, Bruce
Beck, Martin
Bell, Don
Benninghofen, Annie
Benzon, Professor Alfred
Berlin Circus Busch
Bernhardt, Sarah
Bertillon System
Besinnet, Ada
Bey, Rahman
Big Alice
Billboard,

Bird, J. Malcolm

attacked by Houdini,

attacks Houdini,

contacted by spirit of Hyslop,

and Margery

account of Margery-Houdini

later séances,

confesses Margery asked him to

cheat,

in love with,

at séance with,

Scientific American,
writings for,

Bisson, Mademoiselle
Black, Frank L.

Blackburn Palace Theatre
Blackburn School of Physical

Culture

Blackburn Standard and Weekly

Express,

Blériot, Louis
Blondini, Harry
Blood, Marie Hinson
Bloom, Sol
Blue Book, The,

Blue Eagle
Boer War
Bolin, T.

Bosco, Bartolomeo
Bosoposhka, Matronushka
Boston Athletic Association
Boston City Hall
Boston Ethical Society
Boston Globe,

Boston Herald,

Boston Sunday Herald,

Boston Symphony Hall
Boston Transcript,

Boston Yacht Club
Boudini, Jacques
Bowen, Walter
Bramah lock
Brassac, Antonio
Brindamour, George W.

Brisbane Daily Mail,

British Museum of Natural History
Brittain, Annie
Brodie, Steve
Brooks, Henry
Brothers Houdini, The
Brown, Dr. Edison
Brown, Thomas
Bureau of Criminal Investigation
Burgess, Rev. C.

Burns, Tommy
Burns, William J.

Burnside, R. H.

Butirskaya prison
Button, William

Call of the Wild, The
(London)
Campion, S. R.

Cancer of Superstition, The