"Mystery and Wonder: A Legacy of Golden Age Magicians in New York City" opens February 12, 2026, and will run until July 11, 2026.
Want more? Charles, one of our fellow patrons, provided photos of an early Houdini letter he discovered in an NYPL scrapbook. You can check that treasure out on my Patreon below.
Thank you, Charles!
John is that an example of we will see at next year’s collectors expo in NY? If so great, The posters so cool if I could have just one.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's exactly what this was. A little preview.
DeleteI recognize three of the four photographs. The Grim Game still used for the movie poster. Incredible! The mystery photo : he's posing with somebody who appears to be sitting down.
ReplyDeleteI think that dude Harry is sitting with is Thruston. - Abby Martin
DeleteYou're right!
DeleteI have most of these photos on Pinterest. I have a Houdini board! Hehe. 😊❤️ What kind of magic did Thruston do? - Abby Martin
DeleteNo!!! Not the Houdini/Thurston photo. I'm referring to the other photo where he's with somebody. There's a large black diagonal strip on the bottom corner of the photo. C'mon man!
DeleteThurston was an illusionist. He had a touring show with large scale illusions like the Levitation of Princess Karnak, and the Girl Without a Middle. Copperfield has also performed these illusions. Kellar sold him his show in 1908 and had annointed Thurston as his successor. Kellar was later unhappy to see Thurston ruin his Levitation illusion.
DeleteOooooh! The other one! I’ve seen that one too, but It’s all cut off. - Abby Martin
DeleteYou can see that pic here:
Deletehttps://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/59538450-ff75-012f-3ec7-58d385a7bc34#
The NYPL identifies the man as Ira Davenport, but he sure looks different from the famous photo of HH and Ira here:
https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2013/02/houdini-we-started-it-you-finish-it.html
Nice thank you! You're right--that old man doesn't look like the Ira Davenport from Houdini's July 1910 visit to Mayville, New York. Ira dies a year later. Is it possible HH visited him later one more time before his death?
DeleteHoudini left for Europe shortly after that 1910 meeting. He didn't come home until July 1911. He was going to see Ira on July 9, but he died on July 8. So no second face to face that I'm aware of.
DeleteInteresting--no second face to face down the road. Here's another theory: It's the July 1910 Ira of Mayville, but he gets a haircut and mustache trim. In the Houdini photo he sports a heavy walrus mustache and has more hair. They stepped out into town and Ira visited a Barber shop.
DeleteHere's my theory: The man in the photo is not Ira Davenport. :p
DeleteExcept that Houdini in that mystery photo looks very much like the Houdini in the Mayville 1910 photo. His bow tie in both photos looks similar, and so does his hair. You can date Houdini in photos solely by his hair: style, length, color.
DeleteMystery solved. The man is E. Patrick Talon, son of the magician Philippe.
Delete