A crane suspends a man tied to a rope ten
stories above a makeshift stage. The man, hanging upside down, is shackled in a
straitjacket. He is madly struggling to get his arms free. 10 feet above him, a
section of fuel soaked rope burns, increasing the drama. The man has three
minutes to make his escape before the fire burns through the rope,
dropping him
100 feet to his death.
This treacherous stunt design was the creation
of one of the world's leaders in escapology, Alan Alan. A popular escape artist
and magician in the 1950s, Alan died earlier this year at the surprisingly old
age of eighty-seven. Surprising, because of the amount of times he risked his
life in front of a captive audience.
The idol of David Copperfield, Alan was best
known for the burning rope trick described above. Alan's stunt of 'suspended shackles' was actually a nod to
another famous escape artist, Harry Houdini. Houdini originally did the trick
with handcuffs (sans fire).
For Alan's version, the artist freed himself
from the jacket and then was lowered by the crane operator, seconds before the
rope burned through. But it didn't always go to plan. In one of his his early
attempts, the fire burned too quickly and Alan plummeted 30 foot to the stage
of the Pavilion Theatre in Liverpool. Once he had failed, Alan upped the ante
for future attempts, adding a cage of lions beneath him. His final performance
of the stunt, at 52 years of age, was done from a crane that suspended him over
the river Thames in London.
Looking to match his own idol, Alan also
attempted Houdini's buried alive stunt. Alan barely survived this escape when
his assistants were forced to dig him free. Apparently they had packed the
ground above him too tightly.
Before his death, Alan was awarded the
Maskelyne award from "The Magic Circle" for his services to British
magic. Think of it as the Cecil B. DeMille award for magicians.
Krakit, Vancouver's premier escape game, would
also like to honour Alan Alan for his pioneering spirit in the art of escape.
We don't offer anything quite as death defying in our theme rooms, but we do
like to acknowledge the greats that created an early interest in escapology.
Afterword:
When researching this blog entry, our crack team of investigators
came across a forum of artists discussing this escape stunt. As you may have
guessed, the trick lies in the strength of the rope. Some performers actually
use a rope that contains a central core of high-test wire. The variable that
offers the most challenge is wind. Wind fuels the fire and creates a swinging
motion that makes it harder for the performer to escape their restraints.
Another danger is the fuel dripping down the rope on to the performer. Modern
stuntmen usually wear a flame retardant suit beneath the straitjacket.
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