An Honest Liar Page #4

Out of chains, out of leg irons and handcuffs.

I said if a man could make it, I could break it.

There was nothing he couldn't get out of.

Or make it at least seem like he was getting out of them.

The clock is still going, he has established a world's record.

In some cases, 200 feet of rope wrapped up on a chair on stage.

You just hope that the theatre doesn't catch fire,

because they're likely to leave you behind to fry.

But it's when some of the things like hanging over Niagara Falls

in a straitjacket at 20 below zero, that gets your attention.

# Billion dollar babies

# Hey!

# Billion dollar babies... #

In '73, with Billion Dollar Babies,

we said this whole album is about extravagance,

so take it to the next level,

let's use illusion.

If you're going to get your head cut off, it can be scary and funny

at the same time, but it's got to be professional.

So you go to the best guy, and Amazing Randi was the best guy.

I had never heard of Alice Cooper.

I assumed it was a woman, you see, silly me!

And I said, yeah, this might be fun.

He really starts to become kind of a pop-culture figure.

All the way to... Happy Days!

Good afternoon, gentlemen, I am The Amazing Randi.

Hey, The Amazing Randi!

My appearance on Happy Days really did a lot for my career.

- Fonzie, thanks a lot. You really saved the day.

- Are you kidding?

- Whoa.

- Hey!

- See ya.

- Yeah, hang in there.

This is show business. The showmanship.

That's one respect in which

I based a good deal of my efforts on what Houdini had done.

He had done it by trial and error

and I benefitted from his example.

This actually was invented more than half a century ago

by the late, great, Harry Houdini.

I was asked to do a show honouring Harry Houdini.

I am going to immerse myself inside the can, my body will displace some of the water,

the water will be filled right to the very top and the lid will be locked on.

And I was going to do the milk can. Now, this is rehearsal,

maybe 20 minutes before airtime.

And I tried to perform the escape.

I couldn't get out of the milk can.

Something had jammed and I heard a crackling noise.

Turned out it was a couple of my vertebrae that had been chipped.

And the pain was rather considerable, to say the least.

I was in deep trouble. I knew that if I panicked I would...I'd be dead,

that's all there is to it. So you don't panic.

I had to let myself sink back into the water,

I was in a bit of trouble.

Finally I heard the noises that they were undoing the padlocks.

I roared up out of the water,

and there I was, I had been saved. It was a close call.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome The Amazing Randi!

I came back from the hospital

and I was introduced down near the end of the show on a stretcher.

I've just returned from the hospital

and they tell me that I have a double compression fracture

of the vertebrae,

and it's not something I recommend you undertake as a hobby.

It wasn't a great blow to me.

And I was at the point where I thought that maybe it was time

to get out of this business.

Randi probably could've kept doing it for a while.

I remember him saying to me, "There comes a point

"you just don't want to see a little old guy getting out of a can."

I heard that this going to be the last escape, you're through with it.

Yes, the last straitjacket escape, certainly.

I may do some jail escapes and a few things like that,

- but I'm going to leave that stunt to the younger people.

- Oh, yeah. How old are you?

I'm 55 now, and it's time to get out of that business.

I think it gave him the opportunity

to focus full-time on what he regarded...

as the bigger, better targets.

In the name of Jesus! Everybody with a bone disease,

everybody with a back infirmity, misplaced vertebrae,

bring them right down over here to the side.

Did you ever feel anything like this, it's like warm liquid fire

flowing over this whole building!

Oh, thank you, Jesus.

Oh, God.

Let her go, that's the power of the Holy Spirit.

During the '80s, the faith healing racket was very,

very prominent, literally all over the world.

Let his leg begin to grow, heal the disc. There, it's coming...

In the name of Jesus.

I did a lot of investigation, I visited a lot of these tent shows

as we called them, and we didn't see any evidence of

healing taking place whatsoever.

But I was particularly obsessed with Peter Popoff.

You've got cancer of the stomach?

Are you ready for God to burn that cancer out?

A man like Reverend Peter Popoff was a very dangerous man.

In my estimation, he was a real scoundrel. Because he was taking

people's faith in their religion - he was taking away

their security. In many cases, he was harming them physically

because he was convincing them

that they didn't have to go to doctors any more,

- that Jesus had healed them.

- If you've got pills, as an act of faith,

I want you to just throw 'em out in the aisles.

Those of you up on the balcony, just throw them over the side, Amen.

Throw them over the side, throw them over the side.

So you have Popoff, who's going around the congregation

and just seemed to be able to hear the voice of God and know all about

people, even their addresses,

he would call it out, everyone's impressed.

Is that...John? 3784 Archwood Road?

God is burning those blood clots out of his veins, out of his arteries...

Jesus!

There it is...

So he was doing a mentalism act, it appeared, and we wondered how he got

- the information.

- So Randi was coming to town and he said,

"Would you like to come see this evangelist by the name of Peter Popoff, and he's supposedly really

"well known, and he's going to be downtown and he's going to be doing

"this whole revival thing and thousands of people will be there."

And I said, "Yeah, I'd love to come."

Is it Ruby, Ruby Harris?

So, I'm sitting there with Randi and there's thousands of people.

Come on up here, Ruby - here she comes!

They believe this man has a connection with their God

- and he can actually heal them.

- Yes! Yes! Yes!

Now, listen, I'm going to tell her what's wrong with her, but I'm not going to tell it out loud

because it's confidential. How many of you believe the Holy Spirit's a gentleman?

I realised at that moment, something big is going on here. This is a lot more than I thought it was.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

God's going to burn them out right now, here they go!

Here they go - right now, Jesus!

And I have to tell you,

it was an absolutely amazing experience, because...

- the emotions that you feel when there are people up there who are in tears...

- Right now,

Jesus! Ah, hallelujah! He's not going to need...

Who are shaking and you've got this entire energy going throughout this room.

It does something to you, even as a sceptic.

It truly does something to you.

- Oh, hallelujah, get up on your feet, let's walk!

- There is no pain, no pain!

12 years, there's no pain!

Look at that! There he goes! There he goes, Hallelujah!

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