“Unlike other magic tricks, you can die if you make a mistake,” he said.Īt least a dozen people have died over the years trying to imitate Houdini’s milk can caper - his signature act in which, bound by chains and handcuffs, he would escape from a padlocked steel milk can filled with water.Ĭannon has faced two additional life-threatening mishaps. Escape involves taking calculated risks, weighing everything that could go wrong, assuming that it will, and relying on skills and wisdom built from years of practice, Cannon said. “Unfortunately, like a lot of kids, I did not realize the danger involved,” Cannon said. A bumbling locksmith, who provided the padlock for the drum, tried to help Cannon’s assistant and ended up delaying the escape. Others, like Cannon, believe it’s uncouth to discuss such matters among non-magicians.Ĭannon staged his first escape while in high school in Yucaipa, submerging himself in a locked 55-gallon drum of water for more than two minutes. Some tricksters argue that no two secrets are alike, so it’s impossible to offer an explanation. Others, including Houdini, apparently regurgitated keys or hid rivets, springs, strings and other tools in secret compartments to pick locks. Some escapists use trick handcuffs and straitjackets. Of course, Web sites, books and television shows do. “They are slow, they wiggle, they squiggle, and everyone knows they’re going to escape.”Ĭannon, one of the few escapists who has performed at the Magic Castle, argued that escape belongs in the magic genre because acts include fundamentals such as sleight of hand, mystery and illusion.Īnd like a true magician, escapists never, ever reveal their trade secrets. “It’s not magic,” said a retired magician who works for the 5,000-member group. The Las Vegas-based industry bible chooses to bypass most escape coverage.Įscapists rarely perform at the Magic Castle, a private clubhouse for the worldwide Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood. Some argue that they’re not magicians, including the top staff at Magic, the Magazine for Magicians. “Houdini called himself a self-liberationist, not an escape artist.”ĭespite Houdini’s exalted status, a bias exists against escapists. “Houdini is a conceptual idea,” Jillette said. But no performer has ever come close to Houdini, said Penn Jillette of the illusionist duo Penn & Teller. The proliferation of reality TV shows in recent years, with their freaky and frightful gimmicks, has helped rekindle interest in escapology. During his career, Houdini ruled the world of escapists and bequeathed his trade secrets only to his wife, brother and select assistants, according to historians of the craft. Johnson proclaimed the convention to be “a milestone for the escape community,” which has been in something of a funk since Houdini’s death on Halloween Day in 1926 at the age of 52.Ĭonsidered by many as the country’s first entertainment superstar, Houdini died of a ruptured appendix after he was struck unexpectedly in the abdomen by a student who thought he had been invited to test the celebrity’s muscles. Restrained with handcuffs, a neck shackle and leg irons, she freed herself in full view of onlookers. Indiana’s Kristen Johnson became the first female to perform a vertical escape from a narrow, 6-foot, 4-inch-tall water-filled tank. An Australian master locksmith lectured on “Fundamentals of Lock-Picking.” Griffin was presented a “Silver Cuffs” award for professional dedication. The gathering attracted more than 130 enthusiasts, who networked, performed and browsed exhibits offering antique handcuffs, leg irons and other equipment, with prices ranging from $1 for a small padlock to $5,000 for a one-of-a-kind 18th century lock. Last April, his company sponsored its first Escape Artist Convention in Indianapolis, appropriately held in conjunction with a nationwide locksmith show. During the last four years, Cannon’s mailing list has grown to more than 1,350. Until the Cannons founded their company in 1999, the craft’s gear and equipment was difficult to find and escapists had no associations or major venues to call their own. “I tap into that fear.”Īudiences also want to be diverted from war, terrorism and a sour economy, and what better escape is there than, well, an escape? Everybody can identify with the escape artist, Cannon said, because “all people have an inner desire to escape from something in their lives.” “Every human being fears death,” said Griffin, who plans to move from Ohio to Southern California next fall to pursue the show and other ventures.
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