![]() ![]() Even though the copyrightable words and script of Houdini’s playlet were not necessarily infringed, the act lost its appeal once its illusion’s methodology was well-understood. ![]() Soon others began selling cheap blueprints of the apparatus Houdini used to perform the trick. “To attain the above practical effect of walking through the brick wall, the wall proper is laid across the center of a trap door, on opening of which gives an opening in stage on both sides of wall through which the person playing the part gets from one side of wall to the other the dirt and grass mounds acting as screens for the trap.” It reads:Ī poster advertising Houdini’s Buried Alive illusion, calling him the “Master Mystifier.” From the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. This playlet includes a note after the curtain, which explains the illusion. To his new fiancée, he explains, “Alice, whether I did or not, everything is fair in love and war.” The father states, “The day you can walk through the brick wall that separates our houses, I’ll give you my daughter.” The next day, the father wakes up to see the young man made it through the wall. ![]() The plot of this playlet involved a father who constructed a brick wall to keep the son of his “mortal enemy” from being able to look into his garden. In 1914, Houdini registered his “Walking through a Brick Wall” trick as a playlet in two scenes. By the second act, Houdini (played by himself) accepts their challenge and, according to the script, “*HOUDINI MAKES HIS ESCAPE*” and the crowd gives “Three cheers for Houdini, Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah.” He kept doing the trick through his 1926 tour when the foot stock broke and he fractured his ankle. The first act depicts a group of men talking about Houdini’s amazing abilities, integrity, and willingness to take on challenges. The registration describes the work as a “magical dramatic playlet” in sixteen typewritten pages. Houdini’s first American copyright registration is for the playlet “Challenged: or, Houdini upside down” that features his famous Water Torture Cell trick, also known as “The Upside Down.” The trick, shown here, is an escape from a water-filled cabinet while Houdini’s ankles are in stocks and the lid is locked. From the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. ![]()
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