Houdini's Straitjacket — James Trivers

Ralph Snyder is a 21st century dentist living in Great Neck Long Island. He is besieged with a plethora of insurmountable problems: a severely autistic son, a horse-obsessed daughter, a demanding cliental, a looming property tax bill, an exhausted wife, and a recently deceased uncle.While going through his uncle's rent-controlled apartment, he chances upon a strait jacket that is supposedly the property of the greatest escape artist of all time-Henry Houdini.On a whim he dons the jacket and is instantly thrust in the spiritual and vaudevillian worlds of Houdini. There he lives the life of Henry Houdini and in doing so learns the tricks of his trade as well as falling in love with Houdini's wife, Bess, who ultimately teaches him how to successfully cope with his life.