Difference between revisions of "Giant Milk Can Escape"

Revision as of 18:15, 2 November 2009

Milk Can Escape was an escape created by Harry Houdini in 1908 and introduced in St. Louis. Houdini would escape from inside a giant milk can filled with water. It became a very popular trick and he took it on tour throughout the U.S., England, and Germany.

In this effect, Houdini would be handcuffed and sealed inside an over-sized milk can filled with water and make his escape behind a curtain. As part of the effect, Houdini would invite 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. Houdini only performed the Milk Can escape as a regular part of his act for four years, but it remains one of the effects most associated with him.

Houdini's brother, Theodore Hardeen, continued to perform the Milk Can (and the wooden chest variation) into the 1940s.

One original version of Houdini's Milk Can and his Overboard Box are housed at the American Museum of Magic‎.