Waxing Magic Among the Spirits - The Voice of Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini, attempting the bridge jump

Harry Houdini led the way in the world of showmanship and performance magic and enthralled a generation with his spectacular death-defying feats of escape.

During his life, Houdini was outspokenly anti-spiritualist, and vehemently descried any who claimed to be mediums or fortune-tellers; he penned a book, entitled A Magician Among the Spirits, attempting to expose such performers as charlatans. (He also challenged spiritualists to prove their beliefs were true, under test conditions, in this speech.)

Houdini had some illustrious friends, one of whom was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. In contrast to Houdini's mindset, Conan Doyle readily embraced the Spiritualist world, yet despite their conflicting ideals the two gentlemen were friends until a genuine row over their spiritual beliefs brought an end to their comradeship.  (In early 2011, rumors spread of a possible SyFy channel show about Houdini and Conan Doyle joining forces to solve crimes in 1920's New York. The name of the show is "Among the Spirits"; the scenery and costuming will take aspects of Victorian and Steampunk to appeal to fans of both.)

Houdini in handcuffs, 1905

 But for now, we have access to recordings of Harry Houdini's voice preserved on wax cylinders. Some of the clips came from sessions where he was practicing his lines; here you may download a file of Houdini speaking about his Water Torture Chamber act, from 1914.  The enunciation we hear on the Edison cylinder recording was necessary for the words to be inscribed clearly, so his actual stage voice was probably a bit different even though it is said that when one speaks on stage it should be loudly and slowly as well.

When he finally succumbed to complications from a ruptured appendix, Houdini had already revolutionized the world of stage magic and openly challenged the magicians of the world to better their skills as performers.  You may find details regarding his death and final resting place (including monuments to him) here.


The below video includes photos, a recording of Houdini's voice, and also one of his wife speaking about her efforts to contact him after his death (she held a seance at least once per year to try to contact him, apparently without any luck).



Whether you like Houdini's act or not, he certainly embraced the style of the times.  It has been said by many that certainly nobody before him put on such spellbinding performances and while looking as dapper in collar and jacket. Bonus points for that, chap. Bonus points for that.

Riese - Steampunk Epic coming to SyFy

"In a decaying world, a lone wanderer could save them all.  

Unless they find her first."

Riese.  The Canadian steampunk/fantasy series, Started in November 2009, will air on the SyFy channel.  It had a loyal following on the web before the show's marketers forced the writers to take it down pending its' release on SyFy.

According to the official Riese site: "Riese is a fantasy-adventure based web series that chronicles a mysterious wanderer named Riese, (portrayed by Chatelain). A life-on-the-run from a world with a dim future, Riese and her trusted wolf companion, Fenrir flee their dying land of Eleysia in search of freedom as they are hunted by assassins of ‘The Sect,’ a terrifying religious entity. As she tries to piece together her mysterious past, Riese will take on a life and death journey with the balance and the fate of the world lying in the palm of her hands.

Narrated by Amanda Tapping (Sanctuary), the 10-part series stars a cavalcade of talent from the world of popular speculative drama including Christine Chatelain (The Bone Collector); Sharon Taylor (Stargate Universe); Ben Cotton (Harper’s Island), Allison Mack (Smallville); Ryan Robbins (Caprica); Patrick Gilmore (Stargate Universe); Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica) and Emilie Ullerup (Sanctuary).
The series will also be available via Sony’s PS3, Microsoft’s Xbox and Amazon."

Some links with information on the show:

http://news.tubefilter.tv/2010/04/10/riese-steampunk-epic-coming-to-syfy/

http://newteevee.com/2010/04/08/syfy-acquires-steampunk-series-riese-for-web-and-tv/

Update:

I, for one, missed the episodes when they aired on SyFy, so I searched for a way to see them, and found it!  The episodes are eight to ten minutes long.

Watch all of the full episodes of Riese HERE.

While waiting for the epic series to be televised, you can supposedly play the alternate reality game (ARG) from the domineering Sect's point of view on thesectishere.com.   More of a resistance fighter?  Then you may solve the riddle at the first site and and aid the resistance at thisisnotthepath.com (this site was not functional when I went there).  To do either, you will have to filter through pages of frightening pro-Sect propaganda; I did not find the actual game, but more persistent folk should be able to do so!

 The most useful and informative source of information I found was the actual blog for the show. 

Huzzah for a steampunk show on a major network!  Best of luck to them, and I hope to see the show soon!