Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin
Encyclopedia
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (December 6, 1805 – June 13, 1871) was a French
magician
. He is widely considered the father of the modern style of conjuring
.
, France
, on 6 December 1805—a day after his autobiography said he was. His father Prosper Robert was one of the best watchmakers in Blois. A skillful artisan and hard worker, Prosper Robert's main ambition was to provide for his family, but he also wanted his children to climb the social ladder. Jean Eugene's mother, the former Marie-Catherine Guillon, died when Jean was just a young child. At the age of eleven, Prosper sent his son Jean to school thirty-five miles up the Loire to the University of Orléans
. At 18, Jean graduated and returned to Blois. His father wanted him to be a lawyer, but Jean wanted to follow into his father’s footsteps as a watchmaker.
Jean’s penmanship was excellent, and it landed him a job as a clerk for an attorney’s office. Instead of studying law, he tinkered with mechanical gadgets. His employer sent him back to his father. He was told that he was better suited as a watchmaker than a lawyer. But by then, Jean’s father had already retired so he became an apprentice to his cousin who had a watch shop. For a short time, Jean worked as a watchmaker
.
In the mid 1820s, young Jean saved up to buy a copy of a two-volume set of books on clock making called Traité de l’horlogerie, or Treatise on Clockmaking, written by Ferdinand Berthoud
. The book seller had put the books off to the side for Jean. He reached up to the shelf and grabbed the books. He wrapped the two volumes and handed them to the young aspiring clockmaker.
But when Jean got home and opened the wrapping, instead of the Berthoud books, what appeared before his eyes was a two-volume set on magic called Scientific Amusements. Instead of returning the books, his curiosity got the best of him. From those crude volumes, he learned the rudiments of magic. He practiced at all hours of the day.
From that point when he accidentally received those books on conjuring, Jean Robert became very interested in the art. He was upset that the books he got only revealed how the secrets were done, but did not show how to do them. He found that learning from the books available in those days was very difficult because the lack of detailed explanations provided. But the books piqued his interest in the art. So Jean began taking lessons from a local amateur magician. He paid ten francs for a series of lessons from a man named Maous from Blois who was a podiatrist, but also entertained at fairs and fêtes doing magic. He was proficient in sleight of hand, and he taught Jean how to juggle to coordinate his eye and hand. He also taught him rudiments of the cups and balls. He told young Jean that digital dexterity came with repetition, and as a direct result, Jean practiced incessantly.
Magic was his pastime, but meanwhile, his studies in horology continued. When he felt he was ready, he moved to Tours and set up a watch-making business, doing conjuring on the side.
Much of what we know about Robert-Houdin comes from his memoirs—and his writings were meant more to entertain than to chronicle, rendering it difficult to separate fact from fiction. Robert-Houdin would have readers believe that a major turning point in his life came when he became apprenticed to the magician Edmund de Grisy, better known as Torrini. Unfortunately, there is no record of a Torrini or a de Grisy.
What is known is that his early performing came from joining an amateur acting troupe. Later, he performed at social parties as a professional magician. It was during this period while at a party, he met the daughter of a Parisian watchmaker, Monsieur Jacques François Houdin, who had also come from Jean Robert's native Blois. The daughter's name was Josèphe Cecile Houdin, and Jean fell in love with Cecile at their first meeting. On July 8, 1830, they were married. He hyphenated his own name to hers and became Robert-Houdin.
He moved to Paris and worked in his father-in-law's wholesale shop. Jacques François was among the last of the watchmakers to use the old methods of handcrafting each piece, and embraced his new son-in-law's ambitions for mechanism. While M. Houdin worked in the main shop, Jean was to tinker with mechanical toys and automatic figures
. He and Josèphe had eight children, of whom three survived; this was fairly typical for that time period.
With his work in the shop, Jean still was practicing magic. Quite by accident, Robert-Houdin walked into a shop on the Rue Richelieu and discovered it sold magic. He visited the store, which was owned by a Père (Papa) Roujol. There he met fellow magicians, both amateur and professional, where he engaged in talk about conjuring, and there he met an aristocrat by the name of Jules de Rovère, who coined the term "prestidigitation"
to describe a major misdirection technique magicians used.
At Papa Roujol’s, Robert-Houdin learned the details to many of the mechanical tricks of the time as well as how to improve them. From there, he built his own mechanical figures, like a singing bird, a dancer on a tightrope, and an automaton
doing the cups and balls. His most acclaimed automaton was his writing and drawing figure. He displayed this figure before King Louis Philippe
and eventually sold it to P. T. Barnum
.
On October 19, 1843, Monsieur Robert-Houdin's beloved wife died, having been ill for months; she died at the age of thirty-two. At her death, she left him with three young children to take care of; to take up the burden, he remarried in August of that year to François Marguerite Olympe Braconnier, a woman ten years younger than himself. The new Madame Robert-Houdin soon took over the household.
Robert-Houdin loved to watch the big magic shows that came to Paris. He dreamed about some day opening his own theatre. In the meantime, he was hired by a friend of his by the name of Count de l’Escalopier to perform at private parties.
Now that he had free time, he began constructing equipment for his own use instead of selling it to others. The income from the shop and his new inventions gave him enough money to experiment on new tricks using glass apparatus that would be (or at least appear) free of trickery. He envisioned a stage that would be as elegant as the drawing rooms in which he was hired to perform. He also thought that a magician should be dressed as such by wearing traditional evening clothes.
He obtained financial backing from Count de l’Escalopier fronted him the 15,000 francs to make his vision into reality. He rented out a suite of rooms above the archways around the gardens of the Palais Royal, which was once owned by the Cardinal Richelieu who was portrayed in Alexandre Dumas, père
's The Three Musketeers
.
He hired workmen to redesign the old assembly room into a theatre. They painted it white with gold trim. Tasteful drapes where hung, chic candelabras where placed throughout, and the stage furniture was set in the style of Louis XV
.
On July 3, 1845, Robert-Houdin premiered his 200 seat theatre in what he called "Soirées Fantastiques." No critics covered Robert-Houdin’s debut, and in his memoirs, Robert-Houdin said that the show had been a disaster. He suffered from stage fright that caused him to talk too fast and in a monotone. He said that he did not know what he was saying or doing, and everything was a blur. He believed that a magician should not present a trick until it was mechanically perfected to be certain of avoiding failure, and this caused him to over-rehearse.
After the first show, he was about to have a nervous breakdown. He closed the theatre and had every intention to close it for good until a friend agreed that the venture was a silly idea. Instead of admitting defeat, Robert-Houdin, irked at the friend's affrontery, used this insult to regain his courage, and he persevered in giving the show a long run at his little theatre. Although at first the forty-year-old magician was unpolished, he soon gained the confidence required for the stage.
With each performance, Robert-Houdin got better, and he began to receive critical acclaim. Le Charivari
and L'Illustration
both said that his mechanical marvels and artistic magic was comparable to those of his predecessors like Philippe and Bosco. Even with all of this, still relatively few people would come to the little theatre during the summer months, and he struggled to keep it opened. To meet expenses, he sold the three houses that he had inherited from his mother.
The following year, he added a new trick to his program that became especially popular. Seats at the Palais Royal were at a premium. This new marvel was called Second Sight. Second Sight drew the audiences into the little theatre. Once there, they saw the other creations Robert-Houdin had to offer.
s of Algeria
were said to be excited to rebel against French colonialists by miracles performed by their religious leaders. In 1856, Napoleon III's Second French Empire
sent Robert-Houdin there, hoping that he might perform tricks that were far more impressive, thereby dissolving the excitement of the rebels. Robert-Houdin's tricks, it is said, succeeded in breaking up the influence of the mullahs. Moreover, the Arabs became afraid of Robert-Houdin. In one trick, he allowed an Arab to shoot at him with a marked bullet, but instead of killing him, the bullet was found between his teeth. After that, they believed he could do anything. Robert-Houdin was not the first illusionist to perform the bullet catch
and many since him have adapted their own version of the effect.
He used another famous trick to prove that French magic was stronger than local shamanism techniques: he presented an empty box with an iron bottom that anyone could lift up. By turning on an electro-magnet hidden under the floor, he made it immovable, "proving" that through will power, he could make it impossible to lift for the strongest Algerian warriors. He found the trick was more impressive when he claimed not that he could make the trunk heavy, but when he claimed he could make the strong man too weak to lift a trunk that even a small child could lift.
Robert-Houdin is often credited as being "the father of modern magic". Before him, magicians performed in marketplaces and fairs, but Robert-Houdin performed magic in theatres and private parties. He also chose to wear formal clothes, like those of his audiences. Many magicians today mimic this by wearing tail-coats, though other magicians view this as old-fashioned and believe that they should wear contemporary clothes. Doug Henning
was the first to rebel against this stereotype with a distinctive modern look of his own.
He took the title that was used by such magicians as John Henry Anderson
, but the effect was entirely different. Anderson had a box into which items were inserted. The medium would then describe the contents inside. In Robert-Houdin’s version, he walked into the audience and touched items that the audience held up and his blindfolded assistant, played by his son, described each one in detail. It caused a sensation and brought the throng to see his Soirees.
Eventually Robert-Houdin changed the method so instead of asking his son what was in his hands, he simply rang a bell. This stunned those that suspected a spoken code. He would even set the bell off to the side and remain silent and his son still described every object handed to his father.
Robert-Houdin even made the test difficult. He placed a glass of water into his son’s hands and Emile proceeded to drink from it. He was able to perceive the taste of the liquids that spectators from the audience merely thought of. Even then the audiences weren’t entirely convinced. They tried to trip up Emile by bringing in books written in Greek. He even described odd tools like a thread counter.
". He took advantage of this by presenting an illusion that appeared to use the pungent liquid. He told the audience that he discovered a marvelous new property of ether. “If one has a living person inhale this liquid when it is at its highest degree of concentration, the body of the patient for a few moments becomes as light as a balloon,” Robert-Houdin claimed.
He proceeded to prove just that. He placed three stools on a wooden bench. His youngest son Eugène stood on the middle one. With the instructions from his father, he extended his arms. Robert-Houdin placed two canes on top of the stools and positioned them under his son’s arms.
He took a vial of ether and opened. The audience smelled it wafting through the theatre. He placed the vial under his son’s nose who went limp. In reality, the vial was empty. Another son of his Emile poured real ether on a very hot iron shovel. That’s what the audience smelled.
Robert-Houdin took the stool away from his son’s feet and he just hung limp as a rag. He took away one of the canes so he was dangling by one arm and carefully placed his head against his upraised hand. This was startling enough. What he did next was stunning. He lifted his boy upright in a horizontal position by his little finger. Then let go until he was suspended in mid air. Robert-Houdin stepped away to leave his son in that suspended state, balanced only by his right elbow and no other support.
When it was apparent that the drug was wearing off, Robert-Houdin returned his son to his upright position. When he woke up, he seemed no worse for wear. Robert-Houdin built up the surprise of spectators until, “… by gradually heightening it up to the moment when, so to speak, it exploded.”
This brought letters of protest against Robert-Houdin thinking he was putting his son’s health at jeopardy, although the ether had nothing to do with the trick.
(A replica of this performance can be seen here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1qb3f_roberthoudinextrait-rare1966_creation)
Carefully he picks up the egg. The audience expects him to crack it open and produce the spectator’s handkerchief. Instead, he makes that disappear too. He tells the audience that the egg went to the lemon. This is repeated with the lemon and the orange. When he makes the orange disappear, all that is left is a fine powder. This is placed into a silver vial. He soaks this vial with alcohol and sets it on fire.
A small orange tree planted in a wooden box is brought forth by one of his assistants. The audience notices that the tree is barren of any blossoms or fruit. The blue flame from the vial is placed underneath it. The vapors from it causes the leaves to spread and sprout orange blossoms from it. Robert-Houdin then picks up his magic wand and waves it. The flowers disappear and oranges bloom forth.
He plucks the oranges from the tree and tosses them to the audience to prove they are real. He does this until he only has one left. He waves his wand again and the orange splits open into four sections revealing a white material of sorts inside of it. Two clockwork butterflies appear from behind the tree. The butterflies grab the end of the corner of the white cloth and spread it open revealing the spectator's handkerchief.
'The Marvelous Orange Tree' trick was used by the eponymous conjurer in Steven Millhauser
's short story, "Eisenheim The Illusionist", subsequently filmed as The Illusionist (2006), where a more complex variant is shown.
The trick can be seen performed by Paul Daniels
on his BBC television series.
He sets it on two thin trestles to hold the case with the spine facing the audience. He removed the expected drawings from it. One of those pictures showed a bareheaded woman. Then he produced two ladies bonnets decorated with flowers; one for winter, the other for summer. He lowers the flap for each production. Then he showed a picture of birds followed by a stuffed bird flat as a pancake. With that he proceeded to produce from the portfolio four live turtle doves.
He showed a picture of a cartoon of two cooks fighting with pots. This was followed by three enormous copper pots. One is filled with beans, another with flames bursting forth, and the third pot is filled with boiling water. As an afterthought, he lifted the top flap of the portfolio and pulled out a large cage filled with birds.
He walked forward towards the audience with the square cage and they applauded thinking the trick was over. “Nothing here now - neither anything, nor anybody,” as he knocked on the upright flap. For a finale, he closes the portfolio one last time and produces his young son from it.
, to his advantage. Robert-Houdin brought on a small wooden box about a foot wide. He said that he had found a way to protect it from thieves. He asked a spectator to lift it, usually a small child. The child lifted it with ease. Then he brought an adult male up from the audience and asked him to lift the same box. Even though he used all of his might, the adult male was unable to lift the box!
What made this trick even more incredible is that Robert-Houdin used this (among others) to help squelch a rebellion.
This trick can be seen performed by Derren Brown
on his Channel 4
television series The Events
. Derren Brown - The Events 3 - Psychic Spy Part 1
,and Compars Herrmann
. It is not known whether Herrmann or the others bought the illusions directly from LeGrand or from another source. But they willingly performed the illusions after knowing that they were invented by Robert-Houdin.
The following February a revolution ended the reign of Louis-Philippe. With it show business also ended. The Revolution closed all Parisian theatres. Robert-Houdin shut down his theatre and went on the road. He toured the Continent briefly and then he headed off to Great Britain.
With a company of French dramatists, Robert-Houdin made his English debut at the St. James Theatre in London. He presented his program three times a week. Much to his dismay, he found out that Compars Herrmann beat him to the territory. Not only was he billing himself as the Premier Prestidigitateur of France, but he was also using pirated versions of his illusions. Despite this, Robert-Houdin still accomplished a success there. So much so, in 1848, he did a command performance for Queen Victoria.
After a three month tour of England, he went back home after about a year and a half away. He reopened the theatre and became a permanent fixture in Paris. In 1850, He handed the Palais Royal to his brother-in-law Hamilton (Pierre Etienne Chocat). This left him free to tour France. He did so for two years. Then he went to Germany and a return engagement to England where he ended up performing a second time for Queen Victoria.
He did a brief tour of France and then at the age of 48, retired from public performances. He gave the theatre back to Hamilton who continued to fill the little theatre.
In 1856, he was asked by Louis-Napoleon
to pacify the tribes in French Algeria
. During this period, the French Army commanders maintained order in the newly pacified region. They supervised local Muslim administrations and the bureaux arabes. These areas were closed off to colonization by the Europeans.
Napoleon III was worried about a religious tribe called the Marabouts. The Marabouts were able to control their tribe with their faux magical abilities. They advised their leaders to break ranks with the French. Napoleon wanted Robert-Houdin to show that French magic was stronger.
The magical mission began with an informal show at the Bab Azoun Theatre in Algeria where he would give performances twice weekly. He also gave many special galas before the country’s tribal chiefs. He used The Light and Heavy Chest during these performances, but instead of playing it for comedy as he had in Paris, here he played it straight. Robert-Houdin once invited the strongest tribesman on stage and asked the Arabian to pick up the wooden chest placed on stage. The Arabian picked it up with no problem. Then Robert-Houdin announced that he was going to sap his strength. He waved his wand and declared, "Contemplez! Maintenant vous êtes plus faible qu'une femme; essayez de soulever la boîte." ("Behold! Now you are weaker than a woman; try to lift the box.") The Arabian laughed at this and with all of his might, pulled on the handle of the chest. But it would not budge! He tried and tried until he tried to rip it apart. Instead, he screamed in pain, as Robert-Houdin had rigged the box to give the Arabian an electrical shock if he tried to rip the handles off. The Arabian let go of the handle, ran off into the aisle, and ran screaming out of the theatre. A variation of this event was included in the film The Illusionist.
After his performances were done, he gave a special presentation for several chief men of their tribe. He was invited to the home of the head of the tribe of the desert interior, Bou-Allem. In dawn of the Arab desert, Robert-Houdin was challenged to do a special trick. He obliged by inviting one of the rebels to shoot at him with a marked bullet, which he caught between his teeth. He was given a certificate from Bou-Allem, who wore a red robe symbolizing his loyalty to France. With this scroll praising his mysterious manifestations, Robert-Houdin went back to France with the mission accomplished.
"The blow was struck," Robert-Houdin said, "...henceforth the interpreters and all those who had dealings with the Arabs received orders to make them understand that my pretended miracles were only the result of skill, inspired and guided by an art called prestidigitation, in no way connected with sorcery." He went on to say, “The Arabs doubtless yielded to these arguments, for henceforth I was on the most friendly terms with them." He was rewarded for his services of the French government by suppressing any possible rebellion.
, then returned to his home in Saint-Gervais, near his native Blois, where he wrote his memoirs, Confidences d’un Prestidigitateur. He also wrote several books on the art of magic. He lived happily in retirement for about fifteen years until advent of the Franco Prussian War. His son Eugene was a captain in a Zouave
regiment. On August 6, 1870, Robert-Houdin heard news of his son being mortally wounded at the Battle of Worth. Meanwhile, Hessians (soldiers) captured Paris and Robert-Houdin hid his family in a cave near his property. The Hessian soldiers were very rude, according to Robert-Houdin, but he found the Polish soldiers to be a lot kinder.
Four days later, Robert-Houdin was to find out that his son had died of his wounds. With the stress from that and the war, his health deteriorated and he contracted pneumonia. On June 13, 1871, he died of his illness, at the age of sixty-five.
.jpg)
His home in Blois is open to the public as the publicly-owned La Maison de la Magie Robert-Houdin
. It is a museum and theatre first opened by his grandson Paul Robert-Houdin in April 1966. As a museum of France and bearing the official label of "Musée de France", it is the only public museum in Europe which incorporates in one place collections of magic and a site for permanent performing arts. The creation of such a site is directly linked to the personality of Robert-Houdin.
On December 1852, the Theatre Robert-Houdin moved from its original location to the Boulevard des Italiens. Ownership passed from Hamilton to Cleverman (François Lahire), then to Robert-Houdin’s son Emile. Emile was too busy to perform at the theatre, so he arranged for Pierre Edouard Brunnet to present the show.
After his death, Emile’s widow sold the theatre to George Méliès in 1888. Méliès later presented the first movies there. He accidentally discovered stop action special effects and presented his creation at the Theatre Robert-Houdin. One of his classics is A Trip to the Moon. In 1924 the building was demolished.
Robert-Houdin's autobiography is The Memoirs of Robert-Houdin. His life and works are also cited in Robertson Davies
' "Deptford Trilogy
", notably in the trilogy's third novel World of Wonders, which takes place on the set of a movie about Robert-Houdin.
Jim Steinmeyer said in his book, Hiding the Elephant, that every magician of the 20th century was haunted by Robert-Houdin, “…who cast an enormous shadow over their generation.” American magician and escape artist Harry Houdini
(born Ehrich Weiss) was so impressed by Robert-Houdin that after reading his autobiography in 1890, Ehrich adopted the stage name of "Houdini" in honor of Robert-Houdin. He incorrectly believed that "i" on the end of a name meant "like" in French. But Houdini, his own career and reputation established by that time, later lost his youthful respect for Robert-Houdin, believing that he took undue credit for other magicians's innovations, and wrote The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin in 1908.
Several cities have streets which bear his name: Blois
, Bourges
, Caen
, Paris
(11th), Saint-Étienne
, Saint-Gervais-la-Forêt
.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
magician
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
. He is widely considered the father of the modern style of conjuring
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
.
Early life and entrance into conjuring
Master of magic Robert-Houdin was born Jean Eugène Robert in BloisBlois
Blois is the capital of Loir-et-Cher department in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours.-History:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, on 6 December 1805—a day after his autobiography said he was. His father Prosper Robert was one of the best watchmakers in Blois. A skillful artisan and hard worker, Prosper Robert's main ambition was to provide for his family, but he also wanted his children to climb the social ladder. Jean Eugene's mother, the former Marie-Catherine Guillon, died when Jean was just a young child. At the age of eleven, Prosper sent his son Jean to school thirty-five miles up the Loire to the University of Orléans
University of Orléans
-History:In 1230, when for a time the doctors of the University of Paris were scattered, a number of the teachers and disciples took refuge in Orléans; when pope Boniface VIII, in 1298, promulgated the sixth book of the Decretals, he appointed the doctors of Bologna and the doctors of Orléans to...
. At 18, Jean graduated and returned to Blois. His father wanted him to be a lawyer, but Jean wanted to follow into his father’s footsteps as a watchmaker.
Jean’s penmanship was excellent, and it landed him a job as a clerk for an attorney’s office. Instead of studying law, he tinkered with mechanical gadgets. His employer sent him back to his father. He was told that he was better suited as a watchmaker than a lawyer. But by then, Jean’s father had already retired so he became an apprentice to his cousin who had a watch shop. For a short time, Jean worked as a watchmaker
Watchmaker
A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since virtually all watches are now factory made, most modern watchmakers solely repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their parts, by hand...
.
In the mid 1820s, young Jean saved up to buy a copy of a two-volume set of books on clock making called Traité de l’horlogerie, or Treatise on Clockmaking, written by Ferdinand Berthoud
Ferdinand Berthoud
Ferdinand Berthoud was a Swiss chronometer-maker.-Career:He was born at Plancemont, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Having served his apprenticeship with his brother, Jean-Henri, a pendulum maker, he set up a clockmaking business in Paris in 1745 and gained a great reputation for the excellence and...
. The book seller had put the books off to the side for Jean. He reached up to the shelf and grabbed the books. He wrapped the two volumes and handed them to the young aspiring clockmaker.
But when Jean got home and opened the wrapping, instead of the Berthoud books, what appeared before his eyes was a two-volume set on magic called Scientific Amusements. Instead of returning the books, his curiosity got the best of him. From those crude volumes, he learned the rudiments of magic. He practiced at all hours of the day.
From that point when he accidentally received those books on conjuring, Jean Robert became very interested in the art. He was upset that the books he got only revealed how the secrets were done, but did not show how to do them. He found that learning from the books available in those days was very difficult because the lack of detailed explanations provided. But the books piqued his interest in the art. So Jean began taking lessons from a local amateur magician. He paid ten francs for a series of lessons from a man named Maous from Blois who was a podiatrist, but also entertained at fairs and fêtes doing magic. He was proficient in sleight of hand, and he taught Jean how to juggle to coordinate his eye and hand. He also taught him rudiments of the cups and balls. He told young Jean that digital dexterity came with repetition, and as a direct result, Jean practiced incessantly.
Magic was his pastime, but meanwhile, his studies in horology continued. When he felt he was ready, he moved to Tours and set up a watch-making business, doing conjuring on the side.
Much of what we know about Robert-Houdin comes from his memoirs—and his writings were meant more to entertain than to chronicle, rendering it difficult to separate fact from fiction. Robert-Houdin would have readers believe that a major turning point in his life came when he became apprenticed to the magician Edmund de Grisy, better known as Torrini. Unfortunately, there is no record of a Torrini or a de Grisy.
What is known is that his early performing came from joining an amateur acting troupe. Later, he performed at social parties as a professional magician. It was during this period while at a party, he met the daughter of a Parisian watchmaker, Monsieur Jacques François Houdin, who had also come from Jean Robert's native Blois. The daughter's name was Josèphe Cecile Houdin, and Jean fell in love with Cecile at their first meeting. On July 8, 1830, they were married. He hyphenated his own name to hers and became Robert-Houdin.
He moved to Paris and worked in his father-in-law's wholesale shop. Jacques François was among the last of the watchmakers to use the old methods of handcrafting each piece, and embraced his new son-in-law's ambitions for mechanism. While M. Houdin worked in the main shop, Jean was to tinker with mechanical toys and automatic figures
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
. He and Josèphe had eight children, of whom three survived; this was fairly typical for that time period.
With his work in the shop, Jean still was practicing magic. Quite by accident, Robert-Houdin walked into a shop on the Rue Richelieu and discovered it sold magic. He visited the store, which was owned by a Père (Papa) Roujol. There he met fellow magicians, both amateur and professional, where he engaged in talk about conjuring, and there he met an aristocrat by the name of Jules de Rovère, who coined the term "prestidigitation"
Sleight of hand
Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation or legerdemain, is the set of techniques used by a magician to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly....
to describe a major misdirection technique magicians used.
At Papa Roujol’s, Robert-Houdin learned the details to many of the mechanical tricks of the time as well as how to improve them. From there, he built his own mechanical figures, like a singing bird, a dancer on a tightrope, and an automaton
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
doing the cups and balls. His most acclaimed automaton was his writing and drawing figure. He displayed this figure before King Louis Philippe
Louis-Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...
and eventually sold it to P. T. Barnum
P. T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus....
.
On October 19, 1843, Monsieur Robert-Houdin's beloved wife died, having been ill for months; she died at the age of thirty-two. At her death, she left him with three young children to take care of; to take up the burden, he remarried in August of that year to François Marguerite Olympe Braconnier, a woman ten years younger than himself. The new Madame Robert-Houdin soon took over the household.
Robert-Houdin loved to watch the big magic shows that came to Paris. He dreamed about some day opening his own theatre. In the meantime, he was hired by a friend of his by the name of Count de l’Escalopier to perform at private parties.
Now that he had free time, he began constructing equipment for his own use instead of selling it to others. The income from the shop and his new inventions gave him enough money to experiment on new tricks using glass apparatus that would be (or at least appear) free of trickery. He envisioned a stage that would be as elegant as the drawing rooms in which he was hired to perform. He also thought that a magician should be dressed as such by wearing traditional evening clothes.
He obtained financial backing from Count de l’Escalopier fronted him the 15,000 francs to make his vision into reality. He rented out a suite of rooms above the archways around the gardens of the Palais Royal, which was once owned by the Cardinal Richelieu who was portrayed in Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
's The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
.
He hired workmen to redesign the old assembly room into a theatre. They painted it white with gold trim. Tasteful drapes where hung, chic candelabras where placed throughout, and the stage furniture was set in the style of Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
.
On July 3, 1845, Robert-Houdin premiered his 200 seat theatre in what he called "Soirées Fantastiques." No critics covered Robert-Houdin’s debut, and in his memoirs, Robert-Houdin said that the show had been a disaster. He suffered from stage fright that caused him to talk too fast and in a monotone. He said that he did not know what he was saying or doing, and everything was a blur. He believed that a magician should not present a trick until it was mechanically perfected to be certain of avoiding failure, and this caused him to over-rehearse.
After the first show, he was about to have a nervous breakdown. He closed the theatre and had every intention to close it for good until a friend agreed that the venture was a silly idea. Instead of admitting defeat, Robert-Houdin, irked at the friend's affrontery, used this insult to regain his courage, and he persevered in giving the show a long run at his little theatre. Although at first the forty-year-old magician was unpolished, he soon gained the confidence required for the stage.
With each performance, Robert-Houdin got better, and he began to receive critical acclaim. Le Charivari
Le Charivari
Le Charivari was an illustrated newspaper published in Paris, France from 1832 to 1937. It published caricatures, political cartoons and reviews...
and L'Illustration
L'Illustration
L'Illustration was a weekly French newspaper published in Paris. It was founded by Edouard Charton; the first issue was published on March 4, 1843....
both said that his mechanical marvels and artistic magic was comparable to those of his predecessors like Philippe and Bosco. Even with all of this, still relatively few people would come to the little theatre during the summer months, and he struggled to keep it opened. To meet expenses, he sold the three houses that he had inherited from his mother.
The following year, he added a new trick to his program that became especially popular. Seats at the Palais Royal were at a premium. This new marvel was called Second Sight. Second Sight drew the audiences into the little theatre. Once there, they saw the other creations Robert-Houdin had to offer.
Major achievements
The ArabArab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
s of Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
were said to be excited to rebel against French colonialists by miracles performed by their religious leaders. In 1856, Napoleon III's Second French Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
sent Robert-Houdin there, hoping that he might perform tricks that were far more impressive, thereby dissolving the excitement of the rebels. Robert-Houdin's tricks, it is said, succeeded in breaking up the influence of the mullahs. Moreover, the Arabs became afraid of Robert-Houdin. In one trick, he allowed an Arab to shoot at him with a marked bullet, but instead of killing him, the bullet was found between his teeth. After that, they believed he could do anything. Robert-Houdin was not the first illusionist to perform the bullet catch
Bullet catch
The bullet catch is a conjuring illusion in which a magician appears to catch a bullet fired directly at him—often in his mouth, sometimes in his hand or caught with other items such as a dinner plate...
and many since him have adapted their own version of the effect.
He used another famous trick to prove that French magic was stronger than local shamanism techniques: he presented an empty box with an iron bottom that anyone could lift up. By turning on an electro-magnet hidden under the floor, he made it immovable, "proving" that through will power, he could make it impossible to lift for the strongest Algerian warriors. He found the trick was more impressive when he claimed not that he could make the trunk heavy, but when he claimed he could make the strong man too weak to lift a trunk that even a small child could lift.
Robert-Houdin is often credited as being "the father of modern magic". Before him, magicians performed in marketplaces and fairs, but Robert-Houdin performed magic in theatres and private parties. He also chose to wear formal clothes, like those of his audiences. Many magicians today mimic this by wearing tail-coats, though other magicians view this as old-fashioned and believe that they should wear contemporary clothes. Doug Henning
Doug Henning
Douglas James Henning was a Canadian magician, illusionist, escape artist and politician.-Early life:...
was the first to rebel against this stereotype with a distinctive modern look of his own.
Famous illusions
Robert-Houdin felt that every magic program should be arranged so one trick builds upon each other. One surprise should lead to an even bigger surprise. Some of the tricks and illusions Robert-Houdin presented became classics. Here are a few of them.Second Sight
When Robert-Houdin first opened his theatre, it was sparsely attended. Though his inventions were good, they needed a draw that would bring the public to his little theatre. So he came upon the idea of doing a two person mindreading act. He even concocted a silly story on how his son Emile created a game of hot and cold that resulted into Robert-Houdin utilizing that for the stage.He took the title that was used by such magicians as John Henry Anderson
John Henry Anderson
John Henry Anderson was a professional magician, born in The Mearns, Scotland. Anderson is credited with helping bring the art of magic from street performances into theatres and presenting magic performances to entertain and delight the audience....
, but the effect was entirely different. Anderson had a box into which items were inserted. The medium would then describe the contents inside. In Robert-Houdin’s version, he walked into the audience and touched items that the audience held up and his blindfolded assistant, played by his son, described each one in detail. It caused a sensation and brought the throng to see his Soirees.
Eventually Robert-Houdin changed the method so instead of asking his son what was in his hands, he simply rang a bell. This stunned those that suspected a spoken code. He would even set the bell off to the side and remain silent and his son still described every object handed to his father.
Robert-Houdin even made the test difficult. He placed a glass of water into his son’s hands and Emile proceeded to drink from it. He was able to perceive the taste of the liquids that spectators from the audience merely thought of. Even then the audiences weren’t entirely convinced. They tried to trip up Emile by bringing in books written in Greek. He even described odd tools like a thread counter.
The Ethereal Suspension
During Robert-Houdin’s time, all of Paris was enthusiastically talking about the mysterious uses of "etherDiethyl ether
Diethyl ether, also known as ethyl ether, simply ether, or ethoxyethane, is an organic compound in the ether class with the formula . It is a colorless, highly volatile flammable liquid with a characteristic odor...
". He took advantage of this by presenting an illusion that appeared to use the pungent liquid. He told the audience that he discovered a marvelous new property of ether. “If one has a living person inhale this liquid when it is at its highest degree of concentration, the body of the patient for a few moments becomes as light as a balloon,” Robert-Houdin claimed.
He proceeded to prove just that. He placed three stools on a wooden bench. His youngest son Eugène stood on the middle one. With the instructions from his father, he extended his arms. Robert-Houdin placed two canes on top of the stools and positioned them under his son’s arms.
He took a vial of ether and opened. The audience smelled it wafting through the theatre. He placed the vial under his son’s nose who went limp. In reality, the vial was empty. Another son of his Emile poured real ether on a very hot iron shovel. That’s what the audience smelled.
Robert-Houdin took the stool away from his son’s feet and he just hung limp as a rag. He took away one of the canes so he was dangling by one arm and carefully placed his head against his upraised hand. This was startling enough. What he did next was stunning. He lifted his boy upright in a horizontal position by his little finger. Then let go until he was suspended in mid air. Robert-Houdin stepped away to leave his son in that suspended state, balanced only by his right elbow and no other support.
When it was apparent that the drug was wearing off, Robert-Houdin returned his son to his upright position. When he woke up, he seemed no worse for wear. Robert-Houdin built up the surprise of spectators until, “… by gradually heightening it up to the moment when, so to speak, it exploded.”
This brought letters of protest against Robert-Houdin thinking he was putting his son’s health at jeopardy, although the ether had nothing to do with the trick.
(A replica of this performance can be seen here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1qb3f_roberthoudinextrait-rare1966_creation)
The Marvelous Orange Tree
On one of Robert-Houdin’s side table, he has an egg, a lemon, and an orange. He soon displays what he is going to do with them. He goes into the audience and borrows a lady’s handkerchief that was in style then. He rolls it into a ball. He rubs the ball in between his hands and the handkerchief gets smaller and smaller until it disappears passing through to the egg on the table.Carefully he picks up the egg. The audience expects him to crack it open and produce the spectator’s handkerchief. Instead, he makes that disappear too. He tells the audience that the egg went to the lemon. This is repeated with the lemon and the orange. When he makes the orange disappear, all that is left is a fine powder. This is placed into a silver vial. He soaks this vial with alcohol and sets it on fire.
A small orange tree planted in a wooden box is brought forth by one of his assistants. The audience notices that the tree is barren of any blossoms or fruit. The blue flame from the vial is placed underneath it. The vapors from it causes the leaves to spread and sprout orange blossoms from it. Robert-Houdin then picks up his magic wand and waves it. The flowers disappear and oranges bloom forth.
He plucks the oranges from the tree and tosses them to the audience to prove they are real. He does this until he only has one left. He waves his wand again and the orange splits open into four sections revealing a white material of sorts inside of it. Two clockwork butterflies appear from behind the tree. The butterflies grab the end of the corner of the white cloth and spread it open revealing the spectator's handkerchief.
'The Marvelous Orange Tree' trick was used by the eponymous conjurer in Steven Millhauser
Steven Millhauser
Steven Millhauser is an American novelist and short story writer. He won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel Martin Dressler. The prize brought many of his older books back into print.-Life and career:...
's short story, "Eisenheim The Illusionist", subsequently filmed as The Illusionist (2006), where a more complex variant is shown.
The trick can be seen performed by Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels, born Newton Edward Daniels on 6 April 1938, is a British magician and television performer. He achieved international fame through his television series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.-Early life:...
on his BBC television series.
Robert-Houdin’s Portfolio
Robert-Houdin brings on a large portfolio used for holding documents or art work under his arm. The portfolio is only about one and three quarters of an inch thick. Too small or too thin to hold anything but pictures.He sets it on two thin trestles to hold the case with the spine facing the audience. He removed the expected drawings from it. One of those pictures showed a bareheaded woman. Then he produced two ladies bonnets decorated with flowers; one for winter, the other for summer. He lowers the flap for each production. Then he showed a picture of birds followed by a stuffed bird flat as a pancake. With that he proceeded to produce from the portfolio four live turtle doves.
He showed a picture of a cartoon of two cooks fighting with pots. This was followed by three enormous copper pots. One is filled with beans, another with flames bursting forth, and the third pot is filled with boiling water. As an afterthought, he lifted the top flap of the portfolio and pulled out a large cage filled with birds.
He walked forward towards the audience with the square cage and they applauded thinking the trick was over. “Nothing here now - neither anything, nor anybody,” as he knocked on the upright flap. For a finale, he closes the portfolio one last time and produces his young son from it.
The Light and Heavy Chest
The amount of tricks he invented for his theatre was extensive, but his most remarkable one was the Light and Heavy Chest. He took advantage of the infancy of the usage of electricity, especially the then novelty of Hans Christian Oersted's discovery of electromagnetismElectromagnetism
Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
, to his advantage. Robert-Houdin brought on a small wooden box about a foot wide. He said that he had found a way to protect it from thieves. He asked a spectator to lift it, usually a small child. The child lifted it with ease. Then he brought an adult male up from the audience and asked him to lift the same box. Even though he used all of his might, the adult male was unable to lift the box!
What made this trick even more incredible is that Robert-Houdin used this (among others) to help squelch a rebellion.
This trick can be seen performed by Derren Brown
Derren Brown
Derren Victor Brown is a British illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage productions and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat...
on his Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
television series The Events
Derren Brown: The Events
Derren Brown: The Events is a Channel 4 television series featuring the illusionist Derren Brown. Filmed in front of a live studio audience, this series is made up of four one-hour specials, during which Brown attempts what he has described as "some of the most incredible feats to date"...
. Derren Brown - The Events 3 - Psychic Spy Part 1
Inventions pirated
Robert-Houdin's inventions were pirated by his trusted mechanic Le Grand, who was arrested for making and selling duplicate illusions. Many of those illusions fell into the hands of his competitors like John Henry Anderson, Robin, Robert HellerRobert Heller
Robert Heller, also Joseph Heller, was an English magician, mentalist, and musician. The year of his birth is the subject of some speculation; some sources list it as 1829 while others claim 1830....
,and Compars Herrmann
Compars Herrmann
Carl Herrmann was a German illusionist.The Herrmann family name is known as the "first-family of magic". Alexander's father Samuel, a practicing German physician, was the first to enjoy magic as a hobby. Samuel's first son Carl , was born in 1816 and left medical school at an early age to pursue...
. It is not known whether Herrmann or the others bought the illusions directly from LeGrand or from another source. But they willingly performed the illusions after knowing that they were invented by Robert-Houdin.
Robert-Houdin on tour
Robert-Houdin’s little theatre became a mecca for magic enthusiasts. Herrmann was a constant visitor to the Palais Royal. The public complained because Robert-Houdin couldn’t magically make his theatre bigger. It became the place for the Paris elite to go. Even the King Louis Philippe rented out the room for a private performance. After the triumph he gave at the Royal Palace, in 1847, the king decided to take his entourage to see Robert-Houdin at the Palais Royal.The following February a revolution ended the reign of Louis-Philippe. With it show business also ended. The Revolution closed all Parisian theatres. Robert-Houdin shut down his theatre and went on the road. He toured the Continent briefly and then he headed off to Great Britain.
With a company of French dramatists, Robert-Houdin made his English debut at the St. James Theatre in London. He presented his program three times a week. Much to his dismay, he found out that Compars Herrmann beat him to the territory. Not only was he billing himself as the Premier Prestidigitateur of France, but he was also using pirated versions of his illusions. Despite this, Robert-Houdin still accomplished a success there. So much so, in 1848, he did a command performance for Queen Victoria.
After a three month tour of England, he went back home after about a year and a half away. He reopened the theatre and became a permanent fixture in Paris. In 1850, He handed the Palais Royal to his brother-in-law Hamilton (Pierre Etienne Chocat). This left him free to tour France. He did so for two years. Then he went to Germany and a return engagement to England where he ended up performing a second time for Queen Victoria.
He did a brief tour of France and then at the age of 48, retired from public performances. He gave the theatre back to Hamilton who continued to fill the little theatre.
The Magical Mission
After Robert-Houdin retired, he devoted himself to his inventions with electricity and his writings. His home le Prieuré (the Priory), was a marvel in advancement. His home was run entirely by electricity.In 1856, he was asked by Louis-Napoleon
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
to pacify the tribes in French Algeria
French Algeria
French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...
. During this period, the French Army commanders maintained order in the newly pacified region. They supervised local Muslim administrations and the bureaux arabes. These areas were closed off to colonization by the Europeans.
Napoleon III was worried about a religious tribe called the Marabouts. The Marabouts were able to control their tribe with their faux magical abilities. They advised their leaders to break ranks with the French. Napoleon wanted Robert-Houdin to show that French magic was stronger.
The magical mission began with an informal show at the Bab Azoun Theatre in Algeria where he would give performances twice weekly. He also gave many special galas before the country’s tribal chiefs. He used The Light and Heavy Chest during these performances, but instead of playing it for comedy as he had in Paris, here he played it straight. Robert-Houdin once invited the strongest tribesman on stage and asked the Arabian to pick up the wooden chest placed on stage. The Arabian picked it up with no problem. Then Robert-Houdin announced that he was going to sap his strength. He waved his wand and declared, "Contemplez! Maintenant vous êtes plus faible qu'une femme; essayez de soulever la boîte." ("Behold! Now you are weaker than a woman; try to lift the box.") The Arabian laughed at this and with all of his might, pulled on the handle of the chest. But it would not budge! He tried and tried until he tried to rip it apart. Instead, he screamed in pain, as Robert-Houdin had rigged the box to give the Arabian an electrical shock if he tried to rip the handles off. The Arabian let go of the handle, ran off into the aisle, and ran screaming out of the theatre. A variation of this event was included in the film The Illusionist.
After his performances were done, he gave a special presentation for several chief men of their tribe. He was invited to the home of the head of the tribe of the desert interior, Bou-Allem. In dawn of the Arab desert, Robert-Houdin was challenged to do a special trick. He obliged by inviting one of the rebels to shoot at him with a marked bullet, which he caught between his teeth. He was given a certificate from Bou-Allem, who wore a red robe symbolizing his loyalty to France. With this scroll praising his mysterious manifestations, Robert-Houdin went back to France with the mission accomplished.
"The blow was struck," Robert-Houdin said, "...henceforth the interpreters and all those who had dealings with the Arabs received orders to make them understand that my pretended miracles were only the result of skill, inspired and guided by an art called prestidigitation, in no way connected with sorcery." He went on to say, “The Arabs doubtless yielded to these arguments, for henceforth I was on the most friendly terms with them." He was rewarded for his services of the French government by suppressing any possible rebellion.
Retirement and death
After his mission in Algeria completed, Robert-Houdin gave his last public performance at the Grand Théâtre in MarseilleMarseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, then returned to his home in Saint-Gervais, near his native Blois, where he wrote his memoirs, Confidences d’un Prestidigitateur. He also wrote several books on the art of magic. He lived happily in retirement for about fifteen years until advent of the Franco Prussian War. His son Eugene was a captain in a Zouave
Zouave
Zouave was the title given to certain light infantry regiments in the French Army, normally serving in French North Africa between 1831 and 1962. The name was also adopted during the 19th century by units in other armies, especially volunteer regiments raised for service in the American Civil War...
regiment. On August 6, 1870, Robert-Houdin heard news of his son being mortally wounded at the Battle of Worth. Meanwhile, Hessians (soldiers) captured Paris and Robert-Houdin hid his family in a cave near his property. The Hessian soldiers were very rude, according to Robert-Houdin, but he found the Polish soldiers to be a lot kinder.
Four days later, Robert-Houdin was to find out that his son had died of his wounds. With the stress from that and the war, his health deteriorated and he contracted pneumonia. On June 13, 1871, he died of his illness, at the age of sixty-five.
Legacy
La Maison de la Magie Robert-Houdin
La Maison de la Magie Robert-Houdin is a museum which fronts on the Royal Château de Blois. It is located in the Loir-et-Cher département in the Loire Valley, in France, in the center of the city of Blois...
. It is a museum and theatre first opened by his grandson Paul Robert-Houdin in April 1966. As a museum of France and bearing the official label of "Musée de France", it is the only public museum in Europe which incorporates in one place collections of magic and a site for permanent performing arts. The creation of such a site is directly linked to the personality of Robert-Houdin.
On December 1852, the Theatre Robert-Houdin moved from its original location to the Boulevard des Italiens. Ownership passed from Hamilton to Cleverman (François Lahire), then to Robert-Houdin’s son Emile. Emile was too busy to perform at the theatre, so he arranged for Pierre Edouard Brunnet to present the show.
After his death, Emile’s widow sold the theatre to George Méliès in 1888. Méliès later presented the first movies there. He accidentally discovered stop action special effects and presented his creation at the Theatre Robert-Houdin. One of his classics is A Trip to the Moon. In 1924 the building was demolished.
Robert-Houdin's autobiography is The Memoirs of Robert-Houdin. His life and works are also cited in Robertson Davies
Robertson Davies
William Robertson Davies, CC, OOnt, FRSC, FRSL was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished "men of letters", a term Davies is variously said to have gladly accepted for himself...
' "Deptford Trilogy
The Deptford Trilogy
The Deptford Trilogy is a novel trilogy by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies.-Overview:The trilogy consists of Fifth Business , The Manticore , and World of Wonders...
", notably in the trilogy's third novel World of Wonders, which takes place on the set of a movie about Robert-Houdin.
Jim Steinmeyer said in his book, Hiding the Elephant, that every magician of the 20th century was haunted by Robert-Houdin, “…who cast an enormous shadow over their generation.” American magician and escape artist Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...
(born Ehrich Weiss) was so impressed by Robert-Houdin that after reading his autobiography in 1890, Ehrich adopted the stage name of "Houdini" in honor of Robert-Houdin. He incorrectly believed that "i" on the end of a name meant "like" in French. But Houdini, his own career and reputation established by that time, later lost his youthful respect for Robert-Houdin, believing that he took undue credit for other magicians's innovations, and wrote The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin in 1908.
Several cities have streets which bear his name: Blois
Blois
Blois is the capital of Loir-et-Cher department in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours.-History:...
, Bourges
Bourges
Bourges is a city in central France on the Yèvre river. It is the capital of the department of Cher and also was the capital of the former province of Berry.-History:...
, Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(11th), Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne is a city in eastern central France. It is located in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Rhône-Alpes region, along the trunk road that connects Toulouse with Lyon...
, Saint-Gervais-la-Forêt
Saint-Gervais-la-Forêt
Saint-Gervais-la-Forêt is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France.-References:*...
.
Name
It is incorrect to refer to Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin as "Houdin." His last name was Robert-Houdin. His birth name was Jean Eugène Robert. He married Mademoiselle Houdin, and under special dispensation from the French government, was allowed to use the hyphenated last name.Publications
- Confidences d'un prestidigitateur, une vie d'artiste, 2 vol., 1858 Texte en ligne sur Google Books : vol. 1 et vol. 2
- Les Tricheries des Grecs dévoilées ; l'art de gagner à tous les jeux, 1861
- Le Prieuré, organisations mystérieuses pour le confort et l'agrément d'une demeure (1867) Texte en ligne su Gallica
- Note sur de nouveaux instruments propres à l'observation des divers organes de l'œil ainsi qu'à la manifestation des images entoptiques (1867)
- Confidences et révélations, 1868. Réédition: Slatkine, Genève, 1980 Texte en ligne sur Gallica
- Comment on devient sorcier: les secrets de la prestidigitation et de la magie, 1871
- Magie et physique amusante, 1877
Films
- 1896 - Escamotage d'une dame chez Robert-Houdin (Retraction of a lady at the house of Robert-Houdin), film of George Méliès, first film with special effects
- 1995 - Robert-Houdin une vie de magicien, film of Jean-Luc Muller, documentary
- 2006 - The Illusionist (2006 film), clearly inspired by the works of Robert-Houdin
Further reading
at Internet ArchiveInternet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- Christian FechnerChristian FechnerChristian Fechner, was a French film producer, screenwriter and film director....
, The Magic of Robert-Houdin, an artist's life Boulogne: Editions CWF, 2002, 2 vols., 2005, 2 boxes each containing 2 volumes. ISBN 9782907584050. The fourth volume contains facsimiles of fantastic memories of evenings in which the reproduction of two models of fans, a DVD and a flip book created for the occasion on the basis of a series of photographs taken by Disdéri studio. This flipbook was finalized based on an idea outlined by Jean-Guy Fechner , Fechner's younger brother and former Christian group The Chariot. The works were staged by Roger Faluci.
External links
- A Conjurer's Confessions by M. Robert-Houdin
- Memoirs of Robert-Houdin by M. Robert-Houdin
- The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin by Harry Houdini
- The Old and the new magic by Henry Ridgely Evans
- Robert-Houdin and the Spiritualists Harper's New Monthly Magazine, November 1877
- Robert-Houdin, A Magician's Life" - TV documentary (French) produced in 1995 and released on DVD (French and English version) in 2005, with extra footage and documentary material.