Yeah, you read that right. In line with my thesis defense, the last thing I’d tell you is I’m opening for the Itchyworms on Tuesday night in 70’s Bistro.
See you after my thesis is signed, sealed and delivered!
.:67/365: Casey At The Bat:.
A skinny Penn! This is so rare!
The “Casey At The Bat” routine is, admittedly, also an escape act involving a straightjacket. Despite that, it’s the presentation Penn and Teller use that makes it worthy of discussion.
A few days ago, you saw a fairly simple escape from a straightjacket. It wasn’t particularly amazing, but there was nice by-play in the scene that was shown. What Penn and Teller have managed to do here was to take the upside-down escape, already quite a spectacle on its own, and then go and turn it into something even more frenetic and exciting than it already is, to begin with.
The poem “Casey at the Bat” was perfect because it was just long enough for Penn and Teller to play around with the poem to deliver the poem at an increasingly speedy pace at key points in the act. This humorous take and apparent sadism on Penn’s part certainly catches the audience’s attention as Teller helplessly struggles to get out of his restraints, knowing that he could break his neck if he failed to finish the escape before Penn could finish reading the poem.
Penn and Teller are very well-known for this kind of shock value that they employ in order to really leave an indelible mark on their audiences. The impact they have, and the genius of being able to employ even the simplest of magic routines and turning them into a grand and comedic spectacle is something I idolize about Penn and Teller so much. This pretty much explains why I’ve always been a huge fan of the duo, and it makes all the sense in the world why I would be so.
.:66/365: The Gypsy Mystery:.
This is rather awkward…
The Gypsy Mystery is a very popular routine with its roots in mysticists and paranormalists who have demonstrated what has come to be known as the Spirit Cabinet.
Having said that, this routine to me is more of an escapology act than a paranormal one, given the way my partner, Jay, and I have packaged it.
Traditionally, the routine is done this way: ask a volunteer to come up on stage, and make sure he is wearing a jacket. Have him step up beside your assistant as you bind your assistant with ropes very tightly. Then, you have both of them stand in a hoop, you raise the hoop and let the curtain cover them, and once you bring the hoop down, lo and behold, your assistant is still tied up, but she’s wearing the volunteer’s jacket, and it’s very clear that the ropes go over the jacket.
It’s visually stunning and really causes not a small amount of shock from the people in the audience when this routine is done. It’s a very powerful routine that goes well in opening or closing any given show, although it logically assumes a few things, most important of them, the fact that there have to be two performers onstage.
Most magicians such as the great Lou Hilario frown at having two men perform this routine, precisely because of the unfortunate implications of having another man tie up another man live onstage, but it’s precisely this kind of awkwardness and raw impact Jay and I actually thrive on. It helps the dynamic, because as a tandem, Jay and I couldn’t be any more different with how we approach our performance style, and that contrast makes for an entertaining show.
With Jay and I working on a third show hopefully this year (If not, early next year.), you can really expect some new tricks up our sleeves, as well as a few old favourites people have been asking for.
Gypsy Mystery is a routine I first saw from the great Glen Faulkenstein, and locally, sir Lou Hilario has also used this routine to great effect. Personally, I’m a big fan of it because it’s very visual, but it doesn’t require much in the way of props.
One of the biggest fans of Harry Houdini and himself an accomplished escapologist, Dixie Dooley is one of my personal favourite performers when it comes to the art of escapology.
As an escapologist, Dixie’s repertoire is either a great homage to Houdini, or a blatant ripoff, depending on your mileage. His appeal though is that he has successfully managed to mix good humor and comedic timing with his routines to make the inevitable moment where everyone is gasping in fear over his death-defying escape acts become all the more impactful after keeping the audience laughing and at ease for the better part of the show.
One thing you might notice if you catch Dixie’s video is that he has an extensive collection of Houdini memorabilia. The man is a big fan, and it shows. It’s also good to note that he has his own personal touches on a few classic routines, especially his take on the milk can escape that only he seems to be utilizing at the moment.
Sometimes, I wonder, though. How many in and out moves can one guy do throughout a show before people get the joke? He seems to have a lot of similar routines that all happen to utilize that very principle, and it’s just odd.
.:64/365: The Straightjacket Escape:.
Insanity!
This is always a crowd-pleaser, and it’s amazing how enduring this particular escape has been for decades.
The straightjacket escape is one of the most revered forms of escapology, simply because the association that comes with the straightjacket has always been notorious. As a method of restraining the clinically insane, this device, despite being simple and merely made of cloth tougher than usual, has forever been associated with insanity and the fruits of it. For you to have to be restrained by a straightjacket and for you to have to go through the constricting, even claustrophobia-inducing psychological pu
nishment of one, is a nerve-wracking experience, given proper circumstances.
An escape performance that has been popularized by Houdini himself, the straightjacket escape is insanely popular precisely because it is used to contain those who are insane. That a person can, right before your eyes, wriggle his way out, often through dislocating his own shoulder, a regulation straightjacket, is often a cause for amazement. This really is what escapology is all about: skill at its finest, with no frills being shown to the audience. Just the sheer ruggedness and grittiness of having to get out of one of the most feared forms of restraint of all time.
There are many variations to escaping from this nefarious device, including some that attempt to make it even more dangerous, such as doing it suspended in mid-air, or while balancing atop an unstable platform, or even while sinking underwater in a packing crate nailed shut and set on fire. Ultimately, despite all of these, the appeal and allure of the escape from the jacket itself really is what piques people’s curiosity, and you’d be surprised how many people would want to experience being contained in a straightjacket, even just once. Let them find out for themselves how it feels, and let them understand just how insane you really are to willingly put yourself in one of those things. Not to mention the whole crotch strap part, for that matter.
There are plenty of magicians who have a variation of this very revered routine, and it only goes to show that if these people ever do go insane, the last thing you’d want to do is to put them in a straightjacket. You’d simply be asking for a world of trouble.
.:63/365: Roller Coaster:.
That was close! Whew!
This iconic escape by one of the (obviously) most iconic magicians of our time, Lance Burton, has got to be one of the most gripping performances I’ve ever witnessed in my life.
Think about the mechanics involved in this escape: first of all, Lance is tied down to the tracks of a roller coaster, and meets grave harm and probably even death if he were hit by the roller coaster rushing headlong to greet him. Secondly, he has to struggle and get out in time before he does get hit by the train or anything of the sort. Lastly, he has to time all of this just right so that he won’t kill any suspense in the act by getting out of the ropes too easily and jumping out of the way too soon.
There are so many things that could go wrong in a performance like this. It doesn’t matter how well-trained Mr. Burton was, he had to choreograph this thing to the last second, or else it wouldn’t be nearly as gripping as the performance you saw. If he was too quick at escaping the ropes, then the whole act made no sense. If he was too slow, on the other hand, he would’ve gotten rammed by the roller coaster.
This escape act is one of my favourites because it not only requires a lot of skill, but a very brass pair from the performer. It’s easy to perform dangerous escapes when underwater or behind a curtain because nobody can see you escape and you don’t have to pace yourself to make things anymore exciting. Here, you have no choice but to pace yourself because everyone watching can see your progress as you attempt to make your way out of those restraints.
Personally, if I could do escapes like these on a regular basis and be compensated well for it, I’d love to. I know I could potentially risk life and limb by doing it, but hey, you only live once, and if they make it worth your while, why not? This is one of those routines that you save for a very special occasion and you don’t just bust it out on a regular basis as it loses its value as a special attraction.
You know what amuses me about the comments on the video though? People who insist that the video is fake. Why? Since when did lockpicking, escapology, and plain balls ever become “fake”? One of these days, I’ll be having a few very harsh words with people who like killing faeries in magic, and I can assure you, I’m not going to be very charitable with it.
.:62/365: The 100-Foot Rope Escape:.
The amazing thing about this escape is that the bigger and more menacing-looking the rope you use for the escape is, the better your odds of actually getting away in record time from the whole mess.
The 100-Foot Rope Escape is one of the most entertaining forms of escapology out there simply because it challenges the audience to attempt to restrain you by using their own creative thinking and ability to form knots and the like. The implicit challenge is that you must be able to escape from the rope in a shorter amount of time than it took for the challengers to tie you up.
The rules should be obvious: they can tie you up, but they’re not supposed to rough you up. Essentially, they can’t tie your neck to a chair, or make sure that you chafe on the rope, or anything of the sort. Outside of that, they are free to execute any way they feel like it, and it’s up to you to liberate yourself in a timely fashion.
This is one of the most impressive demonstrations of escapology available just about anywhere, even on the street. Some of the most daring escapes require a different setting altogether, but the 100-foot rope escape gets by on just a length of rope, a chair, and two very enthusiastic volunteers. You can’t go wrong with a routine that is a definite crowd-pleaser for minimal investment on your part.
The most amazing part of the escapology series is that more often than not, there are no secrets to speak of when it comes to escapology. All one really has to do is to figure out how to do it. It’s a skill, not a trick.
.:61/365: Lockpicking:.
Any escapologist worth his salt should know even just one form of lockpicking, as it is an invaluable skill that will allow you to pull off pretty much any kind of escape involving locks so long as you are properly armed to pick the locks.
The art of lockpicking is often a misunderstood one, as most people assume only people who are up to no good would bother to learn it. In reality, they couldn’t be more mistaken. Lockpicking is prevalent as a way of testing the limits of security of any particular lock, and just like there are “good” hackers in the world of computers, there are similarly “good” lockpickers who use their skills to better evaluate the quality of a lock facing them.
Furthermore, if you are stuck in an emergency situation that involves locks, a lockpick would certainly be a better option than outright destroying a lock, or anything worse, for that matter.
I’m not going to teach you how to pick locks, but needless to say, there are a lot of books out there that will. Consider the video above as merely a teaser, because in all honesty, even if you did know how to lockpick a pair of handcuffs, that’s only the first step of the escape, as you will certainly need to liberate yourself from a lot more afterwards.
This may be a short feature, but there’s so much more that can be done with knowledge on lockpicking. From handcuffs to shackles to cages to jail cells, the possibilities are limitless, and it makes for a more gritty and immersive performance for the escapologist if he would have to utilize genuine lockpicking in his act, as it’s always quite an adventure to match wits with these restraints.
.:60/365: Harry Houdini:.
Welcome to escapology month.
Harry Houdini, born Erik Weisz in 1874, is best known as the greatest escape artist of our time. From the milk can escape to the straitjacket to metamorphosis, he has done it all, and he has gained legendary status in the magic industry. To this day, his sudden and tragic death mystifies people and makes them wonder what greater things could’ve been in store had he not passed on at the height of his fame.
In the realm of magic, Houdini isn’t very popular despite the fact that he has performed feats such as making an elephant vanish in the middle of a carnival tent. Owing to his small frame, most people were much more entertained by the prospect of seeing him put himself in mortal danger as he tried to escape from locks, shackles, handcuffs, and other implements, using a wide variety of methods he was familiar with. He is very well-known for his ability to dislocate his shoulders when he tries to escape from certain devices, so that he’d be able to gain some slack.
The truth is, Houdini has done a lot over his entire career. Calling himself “Harry Houdini” in honor of both Robert Houdin and (supposedly) Harry Kellar, he was a cross-country runner and trapeze artist even before he got into magic. He started in magic as a cardician, even dubbing himself as the “King of Cards” at some point, but at 5’5 and with a stocky frame, he wasn’t terribly entertaining to watch. He then got into escapology, and the rest is history.
Aside from magic, Houdini was also into aviation, and was a very big skeptic who has attempted to debunk many mystic performers of his time. In fact, one of the most infamous instances of his scepticism was when this resulted in a rift between him and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame, who believed in the Cottingley Fairy hoax, which at the time, seemed completely impossible for them to disprove.
Houdini’s contribution to magic and escapology in particular would be insurmountable. From the Chinese Water Torture chamber to the milk can escape to simple handcuff escapes, he brought to the mainstream a kind of exciting act that offered magicians an avenue that goes beyond “tricks” or “powers”. The best escapologists, as most laymen would tell you, are outright skilled people. They know how to escape, they know how to liberate themselves from the most difficult of implements, and there is no reason for them to rely on trickery or supernatural powers. They are simply that talented.
Without Houdini, it would be hard to imagine escapology as it is today. It’s still dangerous, it’s still high-profile, but ultimately, there’s little to do that Houdini hasn’t already done in his time.
It was rather unfortunate, then, that his death was most likely linked to an incident where he was punched multiple times in the stomach before he was ready to take such a blow. This supposedly ruptured his appendix, and it led to his untimely demise. Ever the skeptic, he gave a secret message to his wife prior to his death that would be his means of disproving from even beyond the grave any psychic or medium who would claim to be able to communicate with the dead. All Houdini’s wife had to do was ask for the specific message his husband gave her before his death, and if the soothsayer couldn’t give it, then he fails the challenge.
Houdini kicks off this month of escapology, and is certainly worth a moment of recognition and honor, no matter what controversies may hound him in life and in death.
.:59/365: Lovelife Card Divination:.
No picture for this one, since I couldn’t find an appropriate demonstration of lovelife divination using cards.
However, I can teach you how it’s done, but it’s up to you to figure out the meaning of the cards left…
1. Have a person shuffle the deck, and then cut it twice. Afterwards, ask them to tap the name of the person on the deck, one tap per letter.
2. Deal out the cards one by one into four piles.
3. Take each pile and look at them face-up one at a time. Keep eliminating cards until you find one of the four cards named: King of Spades, Queen of Hearts, Ace of Spades, and Ace of Hearts. If the searchee is a guy and not a girl, look for King of Hearts and Queen of Spades instead.
4. Put the remaining cards together, then deal them out into three piles.
5. Repeat step 3 with the 3 piles.
6. Repeat step 4, then deal out two piles.
7. Repeat step 3.
8. Deal out the remaining cards in a circle, going clockwise.
Essentially, the less cards in the way between you (K/Q of Hearts), the other person (K/Q of Spades), your heart (Ace of Hearts), and his/her heart (Ace of Spades), the more likely you guys would be a perfect match with each other.
It’s up to you to make heads and tails of what the various other cards mean. Whether they’d be specific problems or issues, or even people.