Chapter 21: Come in, spirits
Most people fault Houdini (1953) for creating the myth of (spoilers!) Houdini dying in the Water Torture Cell. But the far more pernicious myth to come out of the film is the idea that Houdini’s mother’s death is what led directly to his involvement in spiritualism. The truth is Houdini’s interest in spiritualism goes all the way back to the beginning of his magic career, and his crusade against fraud mediums came ten years after his mother’s death. As far as I know, he did not attend any seances immediately after her demise.
However, his mother’s death provides such a perfect narrative link to spiritualism that screenwriter Philip Yordan fused the two, and later screenwriters and documentarians all followed suit. Thus, the idea is still ingrained in the minds of the public today.
Having got that bit of business out of the way, let’s go to a séance!
After the lights come on, the attendees discuss what they saw. Bess says the spirit in the garden “did bear a resemblance to Mama,” and Houdini notes that the waltz they heard was his mother’s favorite song. The medium tells them they are fortunate, as most first sessions produced nothing. “It usually takes several before the receptive vibration is established.”
I always found it amusing that they only discuss the music and apparition in the garden and not the far more baffling manifestations that preceded this. Of course, those were done via optical effects in post-production. I would be interested to know if they even appear in the script. They may have been added after the fact to provide the séance with some more spooky thrills.
A bemused Simms asks Houdini if all mediums are fakes. Houdini quickly answers, “No, I’m sure there are those who are sincere and believe what they’re doing. I just haven’t found them yet.”
This sentiment isn’t too far from Houdini’s real statements. However, I sense this line is in the movie to head off potential controversy. If so, it worked. As far as I know, Houdini (1953) did not draw any ire from the Spiritualism community.
As they depart, the medium looks to her accomplice and whacks him hard, barking, “Take that thing off!” Funny.
So did this kind of thing happen? Absolutely. However, it happened far less than most people think. While Houdini attended hundreds of séances, he rarely exposed mediums on the spot. He would generally thank the medium but say that he hadn’t seen anything “evidentiary” and depart. However, there were a few high-profile exposés that did play out on the spot and drew headlines as a result.
Speaking of headlines, we now get Montage #3, beginning with the “What’s become of Houdini?” layout now filled in with his spirit exposures. Notice there are dates visible on these newspaper pages. The first is dated March 2, 1922, which is pretty accurate to the start of Houdini’s public activities related to Spiritualism.
If you look closely, you can see three illustrations from Houdini’s Margery pamphlet on the page below. So, technically, the famous Margery does appear in Houdini ’53!
We then see a headline touting Houdini’s $25,000 challenge for proof of contact with the spirit world. This one is dated August 28, 1924, and is generally accurate, although Houdini’s personal bounty was $10,000.
We end with a headline in Billboard dated September 11, 1925: “Houdini Returns to Magic: Goes on Tour.” Notice the cigar in the astray and the shadow of the telephone, suggesting this is the desktop of a showbiz bigshot. Martin Beck or E.F. Albee maybe?
While the date here is accurate to the launch of Houdini’s first “3 Shows in One” tour, spiritualism remained a big part of his life and act. But as far as Houdini ’53 is concerned, his time among the spirits is now over.
Want more? I have a special epilogue to this installment on my Patreon. Click below for a quick trip to the afterlife.
