The Truth About Houdini on its 5oth

I've already talked about how I was bitten by the Houdini bug in late 1975 after the one-two punch of seeing Houdini (1953) and Doug Henning's first magic special. As we entered 1976, I was officially "into" Houdini and started searching for more. That's when the universe seemed to conspire to turn me into a Houdini fanatic by feeding me a steady stream of new Houdini gems. One of those was the first American airing of the 1970 BBC documentary, The Truth About Houdini, 50 years ago today, on May 15, 1976.

This introduced me to a larger Houdini world. Not only was I able to see film footage of the real Houdini in action, but I was also able to see the giants of Houdini's world at that time: Walter B. Gibson, Milbourne Christopher, James Randi, and Sidney Radner.

I have done many posts about this important documentary, which you can revisit via the related links. If you've never seen it, you can give it a watch below. It will always be my favorite Houdini documentary, and an important part of my Houdini awakening.

Want more? You can view a cut scene from the documentary as a member of my Patreon.

Related:

• The first great Houdini documentary
• Channel 44's Houdini Halloween of 1976
• No love for The Truth