Page 32 - 201210 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - October 2012

Houdini Act Launched in Dartmouth, NS Houdini international act launched in Dartmouth Halifax News Net New book sheds light on world-famous escape artist Penniless and stranded, Harry Houdini and his wife Bessie stepped onto the stage at St. Peter’s Hall in Dartmouth on July 6th, 1896 at a critical turning point in what would become an incredible career. In just four years Harry Houdini, born as Ehrich Weiss, would be a world-famous escape artist, but this night in Dartmouth was his very first international show as the headline act. “Houdini and Bessie were fairly destitute at this point … some local people held a fundraiser to raise money for them,” said Bruce MacNab, who spent the past five years researching Houdini’s tour of the Maritimes for his book ‘The Metamorphosis: The Apprenticeship of Harry Houdini’ published last week by Goose Lane Editions and launched at the Banook Canoe Club. Houdini and his wife were scheduled to perform two evening shows and one matinee at St. Peter’s Hall, but due to popular demand they did an extra night, a welcome change from the previous week, when they had been travelling with the Marco Magic Company out of Hartford, Connecticut. Booked for six nights at the Academy of Music in Halifax, the company was disgraced and disbanded on the third night due to mounting debt and lack of turnout for the Halifax shows. Determined to continue the tour, Houdini and his wife carried on traveling through the Maritimes, in what until MacNab’s groundbreaking book has been a little-known part of his life. As a young boy growing up in Dartmouth, MacNab, 47, remembers reading everything he could find about Harry Houdini. It was the mid-70s, the era of larger-than-life entertainers. Evel Knievel was performing daredevil jumps, Alice Cooper was at the height of his career and Kiss was heading into superstar status. It was also the lead-up to the Canada’s History magazine since 2010) – just 50th anniversary of Houdini’s death – Oct. 31, kept growing and growing. 1976. “Before I knew it I had to go on kijiji Young and impressionable, MacNab and buy a filing cabinet for all the material I was hooked. had,” MacNab laughed. “It seemed like almost overnight, Despite reviews calling the book information about Houdini was everywhere. everything from “a definitive masterpiece” to a The story and the images were so compelling,” “wonderfully-told story,” MacNab – a MacNab said. journeyman carpenter – hasn’t embraced In amongst all the books MacNab was thinking of himself as an author. reading about Houdini, he also came across a “I’m uncomfortable calling myself a reference to Houdini performing four shows in writer. I love Maritime and Nova Scotian Dartmouth in John Martin’s book ‘The Story of history. I just want to tell those stories.” Dartmouth’. “Through the years I kept looking for The Metamorphosis: The Apprenticeship of more information on that … I guess I just got Harry Houdini tired of waiting,” he said. “I wrote it because I wanted the story. I wanted to know everything by he did and everything he saw when he was Bruce McNab here.” What started as a plan for an article – is available at MacNab did write a feature on Houdini’s tour in the June 2009 edition of The Beaver (called www.amazon.com