Word: houdini
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...performing one of his most famous escapes, trapped underwater in an icy river. He found air bubbles between the hard ice and the water's surface, and they were enough to sustain him until he broke through. The Pet Shop Boys are on to this trick. They know, like Houdini, that the cold helps set the legend...
...many circuses back then," observes Oscar Boldt, president of the Boldt Holding Corp., "and when they unloaded the elephants, there was excitement, real excitement, the sort of excitement you could feed off for months." Today some kids in Appleton still feed off the excitement evoked by the name Houdini. Thirteen-year-old Bill Brehm, an aspiring magician, is one of them. "I'd like to know how he did some of his tricks," confides Brehm, who has started practicing Houdini-inspired handcuff escapes. "Like when he was handcuffed and got into a box and was thrown over the side...
...Houdini," reflects Dr. Thomas Loescher, Appleton's chief emergency- room physician, "was probably the greatest magician who ever lived: the drama, the presentation, the superb physical ability, the personality. I've always felt proud he was from Appleton. It's living in reflected glory, I guess." It wasn't until 1985 that the city finally got around to honoring its most celebrated citizen, dedicating its new downtown plaza in his honor. The house where the Weiss family used to live stood just to one side, notes William A. Brehm Jr., a card-carrying magician who is also the city...
...plaza's most striking feature is a large abstract sculpture that sits atop a raised brick platform as though it were on a stage. The piece bears the title of one of Houdini's most famous tricks: Metamorphosis. Re-enacted time after time, the routine by now is familiar. The magician's assistant is handcuffed and placed in a sack, which is tied and put into a trunk. The trunk is in turn secured with locks and chains. The magician, standing atop the trunk, briefly raises a curtain. Abracadabra. Suddenly, the magician's assistant stands in the place...
...speed of the change is what enraptures. Magician Doug Henning and his wife Debby observed Houdini's birthday by paying Appleton a visit last spring. Performing Metamorphosis right in front of the sculpture, they made the switch in a dazzling third of a second. Sculptor Richard Wolter, who lives in Appleton, was thrilled. Says he: "Magic brings to life the wonder our age somehow has lost...