Name: Robert Strong
Age: 43
City: San Francisco
Position: Magician and comedian
J.: You’re hosting a séance to contact Harry Houdini on Halloween at San Francisco’s Brava Theater, where some say he performed in 1926. Do you expect to make contact?
Robert Strong: We intend to go into this with a completely open mind and see if there is contact. If there is or there isn’t, we’re going to have one hell of an entertaining night. I don’t believe there’s an afterlife or ghosts or we could make contact, but I have an open mind.
So what made you want to try to reach Houdini in the afterlife?
When I was 12 years old I got into magic very seriously. I did a magic show for family in Springfield, Mass. A woman pulled me aside and said, “Do you know you’re related to someone who collected all of Houdini’s stuff?” My great-great-uncle is Sidney Radner, a protégé of Houdini’s brother. Sidney Radner was really magic royalty. He did this séance on and off for years, with a medium who tried to contact Houdini, but no luck. He had a strong intention to honor Houdini and keep him relevant. I contacted his son, Bill Radner, who still produces the séance. He asked me if I wanted to produce it in San Francisco.
Wait a minute. Didn’t Houdini try to debunk psychics and mediums in his lifetime?
Houdini wanted to believe you could contact the spirits, but he found everyone who was trying to do that was fake. There was a scientific inquiry to find if anyone had proof of ghosts. They really thought it was possible because everybody had a story; scientists were testing each of these claims. Houdini was the only nonscientist on the committee. When he wasn’t present, the mediums would fool the scientists. When Houdini would come, he would say, “You’re wrong: they’re using misdirection, they’re using sleight of hand.” He was that last line of defense. No claim has been verified to this day.
The séance is co-sponsored by the Bay Area Science Festival and Bay Area Skeptics, among others. What can the audience expect from a skeptical séance?
One of the things I wanted to do was honor [the tradition] and have an earnest séance where we attempt it, but also have scientists talk about how the brain works. The human brain is really wired to find connections. [Coincidences] happen all the time; our brain just finds meaning in them. If you’re on a boardwalk in some city and there’s a neon sign for a psychic, in the course of an hourlong reading that psychic makes 500 guesses about a person’s life. If 20 or 30 of them are really accurate, the person is going to focus on those and forget about the rest.
Being a skeptic, I wanted to have an event that honored Houdini’s skepticism, and that was smart, historical and also magical. It’s on Halloween, the day that he died. We’re bringing in a medium who is also a stand-up comedian and a very talented magician, Paul Draper, who is also an anthropologist. He’s going to do a “magical séance” and spooky things will happen. But I’m always very clear on the stage that I’m creating an illusion. We’re honest liars.
Harry Houdini was the son of a rabbi, born in Hungary as Ehrich Weisz. How did his Jewish background factor into his life?
He was identified as being Jewish. He was very much a mama’s boy, and he always wanted his mother to be very happy. I think his mother was a very tough Jewish mom. I think there were tough feelings because he married Bess, who was not Jewish.
How does your skepticism influence your feelings about religion and your own Jewish identity?
My view is, it isn’t true until there is evidence. Because our imagination is so vivid and strong, I say there is nothing until we can measure something. Our imaginations can come up with anything, but that doesn’t make it real or true. I definitely identify as culturally Jewish. I’m asked to perform at Hanukkah and other Jewish events. And I’m an active member of the JCC gym!
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