06 - Unmasking of Robert-Houdin by Harry Houdini

In Unmasking of Robert-Houdin, Harry Houdini embarks on a provocative journey to challenge the legacy of the man he once idolized, the esteemed magician Robert-Houdin. Initially inspired by Houdins brilliance, Houdini adopted his name, adding an i to pay homage. However, feeling slighted by the Robert-Houdin family, he penned this work as a means to dismantle their revered image. Ironically, Houdinis efforts to discredit his predecessor backfired, leading to unexpected revelations. Join us as we explore the intricate relationship between two of magics greatest figures. - Summary by Cavaet

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section six of The Unmaskuing Robert Houdin. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Recording by Caveat The Unmasking of Robert Houddin by Harriie Houdini,
Chapter five, The Obedient Cards, the Cabalistic Clock, the trapeze automaton,

(00:30):
the Obedient Cards. To trace here the history of three
very common tricks claimed by Robert Houdin as his own
inventions would be a sheer waste of time if the
exposure did not prove beyond doubt that in announcing the
various tricks of his repertoire as the output of his
own brain, he was not only flagrant and unscrupulous, but

(00:50):
he did not even give his readers credit enough intelligence
to recognize tricks performed repeatedly by his predecessors, whom they
had seen not satisfy with purloining tricks so important that
one or two would have been sufficient to establish the
reputation of any conjurer or inventor. He must needs lay
claim to having invented tricks long the property of Mountebanks

(01:11):
as well as reputable magicians. The tricks refer to are
the obedient card, the cabalistic clock, and the automaton known
as diavolo antonio or La voltageur U trapis the obedient
card trick, mentioned on page two hundred and forty five
of the American edition of his memoirs as a novel

(01:32):
experiment invented by Monsieur Robert Houdin, can be found on
the program of every magician who ever laid claim to
dexterity of hand. Whether they accomplish the effect by clockwork
or with a black silk thread or a human hair,
the result was one and the same. It has also
been worked by using a fine thread with a piece
of wax at the end. The waxes fastened to the

(01:53):
card and the thread draws it up. The simplest method
of all is to place the thread over and under
the cards, weaving it in and out as it were,
and then by pulling the thread to bring the different
cards selected into view. So common was the trick that
its description was written in every work on magic published
from seventeen eighty four to the date of Robert Houdin's
first appearance, and at least one volume printed as early

(02:15):
as sixteen thirty five. The majority of French encyclopedias described
the trick and exposed it according to one method or another,
and Robert Houdin emits having been a great reader of encyclopedias.
The trick first appeared in print in various editions of
Hocus Pocus twenty in all, starting with sixteen thirty five,
the majority contained feats with cards showing how to bring

(02:38):
up or out of a pack with a black thread,
a hair spring, or an elastic. In seventeen seventy two,
the rising card trick was shown in Goyat's Physical and
Mathematical Recreations, also in the Dutch or Holland translations of
the same work. In seventeen ninety one it was minutely
explained by Horvath von Eckershausen, who wrote five different book

(03:00):
on the subject of magic. The fourth, being devoted principally
to the art of the Conjurer, was entitled de glago
Tasha or deer fostandigger uttecht in tashenspieler u s V,
which translated means the Conjurer's Pocket or Thorough Instructions in
the Art of conjuring. The title was due to the
fact that in olden days Tanjuras worked with the age

(03:22):
of a large outside pocket. The five books published under
the general title of Auschlusser Truemaggee bare Date of Munich, Germany.
On page one hundred and thirty eight of the third
edition of Gale's Cabinet of Knowledge, published in London and
eighteen hundred will be found a description of the rising
card trick as done with pin and thread, and the

(03:43):
same book shows how it's accomplished with wax and a hair.
This book seems to have been compiled from Philip Breslaw's
work on magic, The Last Legacy, published in seventeen eighty two. Benton,
who published the English edition of de Cramp's favous work
on Magic exposing Pernetti's repertoire, also described the trick Natural
magic by Astley the Circusman and Hooper's Recreations in four

(04:06):
volumes published in seventeen eighty four, exposed the same trick.
As to magicians who perform the trick, their names are legion,
and only a few of the most prominent conjurers will
be mentioned in this connection. The man who obtained the
best effects with this trick was John Henry Anderson, who
startled the world of magic and amusements by his audacity

(04:26):
in eighteen thirty six, nine years before Robert Houdin trod
the stage as a professional entertainer. Anderson was born in Kincardine, Scotland,
in eighteen fourteen and started his professional career as an actor.
He must have been a very poor one, too, for
he states that he was once complimented by a manager
for having brought bad acting to the height of perfection.

(04:49):
Anderson was first known as the Caledonian Magician, then assumed
the title of Wizard of the North, which he said
was bestowed him by Sir Walter Scott. Thomas Frost belittles
this statement on the ground that Scott was stricken with
paralysis in eighteen thirty. However, Anderson became famous in eighteen
twenty nine, so he should be given the benefit of

(05:09):
the doubt. He was the greatest advertiser that the world
of magic has ever known, and he left nothing undone
that might boon attendance at his performances. He started newspapers,
gave masked balls, and donated thousands of dollars to charity.
He was known in every city of the world, and
when so inclined, built his own theaters. He sold books

(05:30):
on magic during his own performances, and would sell any
trick he presented for a nominal sum. His most unique
advertising dodge was to offer five hundred dollars in gold
as prizes for the best conundrums written by spectators during
his performances. To make the scheme more effective, he carried
with him his own printing press and set it up
back of the scenes while the performance was under way.

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The conundrums handed in by the spectators were printed, and
after the performance anyone might buy a sheet of the
questions and puns at the door. As everyone naturally wanted
to see his conundrum in print, Anderson sold millions of
these bits of paper. In eighteen fifty two, while playing
at the Metropolitan New York City he advertised his conundrum
contest and sold his book of Tricks et cetera. And

(06:13):
such notables as Jenny Lynde and General Kossoth entered conundrums.
He was among the first performers to expose the Davenport Brothers,
whose spiritualistic tricks and rope tying had astonished America direct
gone witnessinger performance and solving their methods. Anderson hurried back
to England and exposed the tricks. To sum up his history,

(06:33):
he stands unique in the animals of magic as a
doer of daring things. He rushed into print on the
slightest pretext, was a hard fighter with his rivals, and
aired his quarrels in the press. And he was a
game loser when trouble came his way. Not a brilliant
actor or performer, he yet had the gift of securing
excellent effects on his missee l sne He made and

(06:55):
lost several fortunes, generally recouping as quickly as he lost.
He was burn and out several times, the most notable
fire being that of Covent Garden, London in eighteen fifty six.
He was liked in spite of his eccentricities, but when
he died February third, eighteen seventy four, his fortune was small.
Anderson had numerous imitators, including M. Jacob's, Barney Eagle, and E. W. Young,

(07:21):
all of whom used the rising or Obedient card trick.
They copied not only his tricks but the very names
he had used. And the style of his billing. All
three of these men were professional magicians before Robert Houdin appeared,
and Anderson was a very active contemporary. A Jacob's bill
is here reproduced, showing the card trick featured, among other attractions.

(07:42):
The lithograph of Jacob's used in this connection is natural likeness,
and I believe it to be as rare as it
is timely. Young's name has been handed down in history
because he made money on Anderson's reputation by the boldest
of imitations, assuming the title of Wizard of the Now
with his own name in small type. One of his

(08:03):
bills is also reproduced. Barnido or Barney Eagle is the
man of the trio of the Imitators who deserves more
than passing notice. He became Anderson's bitterest enemy, and their
rivalry made money for the printers. Eagle could neither read
nor write, but having a quick brain, he hired a
clever writer to indict his speeches and duplicated Anderson's show

(08:25):
so closely that Anderson's pride was hurt. He therefore decided
to expose Eagle and thousands of bills constituting a verriments
attack upon his imitator were distributed. One of these is reproduced.
It is so rare that I doubt whether another is
in existence. As Eagle had advertised that he was patronized
by royalty, Anderson had another bill printed showing Eagle playing

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before the King at the ascot racetrack and an assistant
passing the hat and Mountebank fashion. In revenge, Eagle had
a book published in which he exposed Anderson's best drawing trick,
the gun delusion, in which the magician allowed anyone from
the audience to shoot a gun at him using marked bullets.
These bullets were caught in his mouth or on the
point of a knife. The trick became as common as

(09:08):
the obedient cartrick. In the face of such overwhelming evidence,
Robert Houdan's claim to have invented the obedient cartrick is
nothing short of farcical. The kabalistic or obedient clock. There
might be said to exist a very reasonable doubt as
to the exact date at which Robert Houdin produced the

(09:30):
cabalistic clock, which he included among his other doubtful claims
to inventions, on page two hundred and fifty of the
American edition of his memoirs. He has the cabalistic clock
on his opening program for July third, eighteen forty five,
but in the appendix of the French edition he states
that the clock first made its appearance at the opening
of the season eighteen forty seven. Nearly all his statements

(09:54):
he is equally inaccurate. A mysterious clock might be termed
the obedient clock, for the trick can including the hand
or hands to obey the will of the conjurer or
the wishes of the audience. The hands will point to
a figure moved with rapidity or as slowly as possible,
or in time to music. In fact, the performer has
full control of the hands, he can make them to

(10:14):
his every bidding. The mysterious clock is a trick as
old as the obedient card trick, if not older. It
was explained according to various methods in books before rabaut
Uddin's appearance on the stage. In fact, the majority of
old time conjuring books explain mysterious clocks carefully. Before ectricity
was introduced, magnets were employed, but the earliest method was

(10:36):
to make use of thread wound about the spindle of
the clock hand, and that method is still the very
best used today owing to its simplicity. The clock, on
being presented to the audience may be hung or placed
in the position best suited to the particular method by
which it is being worked. It shows a transparent clock face,
such you would see in any jewelry shop. Some magicians

(10:59):
utilize only one hand, which permits the easy use of
electricity or magnet, while others employ two or even three hands.
When more than one hand is used, the hours and
minutes are indicated simultaneously, and if cards are pasted on
the clock face, the largest hand is used to find
the chosen cards. The clock may be placed on a
pedestal in an upright position, or hung in mid air

(11:21):
on two ribbons or strings, can be hung on a
stand made expressly for the purpose on the style of
a music stand, or it can be swung in a frame.
In fact, as stated before, it is usually placed so
as to facilitate the method of working. When the cabalistic
clock has taken off the hook or the stand on
which it is placed and handed to one of the

(11:41):
spectators to hold, the latter places the hand on the
pin in the center of the glass face and revolves it.
The arrow or hand is worked by a counterweight controlled
by the performer, who has fixed it before he hands
it to the innostant spectator. The clock can be purchased
from any reliable dealer of conjuring apparatus in almost any
part of the world. For a clock worked by a counterweight,

(12:02):
the hand of thin brass is prepared in the center
where there is a weight of peculiar shape which has
at the thin or tapering end a small pin. This
pin is fixed permanently to the weight and can be
revolved around the small plate on which it is riveted.
Through this plate there is a hole exactly in the center.
This hand has all this covered up with a brass cap,

(12:24):
and to make the arrow point to any given number,
you simply move the weight with your thumb. Pin clicks
and allows you to feel as it moves from one
hole to another. With a very little practice, you can
move this weight while in the act of handing it
to some one to place it on the center of
the clock face, and when spun, the weight of its
own accord will land at the bottom, causing the hand
to point where it was forced by the law of gravity.

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The plate on which the weight is fastened is grooved
or milled so that it answers to the slightest movement
of your thumb. When the clock is on the stage
and the hand moves simply by the command of the
performer or audience, it is manipulated by an assistant behind
the scenes, either by the aid of electricity or by
an endless thread which is wrapped around the spindle and
runs through the two ribbons or strings that hold the

(13:08):
clock in mid air. Some conjurers work the clock so
arranged to make a combination trick, first by having it
worked by a concealed confederate, and then taking the clock
off the stand and bringing it down in the midst
of the audience. But for this trick you can only
use one hand. Years ago, when I introduced this trick
in my performance, I called a young man on my

(13:29):
stage and asked him to place the hand on the spindle.
It would then revolve and stop at any number named,
But first I made him inform the audience the number
he had chosen, which gave me time to fix the
weight with my thumb. I then gave him the hand,
but he was a skilled mechanic and possibly knew the trick.
Instead of holding the clock by the ring at the top,
which was there for that purpose. He grasped the dial

(13:52):
at the bottom, causing the number six and the number
twelve to be on the top. When the hands started
a turn. Of course, he would have stopped at the
wrong number. I managed to escape humiliation by pretending I
was afraid he would break the clock by letting it fall,
so took it away from holding it myself. Mechanic walked
off the stage, winking at me in the most roguish manner.

(14:13):
Robert Houdan worked the mystic bell trick in connection with
the clock. This was manipulated in the same way the
bell was worked with thread pulling a small pin, which
in turn caused a handle to fall against the glass bell.
Naturally having electricity at his command at that time, he
made use of that force whenever it suited his fancy.

(14:33):
I am positive that Robert Houdin presented the electrical clock
because t Boldon of Moscow visited Paris and bought the
trick from Woain, the French manufacturer of conjuring apparatus. The
trick which Robau Houdin presented, according to his claims, was
with the clock hanging in mid air to prove that
it was not electrically connected. But the truth of the
matter is that the strings which held the clock suspended

(14:55):
in mid air concealed the wires through which his electrical
current ran. In my library of old conjuring books, the
thread method is ably described by horf Rath von Eckerstausen,
mentioned earlier in this chapter. In fact, in the pictorial
appendix of his work, he gives this trick prominence by
minutely illustrating the same. He makes use of two hands,

(15:17):
and to make the trick infallible, he explains, the best
way would be to use two glass disks, having them
held together by a brass rim, and your threads will
work with absolute certainty. The spectators imagine they are seeing
only one glass clock. Johann Conrad Guttle, the well known
delver after Secrets of Natural Magic, also explained several capitalistic

(15:38):
clock tricks in his book, published in eighteen o two.
I am reproducing herewith a number of programs describing the
effect of the trick, proving that it was no novelty
when Robert Houdin invented it. In fact, the trick was
so common that only the supreme egotism of the man
can explain his having introduced it into the pages of
his book as an original trick. Miss serious clock worked

(16:01):
by the counterweight, which has been described as critics as
having been the invention of Johann nep Hofzinza in an
advertisement published in the London Post of May twenty third,
seventeen seventy eight. Included in my collection this announcement, among
others of much interest, will be found Part two. Breslaw
will exhibit many of his newly invented deceptions with a

(16:24):
grand apparatus and experiments, and particularly the magic clock, sympathetic bell,
and pyramidical glasses, in a manner entirely new. In seventeen
eighty one, while showing at the Greenwood Rooms, Haymarket, London,
Breslaw heavily advertised, particularly an experiment on a newly invented
mechanical clock will be displayed under the direction of Sieur Castinia,

(16:47):
just arrived from Naples, the like never attempted before in
this metropolis. There is every reason to believe that Catafelto
the greatest of Bambastic conjurers, use the electrical clock in
his performances, as he made a feature of the various
late discoveries and his programme of seventy eighty two, he
advertises feats and experiments in magnetical, electrical, optical, chemical, philosophical, mathematical,

(17:11):
et cetera, et cetera. Among implements and instruments or articles mentioned,
I found watches, caskets, dice cards, mechanical clocks, pyramidical classes,
et cetera, et cetera. Ingald Senior, the celebrated Bartholomew Fair conjurer,
whose career started at about seventeen eighty eight, had on his
early programmes a pedestal clock so singly constructed that it

(17:34):
was obedient to the word of command. On the same program,
Catherine Street Theatre, London, February fifteenth, eighteen sixteen, I find
the Russian Inn, the confectioners Shop, and the automaton rope Vault.
This program is reproduced in full in chapter four, without
devoting further space to Rebert Houddin's absurd claim to have

(17:54):
invented this clock. We will proceed to discuss his claims
to the automaton rope walker, which he called the tas
performer the trapeze automaton. Though Diavolo Antonio or la voltegeur
trapeze was not a simple trick, but a cleverly constructed
automaton worked by a concealed confederate. It was a common

(18:14):
feature on programmes long before Robert Houdin claimed it as
his invention. Yet with the daring of one who believes
that all prooved has been destroyed, he announces it on
page three hundred and twelve of the American edition of
his Memoirs that he invented the trapeze performer for his
season of eighteen forty eight. In the illustrated appendix of
his Fronts edition, he states that the figure made its

(18:37):
first appearance at his Paris theater October first, eighteen forty nine.
He thus describes the automaton. The figure is the size
of an infant, and I carried the little artist on
my arm in a box. I put him up on
the trapeze and ask him questions, which he answers by
moving his head. Then he bows gracefully to the audience,
turning first this way and then that, suspends himself by

(18:59):
his hands and draws himself up in time to the music.
He also goes through the motions of a strong man,
hangs by his head, hands and feet, and with his
legs making motions of aerial telegraphy. The Cramp in his
expose The Conjurer Unmasked, published in seventeen eighty four, thus
describes the automaton and its work. Our attention was next

(19:22):
called to observe an automaton figure that vaulted upon a rope,
performing all the postures and evolutions of the most expert tumblers,
keeping exact time to the music. By seeing mister von
Eston wind up the figures and being shown the wheels
and levers contained for the body of the automaton caused
us to believe to be moved by its own springs.
When mister van Eston thus explained the deception to make

(19:45):
a figure of this kind depends a great deal on
the proportion of the materials with which it was composed.
The legs and thighs are formed out of heavy wood
such as ash or oak, the body of birch or
willow and made hollow, and the head for lightness of machet.
The figure is joined by its hands to a bar
of iron that passes through a partition and is turned

(20:06):
by a confederate. The arms are inflexible at the elbows
but move freely at the shoulders by means of a
bolt that goes through the body, and the thighs and
legs move in the same manner at the hips and knees,
and are stayed by pieces of leather to prevent them
from bending the wrong way. The bar is covered with hollow,
twisted tubes and ornamented with artificial flowers, so as no

(20:27):
part of it can be seen to turn the confederate.
By giving the little handle a quarter turned to the left,
the automaton, whose hands are parallel to the horizon, lifts
themselves little by little till they become vertical and parallel
to the rest of the body. If in following the
same direction, the other part of the body moves forward,
and by watching the motions through a hole, he seizes

(20:47):
the instant that a leg passes before the bar to
leave the automaton astride. Afterwards, he balances it by jerks
and causes it to make a turn around, keeping time
with the music, as if it were sensible of harmony
n B. Three circumstances concur here to favor the illusion. First,
by the assistance of a wire, the confederate can separate

(21:09):
the bar from the automaton, which fall into the ground
persuades one it loses itself by real machinery. Secondly, in
winding up the levers shown in the body confirms the
spectators in the idea that there is no need of
a confederate. Thirdly, the tubes that are twisted around the bar,
except where the automaton is joined to it, seem to

(21:30):
be the rope itself, and being without motion, as is
seen by the garlands which surround them, it cannot be
suspected the bar turns on the inside. From whence it
is concluded that the figure moves by his own machinery.
According to one of the Philip Styles's advertisements, page one
hundred three, the trapez automaton which he featured was six

(21:51):
feet in height, but Penetty programs showed that he had
a smaller figure known as the rope faulter. This is
probably the trick exposed into Cromb's book. On page one
hundred eight will be found a Louis programme of eighteen fifteen,
on which a figure is thus featured to elegant automata
as large as nature, the one representing a beautiful polonies,

(22:13):
the other a little boy. Nothing can surpass the admirable
construction of these pieces. The large figure seems almost endowed
with human faculties, exhibiting the usual feats of a rope
dancer in the fullest imitation of life. The small figure
is invested with equally astonishing powers of action to such
ladies as our spectators. If it must be a very
pleasing circumstance that these exertions do not excite those disagreeable

(22:37):
sensations which arise from the sight of figures fought with life,
performing feats attended with so much danger. By referring to
page one hundred thirteen, the reader will find a Schmidt
program dated eighteen twenty seven, on which the figure is
featured as follows the rope dancer, whose surprising performances surpass

(22:59):
in agility, attitudes, and evolutions every professor of the art,
keeping correct time to the music of the machinery. A
Gingle program dated eighteen twenty three, which is reproduced on
the chapter devoted to the pastry cook of the Palais
Royal page one hundred and twenty five, reads as follows
two automatons, one of which will execute wonderful feats on

(23:20):
the typrope and the other dancer characteristic hornpipe as Gengle
figured in the amusement world from seventeen eighty eight to
eighteen forty four. The little figure must have been tolerably
well known to the magic loving public of England by
the time Robert Houdin appeared in London in eighteen forty eight.
A magician named York, who appeared in London in eighteen

(23:41):
forty four, the year before Robert Houdin made his professional debut,
featured under the date of January twenty ninth two automatons,
one of which will execute wonderful feats on the typrope
and the other dancer characteristic hornpipe Bolonia announced for his
performance at the San Paril Theatre, Strand, London under date

(24:01):
of March eighteenth, eighteen twelve. The two automaton rope dancers
from Saint Petersburg, whose feets, agility were never equaled and
cannot be surpassed, will perform together in a style of
excellence hitherto unknown in this country. The Philip style also
featured a pair of automatic type rope performance from eighteen
oh four until his death, and in the early thirties

(24:23):
the figures were exhibited by his widow by referring to
chapter three in the Philip Style program of eighteen oh six,
is reproduced as evidence. From eighteen twenty five to eighteen
fifty five, J. F. Theodon played London and the Provinces
advertising on his programme's fourth piece, the Wonderful and Unrivaled

(24:44):
Automaton on the Flying Rope, the only one of this
construction in the Kingdom, and forms a most extraordinary novelty
from the circumstances of its not being fastened on the
rope by the hands like others hitherto exhibited, the rope
will be in continual motion, the figure will sit perfectly
easy and in a graceful attitude while on the swing,

(25:04):
and perform the most surprising evolutions, scarcely to be distinguished
from a living performer, as it moves with their utmost
correctness without any apparent machinery. From this overwhelming evidence, it
can be argued without doubt that if abt Houdin even
construct the automaton, he merely copied figures presented by both
his predecessors and his contemporaries, and he was fully aware

(25:27):
of the existence of several automata when he advertised his
as an original invention. They were made by many mechanicisms.
In the illustrated appendix of the French edition of his memoir,
he goes further. He deliberately misrepresents the mechanism of the
figure and insinuates that the automaton is a self working one.
This is not true, as it was worked by a

(25:49):
concealed confederate, as described above by de Cranz. Rabaud An
even used the garlands of flowers to hide the moving bars,
as Pennetti and others of his predecessors had done. The
truth was not in him. End of Section six