Houdini's big secret: the sidekick who was more skilled than his master

When Houdini got lowered into water, who padlocked his trunks? A British carpenter and locksmith called Jim Collins. Now a magician has written a play about the forgotten hero of escapology

‘There are,” says Paul Zenon, “only so many permutations of a playing card vanishing. I wanted more of a creative challenge.” The magician is explaining why he is breaking into acting, with a one-man show about escapologist Harry Houdini – or rather about his assistant, Jim Collins. He insists that the new work is “a show about magic, but not a magic show”.

Zenon, who is 51, describes it as “a coming-of-age thing”. Called Linking Rings, after the famous magic trick, the show explores Houdini’s relationship with British-born Collins, who in his 20s joined the escapologist’s large retinue, working as his chief technician until Houdini’s death at the age of 52.

Zenon, whose magic has made him a TV regular, was born Paul Collins, but renamed himself Zenon when he got a job supporting cosmic rockers Hawkwind. It was while researching the life of Houdini in 2010 that he came across a reference to his forgotten namesake. Collins was crucial to Houdini’s act, constructing the tanks and padlocked trunks from which he had to escape, yet he doesn’t even merit a mention in Houdini’s Wikipedia entry.

Finding Collins gave Zenon the key into Houdini’s life. “It suddenly dawned on me, ‘Who better to tell the story than his right-hand man?’ I started doing some research on him, but it was a tough one to crack. There’s a line in the show that his job was to be invisible. He worked for Houdini for more than 20 years, toured everywhere, left his wife and four children behind in the UK, and married again.” The marriage was probably bigamous.

Zenon unearthed photographs of Collins, and found out he came from Portsmouth. “As I discovered more about him, I realised I was more interested in his story than Houdini’s in some respects. It made me realise that, throughout history, there have been a lot of people behind the scenes who are 50% of the action but are then forgotten.” Collins, who was a carpenter and locksmith, made all the props and was responsible for ensuring Houdini’s dangerous stunts didn’t kill him.

“Legend has it that Collins could look at a key, memorise the shape of it, and go and cut one that would work,” says Zenon, sipping his tea; we’re in his local pub, the Prince Albert in Brighton, where he is rehearsing. “He had all the skills of Houdini and then some, but was content behind the scenes.” After Houdini’s death from peritonitis in 1926, Collins went to work with Houdini’s magician brother Hardeen and did some of his own shows. He died in Philadelphia in 1942 at the age of 59, never having divulged the secrets of his boss’s great escapes.

As he wrote the play, Zenon added a further layer, recalling his own teenage years working for his mentor Bill Thompson at his magic shop in Blackpool, learning the tricks of the trade, and becoming a professional magician. “The show is about my passion for magic, but is also a kind of love affair with Blackpool,” he says. “It’s fashionable to knock the town as a Jeremy Kyle-based theme park, but I’ve got a soft spot for it.”

Zenon did summer jobs in Blackpool magic shops from the age of 12, living with his grandmother in a caravan, and became obsessed by stage magic. He has written books about classic tricks and scams, and is an expert on famous magicians – not just Houdini but faux-Chinese performer Chung Ling Soo, as well as Britain’s Jasper Maskelyne, who helped the army with camouflage techniques and other deceptions during the second world war.

He hopes the show will work a little magic on his career, giving it a new dimension. “There are a lot of straight actors who can’t do comedy,” he says, “whereas if you’re a comedian, you can do both.”

He recalls a famous quote by the 19th-century performer Houdini named himself after: Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. “A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician,” said the man seen as the father of modern magic. “We’re not pretending it’s real magic,” says Zenon, “but you have to be an accomplished actor to carry it off.”

Linking Rings is at Jermyn Street theatre, London, until 30 January. Box office: 020-7287 2875.

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