Magic Behind the Iron Curtain

In February, 1987 I traveled to the Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). At that time, Communism was in full force around the world and the Soviet Union, as it was then called was a real and present threat to the United States of America and western Europe. President Ronald Reagan and Premiere Mikhail Gorbachev were at times, locked in disagreement, but had been going back and forth throughout the decade with agreements and disagreements with a particularly bad disagreement in Iceland. It was under these global tensions, that I traveled to the Soviet Union with the intent of performing and touring. Of particular note, was my experience in a Moscow Police station in which I escaped close to a dozen sets of handcuffs locked onto by KGB officers.

Both of the posters above and the one below were commissioned for different audiences in the months after this escape in 1987 and are shown here.

While in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) I had entertained numerous times the people and especially children with all forms of magic, mostly close-up magic. Later, in Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent, I did the same--meeting children and adults and entertaining them with magic Playing cards, Ruble coins, ropes, silk scarves all were part and parcel of the magic effects I did for the Soviet people. One of my favorite coins was the large Ruble coin which was about as large as an American half dollar and had a side profile of Lenin on the coin.
But, this is the story of my handcuff escape on a Wednesday in February of 1987. It was while in Moscow, that things became interesting. My translator, a woman by the name of Irina, was a huge fan of magic and many days I would entertain her and some of the children she brought to me with all kinds of magic. Irina was aware that I was an escape artist and had made a casual suggestion that I escape handcuffs from the Soviet Police. Not thinking she was serious, I told her that if she arranged it, I would most certainly make the attempt, not really thinking this would be possible. Our interactions earlier with Soviet Police while coming into the country were less than enthusiastic--however I went with it. Much to my surprise several days later while in Red Square and having just made a short visit to St. Basil's and prior to that, Lenin's Tomb, Irina had asked me if I would be availible after lunch to follow her to a police station.

Irina and I and another young lady had made the trek through the streets of Moscow where she had hailed a cab and we ended up in another part of the city. I remember walking with her into a police station and meeting several officers. I began with some card tricks in which their signed playing card appeared in various parts of the deck and for a final appeared in my wallet. All the while, Irina was speaking to them in Russian and since I could not understand the language, my assumption was that she was narrating what I was doing.  At a certain point, one of the officers left the group and came back with about ten handcuffs and a few leg irons all connected on a large cylindrical ring. He started to take them off the ring and lay them out on a large wooden table in front of me. Still, Irina is conversing with them in Russian. I kept looking to her and then to them, trying to understand what is going on. Finally, Irina turns to me and says in English.

"They say you cannot escape Soviet handcuffs."

My response was to nod and say let's give it a try. I had taken off my leather jacket and began to roll up my sleeves when one officer stopped me. He grabbed my jacket and started to go through the pockets. He unzipped the lining separating it from the jacket, obviously looking for something and, not finding it, placed both onto the wooden chair behind the table. He then grabbed my sleeves patting them down and assisted me in rolling them above my elbows. Each set of handcuffs was placed onto my wrists locking them down very tight. These were not the handcuffs I was used too--western, machined restraints with oiled locks and smooth edges. These were rusted, old and crudely made, one I remember was being held together by screws. Another that had a bent shackle and took two police officers to lock it securely on my wrists. they had to force the shackle into the lock. Each set of handcuffs was locked onto my wrists and every set was made tighter than the last. The one that was highest on my arms cut off the blood circulation and were extremely painful. I asked Irina to ask if I may retire to another room to escape but they declined. Though I could not understand the language, I did see them all nod 'no'. I motioned to put my hands under the table but again they motioned for me to keep my hands in front. I sat down on the table and Irina mentioned to me they wanted me to stand. I got to a kneeling position and with their help, was able to stand up.

They brought me a folded ratty yellow blanket which had a musty odor and draped it over my arms to mask the restraints. In this position, standing on this table, Irina at the front and a group of Soviet KGB officials behind her, I escaped all of the restraints one at a time in a number of minutes dropping them from under the blanket to the floor.

With Irina brokering the deal,  I was able to trade a few items for the rusted barely working restraints used on me that day. I had triumphed over the KGB and I most wanted to keep these restraints as a memory of this event.  They are a study in the crude workmanship of locks and other restraints made during the Communist era.

I left the Moscow police station with the handcuffs in a plastic bag and with Irina took a cab back across town to where I was staying at the Cosmos in Moscow.