Word: houdini
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...asks: "If other magicians can do it, why don't they copy me? You can steal anything a man possesses but you can't steal his personality. Am I right or wrong?" Walter Gibson, who has ghostwritten for Dunninger as well as for such other "greats" as Houdini, Blackstone and Thurston, thinks Dunninger is right. "All magicians mix showmanship with their magic," says Gibson. "Dun ninger's on top because he uses only 5% magic and 95% showmanship...
...Thirteen magicians seated themselves in a dimly lighted hotel room in Springfield, Mass., held hands, made one last attempt to communicate with the spirit of the late Harry Houdini. When the lights were turned on they knew they had failed again. Two sets of locked handcuffs (which Houdini had promised to unlock if he could get back from the "world beyond") were undisturbed...
Last week formal glories crowned her behind-scenes power. Opportunist George Tatarescu, who could turn his coat faster than Houdini, had outlived his usefulness to the Communists as Foreign Minister. The Communists kicked him out. On the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, on the eve of St. Michael's Day (his own "name" day), King Michael named Ana Pauker, who was not even one of his subjects, to be his Foreign Minister...
Flight of Wordages. Houdini generally stays out of trouble by not criticizing Crown officials (one rival's song went: "I must be very frank and say, I was glad when Sir Hollis went away"). His Stone Cold Dead describes a murder in Port-of-Spain's Grass Market in 1939. He recorded it himself in 1939 (as He Had It Coming) but it got no popularity until Songstress Fitzgerald unearthed it this spring. Other Houdini songs have had such innocuous themes as I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones and Roosevelt Opens World's Fair...
...Houdini's own favorite of all his compositions is Douglas MacArthur, a Brave Son of America. Like all the rest, its lyrics fit his first rule of composition. Says Houdini: "A Calypsonian is required to be high flown in his wordages...