Jisshu in the world has ever known a night of October 31st 1936 on the rooftop of Nixon bought her hotel in Hollywood California 10 years to the day after Houdini died on hollowing 1926 and later we are in the media I have great America I directed me very bad you know he came to her to write a letter to me to really write every We're going to ruin their theory theory I'm going to read them right. After. The grave to Dini had made a pact with his wife Bess that he would make every attempt to communicate with her as a spirit from beyond the grave after he was dead so every year on holidays the widow of Harry Houdini held a seance for him on the night of his departure for the next 10 years without making contact. In this the 10th and final official say off for Harry Houdini gold invitations were sent to some 300 guests and reporters lives as far away as New York were dim and one minute of silence was observed as the ceremony began in prayer. Letters. Meditation and prayer. I am not going to mind if you know but. Who do you let go to under 17 feet there in the ground that are going to give me that night. We are really great. And we have to make a right to be right at the. Table with who Dinis handcuffs was set near the edge of the roof with the Hollywood sign as the prominent dramatic backdrop. Lit up in the distance of the hollowing night now the final plea for the great deal to appear spirit for. The 1st to Yet again like 10 times before Dean did not come through from the other side. His wife Bess had no other choice but to concede. Right back. To you. For 10 years best presided over these well publicized seances though she stopped participating in 1938 not a single hollowing has passed since without an official who Deni seance held by magicians somewhere in the world as homage to the great deal. Which is somewhat ironic considering that Harry Houdini was well known for his efforts to debunk spiritualist mediums and cycles even wrote a book about it called a magician among the spirits and was a member of a Scientific American Committee offering cash prizes to anyone who could demonstrate psychic abilities and of the scrutiny of scientific observers would Debo mediums by writing elaborate disguises and infiltrating saying says tricks of the trade could easily be exposed by one with such knowledge and allusions as from Deni possessed but where did you Deni obtain this knowledge of illusion and what drove him to such great lengths in his efforts to disprove psychics and mediums and spirituals it was born in Budapest Hungary March 24th $1874.00 Erich vice the son of a rabbi and one of 7 children his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Wisconsin Eric began to pursue an interest in magic as his stage name Eric vise became Harry Houdini by adding an eye to the last name of his idol French magician. Roberts who did a legend has it that young Houdini was apprenticed to a locksmith where he learned to assemble and take apart locks with his eyes closed at 17 years old Harry Houdini left his family to pursue his career in magic assisted by his little brother Theodore who Deni began appearing in New York beer halls theaters museums platforms next to snake charmers fire eaters and human oddities they traveled as far west as Chicago with the brothers who Dean did quite well during the 8 to 93 World's Fair in 1904 while performing at Coney Island in Brooklyn New York Houdini met a performer named best and they were married quickly before she joined him on stage to become the husband wife Act known as the Houdinis for the rest of Harry's career best work as his stage assistant yet Houdini began 899 adrift and discouraged he hadn't made much of a name for himself and was trying to make a living by doing card tricks in skipping from handcuffs he was also dead broke a year earlier he had attempted to sell his entire answer but there were no takers when we come back the great Dean finds success right here on our American story. 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John Nichols was making major strides in his career when it aged 32 a water skiing accident left him critically injured fortunately he had disability insurance for me disability insurance was the safety net I did not have to worry about the bills I did not have the financial concerns thanks to disability insurance that John had through work and on his own he continued to receive an income until he could return to work learn more at Protect your paycheck dot org a message from the nonprofit Life Foundation. This is Dave according the c.e.o. Of Cigna. More than 20 years ago has worked with the March of Dimes to address premature births in the us. Going to her birth caused horrible suffering and cost billions of dollars each year that's why sickness committed to raising funds and awareness for employees family and friends for the help of moms and babies. Please join us in supporting the March for Babies start your team today at March for Babies dot org. We continue the story of the great Harry Houdini who at this point had found moderate success but hadn't yet become famous. His big break came in 899 when he met manager Martin back in St Paul Minnesota who convinced to do to concentrate on his escape hours even toured Europe and show was an immediate success is salary rose to $300.00 per week. With his newfound wealth he purchased a dress to have been made for Queen Victoria He then arranged for a grand reception where he presented his mother in the dress to all of the relatives who genius showed it was the happiest day of his life in 1000 No 4 he returned to the United States and bought a house for 25000 dollars. In New York City Mary who Deni how to run what is popular news just beginning Joshua Jay is a successful magician and respected Harry Houdini expert joins us from the contemporary Jewish Museum Center Francisco All right so let's talk a little bit about dating in a metaphorical sense who is Houdini Houdini is 5 foot 3. He's considered at this time period an outsider hunger area an immigrant at a time when more immigrants were coming to the country than ever before he's a minority he's Jewish. So already you have a lot of things that people in that time viewed as stacked against you he was an outsider he wasn't thought of as American and yet somehow he became America's 1st superstar and he really was that's not really even a debatable statement he was America's 1st superstar because although there were. People who are famous actors on the stage and later in silent pictures they were famous for portraying other people other powerful people who did he was famous for who he was and who was he's this small Jewish immigrant but chains can't hold he can escape from anything that's an unbelievable metaphor given the time period this isn't a time when most people are feeling repressed most people are feeling like there's a ceiling to how high they can rise Here's a man without education without any money it's the ultimate rags to riches story. From 1907 in throughout 19 to Jeannie performed with reach success in the United States you freedom so from jails him off change in straight jackets often while hanging from a rope inside of a street audience or out in front of a major newspaper for the extra publicity because of women tutors who didn't put his hand cuffed behind him in 1000 no wait he began escaping from a long water filled milk came here again is Joshua. Houdini was largely known for his escapes but truthfully most of his escape for publicize the stuff they were done outside of harbors to get people to come to his magic shows so this is why he would be seen upside down this strait jacket or doing underwater escapes bridge jobs but in 1980 had a brilliant idea to bring the major escapes to the stage. And this was the one that he brought his the milk can escape it's an original Houdini illusion and this is the original. He would go inside the can so only his head was emerged and then he would do something brilliant he would say to everybody in the audience I have here the biggest stopwatch in the world and I would bring out a big clock and he would say I want all of you to help me warm up my lungs by holding your breath for a minute with me and he would get everybody in the audience to hold their breath a timer would start and he would go submergence self into that and. Everybody tries to hold their breath 30 seconds go by and. They learn it's hard he comes up after a minute they kick the can and and now it's really good because what has he done. He hasn't shown you that what he's doing is impossible like most magicians is showing you that what he's doing is difficult and real and that is a way that everybody remembers even if there were 3000 people in the crowd could understand and identify on a very intimate level the real danger that he was attempting here again is magician Joshua j. With the details on how exactly the milk in the illusion worked so this is how the illusion would work he would say after a moment of meditation. I will now hold my breath much longer and he would receive Mirch 6 assistants would place the top on the can and then to lock the 6 padlocks on the side a small curtain was placed around it this was to protect the secret of his illusion the print names a secret to this day. And then the clock would start to take after a minute almost everybody in the audience could hold their breath after 2 minutes the skeptics would scare at the 3 minute mark. The theater manager would come out with an axe in his hand looking very confused like this had never happened before and of course it happened every night the same exact way this is Houdini's brilliance with orchestrating a play and playing with your emotions at the 4 minute mark everybody in the audience was shouting mercy mercy for Mr Houdini and just as he was about to break open the cans with an axe Houdini would emerge from behind the curtain soaking wet to supply they ate it up they love it then they whisk away the curtain and there's still a lot of it was it melted through the side just because this was an illusion doesn't mean it wasn't truly dangerous Joshua Jay describes one of them were caused an imitator breach Oh Deni imitator name Janessa tempted that the milk can escape in 1034 years after Houdini's death what you missed the didn't know is that is his crew was unloading the can they drop it and we don't know how Houdini did it but we do know that the nest the did it with a trap door lid a lid that even one locks you could escape through when they dented the can they stop the method of a skate trap door wouldn't open Janessa didn't know this until he was under water inside the can with the padlocks law no way to shout for help no way to signal what had happened he took his wife who was watching the trick from the wings 3 minutes before she realized something had gone wrong she uttered all the assistance in to help unlock the cans but of course remember the way the trick is supposed to work they never have to unlock the padlocks they couldn't remember which he's went to which longs so they got mixed up and they lost another precious minutes by the time they on lock the can they open it and that's the lived only long enough so they could explain to him how he had been. Very out of few close calls from. Self over the years being buried alive was one of the most dangerous stunts that the magician ever pulled off assistance shackled and covered Houdini of Earth 6 feet deep. Trying to dig his way out he soon became exhausted and panicked while calling for help his hand finally broke the surface of the earth and he passed out in his personal diary wrote that it was a very dangerous escape and that the weight of the earth is killing its own Jeanie's daredevil behavior wasn't just for the stage but very much a part of who he was in 1009 he became fascinated with aviation and purchased a 60 horse power French biplane for $5000.00 Dini made his 1st flight near Hamburg Germany on November 26th $1000.00 know not just 6 years after the 1st flight of the Wright Brothers Some reports say that Houdini was the 25th person to ever fly an airplane it's at a time when air travel was highly experimental this was truly another death defying act to add to his repertoire Houdini was also at this fully recognized as the 1st person to ever make a controlled flight in Australia the Australian areally. A great. Big regret not born with. It or not and why I. Write and write one can buy quite. Sure I'm an aviator Ingram and I will make. A record on my bird. Getting off the ground I quickly got back to our. Machine and wrote about our all of. It are going to think that there. Might. Be 3 and became a. A lot of work but an airplane for many years appropriate work but that it would be neat for a regular group their life. Just a few years later on July 17th 1013 good news mother Cecilia vice time after suffering a stroke when news of her death reached to Dean who was performing in Copenhagen he fainted. And took Houdini several days to make it back to New York the family delayed burial against Jewish custom just so Houdini could have one last look at his mother every day for a year and visited his mother's grave and every night at 15 minutes past midnight the instant of her death in lay flat on the ground is arms and bracing her grave is face pressed close to the earth there he talks to her begging her to let him know her last words. The great Harry Houdini magician and cuffed King jail breaker escape artist Daredevil was painfully bound by his mother's death and when we come back can Houdini escape the grasp of depression this is our American story. Like campfires How about a campfire atmosphere with friends and brought to your ears for ever you are that's what we do in our American stories a show that tells great American stories a lot. Before drawing funny stories about 1st jobs this day in history American dreams and marriages and so much more and then here's your stories on these big topics why every weeknight or listen online at our American network the hope you join the camp fire and call in with your stories small business ownership has been the path to the American dream since the country was founded from our small towns to our big cities they're the engine that powers the American economy job creators network works on behalf of small businesses everywhere fighting for them and the policies that help small businesses grow into bigger ones if you are a small business owner go to job creators Network dot com and learn how to join this important group help keep the American dream alive and go to job creators Network dot com now and join. My name is Judy teeter and I'm the mother of 3 boys my youngest Joel was a great kid he loves sports music and. 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Canal info is the national supporter of the American Heart Association face that that campaign John Nichols was making major strides in his career when it age 32 a water skiing accident left him critically injured fortunately he had disability insurance for me disability insurance for his safety no I did not have to worry about the bills I did not have the financial concerns thanks to disability insurance that John had through work and on his own he continued to receive an income until he could return to work learn more at Protect your paycheck dot org a message from the nonprofit Life Foundation. You can help us leave the fight for health. And. Let's raise funds of be champions for families and for together building. Today March for Babies. Dot org. This is our American stories and for all that we do by the way go to our American Network dot org stories about everything in that last segment w