100-610: LAH may refer to: Last Action Hero , a 1993 American action-comedy film Left anterior hemiblock , a cardiovascular disease Leigh Ann Hester , an American soldier during the Iraq War who was awarded the Silver Star medal Licentiate of Apothecaries' Hall , a medical qualification awarded in Dublin, Ireland until 1968 Lithium aluminium hydride , an inorganic compound used as
200-570: A banquet for the members at his own expense. He said "The Magicians Clubs as a rule are small: they are weak ... but if we were amalgamated into one big body the society would be stronger, and it would mean making the small clubs powerful and worthwhile. Members would find a welcome wherever they happened to be and, conversely, the safeguard of a city-to-city hotline to track exposers and other undesirables". For most of 1916, while on his vaudeville tour, Houdini had been recruiting – at his own expense – local magic clubs to join
300-486: A collection of articles on the history of magic, which were expanded into The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin published in 1908. In this book he attacked his former idol Robert-Houdin as a liar and a fraud for having claimed the invention of automata and effects such as aerial suspension , which had been in existence for many years. Many of the allegations in the book were dismissed by magicians and researchers who defended Robert-Houdin. Magician Jean Hugard would later write
400-546: A competent but not particularly skilled sleight-of-hand artist, lacking the grace and finesse required to achieve excellence in that craft. He soon began experimenting with escape acts . In the early 1890s, Houdini was performing with his brother " Dash " (Theodore) as "The Brothers Houdini". The brothers performed at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 before returning to New York City and working at Huber's Dime Museum for "near-starvation wages". In 1894, Houdini met
500-426: A crime-ridden area of New York City with his widowed mother, Irene. Following his father's death, Danny takes comfort in watching action movies, especially a series featuring Los Angeles cop Jack Slater at a condemned movie theatre owned by Nick. Nick gives Danny a golden ticket once owned by Harry Houdini and invites him to watch Jack Slater IV . During the film, the ticket stub (counterfoil) transports Danny into
600-399: A curtain. As part of the effect, Houdini invited members of the audience to hold their breath along with him while he was inside the can. Advertised with dramatic posters that proclaimed "Failure Means A Drowning Death", the escape proved to be a sensation. Houdini soon modified the escape to include the milk can being locked inside a wooden chest, being chained or padlocked. Houdini performed
700-566: A deaf ear on the grounds that the film would have lost millions of dollars in revenue for every weekend of the summer it ended up missing, also fearing that delaying the release would create negative publicity. He told the authors of Hit And Run that while everyone involved with the production had given their best effort, their attempt to appeal to both action and comedy fans resulted in a film that appealed to neither audience and ultimately succumbed to heavy competition. Last Action Hero received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes ,
800-575: A fellow performer, Wilhelmina Beatrice "Bess" Rahner . Bess was initially courted by Dash, but she and Houdini married, with Bess replacing Dash in the act, which became known as "The Houdinis". For the rest of Houdini's performing career, Bess worked as his stage assistant. Houdini's big break came in 1899 when he met manager Martin Beck in St. Paul, Minnesota . Impressed by Houdini's handcuffs act, Beck advised him to concentrate on escape acts and booked him on
900-639: A full rebuttal to Houdini's book. Houdini introduced the Chinese Water Torture Cell at the Circus Busch in Berlin , Germany , on September 21, 1912. He was suspended upside-down in a locked glass-and-steel cabinet full to overflowing with water, holding his breath for more than three minutes. He would go on performing this escape for the rest of his life. During his career, Houdini explained some of his tricks in books written for
1000-399: A halt. Houdini would sometimes ensure press coverage by performing the escape from the office building of a local newspaper. In New York City, Houdini performed the suspended straitjacket escape from a crane being used to build the subway . After flinging his body in the air, he escaped from the straitjacket. Starting from when he was hoisted up in the air by the crane, to when the straitjacket
1100-519: A letter to the French magazine L'Illusionniste stating: "You will certainly enjoy the article on Robert Houdin I am about to publish in my magazine. Yes, my dear friend, I think I can finally demolish your idol, who has so long been placed on a pedestal that he did not deserve." In 1906, Houdini created his own publication, the Conjurers' Monthly Magazine . It was a competitor to The Sphinx , but
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#17327757525391200-454: A locksmith from Birmingham , five years to make. Houdini accepted the challenge for March 17 during a matinée performance at London's Hippodrome theatre. It was reported that 4000 people and more than 100 journalists turned out for the much-hyped event. The escape attempt dragged on for over an hour, during which Houdini emerged from his "ghost house" (a small screen used to conceal the method of his escape) several times. At one point he asked if
1300-427: A movie, an $ 80 million-plus mishmash of fantasy, industry in-jokes, self-referential parody, film-buff gags and too-big action set-pieces." Halliwell's Film Guide described it as "a film that tries to have it both ways, simultaneously mocking and celebrating the conventions of action movies, which leaves audiences, as well as the actors and director, in a state of bewildered confusion". John Ferguson of Radio Times
1400-547: A reducing agent 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler , Adolf Hitler's bodyguard unit which eventually grew into an elite Waffen-SS division during World War II Lord Alfred Hayes , English professional wrestler , manager and commentator , best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation between 1982 and 1995. Topics referred to by
1500-495: A rope in sight of street audiences. Because of imitators, Houdini put his "handcuff act" behind him on January 25, 1908, and began escaping from a locked, water-filled milk can. The possibility of failure and death thrilled his audiences. Houdini also expanded his repertoire with his escape challenge act, in which he invited the public to devise contraptions to hold him. These included nailed packing crates (sometimes lowered into water), riveted boilers, wet sheets, mail bags , and even
1600-793: A salary of $ 15 million for his role in the film. Some scenes were filmed in a dome adjacent to the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California . The exterior of the film's Pandora Theater was the Empire Theater on 42nd Street in New York. The interiors were filmed at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Years after its release, the film was the subject of a scathing chapter called "How They Built The Bomb ", in
1700-401: A sealed milk can with water in it. In 1904, thousands watched as Houdini tried to escape from special handcuffs commissioned by London's Daily Mirror , keeping them in suspense for an hour. Another stunt saw him buried alive and only just able to claw himself to the surface, emerging in a state of near-breakdown. While many suspected that these escapes were faked, Houdini presented himself as
1800-770: A short film called Houdini Defeats Hackenschmidt . Georg Hackenschmidt was a famous wrestler of the day, but the nature of their contest is unknown as the film is lost. In 1909, Houdini made a film in Paris for Cinema Lux titled Merveilleux Exploits du Célèbre Houdini à Paris (Marvellous Exploits of the Famous Houdini in Paris). It featured a loose narrative designed to showcase several of Houdini's famous escapes, including his straitjacket and underwater handcuff escapes. That same year Houdini got an offer to star as Captain Nemo in
1900-657: A silent version of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas , but the project never made it into production. It is often erroneously reported that Houdini served as special-effects consultant on the Wharton/International cliffhanger serial The Mysteries of Myra , shot in Ithaca, New York , because Harry Grossman, director of The Master Mystery also filmed a serial in Ithaca at about the same time. The consultants on
2000-603: A stuntman doubling Houdini dangling by a rope from one of the planes. Publicity was geared heavily toward promoting this dramatic "caught-on-film" moment, claiming it was Houdini himself dangling from the plane. While filming these movies in Los Angeles , Houdini rented a home in Laurel Canyon . Following his two-picture stint in Hollywood, Houdini returned to New York and started his own film production company called
2100-419: A tank filled with water. The mahogany and metal cell featured a glass front, through which audiences could clearly see Houdini. The stocks were locked to the top of the cell, and a curtain concealed his escape. In the earliest version of the torture cell, a metal cage was lowered into the cell, and Houdini was enclosed inside that. While making the escape more difficult – the cage prevented Houdini from turning –
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#17327757525392200-464: A week but you keep plodding along." Director James Cameron said that he had called Schwarzenegger the weekend after Last Action Hero opened and recalled that it was the only time he's "ever heard him down." Cameron continued, "He took it as a deep blow to his brand. I think it really shook him." Shane Black was very critical of the movie: "It was a mess. There was a movie in there, struggling to emerge, which would have pleased me. But what they'd made
2300-399: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Last Action Hero Last Action Hero is a 1993 American fantasy action comedy film directed and produced by John McTiernan and co-written by Shane Black and David Arnott . It is a satire of the action genre and associated clichés, containing several parodies of action films in
2400-410: The 1880 census , the family lived on Appleton Street in an area that is now known as Houdini Plaza. On June 6, 1882, Rabbi Weiss became an American citizen. Losing his job at Zion in 1882, Rabbi Weiss and family moved to Milwaukee and fell into dire poverty. In 1887, Rabbi Weiss moved with Erik to New York City , where they lived in a boarding house on East 79th Street . He was joined by the rest of
2500-657: The Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Within months, he was performing at the top vaudeville houses in the country. In 1900, Beck arranged for Houdini to tour Europe. After some days of unsuccessful interviews in London, Houdini's British agent Harry Day helped him to get an interview with C. Dundas Slater, then manager of the Alhambra Theatre . He was introduced to William Melville and gave a demonstration of escape from handcuffs at Scotland Yard . He succeeded in baffling
2600-538: The themed-pinball machine by Data East was included and released on The Pinball Arcade and its spin-off Stern Pinball Arcade in 2016. In October 2019, Schwarzenegger revealed that he was willing to star in True Lies 2 and Last Action Hero 2 , possible legacy sequels to the two films of his 90s action roles. Harry Houdini Erik Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known as Harry Houdini ( / h uː ˈ d iː n i / hoo- DEE -nee ),
2700-469: The "Houdini Picture Corporation". He produced and starred in two films, The Man from Beyond (1921) and Haldane of the Secret Service (1923). He also founded his own film laboratory business called The Film Development Corporation (FDC), gambling on a new process for developing motion picture film. Houdini's brother, Theodore Hardeen , left his own career as a magician and escape artist to run
2800-431: The 1993 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards , the film received two nominations without wins: Worst Picture and Worst Actor (Schwarzenegger). The film was also nominated for seven Saturn Awards for Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Writing, Best Performance by a Young Actor, Best Costume, and Best Special Effects, again winning nothing. A video game based on the film was released in 1994 on video game consoles,
2900-545: The Bey challenge by boasting "Egyptian Fakirs Outdone!"), it is unclear whether Houdini ever performed buried alive on stage. The stunt was to be the feature escape of his 1927 season, but Houdini died on October 31, 1926. The bronze casket Houdini created for buried alive was used to transport Houdini's body from Detroit to New York following his death on Halloween . In 1906, Houdini started showing films of his outside escapes as part of his vaudeville act. In Boston , he presented
3000-503: The Nancy Griffin book Hit and Run which detailed misadventures at Sony Pictures in the early to mid-1990s. Among the details presented in this chapter were: The film was scored by composer Michael Kamen and peaked at No. 7 on The Billboard 200 chart. The album, which was positively received by active rock radio outlets, was certified platinum on August 24, 1993. Shipments figures based on certification alone. At
3100-526: The Ripper. Benedict shoots Slater, critically injuring him. Danny disarms Benedict, allowing Slater to shoot Benedict in his explosive glass eye , killing him; however, the blast causes the stub to be lost. With Slater losing blood, Danny knows the only way to save him is to return him to the fictional world, where his injury will become a flesh wound. The ticket stub falls in front of a theatre playing The Seventh Seal , where The Figure of Death emerges from
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3200-542: The S.A.M. in an effort to revitalize what he felt was a weak organization. Houdini persuaded groups in Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City to join. As had happened in London, he persuaded magicians to join. The Buffalo club joined as the first branch, (later assembly) of the Society. Chicago Assembly No. 3 was, as the name implies, the third regional club to be established by the S.A.M., whose assemblies now number in
3300-646: The Society of American Magicians. Every other president has only served for one year. He also was President of the Magicians' Club of London. In the final years of his life (1925/26), Houdini launched his own full-evening show, which he billed as "Three Shows in One: Magic, Escapes, and Fraud Mediums Exposed". In 1904, the London Daily Mirror newspaper challenged Houdini to escape from special handcuffs that it claimed had taken Nathaniel Hart,
3400-511: The USD was at the Circus Busch in Berlin , on September 21, 1912. Houdini continued to perform the escape until his death in 1926. One of Houdini's most popular publicity stunts was to have himself strapped into a regulation straitjacket and suspended by his ankles from a tall building or crane. Houdini would then make his escape in full view of the assembled crowd. In many cases, Houdini drew tens of thousands of onlookers who brought city traffic to
3500-522: The United States and Canada. The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 30, 1993, on 266 screens and again opened at number two behind Jurassic Park (on 435 screens) with a gross of $ 1.34 million for the weekend. In France it opened at number one with a gross of 21 million French franc ($ 3.6 million) in its opening week. It grossed $ 87,202,095 overseas, for a worldwide total of $ 137,298,489. In an A&E biography of Schwarzenegger,
3600-478: The act was protected by copyright and in 1906, brought a case against John Clempert , one of the most persistent imitators. The matter was settled out of court and Clempert agreed to publish an apology. Around 1912, the vast number of imitators prompted Houdini to replace his milk can act with the Chinese water torture cell. In this escape, Houdini's feet were locked in stocks , and he was lowered upside down into
3700-413: The actor (who was also the film's executive producer ) says that the film could have done better if not for bad timing, since it came out a week after Jurassic Park which went on to break box-office records as one of the top-grossing films of all time. Schwarzenegger states that he tried to persuade his coproducers to postpone the film's June 18 release in the United States by four weeks, but they turned
3800-414: The aim of meeting the widow of Emile Houdin, the son of Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin , for an interview and permission to visit his grave. He did not receive permission but still visited the grave. Houdini believed that he had been treated unfairly and later wrote a negative account of the incident in his magazine, claiming he was "treated most discourteously by Madame W. Emile Robert-Houdin". In 1906, he sent
3900-413: The back room of Martinka's magic shop in New York, the Society expanded under the leadership of Harry Houdini during his term as national president from 1917 to 1926. Houdini was magic's greatest visionary: He sought to create a large, unified national network of professional and amateur magicians. Wherever he traveled, he gave a lengthy formal address to the local magic club, made speeches, and usually threw
4000-769: The belly of a whale that had washed ashore in Boston. Brewers in Scranton, Pennsylvania , and other cities challenged Houdini to escape from a barrel after they filled it with beer. Many of these challenges were arranged with local merchants in one of the first uses of mass tie-in marketing . Rather than promote the idea that he was assisted by spirits, as did the Davenport Brothers and others, Houdini's advertisements showed him making his escapes via dematerializing , although Houdini himself never claimed to have supernatural powers. After much research, Houdini wrote
4100-482: The book The Secret Life of Houdini that the key required to open the specially designed Mirror handcuffs was six inches long, and could not have been smuggled to Houdini in a glass of water. Goldston offered no proof of his account, and many modern biographers have found evidence (notably in the custom design of the handcuffs) that the Mirror challenge may have been arranged by Houdini and that his long struggle to escape
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4200-402: The building if necessary. The idea for the upside-down escape was given to Houdini by a young boy named Randolph Osborne Douglas (March 31, 1895 – December 5, 1956), when the two met at a performance at Sheffield 's Empire Theatre. Another of Houdini's most famous publicity stunts was to escape from a nailed and roped packing crate after it had been lowered into water. He first performed
4300-662: The cage bars also offered protection should the front glass break. The original cell was built in England, where Houdini first performed the escape for an audience of one person as part of a one-act play he called "Houdini Upside Down". This was done to obtain copyright protection for the effect, and establish grounds to sue imitators – which he did. While the escape was advertised as "The Chinese Water Torture Cell" or "The Water Torture Cell", Houdini always referred to it as "the Upside Down" or "USD". The first public performance of
4400-454: The company. Magician Harry Kellar was a major investor. In 1919 Houdini moved to Los Angeles to film. He resided in 2435 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, a residence owned by Ralph M. Walker . The Houdini Estate, a tribute to Houdini, is located on 2400 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, previously home to Walker himself. The Houdini Estate is subject to controversy, in that it is disputed whether Houdini ever actually made it his home. While there are claims it
4500-429: The conventions of the action genre, he still manages to slip in some spectacular set pieces." About the film's failure and critical response, John McTiernan said: Initially, it was a wonderful Cinderella story with a nine-year-old boy. We had a pretty good script by Bill Goldman, charming. And this ludicrous hype machine got hold of it, and it got buried under bullshit. It was so overwhelmed with baggage. And then it
4600-408: The cuffs could be removed so he could take off his coat. The Mirror representative, Frank Parker, refused, saying Houdini could gain an advantage if he saw how the cuffs were unlocked. Houdini promptly took out a penknife and, holding it in his teeth, used it to cut his coat from his body. Some 56 minutes later, Houdini's wife appeared on stage and gave him a kiss. Many thought that in her mouth
4700-472: The curtains were eliminated so they could watch him struggle to get out. On more than one occasion, they both performed straitjacket escapes while dangling upside-down from the roof of a building in the same city. For most of his career, Houdini was a headline act in vaudeville . For many years, he was the highest-paid performer in American vaudeville. One of Houdini's most notable non-escape stage illusions
4800-431: The differences between the two worlds. Danny and Nick bond while reminiscing their past, while Slater drives away on the screen, waving goodbye. Last Action Hero was an original screenplay by Zak Penn and Adam Leff, meant to parody typical action-film screenplays of writers such as Shane Black . Penn himself noted that the studio ironically then had Black rewrite the script. The original screenplay differs heavily from
4900-457: The end of a name meant "like" in French. However, "i" at the end of the name means "belong to" in Hungarian. In later life, Houdini claimed that the first part of his new name, Harry, was an homage to American magician Harry Kellar , whom he also admired, though it was likely adapted from "Ehri", a nickname for "Ehrich", which is how he was known to his family. When he was a teenager, Houdini
5000-456: The end. He did this so that the audience would not see him flail and wriggle around to get free, which he thought would ruin the performance. However, the audience perceived that he added the curtains to conceal an assistant to come out and free him, as straitjacket escapes were known to be impossible at the time. Houdini's brother (who was also an escape artist, billing himself as Theodore Hardeen ) discovered that audiences were more impressed when
5100-432: The escape in New York's East River on July 7, 1912. Police forbade him from using one of the piers, so he hired a tugboat and invited press on board. Houdini was locked in handcuffs and leg-irons, then nailed into the crate which was roped and weighed down with two hundred pounds of lead. The crate was then lowered into the water. He escaped in 57 seconds. The crate was pulled to the surface and found still to be intact, with
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#17327757525395200-606: The family once Rabbi Weiss found permanent housing. As a child, Erik Weiss took several jobs, making his public début as a nine-year-old trapeze artist , calling himself "Ehrich, the Prince of the Air". He was also a champion cross country runner in his youth. When Weisz became a professional magician he began calling himself "Harry Houdini", after the French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin , after reading Robert-Houdin's autobiography in 1890. Weiss incorrectly believed that an i at
5300-529: The feat at the YMCA in Worcester, Massachusetts on September 28, 1926, this time remaining sealed for one hour and eleven minutes. Houdini's final buried alive was an elaborate stage escape that featured in his full evening show. Houdini would escape after being strapped in a straitjacket, sealed in a casket, and then buried in a large tank filled with sand. While posters advertising the escape exist (playing off
5400-834: The fictional world, interrupting Slater during a car chase. Slater takes Danny to the LAPD headquarters, where Danny points out evidence of the fictional nature of Slater's world, such as the presence of numerous attractive women and a cartoon cat detective named Whiskers. Danny says that Slater's friend John Practice should not be trusted as he "killed Mozart " (since he is played by the same actor as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus ). Though Slater dismisses this as Danny's imagination, Slater's supervisor, Lieutenant Dekker, assigns Danny as his partner and instructs them to investigate criminal activities related to mafia boss Tony Vivaldi. Danny guides Slater to Vivaldi's mansion, recognising its location from
5500-548: The film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, writing that despite some entertaining moments, Last Action Hero "plays more like a bright idea than like a movie that was thought through. It doesn't evoke the mystery of the barrier between audience and screen the way Woody Allen did in The Purple Rose of Cairo , and a lot of the time it simply seems to be standing around commenting on itself." Vincent Canby likened
5600-476: The film has an approval rating of 40% based on 53 reviews and an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, " Last Action Hero has most of the right ingredients for a big-budget action spoof, but its scattershot tone and uneven structure only add up to a confused, chaotic mess." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave
5700-510: The film its chance to reach new audiences unencumbered by the bad press. In Netflix's three-part docuseries Arnold (released in 2023), the actor recalled how the failure of the movie affected him. "When Last Action Hero came out I had reached my peak after Terminator 2 , having the most successful movie of the year worldwide, I cannot tell you how upset that I was [about the negative Last Action Hero reviews]. It hurts you. It hurts your feelings. It's embarrassing. I didn't want to see anyone for
5800-474: The film to "a two-hour Saturday Night Live sketch" and called it "something of a mess, but a frequently enjoyable one". Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote: " Last Action Hero makes such a strenuous show of winking at the audience (and itself) that it seems to be celebrating nothing so much as its own awfulness. In a sense, the movie's incipient commercial failure completes it aesthetically." Variety called it "a joyless, soulless machine of
5900-580: The film's executive producer and plays himself as the actor portraying Jack Slater. The film also marked Art Carney and Tina Turner 's last feature film before their deaths in 2003 and 2023, respectively. Last Action Hero failed to meet the studio's expectations at the box office, and was both a critical and commercial disappointment. Since its release Last Action Hero gained a cult following , with some noting it as underrated in Schwarzenegger's catalogue. Ten-year-old Danny Madigan lives in
6000-448: The finished film and is widely available to read online. Although it was still a parody of Hollywood action films, it was set almost entirely in the film world and focused largely on the futile cycle of violence displayed by the hero and the effect it had on people around him. Due to the radical changes, Penn and Leff were eventually credited with the story of the film, but not the screenplay. Several script doctors did uncredited work on
6100-687: The first man to fly a powered aircraft in Australia, on March 18, 1910 at Diggers Rest, a field roughly 20 miles (32 km) from Melbourne. Erik Weisz was born in Budapest , Kingdom of Hungary to a Jewish family. His parents were Rabbi Mayer Sámuel Weisz (1829–1892) and Cecília Steiner (1841–1913). Houdini was one of seven children: Herman M. (1863–1885), who was Houdini's half-brother by Rabbi Weisz's first marriage; Nathan J. (1870–1927); Gottfried William (1872–1925); Theodore (1876–1945); Leopold D. (1879–1962); and Carrie Gladys (1882–1959), who
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#17327757525396200-462: The fold. By the end of 1916, magicians' clubs in San Francisco and other cities that Houdini had not visited were offering to become assemblies. He had created the richest and longest-surviving organization of magicians in the world. It now embraces almost 6,000 dues-paying members and almost 300 assemblies worldwide. In July 1926, Houdini was elected for the ninth successive time President of
6300-535: The form of films within the film . The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jack Slater, a Los Angeles police detective within the Jack Slater action film franchise, while Austin O'Brien co-stars as Danny Madigan, a boy magically transported into the Slater universe, and Charles Dance as Mr. Benedict, a ruthless assassin from the Slater universe who escapes to the real world. Schwarzenegger also served as
6400-576: The hundreds. In 1917, he signed Assembly Number Three's charter into existence, and that charter and this club continue to provide Chicago magicians with a connection to each other and to their past. Houdini dined with, addressed, and got pledges from similar clubs in Detroit, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Cincinnati and elsewhere. This was the biggest movement ever in the history of magic. In places where no clubs existed, he rounded up individual magicians, introduced them to each other, and urged them into
6500-421: The invitation of the collector. After many years of trying, they finally got him to agree to sell the film to Turner Classic Movies , who restored the complete 71-minute film. The film, not seen by the general public for 96 years, was shown by TCM on March 29, 2015, as a highlight of their yearly 4-day festival in Hollywood. While filming an aerial stunt for The Grim Game , two biplanes collided in mid-air with
6600-637: The judge had forgotten to lock it). With his new-found wealth, Houdini purchased a dress said to have been made for Queen Victoria . He then arranged a grand reception where he presented his mother in the dress to all their relatives. Houdini said it was the happiest day of his life. In 1904, Houdini returned to the U.S. and purchased a house for $ 25,000 (equivalent to $ 847,778 in 2023), a brownstone at 278 W. 113th Street in Harlem , New York City. While on tour in Europe in 1902, Houdini visited Blois with
6700-467: The magic brotherhood. In Handcuff Secrets (1909), he revealed how many locks and handcuffs could be opened with properly applied force, others with shoestrings. Other times, he carried concealed lockpicks or keys. When tied down in ropes or straitjackets , he gained wiggle room by enlarging his shoulders and chest, moving his arms slightly away from his body . His straitjacket escape was originally performed behind curtains, with him popping out free at
6800-496: The manacles inside. Houdini performed this escape many times, and even performed a version on stage, first at Hamerstein's Roof Garden where a 5,500-US-gallon (21,000 L) tank was specially built, and later at the New York Hippodrome . Houdini performed at least three variations on a buried alive stunt during his career. The first was near Santa Ana, California in 1915, and it almost cost him his life. Houdini
6900-497: The milk can escape as a regular part of his act for only four years, but it has remained one of the acts most associated with him. Houdini's brother, Theodore Hardeen , continued to perform the milk can escape and its wooden chest variant into the 1940s. The American Museum of Magic has the milk can and overboard box used by Houdini. After other magicians proposed variations on the Milk Can Escape, Houdini claimed that
7000-465: The most difficult escapes of his career. After Houdini's death, his friend Martin Beck was quoted in Will Goldston 's book, Sensational Tales of Mystery Men , admitting that Houdini was bested that day and had appealed to his wife, Bess, for help. Goldston goes on to claim that Bess begged the key from the Mirror representative, then slipped it to Houdini in a glass of water. It was stated in
7100-743: The police so effectively that he was booked at the Alhambra for six months. His show was an immediate hit and his salary rose to $ 300 a week (equivalent to $ 10,987 in 2023). Between 1900 and 1920 he appeared in theatres all over Great Britain performing escape acts, illusions, card tricks and outdoor stunts, becoming one of the world's highest paid entertainers. He also toured the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Russia and became widely known as "The Handcuff King". In each city, Houdini challenged local police to restrain him with shackles and lock him in their jails. In many of these challenge escapes, he
7200-505: The release very well. It came out more or less at the same time as something very big", referring to Jurassic Park . "But it was fun to do." He also praised Schwarzenegger: "Arnold is a very smart man, oh yes. Very definitely. And very funny, and very aware." The film was nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards : Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst New Star (Austin O'Brien), and Worst Original Song ("Big Gun"), but it did not win any. At
7300-516: The same Mirror Handcuffs, as well as a replica of the Bramah style key for them, are on display to the public at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania . This set of cuffs is believed to be one of only six in the world, some of which are not on display. In 1908, Houdini introduced his own original act, the Milk Can Escape. In this act, Houdini was handcuffed and sealed inside an oversized milk can filled with water and made his escape behind
7400-403: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title LAH . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=LAH&oldid=1149790540 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
7500-463: The scourge of fake spiritualists, pursuing a personal crusade to expose their fraudulent methods. As president of the Society of American Magicians , he was keen to uphold professional standards and expose fraudulent artists. He was also quick to sue anyone who imitated his escape stunts. Houdini made several movies but quit acting when it failed to bring in money. He was also a keen aviator and became
7600-423: The screen. Death is curious: Jack Slater is missing from his lists of when people will die, and Danny is slated to die as a grandfather. Death then suggests searching for the other half of the ticket. Danny finds it and takes Slater back into his movie, where his wounds instantly heal. Danny returns to the real world before the portal closes. A recovered Slater then embraces the true nature of his reality, appreciating
7700-462: The script, including Carrie Fisher , Larry Ferguson , and William Goldman . Penn and Leff disliked various parts of the final film, including the idea of a magic golden ticket. In their draft, the story would not explain how Danny got transported into the film world. John McTiernan originally turned down the offer to direct the film, Robert Zemeckis was under consideration to direct, but McTiernan later changed his mind. Schwarzenegger received
7800-668: The serial were pioneering Hereward Carrington and Aleister Crowley . In 1918, Houdini signed a contract with film producer B. A. Rolfe to star in a 15-part serial , The Master Mystery (released in November 1918). As was common at the time, the film serial was released simultaneously with a novel. Financial difficulties resulted in B. A. Rolfe Productions going out of business, but The Master Mystery led to Houdini being signed by Famous Players–Lasky Corporation / Paramount Pictures , for whom he made two pictures, The Grim Game (1919) and Terror Island (1920). The Grim Game
7900-403: The start of the movie. There, they meet Vivaldi's henchman, Mr. Benedict. Vivaldi and Benedict killed Slater's second cousin, but Slater has no evidence and is forced to leave with Danny; however, Benedict is curious as to how Danny knew, and he and several hired guns follow Slater and Danny back to Slater's home. There, Slater, his daughter Whitney, and Danny thwart the attack, though Benedict gets
8000-511: The stub to escape into the real world, pursued by Slater and Danny. Slater becomes despondent upon learning the truth but cheers up after spending time with Irene. Meanwhile, Benedict devises a plan to kill the actor portraying Slater in the movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger , bring other movie villains into the real world, and take over. To help, Benedict brings the Ripper, the villain of Jack Slater III , to Jack Slater IV 's premiere to assassinate Schwarzenegger. Slater saves Schwarzenegger and kills
8100-427: The ticket stub and discovers that it can transport him into the real world. Slater deduces Vivaldi's plan to murder the rival mob by releasing a lethal gas. He and Danny go to stop it but are waylaid by Practice, who reveals that Danny was right: he is working for Vivaldi. Whiskers kills Practice, saving Slater and Danny, who prevent any deaths from the gas release. After Vivaldi's plan fails, Benedict kills him and uses
8200-506: The time of its release, the film was billed as "the next great summer action movie" and many movie insiders predicted it would be a huge blockbuster , especially following the success of Schwarzenegger's previous film, Terminator 2: Judgment Day . The film premiered in Westwood, Los Angeles on June 13, 1993, and entered general release in the United States five days later. It introduced the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo. Last Action Hero
8300-471: Was Houdini's first full-length movie and is reputed to be his best. Because of the flammable nature of nitrate film and their low rate of survival, film historians considered the film lost. One copy did exist hidden in the collection of a private collector only known to a tiny group of magicians that saw it. Dick Brookz and Dorothy Dietrich of The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, had seen it twice on
8400-538: Was Houdini's house, others counter that "he never set foot" on the property. It is rooted in Bess's parties or seances, etc. held across the street, she would do so at the Walker mansion. In fact, the guesthouse featured an elevator connecting to a tunnel that crossed under Laurel Canyon to the big house grounds (though capped, the tunnel still exists). Neither Houdini's acting career nor FDC found success, and he gave up on
8500-452: Was a Hungarian-American escape artist , illusionist , and stunt performer noted for his escape acts. Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in the United States and then as Harry "Handcuff" Houdini on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside
8600-566: Was a jarring, random collection of scenes." In the years since the release of Last Action Hero , the film has developed a strong cult following. Schwarzenegger singled out that movie as his most underrated: " Last Action Hero was great – it wasn't fantastic, but it was underrated. Now, more and more people are seeing it and saying, "I love this movie." I'm getting the residual checks, so I know it's true. It made money – that's always an important thing for me. Because it's show business, right?" Later, Charles Dance said: "I think they just didn't time
8700-466: Was an endurance test designed to expose mystical Egyptian performer Rahman Bey, who had claimed to use supernatural powers to remain in a sealed casket for an hour. Houdini bettered Bey on August 5, 1926, by remaining in a sealed casket, or coffin, submerged in the swimming pool of New York's Hotel Shelton for one and a half hours. Houdini claimed he did not use any trickery or supernatural powers to accomplish this feat, just controlled breathing. He repeated
8800-433: Was buried, without a casket, in a pit of earth six feet deep. He became exhausted and panicked while trying to dig his way to the surface and called for help. When his hand finally broke the surface, he fell unconscious and had to be pulled from the grave by his assistants. Houdini wrote in his diary that the escape was "very dangerous" and that "the weight of the earth is killing". Houdini's second variation on buried alive
8900-550: Was coached by the magician Joseph Rinn at the Pastime Athletic Club. Houdini began his magic career in 1891, but had little success. He appeared in a tent act with strongman Emil Jarrow . He performed in dime museums and sideshows, and even doubled as "The Wild Man" at a circus. Houdini focused initially on traditional card tricks. At one point, he billed himself as the "King of Cards". Some – but not all – professional magicians would come to regard Houdini as
9000-474: Was completely off, it took him two minutes and thirty-seven seconds. There is film footage in the Library of Congress of Houdini performing the escape. Films of his escapes are also shown at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. After being battered against a building in high winds during one escape, Houdini performed the escape with a visible safety wire on his ankle so that he could be pulled away from
9100-407: Was first stripped nude and searched . In Moscow , he escaped from a Siberian prison transport van, claiming that, had he been unable to free himself, he would have had to travel to Siberia, where the only key was kept. In Cologne , Houdini sued a police officer, Werner Graff, who alleged that he made his escapes via bribery . Houdini won the case when he opened the judge's safe (he later said
9200-715: Was left almost blind after a childhood accident. Weisz arrived in the United States on July 3, 1878, on the SS Frisia with his mother (who was pregnant) and his four brothers. The family changed their name to the German spelling Weiss, and Erik became Ehrich. The family lived in Appleton, Wisconsin , where his father served as rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation. According to
9300-458: Was more positive, awarding it four stars out of five and stating, "An Arnold Schwarzenegger backlash had been on the cards for some time and when this extravaganza was released the knives were well and truly out. It was actually all a little unfair, because this is a smart, funny blockbuster [...] Schwarzenegger has rarely been better and he is backed up by a never-ending stream of star names in cameo roles [...] And, although McTiernan has fun spoofing
9400-451: Was performed at the New York Hippodrome , when he vanished a full-grown elephant from the stage. He had purchased this trick from the magician Charles Morritt . In 1923, Houdini became president of Martinka & Co. , America's oldest magic company. The business is still in operation today. He also served as president of the Society of American Magicians ( a.k.a. S.A.M.) from 1917 until his death in 1926. Founded on May 10, 1902, in
9500-605: Was pure showmanship. James Randi believes that the only way the handcuffs could have been opened was by using their key, and speculates that it would have been viewed "distasteful" to both the Mirror and to Houdini if Houdini had failed the escape. This escape was discussed in depth on the Travel Channel's Mysteries at the Museum in an interview with Houdini expert, magician and escape artist Dorothy Dietrich of Scranton's Houdini Museum. A full-sized construction of
9600-510: Was released on VHS and LaserDisc on January 26, 1994, and on DVD on October 7, 1997. On February 3, 2009, Last Action Hero was reissued on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in a double-feature set with the 1986 film Iron Eagle . It was released on the high-definition Blu-ray Disc format on January 12, 2010. The film double-featured with Hudson Hawk on Blu-ray and released by Umbrella Entertainment on September 4, 2019, in Australia only. An Ultra HD Blu-ray restored version
9700-616: Was released on May 18, 2021, and featured a director's commentary track, deleted scenes, an alternative ending, and the original theatrical trailer, all in 4K. The film was re-released with Cliffhanger in a 2-Movie Collection Blu-ray pack on November 2, 2021. The film grossed approximately $ 1.1 million in previews on the evening of Thursday, June 17, 1993, and opened at number two at the US box office, behind Jurassic Park ' s second weekend, grossing $ 14.2 million on its opening weekend from 2,306 theaters. It ended its run with $ 50,016,394 in
9800-491: Was short-lived and only two volumes were released until August 1908. Magic historian Jim Steinmeyer has noted that "Houdini couldn't resist using the journal for his own crusades, attacking his rivals, praising his own appearances, and subtly rewriting history to favor his view of magic." From 1907 and throughout the 1910s, Houdini performed with great success in the United States. He freed himself from jails, handcuffs, chains, ropes, and straitjackets , often while hanging from
9900-425: Was the key to unlock the special handcuffs. However, it has since been suggested that Bess did not in fact enter the stage at all, and that this theory is unlikely due to the size of the six-inch key. Houdini then went back behind the curtain. After an hour and ten minutes, Houdini emerged free. As he was paraded on the shoulders of the cheering crowd, he broke down and wept. At the time, Houdini said it had been one of
10000-568: Was whipped out unedited, practically assembled right out of the camera. It was in the theater five or six weeks after I finished shooting. It was kamikaze, stupid, no good reason for it. And then to open the week after Jurassic Park —God! To get to the depth of bad judgment involved in that, you'd need a snorkel. Later Schwarzenegger blamed the film's poor performance on bad press and the election of Democratic president Bill Clinton , which he said influenced audiences to see 1980s action film stars as lowbrow. In 2017, he said streaming services gave
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