"During the screening of this picture I thought at one time in the
course of the action, that my end had come," he told me. "I was 3,000
feet up in an aeroplane, circling over another machine. The plan
was for me to drop from my 'plane into the cockpit of the other by
means of a rope. I was dangling from the rope-end ready for the leap.
Suddenly a strong wind turned the lower plane upwards, the two machines
crashed together--nearly amputating my limbs--the propellers locked
in a deadly embrace, and we were spun round and round and round."
Houdini pronounced the latter words with a peculiarly apt "whirring"
intonation, graphically illustrating them by the circular action of the
arms. "But," he continued, "by a miracle, the 'planes were righted into
a half-glide, and, though they were smashed into splinters by their
terrific impact, I managed to escape unhurt. As usual, Houdini became
undone!" concluded the narrator with a laugh.