The author cites Houdini's Best Feature as "His audacity"; gives him 4 out of 5 on the "Heart Rating"; and offers up this assessment of his physical appeal:
"He was short, stocky, and bowlegged. His pointy nose and reverse widow's peak don't exactly say "come hither," but there's no denying the appeal of such a devoted risk-taker. There was pretty much nothing he wouldn't do. He was, without a doubt, a star."
You can buy Historical Heartthrobs: 50 Timeless Crushes-From Cleopatra to Camus in hardcover or for the Kindle on Amazon.com.
Now here's No. 17 in action:
Extended "smooch" footage courstey of Jon Oliver.
I saw a video clip...very short where Houdini was with his wife and he grabs his ear and pulls himself along in a joking manner. As if he is showing how his wife leads him by the ear. Can you repost that clip?
ReplyDeleteYes, I know the clip and I will be posting it soon. It's actually film footage from his visit to the Christie Studio.
DeleteThese clips are so short......is there any way you could slow them down so they were more like natural motion? This way we could better see Houdinis facial expressions and and mannerisms. Also .......every now and then I find clips I never saw before of Houdini....such as him pulling off his thumb, or nonchalantly taking off his coat and shirt prior to a straight jacket escape....etc...are there any other clips you have in waiting to show us that have never been seen before? Finally I am sure clips such as Houdini pulling off his thumb which are literally seconds long are pulled from what were much longer clips of Houdini doing other things. Is there any effort or is it even possible to reconstruct these as they originally were rather than the tiny snippets they now are?
ReplyDeleteSorry, Anon, I don't know how to slow down the clips. I'll always put up the best version I have, but I don't have a lot of expertise in this area. But you will not see a clearer version of this clip than what I've posted here.
DeleteI actually posted that clip of Houdini doing his thumb racket HERE. As you say, it's very short, and there must be more, but I've never seen a longer version.
I did do an assembly of several random clips of Houdini's overboard box escape HERE. I would like to do more assemblies like this. But, again, it's takes time and expertise that I don't always have.
Yes, I have some great HH clips from Jon Oliver that have never been seen before, and I will be putting those up in time. :)
The 'Doctor' might be able to slow it down with his Avid software.
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