The recent Houdini movie has got me looking at Houdini's vanishing of an elephant. For the first couple of months of 1918, Houdini would vanish Jennie, an Asian elephant, from a cabinet on the stage of the Hippodrome Theater.
The notes to Silverman's Houdini! says that Jean Hugard claimed to have done the effect before Houdini in New Zealand, but offers no further details.
Hugard presented the effect on at least two separate occasions.
He did it at King's Theater in Christchurch, NZ, in Nov 1912, and also in Auckland in May 1913.
vanishing Elephant
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Re: vanishing Elephant
This illusion was discussed in detail in Jim Steinmeyer's Hiding the Elephant.
Michael Manchester
Literacy magic for library and school performances - http://www.librarylegerdemain.com
Literacy magic for library and school performances - http://www.librarylegerdemain.com
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Re: vanishing Elephant
If you haven't read Hiding The Elephant, you really should. Because it got a fairly wide release, there are cheap copies to be found on Amazon and most local libraries can get you a copy through inter-library loan if they do not already have one. It is funny because I have not seen Houdini yet (storms kept knocking out my electricity the first airing...) but just the fact that it aired made me pull out my copies of Hiding the Elephant and Kalush's Houdini book for re-reads!
For the record, Steinmeyer's other two wide release history books (Glorious Deception and Last Greatest Magician In The World) are also worth reading.
For the record, Steinmeyer's other two wide release history books (Glorious Deception and Last Greatest Magician In The World) are also worth reading.
Michael L.
If you could really perform magic, would you be more like Merlin or Superman?
If you could really perform magic, would you be more like Merlin or Superman?