However, not everyone gave him access. In his sourcebook, NOTES to Houdini!!!, Ken shares the following:
Most collectors generously allowed me to see and quote from material they owned. (I thank them individually in the book.) But to my frustration, two collectors with sizable Houdini holdings gave me only limited access, and two others refused to let me see anything at all. May they live and be well, these folks.
Silverman was clearly miffed, but he was classy enough not to name these individuals. That just makes me all the more curious. Who were they? What were their reasons for denying him access? Ken Silverman was a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, so he was clearly going to produce a quality Houdini book. And he did.
Below are the individuals that Ken thanks by name in Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss, so we know it's not any of these folks:
No less of my information about Houdini has come from the holdings of private collectors. Tom Boldt of Appleton, Wisconsin, invited me to read investigative reports prepared for Houdini by Rose Mackenberg and Stewart Griscom, Houdini’s account of his visit to Anna Eva Fay, and a hundred-page stenographic record of Houdini’s Philadelphia confrontation with J. Malcolm Bird. Mario Carrandi Jr., of Belle Mead, New Jersey, graciously allowed me to take notes on Houdini’s quarrelsome correspondence with Martin Beck, and to examine rare cabinet photographs of Houdini. From the large collection of the late Milbourne Christopher (1914-84)— magician and historian of magic—Mrs. Maurine Christopher permitted me to select for study manuscripts that include some of Houdini’s letters to Will Goldston, Harry Kellar, and others, and Houdini’s draft of A Magician Among the Spirits. David Copperfield gave me entry to his magic museum in Las Vegas, housing many of Houdini’s notes on tricks, his wax cylinder recording of patter for the Water Torture Cell, and many unique Houdini posters, lockpicks, and photos. I spent a full day at the home of David Meyer in Glenwood, Illinois, researching his choice scrapbook of clippings and personal memorabilia amassed by Houdini between 1900 and 1905. Stanley Palm of Brooklyn, New York, gave me unlimited consultation of a scrapbook gathered by Houdini in the 1890s and of Houdini’s first diary (ca. 1878-79)—key items in my account of Houdini’s early career. Most of Houdini’s other diaries—indispensable to writing his biography—are owned by a collector who generously allowed me to read them but wishes to remain anonymous.Other collectors who own and have furnished me with original Houdini material are Roger W. Barrett, Marie Blood, John Bryce, Jr., Mike Caveney, Kevin Connolly, James Crossini, Patrick Culliton, Frank Dailey, John Daniel, Paul Daniels, Edwin A. Dawes, David De-Val, Diego Domingo, Roger E. Dreyer, John Gaughan, Ron Hilgert, Edward Hill, John Hinson, Don Hinz, Volker Huber, Ann M. James, Gene Keeney, Dorothy Young Kiamie, Ken Klosterman, George S. Lowry, William Mcllhany, Arthur E. Moses, Henry Muller, Norm Nielsen, Fulton Oursler, Jr., Charles Reynolds, Tom Rozoff, Stephen Sparks, the late Manny Weltman, and Herb Zarrow. They all have my liveliest gratitude, although my exact debt to each is made clear only in the full notes.Others from whom I received valuable information about Houdini include Barbara Belford, John Booth, Dick Brooks, Mildred L. Buckley, David Charvet, Ormus Davenport (Ira Davenport’s great-grandson), Dorothy Dietrich, Carol Durgin, Tom Ewing, Jack Flosso, Ken Force, Stephen James Forrester, Lewis Frumkes, Alfred Holden, Ricky Jay, Walter Johnson, S. T. Joshi, Frank Koval, Kathy Leab, Bill Liles, Norman Mailer, Brooks McNamara, Marion Meade, Joel Miller, Ona Nowina-Sapinsky, Dr. James G. Ravin, Mrs. Alfred W. Roberts, David Roth, Clarice Stasz, Ken Trombly, the late M. Samuel White (Houdini’s nephew). Dr. Richard Wresch, and W. Gordon Yadon.
You might notice that Sidney Radner is not on this list. But that's because he was given his own thank you paragraph. One person, now deceased, is conspicuously absent. I strongly suspect he was one of the holdouts. But absence from this list does not necessarily identify the holdouts. Heck, I'm not on this list! And some people who are active today might not have been active in the early to mid-1990s.
Anyway, I've often puzzled over this, especially as I travel many of the same roads that Silverman traveled. It's also an intriguing part of this important book's legacy as we near its 30th anniversary.
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| Silverman with Sid Radner in 1991. |
When I was working on the Channing Pollock book, I too was grateful for all of the help I got from those that knew the great man. His family especially.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there were those that just would not contribute for whatever reason. Maybe because I was a stranger... I'm not entirely sure. But, there are things like personal stories that would have been valuable to include in the book.
Still, I had enough material to create a lengthy book that is well documented. And that is because of those that gave the most precious resource available for biographers... their time.
As far as the Silverman book, I think it's the best researched book I have ever read on Houdini. His list of contributors was inspiring to me when I too went on the quest to honor one of the greats in magic.
Bravo Mr. Silverman. What a fine work of art you produced.
I love the Silverman book. Always have. However, I am starting to see what Pat Culliton has always said was there, and that it was written with "a kind of academic arrogance." One can come away from the book thinking Houdini was a bit of an egocentric dummy. But the man I am finding is far smarter, funnier, and more self-aware than what comes across in Silverman. But his writing is superb, and his commitment to research is incredible.
DeleteSilverman did make HH look like an egocentric dummy here and there in the book, but he was only pointing out what he saw. HH had a big ego, and Silverman mentioned a number of examples like the HH monograms in 278, on his pajamas, laundry bag, and so on. And then there were the quotes from people who noticed his vanity.
DeleteHH was a smart guy who did make some dummy decisions. Smart people make bad decisions. He should have closed the FDC much sooner than he did to cut his losses. Kellar told him to do it, and he didn't listen.
Hollywood correctly realized that he wasn't a bankable main attraction movie star. Box office receipts don't lie. He refused to see that and dived into moviemaking with himself as the main star. And finally the ultimate bad decision that cost him his life: Delaying emergency surgery.
Thanks for posting this, John! My thoughts ran along these lines as well. Who were the two collectors/historians that refused to help Silverman? The late William Rauscher is conspicuously absent from the list. Did he have a sizeable Houdini collection? Or maybe he had a few rare items like a Houdini letter or photograph Professor Silverman wanted to see.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Rev Rauscher ever had what one might call a sizable Houdini collection. He did have some important props. But I don't think much in the way of letters and paper, which is what Silverman would have been after. Also, Bill was very generous! I would scratch him from the suspect list.
DeleteScratched. Maybe Larry Weeks? He was a bit enigmatic.
DeleteI would put Larry at the top of the list. It's clear Silverman never saw The Grim Game.
DeleteYou mean Silverman didn't see the Grim Game when he worked on his HH bio? It premiered in October 2015 and he died in 2017, so he must have seen it from the TCM broadcasts. You can tell from the book he hadn't seen it yet.
DeleteYes, I mean when he was working on his book.
DeleteI remember at an L.A. Conference, (1993 or 1995?) Silverman and Weltman were there and were odds at something or at least very strained between them...I remember Manny saying something like he was trying to do better with Ken, which for Manny was something. He
ReplyDeleteacknowledges Manny in his book, so don't know if he held anything back (he had a HH diary.) or not.
James Randi isn't acknowledged?...but it wasn't hard to be on his bad list, so who knows?
Manny may have been one of the partial holdouts. At that time, he was working on what I always thought he intended to be his own series of books on Houdini. But he only ever finished the first one. Ken may have seen that airplane footage from The Grim Game at Manny's. That's how I first saw it. I can't recall if anything from the 1916 diary is quoted in Silverman. Manny may have held that back, which would have been a shame, but understandable if Manny intended to use it himself.
DeleteI'm not sure James Randi ever had a big Houdini collection, did he?
We know the Ernst family gave Silverman limited access to their HH diaries. I wonder who was the other collector that gave him limited access? There were two parties that gave him limited access.
ReplyDeleteErnst got a nice big thank you, although he wished to remain anonymous. Silverman had full access to the diaries and clearly appreciated that. His time may have been limited, but that's not unusual. The way I read Silverman's paragraph is that those four parties (two holdouts and two limiters) are not named/thanked elsewhere.
DeleteSpeaking of diaries. Did you notice he thanks Stanley Palm for letting him read "Houdini’s first diary (ca. 1878-79)." Clearly a mistake, and he means the 1897-1899 diary.
DeleteUnderstood, not the Ernst family. Yes I did see that Palm mention and wondered about a still earlier diary. Then the dates hit you. Harry would have been 4 in 1878. Mr. Palm was apparently the caretaker of the diary before Dr. Averbook. The two that had sizeable holdings only gave Silverman limited access. It must mean that there are at least two anonymous big Houdini collectors out there. Maybe Culliton knows their identities.
DeleteI heard a story that when Ken was granted some access to the diaries, he was only allowed/able to read and speak into a recorder, not write notes down. Because he was given a limited amount of time, reading/recording was the best way to cover as much of the diaries as allowed.
ReplyDeleteThankfully Bill Kalush later received better access.
I didn't think that was a restriction. I thought that was his own very good idea.
DeleteIn an interview shortly after the publication of the HH bio, Silverman was interviewed in Stan Allen's Magic magazine. He said the Ernst family gave him a time restriction to read the diaries so he dictated the entries into a tape recorder. It was a clever way to store the information he saw in short order.
DeleteIn that same interview Silverman mentioned that more information about Houdini would eventually surface in the years ahead. That statement has remained with me all these years, and he was right!
DeleteAnd more continues to surface. Manny Weltman said even after a lifetime of research he was still amazed how much more information was revealing past unknown (now) facts about HH. Even today in this internet/digitized world, more continues to be revealed.
DeleteMight be in part why Ken said there is no such thing as a definitive biography.
I do know that my friend the late David Price did help out with a few minor details. David told me that Silverman called him to clarify a few minor points.
ReplyDelete