In honor of Memorial Day in May and Flag Day coming up in June, I thought I would do a quick post on Houdini’s “Whirlwind of Colors”.
This is the effect where Houdini turned a massive production of silks into a patriotic, get-on-your-feet extravaganza.
He performed it during the patriotic review show “Everything” at the Hippodrome during the 1918-19 season. Houdini did the silks from fishbowl production and produced a tame American eagle named “Abraham Lincoln” from the folds of a giant American flag. In reality, it was actually a red-tailed hawk passed off as an eagle that he trained himself.
This was also the last trick that Houdini performed onstage in 1926. That is for a finale, he drew from a small crystal bowl of colored water hundreds of yards of silken streamers and lastly a string of flags of all nations. Houdini collapsed at the end of the first act and this trick was actually finished by his assistants when Houdini was rushed to the hospital.
Source: John Cox, Patrick Culliton and Roger Dreyer
UPDATE: Fred Pittella just let me know that Houdini’s Whirlwind of Color is safe with him. This is how it looked when Bessie, Hardeen and Jimmy Collins performed it.
Image from Patrick Culliton’s The Key
And this is how it looks today in Fred’s Houdini & Escapes museum.
Special Thanks to Fred Pittella for allowing me to share.
Related:
The last trick that HH performed before being ushered to the hospital…The Whirlwind of Colors is a deadly effect, Joe.
Ha! That’s certainly one way to look at it. Roger Dreyer mentions he has Houdini’s last effect in his personal collection at the Houdini Museum of New York. http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2016/05/guest-blog-houdini-museum-of-new-york.html?m=1
See UPDATE: Roger’s bowl is a different bowl then the picture with Bess. The one Fred Pittella owns has the table, bowl streamers and glass plate that Pat Culliton describes in “The Key” and “Houdini Unlocked book two”.
Was the method every explained in any book? I was always fascinated by this trick.
See page 290 of Pat Culliton’s “The Key”.