I write this in my small office and realize that I might have gone a bit overboard on the Houdini stuff. I am surrounded by eight Houdini posters, three Houdini photographs, a blueprint of a diver’s suit that he used, two Houdini bobblehead dolls, two more Houdini action figures, a Houdini paperweight that was given out at a minor league baseball game, a Houdini PEZ dispenser, three sets of handcuffs, two Houdini teddy bears, and a beer stein that looks like Houdini.
My wife and daughters are convinced I only wrote this book as an excuse to buy the merch.
I plead the fifth on that.
Everything about writing this book was pure joy. It emerged from a strange place. As a longtime sportswriter, I am often approached to write about sports (my first four books were sports books), and someone I respect asked me to write a book about Babe Ruth. That is well-covered ground—my friends Jane Leavy and Leigh Montville are among the many who have wonderfully told his story—but I thought about why the Bambino still fascinates so many people.
I decided that it comes down to that word: Wonder. Ruth comes from that time, before twenty-four-hour news coverage and social media and a creeping cynicism, when we unabashedly allowed ourselves to feel awe and wonderment. Ruth, with his myriad addictions and general over-the-top lifestyle, would be treated very differently now. Is that bad? No, of course not. But I was curious: What have we lost through the years? What have we held on to?
I wanted to write about that, but I realized that Babe Ruth was not the right person for me to tell that story.
Enter: Harry Houdini.
I was a lifelong Houdini fan when I began this project, but I came in knowing almost nothing about magic. I knew exactly zero people in magic. It was, in many ways, like writing my first book because I was starting from square one. And it would have been impossible without the help of literally hundreds of amazing people in and around magic who did not just offer advice and insight but went out of their way to guide me, protect me, and save me from my own worst instincts. I could not possibly thank them all here—I hope they see themselves in the book—but I would like to highlight five specifically.
First, there’s the most famous magician in the world, today’s Houdini, David Copperfield. He embraced me and my project at the very beginning, and I cannot be more grateful. There’s a moment in the writing process that I think many authors will find familiar, that moment when you realize: “Okay, yes, this will actually become a book!” That happened for me when David Copperfield invited me to Las Vegas to tour his museum and spend some time with him.
Second, there’s John Cox, founder of the Wild About Harry website and my compass for this project. Nobody knows more about Houdini than John, but more, he allowed me to see (and hopefully capture) the emotion that Houdini still stirs in people.
Jim Steinmeyer is one of the world’s great thinkers about magic. He made it clear the very first time we talked that Houdini is not his favorite topic, but he was still there to offer incredible insights and new directions every time I asked. We exchanged dozens of emails through the book-writing, and each one he wrote felt like a finished essay. I diminished them by only using parts of them. I could not have written this book without him.
Fourth, there’s Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz. What a couple. I cannot begin to explain how much richer my life is (and how much richer this book is) because they took me into their lives and shared their amazing stories.
And, I want to thank Joshua Jay. Being an old sportswriter got me nowhere in the magic world—those two circles do not overlap much on the Venn diagram—but Josh, in addition to being one of the world’s great sleight-of-hand magicians, is also a huge basketball fan. That helped. Josh opened up this book in countless ways and vouched for me with so many of the people who appear in its pages. It’s an honor to call Josh a friend.
My editor at Avid Reader, Jofie Ferrari-Adler, took a chance on this book when it was nothing more than a hint of a dream, and I am deeply indebted to him. Associate editor Julianna Haubner was joyfully relentless with her edits and improved this book immeasurably. Sloan Harris has been my agent for approaching twenty years now, though at this point he’s much more friend than agent. It will take me years to thank all the other friends who supported me throughout but let me begin with Dan and Debby McGinn; Tommy Tomlinson; Alix Felsing; Brian Hay; Jim Banks; Jonathan Abrams, Mechelle Voepel; Jen Kramer; Mike Schur, and Mike Vaccaro. I promise to get to the rest of you.
Finally, there is the family, beginning with my in-laws, Cecil and Judy Keller, and my parents, Frances and Steven Posnanski. This book was particularly hard on my wife, Margo, and our daughters, Elizabeth and Katie, who for two years endured an endless stream of Houdini stories, watched every magic video and show available, and rolled their eyes every time another package with Houdini memorabilia showed up on our front porch. Their love and inspiration live in every word.
One memory stands out above all: Elizabeth, a junior in high school, chose to be Houdini for her school history project. You haven’t lived as a parent until you’ve sat with your daughter in front of a computer and scoured the Internet to buy a straitjacket.