#Bess houdini how to#
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He practiced sleight of hand and misdirection in front of a large mirror. He practiced swallowing objects and bringing them back up again. He practiced using his toes to untie knots until they had the dexterity of the average man’s fingers. He actually learned to like these freezing dips, to the point he could say, “I only feel good after one of these baths.” To train himself for stunts in which he would jump into frigid rivers while handcuffed and shackled, he would add ice to the water to build up his stamina. In his home, he built a large sunken tub in which to practice holding his breath and escaping underwater. “vigorous self-training, to enable me to do remarkable things with my body, to make not one muscle or a group of muscles, but every muscle, a responsive worker, quick and sure…” -Houdini on one of the secrets to his success He collected every kind of handcuff he could find and pored over drawings of every lock made in the US and Europe, studying them until had he acquired an encyclopedic knowledge of every key and lock in the world.

#Bess houdini how to#

He set out to learn the secrets of every lock in the world, unable to rest until he knew how to pick them all with ease. He took classes on speech and debate to hone his skills as a charismatic showman.īy age 18 he had trained himself to hold his breath for 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Having learned to converse on the streets of New York City, he worked to drop the “youse” and “aints” that revealed his lack of formal education. He took up running and biking long distances to build his body and endurance.

#Bess houdini free#

When Harry first started practicing magic as a young man, he would have his brother tie him up in ropes and would then spend hours on the roof of his family’s tenement apartment attempting to free himself. In short, he was a master of deliberate practice. It was his determination to pour every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears into being the very best in the world. There was a camp that believed he was in touch with the spirit world and that supernatural powers allowed him to dematerialize to effect his escapes.īut the secret to Houdini’s success was not mystical, or even magical. Throughout his entire career, fans speculated as to how Houdini accomplished his amazing feats. Deliberate Practice Is the Key to Greatness Houdini’s life and deeds could potentially provide enough fodder for a dozen posts today we present just a few of his lessons in manliness. He showed the enormous potential of man when he knows how to hustle and push the boundaries of his capabilities.

He has rightly been called America’s first “superhero.” And therein lies the heart of his appeal he seemed in every way superhuman, but he was still one of us. He refused to be bound not only by ropes and chains, but also by the constricting assumptions of what is possible for an “ordinary” man to do. Nothing could hold him he seemed truly invincible. It didn’t matter how many chains you bound him with, how strong the handcuffs, how tight the ropes it didn’t matter whether you placed him in a crate or a vault or a safe or a prison he would always find a way out. Houdini seemingly flirted with death again and again, only to laugh in its face and emerge in the land of the living.

His enormous popularity can be traced to the human desire to defy death. He was king of the “Golden Age of Magic.” Escape Artist Extraordinaire.Īlmost a century has passed since his death, and Houdini, who was the most famous entertainer of his time, is still a name nearly everyone knows and reveres. “The Handcuff King.” “The Man Who Walked Through Walls.” Master Magician.