Escapology

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This article is about the study of escapology. For the Robbie Williams album, see Escapology (album). Escapism is the attempt to divert attention from an unpleasant reality.
"Escape artist" redirects here. For other uses, see Escape artist (disambiguation).
Harry Houdini, a famous escapologist and magician

Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists (also called escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks and other perils, often in combination.

Contents

[edit] History

The art of escaping from restraints and confined spaces has been a skill employed by performers for a very long time. It was not originally displayed as an overt act in itself but was instead used secretly to create illusions such as a disappearance or transmutation.[1] In the 1860s, the Davenport Brothers, who were skilled at releasing themselves from rope ties, used the art to convey the impression they were restrained while they created spirit phenomena.[2]

Other illusionists, including John Nevil Maskelyne, worked out how the Davenports did their act and re-created the tricks to debunk the brothers' claims of psychic power. However the re-creations did not involve overt escape, merely a replication of tricks with the statement that they were accomplished by secret magicians' skills rather than spirits. It took another thirty years before the pure skill of escape began to be displayed as an act in itself. The figure most responsible for making escapology a recognized entertainment was Harry Houdini, who built his career on demonstrating the ability to escape from a huge variety of restraints and difficult situations.[3]

Houdini made no secret of the fact that he was an expert on restraints and the skills needed to overcome them but he often concealed the exact details of his escapes to maintain an air of mystery and suspense. Although many of his escapes relied on technical skills such as lock-picking and contortion, he also performed tricks such as Metamorphosis and the Chinese Water Torture Cell, which are essentially classic stage illusions reliant on cleverly designed props. Houdini's feats helped to define the basic repertoire of escapology, including escapes from handcuffs, padlocks, straitjackets, and prison cells.

The actual term 'escapology' is reputed to have been coined originally by Australian escapologist and illusionist Murray (Norman Murray Walters), a Houdini contemporary.

A succession of performers have added new ideas and created variations on old stunts, but it is common for even the best contemporary escapologists to be dubbed modern day "Houdinis". Beginning with pioneer performer "Female Houdini"™ Dorothy Dietrich, who broke the glass ceiling in the escape field, and was the first woman to gain prominence as an escape artist since the days of Houdini, many women have followed in her footsteps and entered the field.

Because of St. Nicholas Owen's exploits of having successfully escaped the Tower of London and arranged the escape of two Jesuit inmates of the prison, this 16th century Christian martyr is considered by Catholic escapologists as their patron saint. Along with St. John Don Bosco, the two are considered the primary patrons of Catholic Gospel Magicians.

[edit] Forms of escape performance

  • Hidden: A style of escape performance popularised by the late Harry Houdini that involved much of the performance taking place behind some form of screen or inside a cabinet in order to protect the secrets of the performer. This style of escape performance was popular with the majority of escape artists until the end of the 20th Century and is still preferred by many performers today.
  • Escape or Die: This form of escape performance was originated by Houdini and is the standard for top of the line escape artists. Death by drowning, as in water escapes pioneered by Houdini; Death by falling; As a strait jacket escape hanging from a burning rope hundreds of feet in the air, as accomplished by Dorothy Dietrich; Buried Alive, as done by Dean Gunnarson, and others. Steve Santini is a master of this kind of extreme escape.
  • Full View: This form of escape performance was popularised by Escape Master Norman Bigelow Sr. during the 1970s. He presented his escapes as pure tests of human skill and endurance and the audience could actually see everything from start to finish. His signature escape, The Doors of Death, inspired many escape artists to adopt this style of performance in their own shows.
  • The Alternative Escape Artist: As the name suggests is a form of escapology that appeals to the modern alternative market and takes the full view style to the extreme. Performers create ever more terrifying and perverse contraptions to try and free themselves from. This form of escapology is popular with the fetish scene but often alienates a mainstream audience.
  • The Gentleman Escape Artist: A style of escapology created by British escape artist, and the original Aristocrat of Sideshow, Roslyn Walker as an alternative to the alternative style of escape performance. Roslyn Walker: the Gentleman Escape Artist takes extreme, genuine escape stunts and returns them to the mainstream audience. Story telling, theatre and showmanship combine with the thrill of self liberation to create a new style of escape performance ideal for the modern audience.
  • The Escape Artist as Contortionist/Mystic: A style of escapology going back to the Pre-Houdini era. These performers feature contortionism or yogiism as the cornerstone of their escape performances, often including feats of contortionism, fakir feats or enterology to their shows in addition to escapes. Performers sporting this style include 1890s performer Major Zamora "The Triple-Jointed Wonder," Dorothy Dietrich, with her catching of a bullet in her mouth, and modern escapologist Steve M (Mollett) "The Escape Guru."
  • The Magician as Escape Artist: This is when a magician attempts to recreate the genuine stunts of the escape artist by using trickery. These escape illusions are often weak in performance compared to a genuine escape stunt and are used by magicians to try and spice up their stage shows. Real stunts that have been copied by magicians include the straitjacket and the mailbag escape. These are easily spotted as they often employ unnecessary extra props.

[edit] Escapology in fiction

  • The Grim Game, a 1919 film, stars Harry Houdini as a young man who is bound and imprisoned on numerous occasions by a gang who have kidnapped his fiancée.

Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow, features Harry Houdini as a major character, and uses escapology as a metaphor for the struggles faced by the American immigrant.

In American superhero comic books, many superheroes like Batman are trained in escapology which is invaluable when dealing with deathtraps. However, superheroes who are escape artists by profession include Mister Miracle, Ms. Liberty and The Escapist (interestingly, Mister Miracle and The Escapist were both based on escape artist-turned-comic artist Jim Steranko). Houdini himself appeared as a time/space traveler in the comic book series Daring Escapes featuring Houdini.

The 1953 biographical film, Houdini, starring Tony Curtis in the title role, depicted many of Houdini's escapology performances.

In 1972, Christopher George played an escape artist named Cammeron Steele in the TV movie/unsold series pilot, Escape. Steele was a non-performing escapologist and night-club owner who, like Bill Bixby's Anthony Blake (The Magician), habitually helped people in trouble.

In 1982, Griffin O'Neal played a junior escapologist named "Danny Masters" in the film, The Escape Artist.

In 1983, real-life escape artist Bill Shirk played himself in a film called The Escapist.

Yorick, the main character of the comic book Y: The Last Man is an escape artist.

In the 1991 film, The Linguini Incident, Rosanna Arquette plays an aspiring escape artist.

The novels Specific Gravity and Ontario Lacus by J. Matthew Neal (2007 and 2008) features a female scientist who is also a master escape artist.

Paul Adam's Escape from Shadow Island, first published in 2009, features young escapologist Max Cassidy. Two further books in the series, Jaws of Death and Dead Man's Bay, will be released in April 2011[dated info] and 2012 respectively.

Adam Phillips' essay "Houdini's Box" uses Houdini himself, as well as a young victim of sexual abuse and other examples to discuss escapology.

The console video game Exit focuses around the exploits of the self-proclaimed escapologist known as Mr. ESC.

[edit] List of famous escape artists

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dawes, Edwin A (1979), The Great Illusionists, Chartwell Books (New Jersey), p. 193, ISBN 0-89009-240-0 .
  2. ^ Dawes, 'The Great Illusionists', p. 157.
  3. ^ Dawes, 'The Great Illusionists', p. 193.
  4. ^ http://www.roslynwalker.com
  5. ^ http://www.mrescape.com
  6. ^ http://www.mysteriarch.com/
  7. ^ http://www.CurtisLovell.com
  8. ^ http://www.billshirk.com/
  9. ^ http://www.cannonsgreatescapes.com
  10. ^ http://www.arthurcoghlan.com
  11. ^ http://www.joshknotts.com/www.joshknotts.com/Welcome.html
  12. ^ http://www.mighellsillusions.com/
  13. ^ http://www.DorothyDietrich.com
  14. ^ http://www.jaritapanainen.com
  15. ^ http://www.livingillusions.com
  16. ^ http://www.dragonskull.co.uk/s_mollett.htm
  17. ^ http://www.magicexperience.info
  18. ^ http://www.alexanderiathegreat.com/
  19. ^ http://www.joshknotts.com/

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