Link: Hardeen Presents Houdini's Temple of Mystery

This is a must read over at Dean Carnegie's superb blog, Magic Detective. Dean has been on quite the Houdini-Hardeen tear of late, and this terrific article takes a look at something that doesn't get a lot of ink in Houdini bios. Click on the headline above to be magically transported Carnegie: Magic Detective and the Houdini-Hardeen Temple of Mystery.

Murray poster at auction

Ever hear of Murray?

Murray was an Australian escape artist who claimed to have coined the word, "escapologist." He really did some spectacular escapes (such as being bound in a straightjacket and thrown into a lions cage). Murray's career kicked-in after Houdini's death in the late '20s. In many ways, he was a very worthy successor. In 1974, Val Andrews wrote a nice biography of Murray, which I devoured as a kid.

Yeah, I've always had a minor thing for Murray.

Currently there is a nice signed Murray poster on eBay. Too bad it doesn't feature any escape imagery (but he is drinking a beer, so...). When I saw this this morning, it brought back some memories. Think I'll dig out that Andrews bio and give it another read.

Houdini A Pictorial Life Collector's Edition

Milbourne Christopher's 1976 book, Houdini: A Pictorial Life, has been released in a new "Collector's Edition" by 1878 Press. The hardcover contains additional material by Maurine Christopher and an introduction by David Haversat.

So is this worth the rather steep $41.95 price? I took the plunge for all of us and bought a copy, and here's what I have to report.

While the print quality is not quite as good as the original '76 book, it is a far cry better than the 1998 reprint from Gramercy. The color pages, completely missing from the Gramercy edition, are included here in a nice supplemental section containing many color pages, including an absolutely fantastic full page photo of a young Houdini holding a straitjacket that I've never seen.

Also unique to this edition is new section on Bess Houdini written by Maurine Christopher, which includes several terrific shots of Bess that, again, I've never seen. In the back of the book is a sleeve containing some "framable" extras from the Christopher collection. The book comes without a dust jacket.

I'd say this is absolutely worth the buy, especially if you don't have a copy of the original, or only have the '89 edition. And if you love your Bessie like I do...well, then there's no question about it.

 Houdini: A Pictorial Life Collector's Edition is currently being sold on eBay and Amazon.com.

New color section in Houdini A Pictorial Life Collector's Edition.

Hardeen headlines on the Boardwalk

Remy Auberjonois as Theo. Hardeen in Boardwalk Empire

After being name-checked in two episodes, Theo. Hardeen (played by Remy Auberjonois) finally made an appearance on HBO's Boardwalk Empire last night. The various reviews and recaps online have all made a point of mentioning his appearance, many drawing thematic parallels between Hardeen and the main character, Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi).

Link: Houdini’s Final Texas Tour By Ron Cartlidge

Kevin Connolly at Houdini Himself has the scoop on an updated version of Ron Cartlidge's look into Houdini's adventures in the Lone Star State. Click on the headline for details.

The Secrets of Houdini reprinted

Rogers Press has reprinted the 1931 book The Secrets of Houdini by J.C. Cannell in a new paperback edition for $29.95. The publisher's stated mission is to republish "classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork."

Nifty for us collectors and completists, but has the good old 1973 Dover edition ever gone out of print? I'm pretty certain I can walk into any magic shop in America and still find one sitting on the shelf for about $10. There was also the attractive Bell hardcover published in 1989 that is still surprisingly common.

And if one is so inclined to study the secrets of Houdini, the book you really should be reading is Houdini The Key by Patrick Culliton. Just saying.

You can buy Rogers Press' new The Secrets of Houdini paperback on Amazon.

Houdini's New Jersey film lab

Here's something cool. This 1921 advert from Exhibitors Trade Review just sold on eBay for a tidy $104. What makes this ad so special is the company running it is the Film Developing Corp., Houdini's ill-fated foray into "legitimate" business.

Note the executive list in the left hand corner: HARRY HOUDINI, Pres., T.W. HARDEEN, Sec'y and Treas, and NATHAN SALAND, Vice Pres.

What makes this ad even better is it features a photograph, which is the only photo I've ever seen of the West Hoboken facility. It should also be noted that the name here is clearly Film Developing Corp., not Film Development Corp., as it's called in most biographies.

Houdini started the FDC in 1916, promising a faster, cheaper process for developing motion picture film using machinery and chemicals worked out by an aniline dye expert named Gustav Dietz. At the time, most film developing was still done by hand. Houdini boasted that the FDC could turn out 8000 feet and hour, "more than any 20 human beings can in a week with their present methods." (Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss, p. 206)

Unfortunately, Houdini's film lab venture would prove to be a failure, costing Houdini and his investors (including magician Harry Kellar) dearly. Houdini would later confess, "It will be a Godsend for all of us if we get away from it in a legitimate manner."

UPDATE: Both Kevin Connolly (Houdini Himself) and Dean Carnegie (Magic Detective) have chimed in with their own contributions on this one.

Houdini's secret code

No, not that code, silly.

The following comes from an article in The American Weekly, June 20, 1945, written by a man named Joe Lee who claims to have been "the long and personal representative of Houdini." His "recollections" are pretty standard stuff (Houdini sealing pies from the cupboard as a boy), but there is this nice paragraph where he explains that he and Houdini had a secret code between them they would use in public.

Houdini and I had a secret signal. When an escape project was suggested in my presence Harry would think it over. If he said: "It's the toughest thing I've ever considered, but I'll tackle it," that meant: Joe, this is a chinch. Let them do what they, I'll handle it easily." and I'd go ahead and make the arrangements.

If he should say: "I'll have to give that some thought, " it would mean: "Take it easy, Joe. I'm not sure about this." I can't remember his ever giving me that latter signal."

So is this Joe Lee on the level? I'm not so sure. Lee claims, "I went with Houdini in 1922, as his publicity agent, general manager and chief investigator of phony mediums." But if Lee joined Houdini in 1922, this was somewhat passed the time Houdini was accepting challenge escapes, so his stories of arranging packing crate escapes with local manufactures are dubious. Also, Joe's colorful eye-witness account of how Houdini's vanishing elephant came about could only have happened in 1918, years before he claims to have joined the team.

Lee also makes the somewhat extraordinary claim that he was in the room during the famous Atlantic City seance when Lady Doyle  "contacted" Houdini's dead mother. But no one else puts Joe there. In fact, I can find no mention of a Joe Lee in any of the major biographies (apart from Culliton who sources this article in Houdini The Key).

So this is one to take with a grain of salt, but this "code" is a fun detail nevertheless. Here's the full article from the man who (maybe) knew Houdini.

Click to enlarge

Once again my thanks to Steven Bingen and the Warner Bros. Corporate Archive Research Center for providing this clipping.

When Indy met Harry

Houdini and Indiana Jones? Yep. Check out this clip from The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones ("Daredevils in the Desert") and find out how young Indy met Harry Houdini.

Of course, Indy, played here by Sean Patrick Flanery, is referring to Houdini’s brief career as a pioneer aviator when he became the first man to fly a plane in Australia in 1910. Apparently, he did so with Indiana Jones by his side!

It’s possible this is more than just a throwaway line of dialogue. When it first aired on CBS from 1992 to 1993, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (as it was originally called) alternated episodes set during two different periods of young Indy’s life; Indy as a teen (played by Flanery), and a pre-teen boy (played by Corey Carrier). This could be a reference to an episode that was planned for for the pre-teen Indy at some point in the future. Unfortunately, the series did not last that long.

Interestingly, there is a second Houdini connection in this particular episode. It co-stars a young Catherine Zeta-Jones who appeared in the most recent Houdini film, Death Defying Acts.

“Daredevils of the Desert” was released on DVD as part of The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Vol 2: The War Years.

Where's Indy?

The Brothers Houdini

Here's one from my own collection. This is a beautiful original photograph of Houdini and his brother, fellow escape artist, Theo. Hardeen, aka "Dash" in 1901. It's an uncommon shot.

John Cox Collection

Happy Thanksgiving.

RKO 589: Discovering Hollywood's first Houdini film

Part II: "The waters are dark for Pinetti."

Houdini getting lost under the ice of a frozen river is one of the most memorable scenes in the 1953 Paramount movie Houdini, starring Tony Curtis. But did you know that scene was first due to appear in a "Houdini" film 21 years earlier?

This was just another surprise discovery I made while examining the long forgotten file on “RKO 589,” aka Now You See It -- Hollywood's first attempt to make a movie based on the life of Harry Houdini. The file was unearthed by Warner Bros. archivist and Houdini buff, Steven Bingen (author of the upcoming book MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot), in the massive Warner Bros. Corporate Archives in Sun Valley, CA.

The entrance to RKO

Now You See It was set-up at RKO by Houdini’s friend and fellow crusader against fraudulent spiritualists, Fulton Oursler. From the outset it was clear this would be a Houdini film, even though the main character would be called Harry Pinetti. Actor Paul Muni was touted as being "an ideal Houdini." During September and November 1932, Oursler delivered two treatments, mining Houdini lore and his own imagination to create a raucous and fairly dark movie (see PART I for a full examination of Oursler's treatments). The studio then brought in Kubec Glasmon, writer of the James Cagney hit The Public Enemy (1931), to help Pinetti escape the page and make it to the screen.

Link: 'Mysteries of the Museum' to feature haunted Harry Houdini bust

The Travel Channel's new series, "Mysteries of the Museum," will examine
 the case of the haunted bust in a program airing at 8 p.m. today.

RKO 589: Discovering Hollywood's first Houdini film

Part I: "Paul Muni would make an ideal Houdini."

Recently I had the extreme pleasure of traveling to the Warner Bros. Corporate Archive to examine the long forgotten file on what could very well be Hollywood's first attempt to make a movie based on the life of Harry Houdini.

The file was discovered by archivist Steven Bingen, a fellow Houdini buff and all around good guy (as well as the author of the upcoming book, MGM: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot). Steve encouraged me to have a look. He didn't have time to examine the file himself, but he was pretty certain it predated Paramount's 1936 Houdini The Great. Besides, this wasn't a Paramount project. This file had come from a box in the archives of the late great RKO Studios (and I have a particular fascination with RKO).

RKO Studios at Melrose and Gower in Hollywood (now part of Paramount)

So, early on a Monday, I set off to the massive Warner Bros. Corporate Archive Research Center in Sun Valley, where Steve was waiting with an old file box from the vaults. From inside he pulled the thick file for "RKO 589" (the production number) and said it was very likely that no one had laid eyes on this in 50 years. He left me to have at it, and asked me to let him know if I found anything interesting.

The first thing I saw blew my mind.

Houdini Gut Punch

I'm not sure whether this new book has anything to do do with Houdini beyond the title, Houdini Gut Punch, but, hey, it has Houdini in the title!

This appears to be an anthology of stories -- "a multicolored galaxy of uppers, downers, laughers, and screamers" -- complied by Jonathan Moon.

You can purchase Houdini Gut Punch on Amazon.com.

Monday...

On Monday I will reveal what I believe is the earliest attempt by a major studio to make a movie based on Houdini's life. As far as I know, this information has lay undiscovered for over 70 years. Houdini and Hollywood history might be made right here at our humble little blog...

Monday.

HOUDINI (1998)

On Sunday, December 6, 1998, writer/director Pen Denshem (who produced the 1979 documentary, Houdini Never Died) realized a dream when his cable film HOUDINI aired as a “TNT Original” movie. The film was supported with strong advertising, making the broadcast a cable television event. The network even broadcast two “encore” presentations immediately after the debut.

HOUDINI, which was filmed under the title, Believe, stars Johnathon Schaech as Houdini, Stacy Edwards as Bess, and Mark Ruffalo as Theo (Hardeen). Shimada also makes a cameo appearance as a street magician. Production design is magnificent, as is the musical score, and while not the best of the Houdini biopics, it has much to recommend it.

Notably, HOUDINI is the first Houdini biography to tackle and dramatize the issue of Houdini’s egotism. Certainly in this way Schaech’s manic Houdini is far different from Tony Curtis or Paul Michael Glaser. Of course, it also makes him less likable and more alienating. But as Bessie says in the film, “I fell in love with Ehrich Weiss. I put up with Houdini.”

While Houdini takes plenty of dramatic license (Houdini’s mother never kissed or held him?), it still does a good job of weaving in Houdini history. It is the first Houdini film to give an accurate account of how he and Bess met. In HOUDINI we see them come together as fellow performers; Bessie as part of the Floral Sisters and Harry performing with brother Theo as The Houdini Brothers (okay, they were “The Brothers Houdini,” but that’s a quibble). We also get to see the death bed promise young Ehrich makes to his father. Jim Collins (Karl Makinen) and Martin Beck (George Segal) play their critical rolls in Houdini’s life and career. Even Houdini’s authorship of The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin is given a mention.

The film starts to get somewhat loose in both history and drama in the final third, with Houdini suddenly ensconced in a throne-like office space and, yes, failing to escape from the Water Torture Cell after being punched in the stomach. The great Hollywood myth of the USD contributing to Houdini’s death continues here. Amazing.

But the film keeps the pedal to the metal in its depiction of Houdini’s stunts, eager to show Houdini as the original king of “extreme” (is that still a thing?). Standouts are the suspended straightjacket escape and a rather flamboyant depiction of the Milk Can. Jim Bentley and Jim Thompson are credited as magic consultants.

The framing device for HOUDINI is a live radio seance. This is presumably the 1936 final Houdini seance which was held on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood. Here it is presented on a theater stage, probably for budgetary or production reasons. Oddly, the film climaxes with Houdini making a rather star-child return from the dead. It’s a bit off the reservation, but it’s well written and beautifully performed, and does give the movie an emotional and, yes, magical conclusion.

Densham explains his ending by saying, “Well, you can look at it three ways: Either he dreamed it, or she dreamed it, or it really happened. I have my own theory, but I’d prefer not to say.”

HOUDINI was released on VHS in 2000, but it has yet to appear on DVD. While Death Defying Acts was released in 2008, Houdini was the last straight-ahead biopic of the great magician. Let's hope it isn't the last.

Johnathon Schaech as Houdini

Also enjoy:

• The Great Houdinis (1976)
• Young Harry Houdini (1987)
• HOUDINI (1953)
• FairyTale: A True Story (1997)
• Death Defying Acts (2008)

Tomorrow...

I'm going to end our first full week online with a post that is a bit unusual. My hope is what I have to offer will help ignite fresh research and lead to new discoveries. It will certainly arouse curiosity in some. So watch this space tomorrow when I reveal... What Sid Told Me.

Hardeen hits the Boardwalk Nov. 28

I’ve finally been able to nail down some specifics on Theo. Hardeen’s upcoming appearance on Martin Scorsese’s HBO series, Boardwalk Empire.

While Houdini’s brother was name-checked in episode six (Family Limitation) and episode nine (Belle Femme), he will make an actual appearance in episode 11, Paris Green, played by actor Remy Auberjonois. That episode is due to air on November 28.

There is also an article by Jim Steinmeyer about Hardeen and Boardwalk Empire in the November issue of Genii.

Hardeen is starting to chock up a respectable filmography. He was first portrayed on screen by Jack Carter in the 1976 ABC telefilm, The Great Houdinis. He had a much bigger role in the 1998 TNT original movie, HOUDINI, played by Mark Ruffalo. Of course, the real Theo. Hardeen is said to have appeared in a film called Medium Well Done, but I don't believe that film has ever surfaced.

Get 'The Truth About Houdini' on DVD

So Act Network is selling a DVD of the 1971 BBC-Patria Pictures documentary, The Truth About Houdini, on Amazon.

The Truth About Houdini is one of the better Houdini docs, in my opinion. It contains terrific interviews with Milbourne Christopher, Walter B. Gibson, James Randi, and Sidney Radner. It also includes a great deal of unedited Houdini footage, credited as coming from the collection of Larry Weeks (the man who is currently squatting on the only known print of The Grim Game, but don't get me started on all that).

In fact, much of the footage missing from Kino’s Houdini The Movie Star can be found here, including Houdini’s underwater box escape from The Master Mystery and key missing shots from his 1909 movie, Merveilleux Exploits du Célébre Houdini à Paris.

This So Act Network copy is a no frills home-made type of thing (listed on Amazon under the title "The Magic of Houdini"), but the quality is decent and the documentary is complete, containing Sid Radner’s punishing punishment suit escape that was cut when the documentary aired on American TV in 1976.

Watch a two minute clip from The Truth About Houdini below.

UPDATE: Apparently this DVD is no longer available from So Act Network.

Link: The American Museum of Magic launches new website

Ragtime released for the Kindle

E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime has been released for the Kindle. As far as I know, this is the first eBook version of the 1975 bestseller.

Ragtime features Houdini in a major role. The book has been adapted as both a film and a Broadway musical.

Get Ragtime for the Kindle on Amazon.

Arthur Moses shares his Houdini Room

Here’s a real treat. This is a guided video tour of the amazing Arthur Moses Houdini collection in Fort Worth, Texas.

Arthur is one of the foremost Houdini collectors in the world, a major contributor to the current exhibition, Houdini Art And Magic (on show now at the Jewish Museum in New York), and the author of Houdini A Periodical Bibliography and Houdini Speaks Out, which utilizes Houdini’s original glass lantern slides (seen in the clip) to recreate his anti-spiritualist lecture. He's also a very nice guy.

Prepare to drool.

You can read an interview with Arthur at The Jewish Museum Blog.

Houdini vs. Boudini: The forgotten challenge

The only known photo of Houdini and Boudini. Full length version
 appears in Houdini The Key by Patrick Culliton.

One of the more curious and obscure episodes in Houdini's early career was his encounter with rival escape artist, Jacques Boudini. Many cast skepticism on this "challenge," suspecting the entire thing was staged, and it very well could have been. Houdini was not above staging such encounters for publicity, and the fact that it didn't entirely sell to the newsmen on the scene is maybe why Houdini never retold this story or featured it in pitchbooks the way he boasted of besting other rivals like Cirnoc and Kleppini.

It was Milbourne Christopher who brought this episode back to life in his 1969 biography, Houdini The Untold Story. In 2006's The Secret Life of Houdini, authors Kalush and Sloman also relate the event, adding that Boudini was a "pupil" of Houdini's gone rogue. (They also note this is the earliest record of Houdini releasing himself from shackles while underwater.) Patrick Culliton tells me he "nursed a theory for years" that Jacques Boudini was actually Jacob Hyman, Houdini's first partner in the Brothers Houdini. But Pat surrendered this theory when he finally uncovered a photograph of Houdini and Boudini (which is reproduced in his new book, Houdini The Key).

One of my first forays into independent research (when I was 16) was to use the clues in Christopher to search the microfilm archives at Cal State University Northridge for an account of this event. What I found was this terrific article from the New York Times dated September 21, 1905 (which calls him Bondini). I've transcribed it below so we can all relive this forgotten challenge exactly as it happened back in the day. It's Houdini vs. Boudini (or Bondini). Enjoy!

Watch this space...

I've just returned from the Warner Bros. Corporate Archives where I spent 4 1/2 fascinating hours examining a file on what I believe is the earliest attempt by a studio to mount a major "Houdini" biopic. And, no, it's not this one. And, yes, they did have a star in mind.

I think this is a first, and I think Houdini history could be made right here at our humble little blog.

This might take me a while to work up (I have a wealth of material to work through), but I just wanted to give a heads-up and a little tease. Watch this space.

UPDATE: Here's we go. "RKO 589: Discovering Hollywood's first Houdini film"

Did the Houdinis have a daughter?

Click to enlarge

Check it out. This challenge announcement appeared in the Ohio State Journal on December 6, 1911. But what makes the particular article so intriguing is in it Bess Houdini states that she and Harry have a daughter!?

Okay, obviously, the Houdinis did not have children, even though they are said to have both wanted them (they made up for it with pets). While Ruth Brandon speculated in The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini that Houdini may have been impotent (there’s also a theory that he made himself sterile by fooling around with his brother’s X-ray equipment), I was told by Marie Blood in 1995 that it was “aunt Bess” who couldn’t have children.

So what do we make of this quote?

Well, perhaps Bess was as much a myth-maker as her husband? While Houdini created tales that made him into an even greater superman, maybe Bessie on this day decided to make herself into what she always longed to be...(a) Mama.

Thanks to Adam Steinfeld of Adam Steinfeld Magic Live for the alert.