Death Defying Acts

When I was very small,

I had a gift.

I saw things other folk didn't see.

It was like looking into deep water and seein' things on the other side.

As I grew up, the gift vanished

just like my mam said it would.

And I saw the world as it really was

with all its sweet lies and trickery.

Then the Great Houdini came into our lives

and changed everything forever.

C'mon, Harry...

Don't do this to me again!

Up! Up!

Get the bloody thing up now!

... the Sun, the Four Winds and the Sea...

... bowed down before the Great Houdini.

He was a god.

that's what it said in my comics.

If you were Houdini,

you wouldn't be livin' in a place with a leakin' roof,

worryin' how to pay the coal man.

And you wouldn't be sittin' on a damp step outside the pawnshop

waitin' for your mam to hawk her weddin'ring...

... yet again.

No.

You'd be inside somewhere warm and cosy eatin' cake.

Close that! We've got work to do!

That's the wedding ring, back in the window then, is it?

Only good use I ever had for it.

Mary McGarvie. A dream come true.

Not for you!

Benji!

Leave ma man alone, ya Gypsy strumpet!

I wouldn't have your hand-me-downs if you paid me!

You tarted-up hussy!

You frigid old piss-pants!

Floozy!

Bloody circumcision!

What?

It's in the Bible...

Oh, give me that!

We were a real double act, my mam and me.

It was just us against the cruel world

livin' by our wits.

'Scuse me.

'Scuse me, sir.

Woops, sorry!

Over here, Rose!

I told you to wait on the corner!

- There y' are, sir. - Thank you.

You'll be after your usual posy of violets, Mr. Robertson?

'Aye. They were always her favourites.

Oh! Pockets, eh?

- Thank you, dear. - Thank you. See you tomorrow.

'To Charles, with never ending love, Your Violet'.

'You play the game or you go under.'

That's what mam always said,

And if it wasn't for her, we would've drowned long ago.

'Deceased:'

'Violet Robertson - died of heart-failure.'

You're that unfortunate.

It was your long lost aunt a week ago, was it not?

My condolences, Mrs. McGarvie...

You're so kind...

You'll be wanting to... examine the Records, no doubt?

The information you need... may be on the... tenth shelf...

Or even the eleventh...

It's the details of those dear departed one later cherishes...

...don't you think?

'Cherishable details,' Mrs. McGarvie.

How right you are.

Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!

Hello again!

Ah! Courtship!

Who's the baboon?

Who you callin' a baboon, ya wee poof?

Enough monkey play!

No juveniles with us, I trust?

Then this is your last chance to see the Tantalising...

...Princess Kali and her Dusky Disciple!

Oh, be still, girl!

At least that's one of you decent!

Hurry! Hurry!

Where've you been?

Sorry!

Kali - Kasbah - Magicaram!

I'm receiving a message.

About time, eh? I sent it a week ago!

I see a flower...

Gallery, mam...

Is there anyone here named...

...Rose?

'Aye! Up here! She's up here! Darlin', get up!

That's a lovely pair of red knickers you're wearing tonight, Rose!

Oh! Get away with you!

Prove her wrong, hen!

There is one I can see...

Such a lady!

Like a queen!

The lady's in a garden...

...a beautiful garden.

Third row...

She's like a flower herself.

Not a rose

a deep, dark flower

violet.

Violet's all alone.

But there's a space beside her for another

one left behind in this world.

For a moment, I saw a funny wee man in a bowler hat...

Why, it's Mr. Charles Chaplin!

No. Another Charles...

...Charles Robertson.

Charles!

Charles!

Oh, I'm sorry, Charles.

Violet says you're not looking after yourself.

Those cuffs are frayed.

Violet!

She wants to say something.

She says...

She's sorry her heart 'wasny stronger'...

Do you understand what she means, Charles?

It's how she went!

Her heart gave out.

It's true. It's true.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Who's the one who's lost his clock?

Have you lost something, Charlie?

I lost my watch!

It comes...

It comes!

From another world, it comes!

It comes!

Now!

There is an inscription, oh wise one...

No, no, no. Don't tell me!

I can see it...

'To Charles, with never ending love... '

...Your Violet'.

There's a chill wind in the garden.

- Violet has to go... - Oh, no...

'Until we meet again.'

'Goodbye, Charles.'

Goodbye... Goodbye... '

Oh, don't go, Violet.

Don't cling to her, Charles.

Be patient...

Until you meet again...

A glimpse of the afterlife? Or just a glimpse of mam?

It didn't matter.

We gave them what they wanted.

Showbiz isn't all it's cracked up to be.

The manager skid-addled and owed us for a whole month!

Mam said, 'See? That's men for you! '

And so we ended up livin' in a graveyard.

A wee bit before our time.

What have you got to laugh about?

The theatre's closed.

Those comics won't fill your tummy!

It's just a wee bit of fun, mam!

Oh, you sound just like your father!

'Just a wee bit o' fun, hen! '

Then all of a sudden, there was you!

Hurry up!

Mr. Houdini was the greatest trickster of them all...

... and the whole world loved him for it.

You couldn't imagine someone like that

could want for anything at all.

Oh, go on, mam. Read to me.

It just says what's in the picture.

You can read it yourself.

'On her death bed, Houdini's beloved Mother... '

'... spoke her last words to the Great Man himself.'

'Do Spirits Return? '

Houdini says - 'Prove it! '

'Now Famous Psychics try to Discover Those Secret Words'

'Ten thousand dollars for whoever transmits his mother's last words'

No one could pull off that one, could they?

How much is ten thousand dollars?

He's coming here!

To Edinburgh!

So he is...

Me and mam thought we could take on anyone

even the Great Houdini!

Harry!

You still here?

Where else?

You look fine, Harry.

I look like shit, Mr. Sugarman.

Let's go!

Hurry up!

Hurry up!

Hello, Edinburgh!

Houdini!

Mr. Houdini! We love you, Mr. Houdini!

We love you! We love you!

Welcome back to Scotland, Mr. Houdini!

Thank you, son.

That monster Nessie still here?