To look at Houdini in the many black and white photographs around the exhibit is to look at the American dream incarnate. ![]() One ad warns, “Do not confuse Houdini with any other so called Handcuff King. Many of the advertisements are works of art themselves, with carefully drawn illustrations of the magician escaping from chains and locks or contorting his body in a number of odd ways. Colorful advertisements litter the walls as if Houdini should make an in-museum appearance. The exhibit evokes the dimly lit vaudevillian atmosphere of a roadside circus tent in the Midwest. ![]() This footage along with a number of photographs, films and paintings inspired by Houdini are currently being shown at the Jewish Museum’s “Houdini: Art and Magic,” a showcase of the life and times of the famous magician. For one of the greatest and most mysterious celebrities of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was. ![]() But archival footage of magician and escape artist Harry Houdini showing his escape from one while hung upside down, 50 feet above 80,000 spectators, makes it seem like mere child’s play. In fact, the idea is daunting to most before even giving it a try. Have you ever tried to get out of a straitjacket? It’s frustratingly hard.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |