The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero
by William Kalush, Larry Sloman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Larry Sloman, William KalushEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-10-02
ISBN: 0743272080
Number of pages: 608
Publisher: Atria Books
Book Reviews of The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero
Book Review: "...never have I forgotten that fact that 'life is but an empty dream'"---Harry Houdini
Summary: 3 Stars
Reading the introduction to "The Secret Life of Houdini" made it sound like a must read. The authors describe it as "the first Houdini biography of the new digital age." They fed a myriad of magic documents into a text-searchable database that offers tens of thousands of references to Houdini. They discovered a closet full of scrapbooks and materials on spiritual medium and Houdini nemesis Margery and an uncensored diary of the Head of Scotland Yard's Special Branch that references Houdini. The bombshell of their massive work (and, no doubt, source of the title) is that Houdini was a spy who worked for the Secret Service and Scotland Yard. After reading through the 560 pages, all that wealth of data did not support the exciting claims.
"Secret Life" is a very thorough account of the life of Houdini, although the majority of the book would not be considered "secret." It documents Ehrich Weiss's humble roots, his beginnings as an escape artist, his performances across the United States and Europe, the quest to create and perfect new magic acts, the pursuit of imitators, his work as an author and magic historian, his accomplishments in aviation, his patriotism and devotion to his mother, and his fight against corrupt spiritualists. These subjects are part of Houdini's public life, though.
As for the "secret life" of Houdini, the authors resort to speculation and assumption. The Secret Service chief had used entertainers before in his intelligence work setting a precedent for using Houdini (68-70). Houdini was on the West Coast the same time the Secret Service was there to investigate fake silver dollars (83). Houdini exchanged a naturalized passport for a native born passport to avoid German suspicion while he was there to, among other things, send reports to Scotland Yard chief William Melville on such things as the Krupp munitions factory he visited (111-16). Houdini "in all likelihood" was in the crowd of the Kaiser after a display of Germany's military might. The uncensored diary of Melville produced the one eye-opening entry offered in this book: "no word yet from HH" (229). The authors think he met with Secret Service chief John Wilkie during a ten-day visit to New York (126). Houdini was on the same ship as the Captain of Military Intelligence Robert Goelet (309) and was in Texas during his aviator period the same time the First Areo Squadron met in San Antonio (319). He played Secret Service characters in his films (354) and created his own secret service and fact-gathering force in his pursuit to take down phony mediums. He was asked in court if a man, who happened to be a former Secret Service operative, was a member of the Society of American Magicians. Two sisters claimed that Houdini told them he was a Prohibition rum-runner for the government which was "confirmed" by another source who got his information from the same ladies (is getting information from the same source considered "confirmation"?) (438). These examples make up the authors' case that Houdini was a spy. A lot of coincidences? Yes. But, I don't think it is enough on which to base a 560-page book.
The wealth of sources on Margery produced a lengthy and drawn-out section on Spiritualism with some nasty details regarding her seances. The authors include some interesting speculation that Houdini's death was caused by revenge-minded Spiritualists, but no concrete evidence is provided. There is no "wow" moment. The book is incredibly well-researched to the point that the sources are so numerous they were put on a website rather than included in the book. The writing style, for the most part, makes for an enjoyable read; however, I did not like the way they started some of the sections. The chapters are divided into many sections and sometimes they began a section with descriptions and pronouns giving it a mysterious quality. For example, in one section the reader is made to think Houdini was attacked in his home (only pronouns were used) only for it to be revealed that it was one of his brothers. This "mysterious" style was done enough to become annoying. Also, they explain their style as turning "facts into dialogue." The first part of chapter one describing Houdini being buried alive is written in a way that tries to get into Houdini's head. I normally do not like authors trying to read minds in history books, but thought it would be intriguing in this case. Alas, they do not do this again. In sum, the book is a wealth of information on Houdini, but it does not live up to the hyped-up title and introduction.
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