How Houdini helped writer out of a tight spot
ROHMER credited the world’s greatest escapologist, Harry Houdini, for saving him from dreaded writer’s block – and a complete breakdown.
In the winter of 1920, Rohmer had signed a lucrative contract with New York magazine Collier’s to write an 80,000-word story.
He decided to write about a perfect murder – and solve it as the work took shape.
There was only one problem: Rohmer himself couldn’t find a solution and, with the initial chapters already printed in Collier’s, panic began to set in. The author locked himself in a New York hotel room, but still the creative juices refused to flow.
In a 1938 Manchester News article, Rohmer described how Houdini saved his skin.
“If I was worried about my con- tract, and Heaven knows I was – the reputation of one of the leading magazines in the United States was wholly in my keeping – Harry Houdini was deeply concerned about me.
“He insisted upon certain hours of relaxation, almost literally carrying me from the building at times. He took me to meet interesting people. He made parties to amuse me.
“I ate Thanksgiving dinner at his hospitable board in the old house which harboured the wonderful library.
“I wore a tweed suit over pyjamas, for he would take no refusal.
“I suppose, in fact, that I was fairly near the cracking point when Houdini offered me the solution of the mystery.
“Unannounced, he appeared one night when I was pacing the floor on the verge of desperation. The door opened, and he was there.
“He carried a copy of the magazine in which that instalment including Chapter Three had appeared. I had not told him of the piece of dialogue which, had it never been printed, would have enabled me to save the situation. I had thought that to do so would be useless.
“But he had read every line of the story, approaching it as he would have approached a problem of escape from a locked box.
“Now, he opened the pages and pointed to a sentence which he had underlined. He had found it for himself!
“The character who said that has been dropped out,” he remarked. “Bring him back. Think of a reason why he lied – make him change the words... and you’re saved!”
“It was true! By means of this simple device – or it seemed simple when Houdini pointed it out – of forcing one character to admit that he had lied, my difficulties vanished like smoke!”
Rohmer was so thankful that he based a character on Houdini – Bazarada, who appeared in the book Salute To Bazarada.
Rohmer details his fascination with the occult in the book, The Romance Of Sorcery. He was said to be an enthusiastic member of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organisation devoted to studying the occult, metaphysics and paranormal activity set up by three Freemasons.
He also allegedly had links to Rosicrucianism, a 17th century movement that believed mankind will be saved by a secret science.