03
November 3, 1972, started much like any other day for Alan Alan, as he was first bound, then hoisted into the air above a bed of spikes surrounded by lions, and finally the rope supporting him was set on fire. A professional escapologist, this stunt was part of his bread and butter, but on this occasion something went wrong when he became trapped by a faulty chain. Not a good day in the office.
Incidentally, many years later Alan was asked about the danger involved in the stunt. Paraphrasing, the interviewer said: “I understand you want to make the escape as dramatic as possible, and that the burning rope and spikes give a sense of jeopardy, but don’t you worry about the lions?” “If I fall 30 feet headfirst onto a bed of spikes, while wrapped in chains and trailing a burning rope,” Alan responded, “the lions are of little consequence to me.”
13
Diego Domingo wrote in with a tidbit for the Almanac. In the October 1966 issue of The Linking Ring, mentalist Robert Nelson noted that: “An American scientist has predicted November 13th, 2026 as doomsday—or the end of the world. Jot this down on your calendars, tho I doubt if many of my readers will be around for the occasion. His prediction is based on the population explosion… the world will no longer be able to produce sufficient food to sustain the population.” Committed Genii readers will no doubt make a written prediction to this effect, on the off chance it does come true. After all, if societal collapse is inevitable you might as well get a strong prediction effect out of it.
14
On this day in 2025, magic history was made on the silver screen, when Now You See Me: Now You Don’t was released. This was not primarily because of the star casting or the magical effects developed for the film (which you can read about in our December 2025 issue), but rather because the fashion world was set alight by the surprise feature of a piece of haute couture… a Genii-branded T-shirt. The filmmakers understandably kept the coup of their Genii collaboration secret, so much so that even the editorial team were surprised to see our logo on the big screen (one assumes that rigorous NDAs were involved). Now, however, you know that if you want to own a piece of Now You See Me history your best bet is to visit geniimagic.com and check out the merch (I mean haute couture).
30
In 1908 Houdini proved, once again, his mastery of publicity. He was performing at the Euston Palace of Varieties when, as he often did, he accepted an escape challenge from the public. In this case the goal was to escape from a burglar-proof safe, a feat which he successfully achieved. Why did this demonstrate his PR ability? Well, safes are generally designed to be “burglar proof” or they are not very safe, and even if this one was particularly built to prohibit robbery, burglars tend to want to get into things rather than out of them! (The claim reminds me of a friend who proudly claimed he could breathe fire the length of a double-decker bus, something which is undoubtedly more impressive than the same feat with a single-decker bus, despite the vehicles being of identical length.)
