I bought the thing thinking this was a good souvenir,” Teller told me in a telephone interview. “I got a big black wooden cross, which I thought wouldn't go for much at auction. The great magician Teller, one half of the famous duo Penn and Teller, recently recalled how he discovered one of Houdini's inventions at a Los Angeles auction held by the late Sid Radner, who amassed one of the largest collections of Houdini materials in the world. It depicts Houdini at his most theatrical, wearing makeup and facing the camera with a calculated mysterious gaze. A 1920 gelatin silver print by an unidentified artist resides in collections of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. But to protect his illusions, he largely avoided the patent process, kept secrets, copyrighted his tricks and otherwise concealed his inventive nature. Within each of these roles he was an innovator, and sometimes an inventor. He was also an actor, a pioneering aviator, an amateur historian and a businessman. Harry Houdini is most often remembered as an escape artist and a magician. During his lifetime, nobody ever managed to figure out how he had escaped. Two minutes later, a panting and dripping Houdini emerged from behind the cabinet. Time ticked away as the audience waited for Harry Houdini to drown. A cabinet was wheeled around the can to hide it from view. Holding his breath, he squeezed his entire body into the water-filled can as the lid was attached and locked from the outside with six padlocks. His blue bathing suit revealed an exceptional physique. His hair was parted down the middle and he wore a grave expression on his face.

Houdini was handcuffed with his hands in front of him.

The can had already been poked, prodded and turned upside down to prove to the audience that there was no hole beneath the stage. Houdini was about to do something that looked like a really bad idea. The great master of illusion stepped inside of an over-size milk can, sloshing gallons of water on to the stage. Louis and Harry Houdini was about to debut his first theatrical performance. It was January 27, 1908, at the Columbia Theater in St.

The magic of houdini