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| Rockford Register Star, Aug 28,1926. |
There’s a new children’s book about Harry Houdini out this week. I wrote it. It wasn’t easy.In a way, the project started the year I turned eight. First, a magician friend of my father’s called me onstage where I placed my small hand into a guillotine, watched it get ‘chopped off’, and amazingly replaced. The next thing I knew, I was studying Marshall Brodeen commercials and developing a crush on Tony Curtis as Houdini.
At some point I received a magic kit but never astonished anyone, not even my parents. My coins dropped, my pompom balls stayed put, and my cards flopped. “Ta da! The Ace of Spades!” “Sorry, it’s the King of Hearts.” Magic had looked so easy! Like many childhood obsessions, this one ended with the tricks in the trash and a vague sense that there was something about ‘magic’ that I didn’t understand.
So, except for wearing a magician costume to a college Halloween party, seeing big name magicians in Vegas, and a few local shows with my own kids, magic was not part of my life. In 2012, I found myself on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Library of Congress. Shifting careers from the corporate world to writing children’s nonfiction, I was researching a book on Thomas Jefferson. I jotted a quick note about a sign in one of the library’s myriad hallways, “Harry Houdini Collection.” I imagined it to be a few dusty boxes of magic paraphernalia. Instead, a quick Wikipedia search told me that the LoC Houdini shelves contained almost 4,000 volumes. And that wasn’t even Harry’s entire collection! That’s weird, I thought, Why would a magician need so many books?
So, off and on I thought about Harry; but spent the next dozen years publishing children’s books on other topics. In 2021, I mentioned Houdini to my editor and was floored by her enthusiastic response. I started learning—reading all the major Houdini biographies, talking to folks at the Library of Congress. But after months of false starts, I almost gave up. I couldn’t figure out what needed to be said about Houdini that hadn’t been said to kids before. Until…
I found Wild About Harry. John’s detailed posts about Houdini and your involved comments deepened my thinking about the man’s personality and influence. Because of posts and people found on the site, I wound up touring 278—Harry and Bess’ NYC home, visiting Gabe Fajuri at Potter & Potter, researching in Appleton and Austin, plus benefitting from the wisdom of the many Houdini collectors in this community. It was Harry’s relevance to your lives that led me to discover his relevance for today’s kids.
My newest picture book, Houdini’s Library, is the story of an immigrant boy who starts with almost nothing and become a superhero for the ages with the help of books. It’s a multi-layered story about magic—the magic of books, the magic of community, and of course, the magic of secrets, illusion, and escape.
Through the last four years of researching, drafting, and revising Houdini’s Library, I finally figured out what I hadn’t understood about magic as a child. Just like writing children’s books, magic can look simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Effortlessness (in writing or magic) is the result of focus and discipline. Houdini read and practiced, read and invented, read and met with experts, read and worked out, read and wrote, and practiced some more. I bet he felt like giving up sometimes (you know I did!), but Harry’s persistent commitment to excellence in his craft is a wonderful model for children. And Houdini truly loved his books, “The public knows me as a magician…it does not realize that I am a student.” The story of the boy who became the world’s best-known magician also turns out to be a tale of how to become a lifelong learner. No wonder so many (including Dua Lipa and Eminem) are wild about Harry!
I hope you will be as wild about Houdini’s Library as I have been about learning from each of you. I hope you pour over the detailed cut-paper dioramas of Harry’s life (truly magical!) created by illustrator Mar Delmar. I hope you will notice that the book is dedicated to our hardworking historian John Cox. And most importantly, I hope you will share the secret story of Houdini’s Library with a child in your life.
This time, I’ve worked hard enough to promise a bit of magic.
Barb Rosenstock is the award-winning author of nonfiction and historical fiction books for young readers. Her book, THE NOISY PAINT BOX, was awarded a Caldecott Honor in 2015. In addition to HOUDINI’S LIBRARY, other recent titles include SEA WITHOUT A SHORE, THE GREAT LAKES, and THE MYSTERY OF THE MONARCHS. Her first nonfiction book for young adults, AMERICAN SPIRITS: The Famous Fox Sisters and the Mysterious Fad that Haunted a Nation, has been named a 2025 Kirkus Best Books of the Year. A native Chicagoan, Barb loves to share ideas about reading and writing with young people in schools across the country. Instagram: @brosenstock; Facebook: Barb.Rosenstock. Learn more at www.barbrosenstock.com.
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| The Pittsburgh Press, Sept. 11, 1925 |
Every month on my Patreon, I share a different vintage postcard from my growing collection. I also share the Houdini history connected to each card. This month's card is one I just received and is a little different. It features a theater that played an important role in Houdini's early career.
You can see this and all the cards I've shared by becoming a member. Hope to see you inside.
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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a surge of magicians began to refine their art, finding larger audiences and building communities of practice. This period has come to be known as the Golden Age of Magic. The history of magic and magicians has long been documented through text and image as a form of theater by the Billy Rose Theatre Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Now, the exhibition Mystery and Wonder: a Legacy of Golden Age Magicians in New York City will display our rich and historic archival materials related to the art of magic and the fascinating lives of magicians performing in New York City during the Golden Age.Magic performance in this period was deeply intertwined with the traditions of spiritualism, vaudeville, circus, and mainstream theater, and innovations in publishing, science, and technology were also a major influence. The exhibition explores how magic knowledge was passed down through communities and lineages of magicians within an evolving cultural and social context.
The exhibition showcases rare items from the collection of Dr. Saram Ellison, co-founder of the Society of American Magicians, as well as important books and artifacts that evoke an early 20th-century magic shop. Through a curated display of photographs, programs, correspondence, artifacts, and original posters the exhibition will also trace the lives and careers of such major magicians as Harry Kellar, Alexander and Adelaide Herrmann, Harry Houdini, Howard Thurston, Dell O’Dell and many others, exploring the wondrous world of the Golden Age of Magic.
This exhibition is organized by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and curated by Annemarie van Roessel, Assistant Curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Division.
Our good friend Charles Greene III attended the opening yesterday and sent this image from the official program. Look what appears in their list of recommended reading. Honored.
For more information, visit the Mystery and Wonder page at the New York Public Library website.
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Discover the amazing illustrated stories of seven women magicians who pulled off spectacular and death-defying illusions and acts, achieved global fame, and then simply...disappeared.During the Golden Age of Magic from 1860 to 1930, seven women magicians in America defied Victorian conventions and created a unique place in history for themselves and future performers to come. There was Anna, the mindreader; Adelaide, who could float in midair; Talma, who could magically shower the stage with gold coins...and many more!
During a time when women were typically confined to the home, these trailblazers crossed oceans on steamships and traveled the globe bringing their imaginative brand of magic to audiences around the world. They followed their hearts and pursued their dreams of performing magic in the spotlight when women had neither a vote nor a voice in America.
They made history. Yet once their career ended, so did their legacy.
For decades their stories were hidden, or overshadowed by male counterparts, but now they've come to life in this vibrant and captivating book.
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| The High Point Enterprise, Dec 26, 1972. |
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| Hollywood Heritage |
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| The Old Vic near its end. Strourbridge.com |
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| Stourbridge News, April 5, 1958. |
"The Fantastic Kent Cummins" has loved magic for more than 75 years, and now he shares some amazing stories based on the greatest magician of all time, Harry Houdini! These are true stories from a professional magician that provide a fascinating peak behind the curtain.
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| San Francisco Chronicle, Oct 20, 1969. |
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| San Francisco Chronicle, Jan 24, 1976. |
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| San Francisco Chronicle, Dec 29, 1969. |
On Wednesday, January 28 at 10pm ET/PT on ABC, History By Mail will be featured in a Shark Tank update segment. If you have followed our journey for any amount of time, you know this is a milestone we do not take lightly.This update is a look at what has happened since our original appearance. It highlights how the company has grown, where we are today, and what we are building next. It is also a moment to step back and appreciate something that is easy to forget when you are busy running the day to day. None of this happened in a vacuum. It happened because thousands of curious people chose to support an unusual idea and keep showing up for history.There is also a special celebrity cameo in the segment, and it is one you will not want to miss.
I’m at Gate of Heaven right now, marking the sesquicentennial of Bess’ birth. I played “Rosabelle” and the stage patter recording (and made sure not to wear or bring anything yellow). I left this photo and her dates on the gravestone. You can see that someone else had left flowers recently; there were fresh footprints in the snow.A peaceful, cold winter’s day for this special anniversary. Happy 150th, Bessie. You are remembered.Janet
The British Boys weekly “The Kinema Comic” ran a serial “The Amazing Exploits of HOUDINI” (“Written by Houdini Himself” – or so it says) from April 24, 1920 to November 27, 1926. In these yarns, which no one should miss, the Master of Mystery chronicles his most amazing exploits. Surviving copies are almost impossible to come by these days. Joe M. Notaro and Arthur Moses have been tracking down these rare issues and are making them available to you in a book series by year (and months).
In this newest offering, they have compiled the 1922 (Jul – Dec) weekly serials (27 issues) of “The Amazing Exploits of HOUDINI” into a single book (with original illustrations).
Over the Christmas break, I found something that I have been on the lookout for a long time. A report in the September 24, 1952, San Antonio Express-News mentions that Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh are currently shooting the movie Houdini on Stage 4 at Paramount. Specifically, the scene mentioned is the Tony Pastors scene.
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| San Antonio Express-News, September 24, 1952. |
While I knew Houdini (1953) was shot entirely on the Paramount lot in Hollywood, I never knew which soundstage they used. Now I do!
Of course, it's possible they used more than one stage as the movie utilized many large sets. But at least I know one.
Now, if we can just get Houdini (1953) added to the historic plaque listing the films shot on the stage.
Check out the links below for more Houdini-Paramount locations.
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You’re invited. For one week in January Katie Bender—playwright, performer, mom—will host a series of séances at OKC Rep to contact Harry Houdini to teach her how to escape her life. And maybe you have things you want to escape from?Instructions for a Séance is a playful yet poignant exploration of motherhood, artistic ambition, and the urge to escape. Inspired by the Houdini archives at the Ransom Center, Séance is a 70-minute theatrical gem: compact, gleaming, and utterly unforgettable.
For more information and to buy tickets, visit the official website.
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