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Straitjacket Escape: Difference between revisions
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The [[Straitjacket Escape]] is the act of getting out from a fully laced straitjacket without external assistance. The concept of presenting such an escape as a form of entertainment was created by [[Houdini]] in 1896. His brother [[Hardeen]] also performed it. | The [[Straitjacket Escape]] is the act of getting out from a fully laced straitjacket without external assistance. The concept of presenting such an escape as a form of entertainment was created by [[Houdini]] in 1896. His brother [[Hardeen]] also performed it. | ||
Houdini started doing the escape behind a curtain, but decided he got a better reaction when doing it in full view of the audience. | Houdini started doing the escape from behind a curtain, so the audience did not see the actual method by which he escaped, but he decided later that he got a better reaction when doing it in full view of the audience. | ||
Performers such as Houdini then started doing it while suspended upside-down in mid-air from the side of a tall building or from a crane. | Performers such as Houdini then started doing it while suspended upside-down in mid-air from the side of a tall building or from a crane. | ||
Revision as of 19:57, 9 November 2009
The Straitjacket Escape is the act of getting out from a fully laced straitjacket without external assistance. The concept of presenting such an escape as a form of entertainment was created by Houdini in 1896. His brother Hardeen also performed it.
Houdini started doing the escape from behind a curtain, so the audience did not see the actual method by which he escaped, but he decided later that he got a better reaction when doing it in full view of the audience.
Performers such as Houdini then started doing it while suspended upside-down in mid-air from the side of a tall building or from a crane.
Other performers to include this routine were Harry Jansen, Dunninger, and James Randi. Mardoni in the 1930s did it from an airplane in flight.
References
- THE STRAIT-JACKET RELEASE by Harry Houdini, Conjurers' Monthly Magazine Vol 02, page 154 and page 176 (1908)