Houdini
David McCullough , Series Host: Hello and Welcome to The American Experience.
大卫·麦卡洛（David McCullough），系列主持人：您好，欢迎来到美国体验。
I'm David McCullough.
我是大卫·麦卡洛。
Houdini...
胡迪尼...
Except, I suppose, for the legendary Merlin of King Arthur's Court, no name so conjures up the realm of magic.
我想，除了传说中的亚瑟王宫廷梅林之外，没有哪个名字能如此让人联想到魔法领域。
The great Harry Houdini, escape artist extraordinaire, is our story, and, I must say, as one of the many who've known the bliss of a boyhood fascination with magic, I love this film.
伟大的哈利·胡迪尼，非凡的逃脱艺术家，就是我们的故事，而且，我必须说，作为众多体验过童年迷恋魔法的幸福的人之一，我喜欢这部电影。
No secrets to Houdini's tricks will be revealed here, it should be understood at the start.
这里不会透露胡迪尼技巧的秘密，一开始就应该明白。
What is revealed -- through a wealth of old photographs, film clips, and particularly insightful interviews -- is the ardent nature of the man himself and how much he and his breathtaking feats said about America in his time.
通过大量的老照片、电影剪辑和特别有洞察力的采访，我们揭示了这个人本人的热情本性，以及他和他的惊人壮举对他那个时代的美国的影响。
In this one exceptional life story is to be found a whole panorama of fads, innovations, popular pastimes, and age-old longings that moved the country then.
在这个非凡的人生故事中，我们可以看到当时举国瞩目的时尚、创新、流行消遣和古老渴望的全貌。
There's the role of spiritualism, the advent of skyscrapers and the airplane, the burgeoning of show business, from vaudeville to Broadway to the movies, the infinite new powers of publicity.
其中包括招魂术的作用、摩天大楼和飞机的出现、演艺事业的蓬勃发展，从歌舞杂耍到百老汇再到电影，以及宣传的无限新力量。
There is the insatiable need in some people for the limelight, a desire for which there is no substitute but more limelight.
有些人对出风头有着永不满足的需求，这种渴望除了更多的出风头之外是无可替代的。
And there is the striking way this one extraordinary performer embodied the deep desire for escape among tens of thousands of his fellow new Americans.
这位非凡的表演者以惊人的方式体现了数以万计的新美国同胞对逃离的强烈渴望。
And in the last analysis there is Houdini himself, who once said simply, "I do tricks nobody can explain." That he would wind up so triumphant a career longing most of all to escape the escape business is still another compelling part of the story.
最后的分析是胡迪尼本人，他曾经简单地说：“我做了没人能解释的把戏。”他最终的事业如此成功，最渴望摆脱逃亡事业，这仍然是故事中另一个引人注目的部分。
Houdini by producer, Nancy Porter.
胡迪尼由制片人南希·波特执导。
JAMES RANDI , Investigator of psychic claims: Everyone who ever experienced seeing Houdini in the flesh remarked on his smile.
詹姆斯·兰迪（JAMES RANDI），通灵说法调查员：每个亲眼目睹过胡迪尼的人都会评论他的微笑。
He grinned from ear to ear.
他笑得合不拢嘴。
And he looked out over the entire audience.
他俯视着整个观众。
He swept -- Everyone met his eye at one point or another.
他扫了一眼——每个人都时不时地与他目光交汇。
Up into the balcony, even.
甚至到了阳台。
He got through.
他熬过来了。
AL HIRSCHFELD , Caricaturist : They would put him inside of a—a milk can full of water, you know, and put locks on the outside of the milk can.
漫画家艾尔·赫希菲尔德（AL HIRSCHFELD）：他们会把他放进一个装满水的牛奶罐里，你知道，然后在牛奶罐的外面锁上锁。
He would make it as difficult as possible for himself it seemed.
看来他会让自己变得尽可能困难。
DAVID COPPERFIELD , Illusionist: Everybody understands the fear of water, the fear of being buried.
大卫·科珀菲尔德，魔术师：每个人都了解对水的恐惧，对被埋葬的恐惧。
You know, he takes all those metaphors that are our nightmares and turns them into something that he can escape from.
你知道，他把所有那些我们噩梦般的隐喻变成了他可以逃避的东西。
RANDI: And one way he did that with the Milk Can was to say to them, "At the moment that I put my head beneath the water, I want you all to take a deep breath and hold your breath as long as you possibly can.
兰迪：他用牛奶罐做到这一点的一种方式是对他们说，“当我把头埋入水下的那一刻，我希望你们所有人都深呼吸并尽可能长时间地屏住呼吸。
KEN SILVERMAN , Biographer : To build up suspense, for the milk can, he had a huge clock put on the stage.
肯·西尔弗曼（KEN SILVERMAN），传记作家：为了给牛奶罐制造悬念，他在舞台上放了一个巨大的时钟。
45 seconds, a minute, a minute and a half, when people in the audience realized they couldn’t hold their breath for 30 seconds.
45秒、一分钟、一分半钟，观众们意识到自己无法屏住呼吸30秒。
Two minutes.
两分钟。
RANDI: People would panic.
兰迪：人们会恐慌。
Some of them would even leave the audience because they couldn't bear the suspense.
有的甚至因为无法承受悬念而离开观众。
DAVID DE-VAL, Escape Artist: And then suddenly, dripping, he would appear from the cabinet.
大卫·德瓦尔（DAVID DE-VAL），逃脱艺术家：然后突然，他会从柜子里出现，滴着水。
There, all the locks were still intact.
在那里，所有的锁都完好无损。
And there was no clue to the method that he used.
而他所使用的方法，也没有任何线索。
That’s a good escape, isn’t it?
这是一次很好的逃避，不是吗？
NARRATOR: He was our greatest showman.
旁白：他是我们最伟大的表演家。
Throughout his rise from unknown immigrant to international star, Harry Houdini radiated confidence and courage.
哈里·胡迪尼从默默无闻的移民成长为国际巨星的整个过程中，散发着自信和勇气。
In public, he confronted our greatest fears and always emerged victorious.
在公开场合，他直面我们最大的恐惧，并且总是取得胜利。
What we didn't know was that Houdini was plagued by doubts and haunted by his own mortality.
我们不知道的是，胡迪尼被怀疑所困扰，并为自己的死亡所困扰。
To us, he was a superman.
对我们来说，他是一个超人。
NARR: Harry Houdini was not his real name.
纳尔：哈里·胡迪尼不是他的真名。
He was born Ehrich Weiss in Budapest in 1874.
1874 年，他出生于布达佩斯，原名埃里希·韦斯 (Ehrich Weiss)。
When he was four, he emigrated with his mother and four brothers to the small midwestern town of Appleton, Wisconsin.
四岁时，他与母亲和四个兄弟移民到威斯康星州中西部小镇阿普尔顿。
There they joined Ehrich's father who had come to lead a small congregation of Jewish immigrants.
在那里，他们加入了埃里希的父亲，后者领导着一小群犹太移民。
Rabbi Mayer Weiss was educated, uncompromising, and deeply devoted to his wife, Cecelia.
梅耶·韦斯拉比受过良好的教育，毫不妥协，并且深爱着他的妻子塞西莉亚。
RANDI: Harry referred to her as a saint, as an angel.
兰迪：哈利称她为圣人、天使。
She was a very good caring nurturing person.
她是一个非常善于照顾人的人。
And it is something that gave Harry a goal in is life, to please Cecelia, his mother.
这给了哈利人生的一个目标，那就是取悦他的母亲塞西莉亚。
SILVERMAN: Houdini grew up in a family with five boys in it.
西尔弗曼：胡迪尼在一个有五个男孩的家庭长大。
And Houdini worked very hard to try to stand out.
胡迪尼非常努力地想要脱颖而出。
His competitiveness partly came out of trying to out-shine his brothers.
他的竞争力部分来自于试图超越他的兄弟。
NARR: Ehrich stood out as the most physically agile.
纳尔：埃里希是身体最敏捷的人。
Inspired by traveling circuses, he performed for friends as a contortionist and trapeze artist, calling himself The Prince of the Air.
受到巡回马戏团的启发，他以柔术演员和空中飞人艺术家的身份为朋友们表演，并自称为“空中王子”。
RANDI: I’m sure that Harry would say "I think I can do that too." No matter how incredible it was or how impossible it seemed, he knew that if they could do it, he could do it.
兰迪：我确信哈利会说“我想我也能做到”。无论这多么令人难以置信，或者看起来多么不可能，他知道如果他们能做到，他也能做到。
NARR: But the idyllic years in Appleton were short lived.
纳尔：但是阿普尔顿的田园诗般的岁月是短暂的。
Ehrich's father was fired by his congregation for being too "old world." He struggled to support his family, and they moved frequently, finally ending up in the crowded tenements of New York City.
埃里希的父亲因过于“旧世界”而被会众解雇。他努力养家糊口，他们经常搬家，最后住在纽约市拥挤的公寓里。
Ehrich and his father found work in a garment sweatshop.
埃里希和他的父亲在一家服装血汗工厂找到了工作。
What little time he had, he devoted to building his body.
他把仅有的一点时间都用来锻炼身体。
Just five foot six, he was muscular and often ran 10 miles a day.
他身高只有 5 英尺 6 英寸，肌肉发达，经常每天跑 10 英里。
SILVERMAN: In the wonderful picture of him at about the age of 16, he has a chest full of medals, one of which he won for a cross-country race in New York.
西尔弗曼：在他 16 岁左右的精彩照片中，他胸前装满了奖牌，其中一枚是他在纽约的越野比赛中赢得的。
That’s a real medal.
那是一枚真正的奖牌。
All the other medals on his chest are fakes.
他胸前的其他奖牌都是假的。
That's very typical of Houdini, no matter how wonderful the things he did, he had to exaggerate them.
这是胡迪尼的典型，无论他做得多么精彩，他都必须夸大它们。
E.
E.
L.
L。
DOCTOROW , Writer: Desperation was the theme of his life.
作家多克托罗：绝望是他一生的主题。
That desperate desire to turn himself into something almost superhuman if he possibly could.
如果可能的话，他迫切希望将自己变成近乎超人的人物。
"Look at who I am, look at what I can do," is very, very much a desperate kind of thing.
“看看我是谁，看看我能做什么”是非常非常绝望的事情。
NARR: But nothing Ehrich could do could transform his father's life.
纳尔：但是埃里希所做的一切都无法改变他父亲的生活。
As Rabbi Weiss lay dying of cancer at the age of 63, he made his son promise that Cecilia would never want for anything.
63 岁的韦斯拉比 (Rabbi Weiss) 因癌症去世时，他让儿子保证塞西莉亚永远不会想要任何东西。
It became Ehrich's mission.
这成为埃里希的使命。
SILVERMAN : I think Houdini was partly ashamed of his failed father.
西尔弗曼：我认为胡迪尼部分地为他失败的父亲感到羞耻。
It was very important for him to overcome those beginnings and to really count in the world.
对他来说，克服这些开始并真正在世界上发挥作用非常重要。
Very few people that I know have wanted to make a mark on life as much as Houdini did.
在我认识的人中，很少有人像胡迪尼那样想在生活中留下印记。
NARR: It was on the streets of New York that Ehrich found a way to make his mark.
纳尔：埃里希在纽约街头找到了留下自己印记的方法。
DON WILMETH, Theater historian: There were entertainment venues on virtually every block of the city, concert saloons, variety theatres, dime museums.
唐·威尔梅斯 (DON WILMETH)，戏剧历史学家：几乎城市的每个街区都有娱乐场所、音乐会沙龙、综艺剧院、廉价博物馆。
Dime museums would indeed advertise what's inside on the outside, so there would have been a chance to see human anomalies demonstrated or even possibly a magician on the street.
廉价博物馆确实会在外面宣传里面的东西，这样就有机会看到人类异常现象的展示，甚至可能在街上看到魔术师。
NARR: At age eighteen, Ehrich joined up with a friend to form a simple magic act performing sleight of hand tricks.
纳尔：十八岁时，埃里希与一位朋友一起表演了一个简单的魔术表演。
They named themselves the Brothers Houdini after the famous French magician, Robert Houdin.
他们以法国著名魔术师罗伯特·胡丹的名字命名为“胡迪尼兄弟”。
Ehrich became Harry.
埃里希变成了哈利。
COPPERFIELD: I think when you're a kid and you do something that’s a little bit out of the ordinary, whether it be magic or escapes or something like that, that impresses people, you get that reaction, a very genuine reaction of amazement, of wonder.
科珀菲尔德：我认为当你还是个孩子的时候，当你做了一些有点不寻常的事情时，无论是魔法、逃脱还是类似的事情，都会给人们留下深刻的印象，你会得到那种反应，一种非常真实的惊讶、惊奇的反应。
It’s something you can’t replace with anything else.
这是你无法用其他东西代替的。
NARR: The first big job for the Brothers Houdini was on the mile long midway at the 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago.
纳尔：胡迪尼兄弟的第一个重要工作是在 1893 年芝加哥哥伦比亚博览会的一英里长的中途。
WILMETH: The organizers of the World’s Fair expected the fair, the exposition, to be the great draw.
威尔梅斯：世博会的组织者预计世博会、博览会将具有巨大的吸引力。
In reality, the midway was probably more successful, more popular.
事实上，中途岛可能更成功、更受欢迎。
Why?
为什么？
Because people were truly entertained.
因为人们确实得到了娱乐。
American entertainment was still very much in its kind of formative stage, but in the 1890’s, it exploded.
美国娱乐业在很大程度上仍处于形成阶段，但在 1890 年代，它爆发了。
And Houdini was coming along just at that point of explosion.
胡迪尼就在那个爆发点出现了。
NARR: Harry discovered there was plenty of work in show business.
纳尔：哈利发现演艺界有很多工作机会。
He found someone to share it with the following year when he met eighteen year old Beatrice Rahner.
第二年，当他遇到十八岁的比阿特丽斯·拉纳(Beatrice Rahner)时，他找到了一个可以分享这一切的人。
Bess was a German Catholic immigrant, lively and funny, part of a song-and-dance act called the Floral Sisters.
贝丝是一位德国天主教移民，活泼有趣，是名为“花姐妹”的歌舞表演的一部分。
After a three week courtship, they married.
经过三周的求爱后，他们结婚了。
SILVERMAN: Bess was a natural born magician’s assistant, she was very petite.
SILVERMAN：贝丝是天生的魔术师助手，她非常娇小。
She was only about five feet tall and very lithe.
她大约只有五英尺高，而且非常轻盈。
Five feet tall, thin, very gamin-like, is wonderful for climbing in and out of boxes.
五英尺高，瘦弱，非常像游戏，非常适合爬进爬出箱子。
NARR: Appearing as the Houdini's, they performed conventional magic tricks and featured an illusion called the Metamorphosis taking only three seconds to exchange places in a trunk.
纳尔：他们以胡迪尼的身份出现，表演了传统的魔术，并展示了一种名为“变形”的幻象，只需三秒钟就可以在行李箱中交换位置。
SILVERMAN: The Houdini's started out in the lowest branches of show business.
西尔弗曼：胡迪尼家族是从演艺界最底层开始起步的。
They did circuses.
他们表演马戏。
They did traveling medicine shows where Houdini would sell Kickapoo Joy Juice in between the acts.
他们进行巡回医学表演，胡迪尼会在演出间隙出售 Kickapoo Joy Juice。
They started out in dime museums, performing next to various sort of human anomalies.
他们从廉价博物馆开始，在各种人类异常现象旁边表演。
Houdini really grew to hate it.
胡迪尼真的越来越讨厌它了。
NARR: He yearned to move up the ladder to the Vaudeville stage.
纳尔：他渴望登上杂耍舞台。
The money was better, the pace less gruelling, and compared to the dime museum, it was positively refined.
钱更好，节奏不那么辛苦，而且与一毛钱博物馆相比，它确实精致了。
RANDI: Tony Pastor’s in New York was the really first big date that the Houdinis had.
兰迪：托尼·帕斯特在纽约的约会是胡迪尼斯夫妇的第一次大型约会。
It was the place to be.
这是该去的地方。
But what was also important was where were you on the bill?
但同样重要的是你在账单上的位置是什么？
NARR: Harry and Bess played in the worst position - opening the second act, while the audience was still getting seated.
纳尔：哈利和贝丝扮演了最糟糕的位置——第二幕开始时，观众还在座位上。
When Harry later pasted the program into his scrapbook, he moved The Houdinis into the headliner's position.
当哈利后来将该节目粘贴到他的剪贴簿中时，他将胡迪尼斯移至头条新闻的位置。
NARR: To become a true headliner, Harry needed a gimmick.
纳尔：要成为真正的头条新闻，哈利需要一个噱头。
He was inspired by spiritualist shows in which the performers would enter a cabinet locked in handcuffs.
他受到招魂术表演的启发，在这些表演中，表演者会进入一个戴着手铐的柜子。
While the audience believed that spirits were playing instruments and making objects fly around, Houdini knew immediately it was a trick.
虽然观众相信灵魂在演奏乐器并使物体四处飞舞，但胡迪尼立即知道这是一个把戏。
The performers had gotten out of their handcuffs.
表演者们已经挣脱了手铐。
WILMETH: The whole idea of the spiritualist was to make the audience believe that they did not escape.
威尔梅斯：唯灵论者的整个想法是让观众相信他们没有逃脱。
Houdini saw the potential in the actual escape.
胡迪尼看到了实际越狱的潜力。
NARR: The first time he used handcuffs on stage, he knew he was on to something.
纳尔：当他第一次在舞台上使用手铐时，他知道自己正在做某事。
But escape was just a small part of his act.
但逃跑只是他行为的一小部分。
He had struggled for six years and was still Dime Museum Harry.
他奋斗了六年，仍然是一毛钱博物馆的哈利。
SILVERMAN: He was thinking of getting out of magic but he went to fulfill a contract that he had in Minneapolis.
西尔弗曼：他本来想退出魔术，但他去履行了他在明尼阿波利斯的一份合同。
While he was performing in some kind of beer garden there, a very famous agent named Martin Beck one of the leading Vaudeville managers, walked in and happened to see one of Houdini’s handcuff escapes.
当胡迪尼在那里的某个啤酒花园里表演时，一位名叫马丁·贝克（Martin Beck）的著名经纪人走进来，碰巧看到了胡迪尼的一次手铐逃脱。
RANDI: He didn’t think the escape act could maintain a continuity that an audience would come to see just that.
兰迪：他认为逃亡表演不能保持观众会来看的连续性。
But Beck saw through that.
但贝克看透了这一点。
Beck saw that an escape act could be an act in itself.
贝克认为，逃跑行为本身也可以是一种行为。
NARR: Martin Beck wired Houdini saying he could open in Omaha and get paid sixty dollars a week.
纳尔：马丁·贝克给胡迪尼发电报说他可以在奥马哈开业并每周获得六十美元的报酬。
"This wire changed my whole life's journey, " he later wrote.
“这根电线改变了我一生的旅程，”他后来写道。
The act was no longer Bess and Harry.
表演对象不再是贝丝和哈利。
It was simply Houdini, the King of Handcuffs.
简直就是手铐之王胡迪尼。
After fourteen months on Beck's vaudeville circuit, he was earning $400 a week and was famous.
在贝克的杂耍巡回表演中十四个月后，他每周赚取 400 美元，并声名鹊起。
NARR: In 1900 Beck sent Harry and Bess on a brief tour of England.
纳尔：1900 年，贝克派哈利和贝丝短暂游览了英国。
DE-VAL: At the time, at the turn of the century, it was important that people in America came to England, because that’s where it—it mattered most to be successful.
DE-VAL：当时，在世纪之交，美国人来到英国很重要，因为那是成功最重要的地方。
That’s where -- Everyone from America came to England.
那就是——每个来自美国的人都来到了英国。
NARR: In London, Houdini astonished audiences and was hailed as "the most wonderful entertainer the world had ever seen." Harry and Bess decided to stay abroad and began performing all over Europe.
纳尔：在伦敦，胡迪尼让观众惊叹不已，并被誉为“世界上见过的最精彩的艺人”。哈利和贝丝决定留在国外并开始在欧洲各地演出。
DE-VAL: I think Houdini appealed to the working class.
DE-VAL：我认为胡迪尼对工人阶级有吸引力。
They considered themselves in chains, chained to the drudgery of their work, for low pay and poor conditions.
他们认为自己被束缚在苦差事、低工资和恶劣的工作环境中。
And to see Houdini actually escape seemingly from impossible things, they thought that maybe it gave them a glimmer of hope that maybe they could do the same.
看到胡迪尼实际上逃离了看似不可能的事情，他们认为这也许给了他们一线希望，也许他们也可以做同样的事情。
NARR: Houdini publicized his appearances by visiting the local jail where he convinced the police to lock him up and let him try to escape.
纳尔：胡迪尼通过参观当地监狱来公开他的露面，他说服警察把他关起来并让他试图逃跑。
DE-VAL: Houdini came to town, and you knew Houdini was in town.
DE-VAL：胡迪尼来到城里，你知道胡迪尼就在城里。
He had placards mounted onto handles and he would employ perhaps 20 people to carry these through the street.
他在把手上安装了标语牌，并雇佣了大约 20 个人来搬运这些标语牌穿过街道。
"Houdini escaped from your jail today at 10:30." It was one just great big hype.
“胡迪尼今天 10 点 30 分越狱了。”这只是一场巨大的炒作。
NARR: The jail escapes were especially newsworthy because he performed them nude.
纳尔：越狱尤其具有新闻价值，因为他是裸体表演的。
RANDI: In that day, that was exceedingly daring.
兰迪：在那天，这是非常大胆的。
But it also proved that he didn’t go in with special tools concealed in his shirt and his trousers and his shoes and what not.
但这也证明了他进去时并没有带着藏在衬衫、裤子、鞋子之类的特殊工具。
Though he would be searched assiduously, he had ways around those searches.
尽管他会被严格搜查，但他有办法绕过这些搜查。
As you can imagine, there were so many ways by slight of hand and such that he could actually be in that cell with sufficient tools that, after he’d studied the lock, he knew how to manipulate it.
正如你可以想象的那样，有很多方法可以用手操作，这样他实际上就可以在那个牢房里使用足够的工具，在他研究了锁之后，他知道如何操纵它。
DE-VAL: The real trick of it all was, I mean, the right key at the right time, but keeping it away from anyone that might see him having it.
DE-VAL：我的意思是，这一切的真正秘诀是在正确的时间使用正确的钥匙，但要远离任何可能看到他拥有它的人。
That [laughs] really sums it up.
这[笑]确实概括了这一点。
That’s all escapology is anyway.
无论如何，这就是逃避学。
NARR: Harry worked the press just as skillfully as he worked his locks.
纳尔：哈利在媒体面前的表现就像他在理发时一样熟练。
In 1904, he staged an event with London's biggest newspaper, The Daily Mirror .
1904 年，他与伦敦最大的报纸《每日镜报》合作举办了一场活动。
For days, the Mirror fed the public every detail about a set of handcuffs that were guaranteed impossible to pick.
几天来，《镜报》向公众提供了一副手铐的所有细节，而这些手铐肯定是不可能被撬开的。
In front of four thousand spectators, Houdini appeared to be worried.
在四千名观众面前，胡迪尼显得很担心。
"I do not know whether I will get out or not," he said.
“我不知道我是否会出去，”他说。
He then withdrew into a cabinet he called a ghost house and the audience waited.
然后他退回到一个他称之为“鬼屋”的柜子里，观众等待着。
SILVERMAN: One of the times that Houdini came out of the ghost house, he asked to have his dress coat taken off.
西尔弗曼：有一次胡迪尼从鬼屋出来，他要求脱掉他的礼服外套。
He was sweating profusely.
他满头大汗。
The manager of the escape said no. He was afraid that that would show Houdini really how the cuffs could be opened.
越狱经理说不。他担心这会让胡迪尼真正看到手铐是如何打开的。
Houdini then pulled a pure Houdini stunt.
胡迪尼随后表演了一个纯粹的胡迪尼特技。
DE-VAL: He struggled to get into a side pocket of his coat, terrifically difficult, removed a pen knife, opened this with his teeth.
DE-VAL：他费力地想钻进外套的侧袋，非常困难，他取出一把钢笔刀，用牙齿将其打开。
And he hacked the coat away from his body and threw it on the floor, and everyone cheered.
他把外套从身上砍下来，扔到地板上，每个人都欢呼起来。
And he held the handcuffs triumphantly in the air, and went back into the cabinet to try again.
他得意洋洋地把手铐举在空中，然后又回到柜子里再试一次。
NARR: For more than an hour, the audience sat riveted waiting for Houdini to appear.
纳尔：在一个多小时的时间里，观众们全神贯注地等待着胡迪尼的出现。
RANDI: And when he finally emerged from those cuffs, they literally picked him up on their shoulders and walked around with him.
兰迪：当他终于从手铐中出来时，他们真的把他扛在肩上，和他一起走来走去。
They were so excited.
他们非常兴奋。
The audience just went berserk.
观众简直疯了。
COPPERFIELD: There is only one way he could have gotten out of it.
科珀菲尔德：他只有一种方法可以摆脱困境。
He was able to get a newspaper to collaborate on a charade to get themselves publicity, which is quite an interesting achievement.
他能够与一家报纸合作玩一个猜谜游戏来为自己宣传，这是一个相当有趣的成就。
It's really amazing marketing.
这真是一个了不起的营销。
NARR: "Nothing on the walls but Houdini," Harry boasted.
纳尔：“墙上除了胡迪尼什么都没有，”哈利吹嘘道。
But after 5 years, the constant touring had taken a toll.
但五年后，持续的巡演已经造成了损失。
Harry felt guilty leaving his mother for so long and, as he wrote to a friend, "Bess wishes to stop working and rest long enough to raise one of them things we call children." In 1905, the Houdini's headed home.
哈利对离开母亲这么久感到内疚，正如他写给朋友的那样，“贝丝希望停止工作，休息足够长的时间来抚养我们称之为孩子的孩子。” 1905年，胡迪尼一家回国。
Harry was now an international star.
哈利现在是一位国际巨星。
NARR: Almost 30 years earlier, Ehrich Weiss had sailed into New York harbor as a young immigrant from Hungary.
纳尔：大约 30 年前，埃里希·韦斯 (Ehrich Weiss) 作为一名来自匈牙利的年轻移民驶入纽约港。
Now he was Harry Houdini and carried a passport which listed Appleton, Wisconsin as his birthplace.
现在他是哈里·胡迪尼，持有一本护照，上面列出了他的出生地威斯康星州阿普尔顿。
COPPERFIELD : After you evolve in a foreign country and you’re welcomed back into your adopted America, you know, that’s -- can be nothing better than conquering something that was unconquerable for yourself.
科珀菲尔德：当你在异国他乡发展并受到欢迎回到你的第二故乡美国后，你知道，这没有什么比征服一些对你来说无法征服的东西更好的了。
NARR: Houdini now commanded $2000 a week.
纳尔：胡迪尼现在每周的收入为 2000 美元。
He bought an elegant brownstone in a fashionable part of Harlem and moved in his sister, one of his brothers, and, of course, his mother.
他在哈莱姆区的时尚地段买了一栋优雅的赤褐色砂石建筑，并搬进了他的妹妹、他的一个兄弟，当然还有他的母亲。
SILVERMAN: Houdini was really twice married.
西尔弗曼：胡迪尼确实结过两次婚。
I mean, he was married to Bess, and then in a way also married to his mother.
我的意思是，他嫁给了贝丝，然后在某种程度上也嫁给了他的母亲。
He always called them "my two girls." RANDI: He was in effect what we would call today — a mother's boy.
他总是称她们为“我的两个女儿”。兰迪：他实际上就是我们今天所说的——一个母亲的儿子。
He loved his mother to the point of obsession.
他爱他的母亲，爱到了痴迷的程度。
But he also loved Bess, and I think, loved her, uh, passionately, romantically.
但他也爱贝丝，我想，爱她，呃，热情地、浪漫地爱着她。
He left her little notes underneath the tablecloth, and tucked behind a picture that she would eventually find.
他在桌布下面留下了她的小纸条，并塞在一张她最终会找到的照片后面。
NARR: Harry addressed Bess adoringly as "Sweetie, Wifie, Mine," saying he had a "bessyful of love awaiting her." SILVERMAN: His whole relation to her is so sort of kidding.
纳尔：哈利充满爱意地称呼贝丝为“亲爱的，妻子，我的”，并说他“有一份幸福的爱在等待着她”。西尔弗曼：他和她的整个关系就是开玩笑。
There is something very unserious about it.
这里面有一些非常不严肃的东西。
It was the kind of relation Houdini had with other people too.
胡迪尼与其他人的关系也是如此。
This was someone very wrapped up in himself.
这是一个非常自我封闭的人。
He was absolutely immense egoist.
他绝对是个极端的利己主义者。
None larger.
没有更大的。
He had the most elaborate stationery that had "Houdini" all over it.
他有最精致的信纸，上面写满了“胡迪尼”的字样。
His pajamas said "HH." His wallet said "HH." The tiles, the—the floor tiles in his bathroom said "HH." NARR: Houdini was especially preoccupied with his health.
他的睡衣上写着“嗯”。他的钱包说“嗯”。他浴室里的瓷砖、地砖写着“嗯”。纳尔：胡迪尼特别关心自己的健康。
He swam and had massages regularly, didn't drink or smoke, and was evangelical about his diet.
他经常游泳和按摩，不喝酒也不抽烟，而且对自己的饮食很重视。
DE-VAL: He tried to tell people that he could build them up if they had lots of milk and oranges and eggs and goodness knows what.
DE-VAL：他试图告诉人们，如果他们有大量的牛奶、橙子和鸡蛋，他就能把它们建立起来，天知道会发生什么。
And he gave them little recipes, jotted things down for them to help them build their physique.
他给了他们一些小食谱，为他们记下了一些东西，以帮助他们增强体质。
DE-VAL: He was a very personable guy, a guy that you’d like to be around.
DE-VAL：他是一个非常有风度的人，一个你愿意和他在一起的人。
But the other side of him was that one particular lady who was his secretary told me that he—he didn’t like people.
但他的另一面是，一位担任他秘书的女士告诉我，他——他不喜欢人。
He didn’t like people at all.
他根本不喜欢人。
So ...
所以...
he—he didn’t just do an act on stage; he did it off, as well.
他——他不只是在舞台上表演；他不仅仅是在舞台上表演。他也做到了。
RANDI : He was an implacable foe.
兰迪：他是一个不共戴天的敌人。
He had people that he disliked if not hated, all of his life, simply because they had slighted him.
在他的一生中，他有些人即使不是讨厌，也是不喜欢的，仅仅因为他们轻视了他。
NARR: The people Houdini hated the most were the imitators who had plagued him since the beginning of his career.
纳尔：胡迪尼最讨厌的人是那些从他职业生涯开始就一直困扰着他的模仿者。
Harry often spied on them and then humiliated them in public.
哈利经常监视他们，然后当众羞辱他们。
"Do others, " he once said, "or they will do you." NARR: In 1908 , he dropped handcuff escapes and began performing a new act, the Open Challenge.
“做别人，”他曾经说过，“否则他们也会做你。”纳尔：1908 年，他摆脱了手铐，开始表演新的表演——公开挑战。
He offered a thousand dollars to anyone with a device that could hold him.
他愿意向任何拥有可以容纳他的设备的人提供一千美元。
SILVERMAN : It was a wonderful gimmick.
SILVERMAN：这是一个很棒的噱头。
It—it brought him a lot of local good will.
它——它给他带来了很多当地的好感。
I mean, he’d—he’d come into Milwaukee and some packing case firm -- or some piano maker would say, "We’ll lock you in our piano and nail the lid shut, and you get out." It would be great publicity for them and great publicity for Houdini.
我的意思是，他会——他来到密尔沃基和一些包装箱公司——或者一些钢琴制造商会说，“我们会把你锁在我们的钢琴里，然后把盖子钉上，然后你就出去。”这对他们来说是很好的宣传，对胡迪尼来说也是很好的宣传。
DE-VAL: There were people in factories who I’ve spoken to, who said: Oh, it was wonderful when we—we got together and we said: let’s make up a challenge for Houdini to escape from.
DE-VAL：我和工厂里的一些人交谈过，他们说：哦，我们聚在一起，我们说：让我们为胡迪尼设计一个逃脱的挑战，这真是太棒了。
They joined in.
他们也加入了。
He brought the public really onto the stage.
他真正把公众带上了舞台。
He made them feel important, I think.
我认为他让他们感到自己很重要。
NARR: Houdini escaped from a roll-top desk, a huge envelope, a giant football, even a creature from the deep.
纳尔：胡迪尼从一张卷顶办公桌、一个巨大的信封、一个巨大的足球，甚至是一个来自深处的生物中逃脱了。
E.
E.
L.
L。
DOCTOROW: If he were working today, there would be a level of cynicism that just didn't exist then.
多克托罗：如果他今天还在工作，就会有一定程度的愤世嫉俗，而这在当时是不存在的。
There was a kind of innocence of that time, before television, before big high-tech $100 million movies, that made his act a kind of a super-act.
在电视出现之前，在价值一亿美元的大型高科技电影出现之前，那个时代有一种纯真，这使得他的表演成为一种超级表演。
NARR: He created a frenzy to see his shows in Europe and America, and streets were often blocked with hundreds unable to get in.
纳尔：他在欧洲和美国掀起了一场观看他的演出的狂潮，街道经常被封锁，数百人无法进入。
HIRSCHFELD: Most Vaudevillians developed 12 minutes of material across a lifetime, and it was always the same.
HIRSCHFELD：大多数杂耍演员一生都会创作 12 分钟的素材，而且总是一样的。
But Houdini’s act had suspense.
但胡迪尼的表演却充满悬念。
And no one knew exactly what was going to happen, including himself.
没有人确切知道会发生什么，包括他自己。
It was unbelievable.
这太令人难以置信了。
They would tie every piece of his body with ropes and chains, so it would be absolutely impossible to get out of it.
他们将他的每一处身体都用绳子和铁链绑起来，绝对不可能脱身。
But he seemed to wiggle out of it.
但他似乎摆脱了这种状态。
NARR: He would display each challenge in front of the theater before the show to attract an audience.
纳尔：他会在演出前在剧院前展示每个挑战，以吸引观众。
It was a strategy Harry had picked up at the circus.
这是哈利在马戏团学到的策略。
It also gave him a chance to plan his escape.
这也给了他计划逃跑的机会。
NARR: But no matter how much he prepared, there was always risk.
纳尔：但无论他准备得多么充分，风险总是存在的。
SILVERMAN: Houdini broke, injured, sprained almost everything.
西尔弗曼：胡迪尼摔断了，受伤了，几乎扭伤了全身。
One of the worst injuries was: He was performing in Pittsburgh, and he was doing a rope tie.
最严重的伤病之一是：他在匹兹堡表演，当时他正在做绳索绑带。
And he had some longshoreman come up on the stage and tie him tightly.
他让一些码头工人上台把他紧紧地绑起来。
They pulled very hard on his body.
他们用力拉扯他的身体。
So hard that they ruptured his kidney.
太用力以至于他们弄破了他的肾脏。
And for about the next week, he was urinating blood.
大约接下来的一周，他一直在尿血。
SILVERMAN : All of Houdini’s escapes involved a lot of pain.
西尔弗曼：胡迪尼的所有越狱都经历了很多痛苦。
And certainly part of the—the interest in it has to do with some kind of masochistic pleasure.
当然，其中一部分——对它的兴趣与某种受虐狂的快乐有关。
Houdini was fascinated by mutilation.
胡迪尼对残害很着迷。
He had a gruesome collections of photographs, one of them, some of them of prisoners in Asia who were beheaded, and the heads are sort of lying around the field like cabbages.
他收集了一系列可怕的照片，其中一张是亚洲被斩首的囚犯的照片，那些头颅像卷心菜一样散落在田野里。
NARR: Harry was fascinated by madness and even visited mental institutions.
纳尔：哈利对疯狂着迷，甚至参观了精神病院。
One day, he was struck by the sight of an inmate struggling to get out of a straitjacket.
有一天，他看到一名囚犯挣扎着挣脱束缚衣的景象，震惊了他。
RANDI: It was part of his genius that he saw in that a presentation piece, because you appear to be totally helpless.
兰迪：他在那篇演讲作品中看到了他的天才的一部分，因为你看起来完全无助。
NARR: But Houdini's strongest obsession was death.
纳尔：但胡迪尼最痴迷的是死亡。
After a schoolhouse burned down, he traveled out of his way to view the charred remains of the young victims.
一所校舍被烧毁后，他特意前往观看年轻受害者烧焦的遗体。
SILVERMAN: Houdini had a lifelong fascination with death.
西尔弗曼：胡迪尼一生都对死亡着迷。
There are many, many pictures of him visiting graves, usually the graves of other magicians.
有很多很多他参观坟墓的照片，通常是其他魔术师的坟墓。
He's tempting death himself, all of his life.
他一生都在诱惑死亡。
NARR: When Harry introduced the Milk Can Escape, he played on his audiences' deepest fears.
纳尔：当哈利介绍牛奶罐逃亡时，他利用了观众最深的恐惧。
HIRSCHFELD: I was fascinated to see just how crazy this man could get, you know, and—and get himself out of it.
赫希菲尔德：我很着迷地看到这个人能变得多么疯狂，你知道，并且——然后让自己摆脱困境。
Because he put himself in peril.
因为他把自己置于危险之中。
He really did.
他确实做到了。
Many, many times.
很多很多次。
NARR: Houdini almost died when he was challenged by the Tetley Brewery in England to escape from a milkcan filled with beer.
纳尔：胡迪尼在英国泰特利啤酒厂挑战从装满啤酒的奶罐中逃脱时差点丧命。
DE-VAL : He had a small air space at the top of the can, the lid was slightly domed.
DE-VAL：罐子顶部有一个很小的空气空间，盖子略呈圆顶状。
Now, when Houdini, who many times had done this trick, went into the can and come up to the top, he then found that little space that literally saved his life many, many times, that was full of CO2 from the beer.
现在，当胡迪尼多次完成这个技巧时，他进入罐子并到达顶部，然后他发现这个小空间实际上多次救了他的命，里面充满了啤酒中的二氧化碳。
As soon as he took a gulp of that air, it wasn’t air.
当他吸了一口空气时，那不是空气。
It was poison.
那是毒药。
I don't know exactly how he contacted the outside but they knew it was going wrong and they hacked him out of the thing, ripped the thing apart and took him out.
我不知道他到底是如何与外界联系的，但他们知道出了问题，于是他们把他从那东西里拿出来，撕碎了东西，然后把他带了出去。
SILVERMAN: There’s a story that when he was young, he was swimming in the river.
西尔弗曼：有一个故事，说他年轻时在河里游泳。
He was seven years old, and almost drowned.
他当时七岁，差点被淹死。
That story always fascinates me, because so many of Houdini’s greatest stunts are really underwater escapes.
这个故事总是让我着迷，因为胡迪尼的许多最伟大的特技实际上都是水下逃脱。
Perhaps that experience so much scared him that he spent a lot of the rest of his life trying to be sure he could overcome it and survive it.
也许那次经历让他感到非常害怕，以至于他花了很多余生试图确保自己能够克服它并幸存下来。
NARR: Harry started preparing for hazardous water escapes.
纳尔：哈利开始为危险的水逃生做准备。
He would submerge himself in an icy bathtub holding his breath as long as possible.
他会把自己浸在冰冷的浴缸里，尽可能长时间地屏住呼吸。
Bess timed him as he stayed under for up to three minutes.
贝丝给他计时，他在水下待了三分钟。
DOCTOROW: He was so insanely devoted to what he was doing, so disciplined that the ultimate insanity of his life never occurred to him.
多克托罗：他对自己所做的事情如此疯狂地投入，如此自律，以至于他从未想到过他生命中最终的疯狂。
NARR: At age thirty three, Houdini began performing dangerous water escapes outdoors to promote his vaudeville shows around the country.
纳尔：三十三岁时，胡迪尼开始在户外进行危险的水越狱表演，以在全国推广他的歌舞杂耍表演。
In New York, he created one of the biggest spectacles the city had ever seen when he was handcuffed, secured in a packing box, and lowered into the East River.
在纽约，他创造了这座城市有史以来最壮观的场面之一，当时他被戴上手铐，装在一个包装箱里，然后被扔进东河。
SILVERMAN : The crowds were absolutely immense.
SILVERMAN：人群绝对是巨大的。
I mean, up to 100,000 people.
我的意思是，最多 100,000 人。
You couldn’t get anywhere near the East River.
你无法到达东河附近的任何地方。
People were standing on the seawall.
人们站在海堤上。
The police were afraid people were going to topple in.
警察担心人们会摔倒。
I think actually a few people did.
我想实际上有几个人做到了。
DOCTOROW: He was enacting over and over again the same impulse that brought people from foreign countries here in the first place: to escape from social hierarchy, to escape from poverty, to escape from injustice.
多克托罗：他一遍又一遍地表现出同样的冲动，正是这种冲动将外国的人们带到了这里：逃离社会等级制度，逃避贫困，逃避不公正。
That kind of self assertion appealed to people.
这种自我肯定很吸引人们。
SILVERMAN: But in his head, I think Houdini was always performing for his mother.
西尔弗曼：但在他的脑海里，我认为胡迪尼总是在为他的母亲表演。
I mean that was his real audience.
我的意思是那是他真正的观众。
What always amazes me that when he was doing some of his most dangerous stunts, he would have his mother come and see him jump off a bridge, locked in handcuffs, and at the end of his performance, he would write in his diary, "Ma saw me jump." DOCTOROW: It was as if he never grew up, he was the ultimate aspiring teenager or child who could never quite get the recognition he thought he deserved.
总是让我惊讶的是，当他在做一些最危险的特技时，他会让他的母亲来看他戴着手铐从桥上跳下来，在表演结束时，他会在日记中写道：“妈妈看到我跳了。”多克托罗：就好像他从未长大，他是一个最终有抱负的青少年或孩子，却永远无法获得他认为应得的认可。
NARR: Harry had long wanted to be seen as a scholar like his father.
纳尔：哈利长期以来一直希望被视为像他父亲一样的学者。
RANDI : Since his father was a rabbi, a learned person, Houdini tried to become a learned person in spite of the fact that he had very little basic education.
兰迪：由于他的父亲是一名拉比，一个有学问的人，胡迪尼试图成为一个有学问的人，尽管他几乎没有受过基础教育。
Most of that was gained in the streets and on the road.
其中大部分是在街道和道路上获得的。
NARR: Houdini tried to turn himself into an intellectual.
纳尔：胡迪尼试图把自己变成一个知识分子。
He collected one of the largest theater libraries in the world, wrote books on magic and pursued friendships with celebrated writers such as Jack London and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
他收藏了世界上最大的戏剧图书馆之一，撰写了有关魔法的书籍，并与杰克·伦敦和阿瑟·柯南·道尔爵士等著名作家建立了友谊。
COPPERFIELD: Look how he started: in the carnivals, in the circus, the sideshow, this kind of the periphery of respected entertainment.
科珀菲尔德：看看他是如何开始的：在嘉年华、马戏团、杂耍，这种受人尊敬的娱乐的外围。
And you really eventually, after you get success, you really want people that you respect to respect you.
最终，当你获得成功后，你真的希望你尊重的人也尊重你。
DOCTOROW: There was always this feeling that not only would he want to escape from the freezing river, or the coffin, or the milk can, but that he had to escape from the stage as well, and be seen in the real world as a historical figure and not just a stage illusionist.
多克托罗：总有一种感觉，他不仅想逃离冰冷的河流、棺材或牛奶罐，而且还必须逃离舞台，在现实世界中被视为历史人物，而不仅仅是舞台魔术师。
NARR: In 1910, Harry bought a plane and took it to Australia where he made a daring three minute flight.
纳尔：1910 年，哈利购买了一架飞机并驾驶它前往澳大利亚，在那里他进行了一次大胆的三分钟飞行。
RANDI: He was one man who hardly had to worry about being forgotten.
兰迪：他是一个几乎不用担心被遗忘的人。
But he was never quite confident of that.
但他对此一直不太有信心。
NARR: "Even if history forgets Houdini, the Handcuff King, " he said, " it will write down my name as the first man to fly here." RANDI : Who remembers today that Harry Houdini was the first person to fly a plane in Australia?
纳尔：“即使历史忘记了手铐之王胡迪尼，”他说，“它也会作为第一个飞到这里的人而写下我的名字。”兰迪：今天谁还记得哈里·胡迪尼是澳大利亚第一个驾驶飞机的人？
Not many.
不多。
NARR: Harry was disappointed he and Bess were unable to have children.
纳尔：哈利对他和贝丝无法生孩子感到失望。
Without a family of her own, Bess focused her maternal instincts on Harry.
由于没有自己的家庭，贝丝将她的母性本能集中在哈利身上。
RANDI: His wife Bess was always after him to put on a clean shirt.
兰迪：他的妻子贝丝总是要求他穿上干净的衬衫。
And she’d take a brush on occasion and scrub his knuckles, because he was not too careful about his personal appearance SILVERMAN: He’s a sort of slob.
她有时会拿一把刷子擦洗他的指关节，因为他不太注意自己的个人外表西尔弗曼：他是个邋遢的人。
He looks like he hasn’t changed for weeks.
他看起来几周来都没有变化。
I think his sloppiness in dress was just a function of his total preoccupation with what he was doing.
我认为他衣着邋遢只是因为他全神贯注于自己所做的事情。
NARR: By 1912, the Milk Can Escape was being copied and sold to imitators for $35.
NARR：到 1912 年，Milk Can Escape 开始被仿制，并以 35 美元的价格出售给模仿者。
Houdini was furious but prepared.
胡迪尼很愤怒，但也做好了准备。
He had spent five years in his basement workshop secretly developing a new escape.
他在自己的地下室车间里花了五年时间秘密开发一种新的逃生方法。
" The climax of all my labors," he said, "is the Chinese Water Torture Cell." RANDI: Here we had sort of a man-sized aquarium.
“我所有工作的高潮，”他说，“就是中国的水刑小组。”兰迪：我们这里有一个成人大小的水族馆。
There were a couple of tons of water in there, the lid had a couple of notches cut out of it, into which his ankles would be placed, padlocked on the end.
里面有几吨水，盖子上切了几个凹口，他的脚踝可以放进去，末端挂锁。
He would be lifted up, upside-down, hanging from the lid.
他会被举起来，倒挂在盖子上。
SILVERMAN : To be hung upside-down by your ankles, submerged in water, takes a lot out of you.
SILVERMAN：被脚踝倒挂，浸在水中，会让你精疲力竭。
Your chest feels like it’s exploding.
你的胸部感觉就像要爆炸一样。
It's scary.
太可怕了。
RANDI : The last you saw of Houdini was him hanging upside-down, looking at the audience through the glass.
兰迪：你最后一次看到胡迪尼是他倒挂着，透过玻璃看着观众。
It instilled terror.
它灌输了恐怖。
SILVERMAN : His hair sort of swirling around, his cheeks puffed out, turning sort of red in the face.
西尔弗曼：他的头发盘旋着，脸颊鼓起，脸色有些发红。
And you wondered, how is this guy going to get out of there?
你想知道，这个人要如何离开那里？
RANDI: And then you saw the curtain drop over it.
兰迪：然后你看到帷幕落下。
And the tension was unbearable.
而且紧张得难以忍受。
There was a representative or two from the audience standing there to make sure that no one approached it from behind, to release him in any way.
有一两个观众代表站在那里，以确保没有人从后面接近它，以任何方式释放他。
And for a couple of minutes, that’s the way it sat while they played "Asleep in the Deep".
在接下来的几分钟里，他们演奏“睡在深处”时就是这样。
RANDI: He would get out of the water torture cell, but concealed from the audience.
兰迪：他会从水刑牢房中出来，但对观众隐藏起来。
And they wouldn’t be aware of the fact that he was now out.
他们不会知道他现在已经出局了。
And he would stall for a while of course, to build the suspense.
当然，他会拖延一段时间，以制造悬念。
And then suddenly, at a signal, the music stopped and there he was out of breath and dripping wet, walking forward to take his bows.
然后突然，随着一声信号，音乐停止了，他气喘吁吁，浑身湿透，走上前鞠躬。
What a wonderful moment.
多么美妙的时刻啊。
NARR: Even though he insisted it was only a trick, many believed he must have escaped by supernatural means.
纳尔：尽管他坚称这只是一个诡计，但许多人相信他一定是通过超自然手段逃脱的。
RANDI: Once you know the secret, the whole beauty of it is gone.
兰迪：一旦你知道了这个秘密，它的全部美丽就消失了。
The secret is actually not the best part of it, it's the presentation.
秘密实际上不是它最好的部分，而是它的演示。
SILVERMAN: Houdini was headed for a big European trip he was going to take in the Scandinavian countries.
西尔弗曼：胡迪尼正前往欧洲进行一次大型旅行，他将前往斯堪的纳维亚国家。
He got aboard the ship, but -- and the thing was just about to pull out, but he insisted on running back down the gangplank and giving his mother another kiss and a big hug.
他上了船，但是——那东西正要拉出来，但他坚持跑回跳板，再给他母亲一个吻和一个大大的拥抱。
RANDI: There’s a very poignant picture that exists of the moment that Houdini last saw his mother.
兰迪：胡迪尼最后一次见到母亲的那一刻，有一幅非常令人心酸的画面。
He took that picture perhaps from the stern of the ship as the ship sailed away from New York Harbor, bound for Europe.
当船驶离纽约港前往欧洲时，他可能是在船尾拍摄了这张照片。
And you see his mother, just a small figure in a huge crowd of people waving good-bye to the boat.
你看到他的母亲，在一大群人中，只是一个小小的身影，向船挥手告别。
SILVERMAN : The worst day in Houdini’s life certainly was the day that his mother died.
西尔弗曼：胡迪尼一生中最糟糕的一天当然是他母亲去世的那天。
By one account, when he got the news he was performing in Copenhagen, I think, he fainted dead away.
据一种说法，当他得知自己要在哥本哈根演出时，我想他晕倒了。
NARR: "I feel like a child who has been taken to the railroad station by mother," he wrote, "Train rushes in, mother manages to get aboard and before my very eyes away goes the train and mother on board.
纳尔：“我感觉自己就像一个被母亲带到火车站的孩子，”他写道，“火车冲进来，母亲设法上了车，在我的目光移开之前，火车和母亲就上了车。
Here I am left alone at the station." NARR: Harry cancelled his tour and, for weeks, only left the house to visit Cecilia's gravesite.
车站里只剩下我一个人了。”纳尔：哈利取消了他的旅行，几周来只离开家去参观塞西莉亚的墓地。
He bound her letters in a book that so he could read them late into the night.
他把她的信装订在一本书里，这样他就可以读到深夜。
He told his brother he had lost all ambition.
他告诉他的兄弟他已经失去了所有的野心。
And yet, he was still driven to perform.
然而，他仍然有动力去表演。
COPPERFIELD: When you are passionate you don't have very much peace.
科珀菲尔德：当你充满激情时，你就不会有太多的平静。
You have to keep going, you have to be really be passionate about continuing to move forward like the shark going through the water.
你必须继续前进，你必须真正充满热情，像鲨鱼在水中一样继续前进。
He had a passionate yearning to stay out there,.
他非常渴望留在外面。
NARR: On a cold winter day in New York City, Houdini, now over forty, performed his most physically demanding publicity stunt.
纳尔：在纽约市一个寒冷的冬日，四十多岁的胡迪尼表演了他对体力要求最高的宣传特技。
HIRSCHFELD : He would hang himself across Times Square and get out of a straitjacket.
赫希菲尔德：他会在时代广场上吊自杀，然后脱下紧身衣。
And of course, all traffic at Times Square was tied up.
当然，时代广场的所有交通都被堵塞了。
Thousands of people would stand outside and watch this phenomenon.
成千上万的人会站在外面观看这一现象。
He struck me as just one big muscle, with a controlled center somewhere.
在我看来，他只是一块大肌肉，在某个地方有一个受控的中心。
He seemed to have control over every muscle in his body.
他似乎能控制自己身体的每一块肌肉。
SILVERMAN: There was a connection to the audience's sense of the modern, too.
西尔弗曼：这也与观众的现代感有关。
These tall new buildings ten stories high, these new miracles of architecture.
这些十层高的新建筑，这些新的建筑奇迹。
And cranes on the street.
还有街上的起重机。
It was a kind of very modern feat.
这是一种非常现代的壮举。
NARR: By 1918 Houdini was a cultural icon.
纳尔：到 1918 年，胡迪尼已成为文化偶像。
There was even a new word, 'houdinize,' meaning to get out of a tight spot.
甚至出现了一个新词“houdinize”，意思是摆脱困境。
But Harry still felt restless.
但哈利仍然感到不安。
He had an affair with Jack London's widow, Charmian.
他与杰克·伦敦的遗孀查米安有染。
Both suffering from the loss of a loved one, they had a relationship that was passionate but brief.
他们都经历了失去亲人的痛苦，但他们的关系充满激情但短暂。
SILVERMAN: He was really a strait arrow, and he seems to have felt very guilty about it.
西尔弗曼：他确实是一支狭隘的箭，而且他似乎对此感到非常内疚。
That he should have had an affair is sort of inevitable.
他有外遇是不可避免的。
That he had only one and that it seems to have been not very happy is probably more revealing.
他只有一个，而且似乎不太幸福，这可能更能说明问题。
NARR: In major cities all over the country.
NARR：全国各大城市。
Houdini performed his upside down strait jacket escape, his most popular publicity stunt.
胡迪尼表演了他最流行的宣传噱头——倒扣紧身衣逃亡。
It was also the last he ever created.
这也是他最后创作的作品。
Harry was physically exhausted.
哈利身体疲惫不堪。
"Hereafter I intend to work entirely with my brain," he wrote in his diary.
“今后我打算完全用我的大脑来工作，”他在日记中写道。
SILVERMAN : It’s generally not appreciated that Houdini, almost from the beginning, really, wanted to get out of the escape business.
西尔弗曼：人们普遍不理解胡迪尼几乎从一开始就想退出越狱事业。
He writes in his diaries over and over again, "This is too tough.
他在日记中一遍又一遍地写道：“这太艰难了。
Must find some other way of doing this." WILMETH: In the teens moving into the 20's, film was gaining rapidly as a major threat to Vaudeville.
必须找到其他方法来做到这一点。”威尔梅斯：在进入 20 年代的青少年时期，电影迅速成为歌舞杂耍的主要威胁。
I think Houdini probably knew that his career as a stage performer might be limited.
我想胡迪尼可能知道他作为舞台表演者的职业生涯可能会受到限制。
And therefore it seemed very important for him to succeed on the screen.
因此，在银幕上取得成功对他来说显得非常重要。
NARR: In 1918, Houdini's first attempt to break into the movies was a 15-part serial called Master Mystery.
纳尔：1918 年，胡迪尼首次尝试涉足电影领域，拍摄了一部 15 集的连续剧《神秘大师》。
SILVERMAN : His idea was, he would have himself filmed doing his escapes, then he wouldn’t have to do them any more.
西尔弗曼：他的想法是，他可以拍摄自己的逃跑过程，然后他就不必再这样做了。
People could just watch him on film.
人们可以在电影中观看他。
NARR: For a time, life in Hollywood was good.
纳尔：有一段时间，好莱坞的生活很美好。
Harry and Bess enjoyed staying in one place, after years on the road.
哈利和贝丝在漂泊多年后很喜欢住在一个地方。
On the evening of their 25th wedding anniversary, he left her a note, "We have starved and starred together...I love you and I know you love me.
在他们结婚 25 周年纪念日的晚上，他给她留了一张纸条，“我们一起挨饿、一起主演……我爱你，我知道你也爱我。
.
。
.
。
.
。
Yours till the end of the world and ever after.
属于你，直到世界末日，直到世界末日。
Ehrich.
埃里希。
But in the movie business, Harry had met his match.
但在电影界，哈利遇到了对手。
SILVERMAN : He was a terrible actor.
西尔弗曼：他是一个糟糕的演员。
I mean, he has about three expressions.
我的意思是，他大约有三种表情。
He can frown, he can look wooden, and he can look quizzical.
他可以皱眉，可以看起来木讷，也可以看起来很古怪。
That’s about it.
就是这样。
RANDI: It’s just so ridiculous, it’s—it’s as if it were a comedy.
兰迪：这太荒谬了，就像一部喜剧一样。
But he didn’t mean these as comedies.
但他并不是说这些是喜剧。
He wanted to be taken very seriously.
他希望被认真对待。
He was a great failure in the films.
他在电影中是一个巨大的失败。
NARR: Harry and Bess retreated to their home in New York.
纳尔：哈利和贝丝撤退到纽约的家中。
He buried himself in what he called his "world famous theater library." With the death of millions during World War I, a religious movement called spiritualism was flourishing.
他埋头于他所谓的“世界著名戏剧图书馆”中。随着第一次世界大战期间数百万人的死亡，一种称为招魂术的宗教运动蓬勃发展。
One of its greatest disciples was Houdini's friend, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.
它最伟大的弟子之一是胡迪尼的朋友、夏洛克·福尔摩斯的创造者阿瑟·柯南·道尔爵士。
SILVERMAN : Doyle had lost a son in the First World War, and various mediums had brought Doyle’s son back to him to kiss him on the forehead and to speak to him.
西尔弗曼：道尔在第一次世界大战中失去了一个儿子，各种媒介将道尔的儿子带回到他身边，亲吻他的额头并与他交谈。
NARR: Conan Doyle's wife offered to hold a seance for Houdini.
纳尔：柯南道尔的妻子提出为胡迪尼举行降神会。
She claims she could receive a message from his mother.
她声称她可以收到他母亲的消息。
Harry was skeptical, but he agreed.
哈利有些怀疑，但他同意了。
(mother's voice) Oh my darling, thank God, thank God, at last I'm through.
（妈妈的声音）哦，亲爱的，感谢上帝，感谢上帝，我终于完成了。
I've tried oh so often now I am happy.
我已经尝试过很多次了，现在我很高兴。
Why, of course, I want to talk to my boy - my own beloved boy...-there is so much I want to say to him -- but ---I am almost overwhelmed by this joy of talking to him one more....
为什么，当然，我想和我的男孩说话——我自己心爱的男孩……我有很多话想对他说——但是——我几乎被再次与他交谈的喜悦所淹没……
SILVERMAN: The message was in English.
SILVERMAN：消息是英文的。
And Houdini said his mother knew almost no English.
胡迪尼说他的母亲几乎不懂英语。
She spoke a kind of mixture of Hungarian, German and Yiddish.
她说的是匈牙利语、德语和意第绪语的混合语。
So he was sure that the message was a fraud.
所以他确信这个消息是一个骗局。
NARR: Enraged over the exploitation of his grief, Houdini began a crusade against spiritualists.
纳尔：胡迪尼对利用他的悲伤感到愤怒，开始了一场针对唯心论者的讨伐。
He went to seances in disguise confident that he was uniquely suited to expose their trickery.
他乔装打扮去参加降神会，自信自己最适合揭露他们的诡计。
"It takes a flimflammer to catch a flimflammer," he said.
“需要一个骗子才能抓住一个骗子，”他说。
Harry was back in the headlines.
哈利又回到了头条新闻。
DOROTHY YOUNG, Houdini's assistant: He told me that he thought they were wicked.
多萝西·杨，胡迪尼的助手：他告诉我他认为他们是邪恶的。
They preyed on poor people.
他们掠夺穷人。
They’d spend their last dollar to hear the voice of a loved one.
他们愿意花掉最后一块钱来聆听亲人的声音。
NARR: Houdini's exposes proved incredibly popular.
纳尔：事实证明胡迪尼的揭露非常受欢迎。
They became his new act.
它们成了他的新表演。
YOUNG: He read the name and address of every single spiritualist in every city.
年轻：他读了每个城市每一个唯灵师的名字和地址。
And of course a lot of people sued him and all like that, but they didn't get anywere because the information we had was authentic.
当然，很多人起诉他之类的，但他们没有得到任何结果，因为我们掌握的信息是真实的。
NARR: Houdini even testified against spiritualism at Congressional hearings.
纳尔：胡迪尼甚至在国会听证会上作证反对招魂术。
At last, he was receiving the respect for his intellect that he had always craved.
最后，他的才智得到了他一直渴望的尊重。
SILVERMAN: He had become very well known in the pages of Scientific American magazine.
西尔弗曼：他在《科学美国人》杂志上变得非常出名。
He’d become something much more than just a Vaudeville entertainer.
他不再只是一名歌舞杂耍演员。
NARR: Even though he had promised Bess he would retire, Harry could not step out of the limelight.
纳尔：尽管哈利向贝丝保证他会退休，但他还是无法走出聚光灯。
WILMETH: He was competing with all kinds of entertainment - Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, W.C.
WILMETH：他正在与各种娱乐活动竞争 - Eddie Cantor、Al Jolson、W.C.
Fields.
字段。
This is the great period of the Ziegfield Follies.
这是齐格菲尔德歌舞团的伟大时期。
This is the great period of the Broadway stage.
这是百老汇舞台的伟大时期。
NARR: In 1925, Houdini launched a one man show on Broadway.
纳尔：1925 年，胡迪尼在百老汇推出了一场独角戏。
WILMETH: Doing your own show on Broadway was an enormus leap.
威尔梅斯：在百老汇上演自己的演出是一个巨大的飞跃。
There is a kind of class associated with appearing on Broadway, especially then.
有一种与出现在百老汇相关的阶级，尤其是在那时。
And Houdini had reached it.
胡迪尼已经达到了这一目标。
NARR: Houdini's show featured magic tricks, escapes and exposes of spiritualists.
纳尔：胡迪尼的表演以魔术、逃脱和揭露唯灵论者为特色。
He would call on volunteers from the audience to participate in a mock seance.
他会号召观众志愿者参加模拟降神会。
YOUNG: Really, it was weird.
杨：真的，这很奇怪。
It was so real, the way it was performed.
它的表演方式是如此真实。
Then after he did the seance, he showed the audience, step by step, how it was done.
降神会结束后，他一步步向观众展示了降神会是如何进行的。
NARR: The participants could not understand how the bell under the table rang--without the help of spirits.
纳尔：如果没有神灵的帮助，参与者无法理解桌子底下的铃是如何响起的。
But the audience could see Houdini slipping out of his shoe and ringing the bell with his toes.
但观众可以看到胡迪尼脱下鞋子，用脚趾敲响门铃。
HIRSCHFELD: We used to go backstage after his performance and sit in his dressing room.
HIRSCHFELD：我们常常在他的表演结束后回到后台，坐在他的更衣室里。
And I got to know him rather well and I was fascinated by him.
我对他有了相当的了解，我对他很着迷。
He could swell his stomach and shrink it, and withstand blows.
他的胃可以膨胀也可以收缩，并且可以承受打击。
He would say, "Hit me.
他会说：“打我吧。
Hit me as hard as you can." And I’d say, "Well, I don’t want to." He said, "No, do it." And I would hit him with a -- I would hurt my hand, I mean, before I’d hurt him.
尽你所能地打我。”我会说，“好吧，我不想。”他说，“不，就打吧。”我会用——我的意思是，在伤害他之前，用力打他。
NARR: But Houdini would not stay invulnerable much longer.
纳尔：但是胡迪尼不会再保持无懈可击的时间了。
He fractured his ankle performing the water torture cell escape in Albany.
他在奥尔巴尼的水刑牢房越狱中扭伤了脚踝。
He continued on to Montreal and, before his show that night, gave a lecture at McGill University.
他继续前往蒙特利尔，并在当晚演出之前在麦吉尔大学发表了演讲。
SILVERMAN: The psychology department invited him to give a talk on the psychology of mediumship, just the kind of thing Houdini loved to do.
西尔弗曼：心理学系邀请他就通灵心理学发表演讲，这正是胡迪尼喜欢做的事情。
Some students came back to see him after one of the lectures.
一些学生在一场讲座结束后回来看他。
One of them was going to sketch him.
其中一个要给他画素描。
NARR: While he was being sketched, Harry lay on a couch in his dressing room reading his mail.
纳尔：在画草图时，哈利躺在更衣室的沙发上阅读邮件。
He was worn out and in great pain.
他已经精疲力尽，而且非常痛苦。
As the student observed, Houdini looked "in need of a long, carefree vacation." Then another student entered the dressing room.
正如该学生所观察到的，胡迪尼看起来“需要一个漫长而无忧无虑的假期”。随后另一名学生走进了更衣室。
RANDI : The student asked him whether or not he could take a blow to the stomach.
兰迪：学生问他是否可以接受腹部打击。
And Houdini nodded that he could.
胡迪尼点头表示可以。
And as he put down the letters to stand up, getting ready to be prepared, the student struck him in the stomach.
当他放下信站起来，准备做好准备时，学生击中了他的腹部。
NARR: Harry could only mumble, "that will do.
纳尔：哈利只能咕哝道，“那就行了。
" RANDI: He went on that evening and gave the show, and the next day he left for Detroit by train.
兰迪：那天晚上他继续演出，第二天他乘火车前往底特律。
And on the train he developed a very high fever.
在火车上他发高烧。
SILVERMAN: They got a doctor to meet them when the train came to Detroit who urged him, you know, "Don’t do the show." Of course, he did perform that night.
西尔弗曼：当火车到达底特律时，他们有一位医生来接他们，医生敦促他，你知道，“不要做表演。”当然，那天晚上他确实表演了。
And when he finished the show, he collapsed and was taken to the hospital.
当他结束演出时，他倒下了并被送往医院。
NARR: Houdini was operated on but his appendix had burst and the infection had spread.
NARR：胡迪尼接受了手术，但他的阑尾已经破裂，感染已经扩散。
It is likely he had been suffering from appendicitis for several days before the punch.
很可能在被打之前他已经患阑尾炎好几天了。
RANDI: They ministered to him, but they pretty well knew that he was doomed.
兰迪：他们为他服务，但他们很清楚他注定要失败。
SILVERMAN: After fifty two years of breaking his bones and getting ahead of everyone and insisting on being at the top, he said to his brother, presumably his last words, "I can’t fight any more." NARR: Houdini died in Detroit on Halloween, 1926.
西尔弗曼：在经历了五十二年的骨折、领先于所有人并坚持站在顶端之后，他对他的兄弟说，大概是他的最后一句话：“我不能再战斗了。”纳尔：1926 年万圣节，胡迪尼在底特律去世。
He was laid in a bronze coffin he'd had made for a 'buried alive' stunt.
他被安葬在一口为“活埋”特技而制作的青铜棺材里。
According to his request, a black bag of his mother's letters was placed beneath his head as a pillow.
按照他的要求，一袋装着他母亲信件的黑色袋子被放在他的头下当枕头。
Bess collapsed, "the world will never know what I have lost," she cried.
贝丝崩溃了，“世界永远不会知道我失去了什么，”她哭道。
After a life spent in pursuit of fame, Harry Houdini would now assume his place in history.
在一生追求名誉之后，哈里·胡迪尼现在将在历史上占据一席之地。
RANDI: I've had people actually ask me whether Houdini was a real person or whether he was like Sherlock Holmes, a fictional creation.
兰迪：有人问我胡迪尼是否是一个真实的人，或者他是否像夏洛克·福尔摩斯，一个虚构的人物。
To get to a point where people don’t know whether you were real or not, that’s fame beyond fame.
到了让人不知道你是真是假的地步，那就是名誉之上了。
The following posters, advertising Houdini's performances and various tricks, have been collected by magicians, friends, and fans of Houdini.
以下海报宣传胡迪尼的表演和各种魔术，已被魔术师、胡迪尼的朋友和粉丝收集。
Each colorful ad displays a different stage of his career, from the early days of performing in the circus to his spiritualism exposés.
每个色彩缤纷的广告都展示了他职业生涯的不同阶段，从早期在马戏团表演到他的唯灵论揭露。
Follow celebrated magician Harry Houdini's life and career.
关注著名魔术师哈利·胡迪尼的生活和职业生涯。
With a heady assortment of entertainment choices at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, many probably missed nineteen-year-old Ehrich Weiss, a.k.a.
芝加哥世界哥伦布博览会上有各种令人眼花缭乱的娱乐选择，许多人可能会怀念 19 岁的埃里希·韦斯 (Ehrich Weiss)，他又名“埃里希·韦斯”(Ehrich Weiss)。
Harry Houdini, who had just embarked on his quest for fame.
哈里·胡迪尼，刚刚开始追求成名。
Accused of perpetrating fraud on the German public with his act, Houdini responded by suing his accusers.
胡迪尼被指控用自己的行为欺骗德国公众，他以起诉指控者作为回应。
In the slander trial which followed, he staged one of the great escapes of his career.
在随后的诽谤审判中，他上演了职业生涯中最伟大的越狱之一。
The name "Harry Houdini" pays homage to Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, the French performer widely considered the father of modern magic.
“哈利·胡迪尼”这个名字是为了向法国表演者让·尤金·罗伯特·乌丹致敬，这位法国表演者被广泛认为是现代魔术之父。
But Houdini’s relationship with his famous predecessor was not as simple as their shared name suggests.
但胡迪尼与他著名的前任的关系并不像他们的共同名字所暗示的那么简单。
Jack London and Harry Houdini quickly became friends when they met in 1915.
杰克·伦敦 (Jack London) 和哈里·胡迪尼 (Harry Houdini) 于 1915 年相识，很快就成为了朋友。
But on that day, they would have been shocked to know what their future held: London would soon be dead, and not long after Houdini would carry on an affair with his widow.
但在那一天，他们会震惊地知道自己的未来会怎样：伦敦很快就会死掉，不久之后胡迪尼就会与他的遗孀发生婚外情。
Although Houdini his name from the great Robert-Houdin, his true professional father was Harry Kellar, one of the great American magicians of all time.
尽管胡迪尼的名字来自伟大的罗伯特·胡丁，但他真正的职业父亲是哈利·凯勒，美国有史以来最伟大的魔术师之一。
Time and again, Houdini's escapes from seemingly impossible predicaments thrilled audiences, who found in him a metaphor for their own lives, an affirmation of the human capacity to overcome adversity.
胡迪尼一次又一次地从看似不可能的困境中逃脱，让观众兴奋不已，他们在他身上找到了自己生活的隐喻，这是对人类克服逆境能力的肯定。
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is universally associated with Sherlock Holmes.
阿瑟·柯南·道尔爵士普遍与夏洛克·福尔摩斯联系在一起。
People are surprised, then, to find out that the real Conan Doyle had a fervent belief in Spiritualism that dominated the final dozen years of his life.
人们惊讶地发现，真正的柯南·道尔在他生命的最后十几年里对招魂术有着强烈的信仰。
In 1899, Harry Houdini was ready to retire as an entertainer.
1899 年，哈里·胡迪尼准备以艺人身份退休。
Acrobat, illusionist, hypnotist, and puppeteer -- Houdini had tried all of these and more, and nothing had worked.
杂技演员、魔术师、催眠师和木偶师——胡迪尼尝试过所有这些甚至更多，但没有任何效果。
Then he met Martin Beck.
然后他遇到了马丁·贝克。
Houdini was drawn into the great debate over Spiritualism.
胡迪尼卷入了关于招魂术的大辩论。
Houdini’s longest and most publicized confrontation with a spirit medium began in 1924, when he took on a woman named Mina Crandon, known publicly as "Margery."
胡迪尼与灵媒之间最长、最广为人知的对抗始于 1924 年，当时他与一位名叫米娜·克兰登 (Mina Crandon) 的女人（公众称为“玛格丽”）交锋。
How did the world's greatest escape artist escape from handcuffs, ropes, straitjackets and milk cans?
世界上最伟大的越狱艺术家是如何逃离手铐、绳索、束缚衣和牛奶罐的？
Uncover some of his techniques here.
在这里揭秘他的一些技巧。