Inside Magic FavoriteDean Gunnarson is one of the fittest folks we know. That’s one advantage of being an escape artist. A recent study by the non-profit (but not by choice) Inside Magic Foundation showed a direct and correlative relationship between the physical fitness of an escape artist and his or her longevity.
To wit: Houdini was the gold standard of fitness for his time. His career lasted for decades, throughout and despite spectacular physical injuries and infections.
On the other hand, Tommy “Binge” Hardy II began his escape career on July 4, 1952 and ended six hours later. It actually took firefighters only four-and-a-half hours to unlock the wheezing and whimpering performer from the portable toilet from which he was to escape.
The Interlake Spectatorof Manitoba, Canada carries the inspiring story of Dean Gunnarson’s visit to a local school to deliver an important message for the kids. "It's important kids learn how important physical activity is," Mr. Gunnarson told those at the Arborg Middle School’s Physical Activity Day. As The Spectator noted, Dean Gunnarson’s “performances require him to hold his breath to escape from certain death.”
We love the turn of the phrase “escape from certain death.” It reminds us of our favorite Houdini poster for The Milk Can Escape, “Failure Means a Drowning Death.”
Dean Gunnarson performed some effects and then escaped from what looks like a rope tie or chain escape. He also shared his secret for success. He told students of his vow in junior high school to live healthy; no smoking, no drugs or alcohol. He made these choices precisely because he wanted to be an escape artist. “These are the decisions I made in junior high school," he said. "You have to be in good shape. What I do is very physical."
Early this morning, we received word from Inside Magic FavoriteDean Gunnarson, that things did not go as planned in his planned escape from the tracks of a speeding roller-coaster in Beijing.
The Toronto Sun had coverage this afternoon filling in the details of what must have been a horrific event.
Dean Gunnarson is insane but also very safe. That is to say, when he hangs by his toes over the Hoover Dam, he makes sure the wind speed is in the single digits and he has no butter or slippery goo on his boots. Despite his devotion to safety, he has had several near catastrophes over his career.
He began with hypothermia and near drowning in the frigid waters of Canada where the water and cold robbed him of a chance to escape from his shackles or the locked wooden casket. He's pulled, broken, snapped, and twisted body parts with verve much to the delight of fans and his medical professionals.
Still, as we have admitted on this magic news outlet and to professional mental health workers, his stuff scares us silly.
He had freed himself and was attempting to dive to safety when the roller-coaster car, which was travelling at nearly 100 km/h, clipped his right foot.
He sustained a broken bone in his foot and some internal bleeding.
He was in hospital Tuesday in Beijing but was hoping to return to Canada by Wednesday.
In his news release, Gunnarson said he believed hot and humid conditions, with a temperature of 36 C, contributed to him losing the extra split second he needed to completely avoid the bullet roller-coaster car.
The 46-year-old Manitoba resident – who has performed death-defying escapes around the world since he was in his teens – said this escape was a little too close for comfort.
"I have always said I don't do card tricks or pull bunnies out of a hat," Gunnarson said in his news release. "I push the envelope in an extreme way that tries to do the impossible with every great escape I have ever attempted. I like to keep things close but this was beyond close. It was near death."
The escape was part of Gunnarson's Bound for Danger world tour and was being shot for inclusion in a magic special on Chinese television.
This autumn, Gunnarson is planning an escape in which he will be locked inside a steel coffin and buried six feet underground for 48 hours.
After two days, he will attempt to escape on Halloween, the anniversary of the death in 1926 of legendary magician and escape artist Harry Houdini.
Houdini wrote, "No one wants to see a man die, but they want to be there when it happens."
The escape from the roller coaster tracks stunt almost claimed the life of Inside Magic Favorite Lance Burton. He too misjudged the closing speed of the coaster leaving no margin for error as he leaped to safety. He said later, "That was stupid."
Robin Leach reports that Mindfreak star Criss Angel will attempt “the most dangerous stunt of his career this weekend.”
The magician intends the underwater escape as a tribute to Houdini and in true Houdini fashion his publicist describes just two potential outcomes. ”In If he fails to escape from the chilly waters of the Colorado River at the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, he will drown!”
Criss Angel will be adorned in chains, shackles, and handcuffs before being wrapped in rope and dropped into the freezing river beneath the London Bridge at Lake Havasu City, Arizona. ”Once submerged, he has only two choices: Escape or drown.”
Robin Leach tells readers “Criss has told me several times of Houdini being his inspiration, and this stunt re-creates one that Houdini mastered in England.”
Robin Leach also reports that Criss Angel “has been named Magician of the Year five times and most recently Magician of the Century.” Criss Angel’s web site mentions he was named Magician of the Year five times in a row but does not tell readers the group bestowing this honor. According to some on SAM Talk (Society of American Magicians ListServe) the honor came from the International Magicians Society and in 2005 the Academy of Magical Arts proclaimed him Magician of the Year as well. We could not find a citation for the Magician of the Century, however.
If he was named Magician of the Century for the current century, 2000 through 2010, the honor seems a bit premature.
On the other hand, if Criss Angel was the Magician of the Century for 1900 through 2000, it means he beat out such lesser magic names such as Thurston, Harry Blackstone and Harry Blackstone, Jr. , Harry Kellar, P.T. Selbit, David Copperfield, Doug Henning, Lance Burton, Penn & Teller, Kreskin, Chung Ling Soo, Ching Ling Foo, Siegfried & Roy, Mark Wilson, Walter Blaney, Bev Bergeron, Dai Vernon, Ace Gorham, Jay Marshall, Paul Daniels, Jade, Wayne Dobson, Mark Kalin and Jinger, Li’l Tom Hardy, Melinda Saxe, Orson Welles, P.C. Sorkar and P.C. Sorkar, Jr., Derren Brown, Becky Blaney, Theo Anneman, and of course the object of Criss Angel’s homage, Harry Houdini.
The Houdini escape episode will air as a one-hour special when the new season premieres in July.
Of course, if you don’t mention Criss Angel Mind Freak, you can get a room with two queen beds or one king for five dollars less than the MindFreak discount; at least that’s what we found on the Travel Lodge site today (Saturday May 8th).
According to The New York Times, March 24, 1874 is the birthday of Erich Weiss. The paper was not so prescient as to cover the birth of the child who would one day become the foremost performer of his time and, for our money, for all time.
The Times pegs today as Houdini’s birthday in retrospect, through its obituary published on November 1, 1926 – a day after the magician’s death in Detroit.
Much of the article was likely prepared in advance of his death; perhaps during ten days he endured the certainly inhuman pain of the virulent infection wracking his body.
We owe a debt to the unnamed author of the piece identified as a “Special to The New York Times” likely written by a freelance reporter for the paper. He or she included new – at least to us – anecdotes about Houdini and his rise to world fame.
The Lola Lola Dance Theatre will debut their multi-media dance theatre piece, Ectospasms, as part of the New York International Fringe Festival scheduled for August 14th – 23rd.
Ectospasms is a play on the term coined by spiritualists for a substance allegedly produced by the disembodied, Ectoplasm.
As repulsed as we are by ectoplasm, we are just as attracted to all things related in any way to The Fox Sisters.
Ironically, Maggie, Katie and Leah never produced ectoplasm in their seances. Like another innovator, Vanilla Ice, they were all about the rapping. (Although Katie did perform some full-body materialzations later in her career).
Inside Magic Favorite Dean Gunnarson is one of the fittest folks we know. That’s one advantage of being an escape artist. A recent study by the non-profit (but not by choice) Inside Magic Foundation showed a direct and correlative relationship between the physical fitness of an escape artist and his or her longevity.
Recent Comments