Chinese Water Torture Cell

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The Chinese Water Torture Cell is a predicament escape made famous by Hungarian/American magician Harry Houdini. The illusion consists of three parts: first, Houdini's feet are locked in stocks; next, Houdini is suspended in mid-air from his ankles with a restraint brace; finally, Houdini is lowered into a glass tank overflowing with water and the restraint is locked to the top of the cell.

Contents 1 History 2 Modern interpretations 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

The original Chinese Water Torture Cell was built in England in 1911. Houdini first performed the escape for an audience of one person as part of a one-act play he called Houdini Upside Down. This was so he could copyright the new escape (having learned with his Milk Can escape that patents failed to stop imitators). The first public performance was at the Circus Busch in Berlin, Germany, on September 21, 1912^[1]. In letters Houdini referred to the effect as "the Upside Down" or "USD". Houdini continued to perform the escape until his death in 1926. Despite two Hollywood movies depicting Houdini dying in the Torture Cell, the escape had nothing to do with his demise.^[2]

After Houdini's death, the cell was willed to his brother who performed as the escape artist Theodore Hardeen. Hardeen never performed the cell himself, and despite Houdini's instructions for it to be "burnt and destroyed" upon Hardeen's death, his brother gave the cell to Houdini collector Sidney H. Radner in the 1940s. The cell remained in the Radner basement until 1971 when it was put on display at The Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Canada. Here the cell suffered from neglect and theft. At one point, the museum owners put a fish tank inside the cell to achieve an aquarium effect. The leaky tank caused mold and damage to the cell wood and structure.

In 1995, the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame burned to the ground in a mysterious fire. While it was initially reported that the cell was completely destroyed, the metal frame survived, and the cell was restored by illusion builder John Gaughan. In 2004, the restored cell was sold at auction to magician David Copperfield. It now resides as part of his massive private magic collection in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 2003, an exact duplicate of the Water Torture Cell was discovered, leading to controversy over the authenticity of the restored cell.^[3]

[edit] Modern interpretations

In 1975 magician Doug Henning performed a version of the Water Torture Cell during his first live television special on NBC. In his version, a twist ending revealed the magician to be one of the hooded ax-wielding assistants standing beside the cell.

Escape artist Steven Baker performed the Water Torture Cell for many years, including a performance on Dick Clark's LIVE Wednesday.

Escape artist Kristen Johnson performs a water cell escape that was inspired by Houdini's trick. Johnson's stunt is significantly different in that she remains in full view of the audience throughout the escape. She has performed this stunt well over 300 times to date and is known in the industry as doing a legitimate three minute plus breath hold in the water torture cell.

In a famous programme once was on air on FOX called Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed, the Masked Magician (Val Valentino played ) told the audience how a version of this trick is done.

A similar, but simpler, immersion escape is featured in the 2006 movie The Prestige.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Houdini Lives! - A pictorial history of the Water Torture Cell.