Herbert Lawrence Becker (born August 12, 1951) is an American former magician,

escapologist Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists (also classified as escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks, and ...

stunt performer A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

, author, and businessman. As a magician, Becker performed as ''Kardeen''.

Biography

Early life

Herbert Lawrence Becker was born in

Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb in the Miami metropolitan area. The population of Hollywood was 153,067 as of 2020, making it the Broward County#Communities, third-largest city in Broward County, th ...

in 1951.

Magic

Becker performed under the name "The Kardeen Brothers" with Marc Nicols. Later, he worked solo as "The Great Kardeen". Kardeen bested then replaced Harry Houdini as the Worlds Fastest Escape Artist in the Guinness Book of World Records. He helped open the first Guinness Museums, toured with ''Guinness on Parade'' and performed at the

Steel Pier The Steel Pier is a 1,000-foot-long () amusement park built on a pier of the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, across from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City (formerly the Trump Taj Mahal). Built in 1897 and opened in 1898, it wa ...

and

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

(1976) with the

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

show. As a magician, Becker toured worldwide until he retired in 1978. Becker appeared as himself (a magician) on the Orlando television program

Bozo the Clown Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century. He was introduced in the United States in 1946, and to tel ...

appearing weekly and

The Maury Povich Show ''Maury'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Maury Povich. It ran for thirty-one seasons from September 9, 1991, to September 8, 2022, in which it broadcast 5,545 episodes. The show frequently featured paternity ...

(2001).https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0065434/ In his book ''All the Secrets of Magic Revealed: The Tricks and Illusions of the World's Greatest Magicians'', Becker explained how magicians such as

Harry Houdini Erik Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known professionally as Harry Houdini ( ), was a Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts. Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in ...

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

Doug Henning Douglas James Henning (May 3, 1947 – February 7, 2000) was a Canadian magician, illusionist, escape artist and politician. Early life Henning was born in the Fort Garry district of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Henning became interested in magi ...

, and

Siegfried and Roy Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

created some of their most famous illusions, to the consternation of his colleagues. Becker caused more unhappiness among magicians when he appeared on the television talk show of Maury Povich in March 1997 and exposed the secrets behind such well-known magic tricks as sawing a person in half. Becker has written ''Magic Secrets'' and ''So That's How They Do It''.

Business and consulting

Becker served as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of ''Barclay Road'', a boutique book publishing house. Becker retired from as CEO on July 2, 2008, but continued as an advisor until the company ceased operations.

Litigation

Becker has been involved in legal disputes with

. Copperfield sued Becker in an attempt to prevent publication of ''All the Secrets of Magic Revealed: The Tricks and Illusions of the World's Greatest Magicians'' (Lifetime Books, Inc. (March 11, 1997); ) which Copperfield maintained revealed some of Copperfield's secrets. Becker then sued his publisher, Lifetime Books, for purportedly colluding with Copperfield to remove details of Copperfield's illusions.

Books

* ''101 Greatest Magic Secrets Exposed'', Citadel (March 2002); * ''All the Secrets of Magic Revealed: The Tricks and Illusions of the World's Greatest Magicians'', Lifetime Books, Inc. (March 11, 1997); * ''More Magic Secrets'', Lifetime Books, Inc. January 1997 * The Art of Retail As Told by the World's Leader in Retail Management and Turn Around Expert * ''John Lennon: Between the Lines'', Lifetime Books, Inc. October 1997 * ''The magic secrets of David Blaine: The street magician revealed'', Lifetime Books, Inc. 2007 (English and French Edition) * ''Magic Hands: Professional Card Trick Secrets Revealed'', Cedar Fort, Inc (April 11, 2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Herbert L. Living people American magicians People from Hollywood, Florida 1951 births