•Lot 22
Houdini Escape Act Milk Can
Decreasing show attendance demanded innovation from Houdini. In 1908 during this slowing period, Houdini increased interest by developing a new escape and adding it to his show. It was called "The Milk Can Escape." This dangerous trick renewed interest and he took the new show back to Europe. A beautiful poster declared to all "Failure Means a Drowning Death." Suddenly the threat of "death" upon failure was introduced and became a standard which escape artists have imitated since it's introduction. The tag line was very successful and found it's way into multiple ad campaigns.
Houdini called the Milk Can "the best escape that I have ever invented." What made it great was not its difficulty -- it was perhaps the simplest of all his escapes -- but his dramatic presentation. Houdini biographer Kenneth Silverman describes the whole routine:
In performance Houdini poked and pounded the can to demonstrate its solidity. When he walked offstage a moment, stagehands filled it to overflowing with twenty or so pails of water. Returning in a bathing suit, he first invited the audience to experience what long submersion might be like. He asked them to time themselves while holding their breath. Then he squeezed himself into the can, the displaced water splashing onto the stage. Long before a minute elapsed, most spectators gave up, gasping. Houdini, however, stepped out of the can, smiling, to perform the actual test.
His assistant appeared onstage with an ax. Houdini explained that if something went wrong, Franz would after a certain time smash the milk can open. Now handcuffed, he again folded himself inside. This time the steel cover was slammed on, the hasps latched, the cover padlocked. The ghost house was pulled forward to surround the can. The audience waited nervously, watches in hand, his assistant standing ready to hack. After little more than two minutes Houdini walked from the cabinet, dripping, puffing, blowing, breathless. The ghost house was withdrawn, revealing the milk can with its six padlocks still closed and in place.
Made of a light-weight silver-colored pot metal, this cylindrically shaped piece has a conical top portion with hinges affixed to either side and two small air holes drilled into the top. Formerly the property of the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada.
Dimensions: 45 x 67 x 26"
Estimate: $40,000 - $50,000