After Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone's vault live on TV in April of 1986 (and found nothing), there was a brief explosion of "Live" television events that hoped to capture some of the rating magic enjoyed by the Capone show. One of these was The Search for Houdini, a two-hour magic variety show and seance created by Dick Mincer and Ken Ehrlich and broadcast "Live from Los Angeles" on Halloween 1987.
The show was hosted by William Shatner, who made the much-hyped broadcast somewhat of a debacle with unwelcome ad-libs, flubs, and a general attitude of joking ridicule toward the evening's proceedings. Nevertheless, there are some highlights, such as a terrific comedic "Tribute to Houdini" performed by Penn & Teller; an eerie buried alive escape by Steve Shawn; James Randi's bizarre hospital bed bound participation in the seance (Joe Fox tells me this was all an act); and Charlotte Pendragon's famous wardrobe malfunction during Metamorphosis, which Shatner made certain did not go unnoticed.
Houdini failed to appear (can you blame him?), however the spirit of Houdini must have gotten into William Shatner, who in 1992 co-authored Believe, a "novel of psychic adventure" featuring Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
You can view Penn & Teller's segment from The Search for Houdini below. This has everything that makes Penn & Teller my favorite magic act, then and now.
Houdini failed to appear (can you blame him?), however the spirit of Houdini must have gotten into William Shatner, who in 1992 co-authored Believe, a "novel of psychic adventure" featuring Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
You can view Penn & Teller's segment from The Search for Houdini below. This has everything that makes Penn & Teller my favorite magic act, then and now.
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I pretty much agree. I loved Penn and Tellers bit. In fact, it was this bit that turned me from a P&T hater to a big fan. I realized they are actually quite funny. I enjoyed the Pendragons two versions of the sub trunk, the first one is never mentioned due to the accident of the second one.
ReplyDeleteDean Gunnerson makes his debut as an escape artist here in the Milk Can and a sack escape.
I remember Bill Shatner on a talk show a short time later talking about BELIEVE and he said that they were working on turning it into a play where he would be Houdini and Leondard Nimoy would play Sherlock Holmes. But it never came about to my knowledge.
That was Dean Gunnerson's debut? Seems like Dean's been around forever but, yeah, '87, guess that could have been his debut.
DeleteShatner and Nimoy as Houdini and Holmes? Wow. There's a new one for my "men who almost played Houdini" blog.