Harry Houdini was the greatest magician of all time; the one who invented many of the tricks and illusions that still stun audiences today. Dawn discusses some of the well-known and unknown elements of his story with guest - voice actor, and magician - Joe Brogie.
Dawn's guest, Joe Brogie, began performing magic around his home town in Nebraska until he moved to LA in 2018 to start a career in Voice Over (you can hear him as Matty in Nickelodean's "The Beatbuds - Let's Jam!"). Joe is also a comedian, actor and has appeared on Jimmy Fallon.
00:00:00 - Joe discusses his track from Nebraska to Los Angeles and the similarities he has found between performing magic and performing stand-up comedy. They are more connected than some may have guessed.
00:06:37 - Dawn asks Joe why he assigned her the subject of Harry Houdini. Joe explains that Houdini is, as most people know, one of the godfathers of magic. As a magician himself Joe has always felt a little under informed about his life and has always wanted to know more about him.
Dawn discusses the sources she went to to gather the H for this F-ing:
00:10:23 - The two things that people seem to know about Houdini is that he was a great magician, and he died after being punched in the stomach. Dawn begins with this element of Houdini's story - his untimely death - and discusses what actually happened with that punch. Who did it - and why many dispute that it was, in fact, responsible for killing him.
00:18:53 - As Houdini's death leave questions, the HILF now goes back to his childhood and origin story. From his arrival in the USA as a child from Hungary, to his rise to fame as a magician first in Vaudeville, and eventually to the big time - and even to to Europe. Dawn discusses his most famous tricks, his knack for self-promotion and how he found himself being the first person to fly a plane in Australia.
BREAK
00:36:17 - Coming out of the break, Joe finishes one of the few card tricks he performed to Dawn's toe-curling delight. He goes on to explain how long it takes to perfect a trick and how he has tracked his progress over the years.
00:39:49 - The part of Houdini's life that is much less well-known than his death, was his dedication during the end of his life to exposing fake-mediums and would-be spiritualists. After World War I, the world become somewhat universally obsessed with the paranormal, mysticism, and the occult. It was a breeding ground for con-artists and frauds to exploit people's ignorance and grief - and Houdini resented that they often used the tools of his trade in their schemes.
00:44:16 - Houdini develops a friendship with the author of the Sherlock Holmes books, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the two attend countless seances together. Houdini is a vocal skeptic, Doyle a devoted believer - and while they maintain a friendly respect for their differences at first - eventually the friendship falls apart.
00:52:10 - In an effort to expose all spiritualists as fake, Houdini starts a committee and offers a cash prize to anyone who can prove paranormal phenomena and with his own close scrutiny. None can, of course - they are all ultimately exposed as cons or illusions of some kind... but they're awfully fun. Dawn is most swept away by the psychic simply known as Marjorie.
01:01:22 - On his deathbed, on Halloween no less, Houdini whispers a secret code to his wife. He knew that many would attempt to claim they were speaking to his spirit - and indeed he wanted to try to see if such a thing was possible. Although she attended many seances over the years, Bess never claimed to have heard his message. This does not, however, stop people from still attempting to summon his spirit at countless Halloween seances every year. One of the biggest is at The Magic Castle in Los Angeles.
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