Monday, July 22, 2013

"Hanging with Houdini and Gaughan"

David Blaine just posted this to his Instagram page.



It appears Blaine is visiting or shooting something in John Gaughan's workshop and museum in California. That's an authentic "Houdini for President" poster to the right. I'm not sure if the Houdini mannequin Blaine is "hanging with" is an automaton, but he does appear to be writing something. John Gaughan specialized in restoring classic automata. He actually owns Houdini's Psycho.

Not long ago Blaine posted a photo of himself in an ice bath à la Houdini. Could he be working on something having to do with Houdini?

UPDATE: Reader JC has confirmed that this is indeed a John Gaughan made Houdini automaton. Gaughan made it for the 2003 Magic History Conference in Los Angeles. Here's a video clip of the Houdini automaton in action.

2 comments:

  1. Well, in fact it is a Houdini automaton!

    Here's a link of a blog of an argentinian magician who was in Gaughan workshop and was presented with an autograph of Houdini made by that automaton:

    http://rmansilla.blogspot.com.es/2012/02/un-autografo-de-houdini.html

    You can see a video there. The spanish text assures that Gaughan presented the Houdini Automaton in the 2003 Los Angeles Conference on Magic History.

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    Replies
    1. Fantastic. Thank you JC, and thanks for that link.

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