Houdini loses his marbles

On May 16, 1925, Houdini attended The Boston Traveler's Greater Boston marbles championship. There, he witnessed young Jack Walkenstein take the title. He then played a game against Jack and was "badly beaten," as you can read for yourself in the account below.

Boston Herald, May 17, 1925

Jack became quite a celebrity that month. In fact, it became fashionable to be photographed getting a lesson in the fine art of marbles from Jack.

Mount Vernon Argus. May 27, 1925.

You can see a photo of Houdini and Jack's match over at Joe Notaro's Harry Houdini Circumstantial Evidence. The photo was part of a scrapbook page that appeared on eBay in 2014 and was won by Casa Museo de la Magia in Valencia, Spain, who now have it on display.

 

Below are some more tales of Houdini the sportsman.

Related:

• Houdini the golfer
• Harry's Thanksgiving run
• Harry Weiss, boxer and club swinger?

Houdini in Australia facts and fantasy

Andrew McConville from the State Library Victoria discusses Houdini in Australia on the "In Black and White" podcast hosted by Jen Kelly. These are well done. You can listen via the links below at the Herald Sun.

Harry Houdini: The great escape – Part 1

Harry Houdini: The great escape – Part 2 

Speaking of Australia, here's something I recently found. This 1895 ad for the Welsh Bros. Circus in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, advertises "The Mystifying Houdinis" as hailing from Melbourne, Australia.

Lancaster New Era, April 22, 1895.

I've actually seen several other early mentions of Australia being Houdini's home country. I always suspected reporters were confusing Australia with Austria (because Houdini claimed that as well). But this mention of Melbourne puts that notion to rest. So, yeah, in his early days, Houdini sometimes claimed he was an Aussie!

Believe

Related:

• Houdini's Melbourne bridge jump (sans corpse)
• When Houdini showed Australia that a man can fly
• Houdini's LAST Australian flight was the wild one

LINK: Greenbriar Picture Shows on Houdini (1953)

The blog Greenbriar Picture Shows takes a look at the classic 1953 Houdini starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Of course, we love this movie around here, and Greenbriar seems to like it as well. They've also shared a nice vintage newspaper ad that I've not seen before. Just click the link below to have a read:

Parkland Picks With Popcorn #5

Related:

• Deconstructing Houdini '53
• Houdini '53 at 70: Star power
• When Houdini (1953) came to TV

Get the Mystifier on Patreon

From 1991 to 2003, the Houdini Historical Center in Appleton published a quarterly newsletter called Mystifier. Each issue ran 4 to 6 pages and provided news on current events, reviews, as well as deep dives into Houdini history. Every issue also contained a column by Sidney Radner, who had his finger on the pulse of all that was happening in the Houdini world. It was a treasure trove of information written by people with a passion for Houdini.

I have a complete set of Mystifiers and reviewed every issue HERE. But there's nothing like reading the issues themselves. So I will be sharing downloadable PDFs on my Patreon as periodic Monthly Rewards.

I've started this month with the Fourth Quarter 1996 issue, which reviews Ken Silverman's Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss and has a terrific interview with Penn & Teller. This will only be available for the month of September.

Just another good reason to become (and remain) a patron! Thanks for your support.

Related:

• Announcing WILD ABOUT HARRY on Patreon
• Mystifier, Fourth Quarter 1996
• The Mystifier file

It's the Houdini Miniseries 10th anniversary

Can you believe it has been ten years since the Houdini Miniseries first aired on HISTORY as a two-night event over Labor Day weekend, 2014? What can I say? I was not a big fan, and my opinion has only diminished over the years. But the run-up was undeniably exciting, and it was great to see a Houdini movie given such a big publicity push. So here's to the Houdini Miniseries. I'll be watching it tonight, just as I did 10 years ago.

You can view all 166 posts related to the Houdini Miniseries HERE.

Related:

• Making the Houdini Miniseries
• REVIEW: History gets a C- in Houdini
• Fact checking HISTORY's Houdini - Part One | Part Two

The Margery Box in New York

Below is an illustration that appeared in Reginald Marsh's "The Spotlight" column in the New York Daily News on February 8, 1925. Marsh's column consisted of various vaudevillians sketched from the stage and reviewed with a percentage. His sketch of Houdini shows him inside the famed Margery Box.

Houdini was midway through a six-week run at the New York Hippodrome where he offered a different act each week. For this third week, he exposed the tricks of fraudulent mediums, specifically Margery. Marsh's illustration confirms Houdini used the Margery Box this week. It's also the first confirmed appearance of the box outside of Boston.

New York Evening Journal, Jan. 23, 1925

One wonders how effective this would have been on the gigantic Hippodrome stage. What more could Houdini do than demonstrate how Margery could potentially slip a ruler through the neck hole to ring the bell box? Not quite as dramatic as a vanishing elephant! Maybe that's why Marsh only gave him an 85%.

While this is the first appearance of the Margery Box in New York, it's also the last confirmed appearance of the box anywhere. Where did the Margery Box go after this? That's the question.

Below is a look at the complete Hippodrome bill for this week.

New York American, Jan. 25, 1925.

Want more? You can view Reginald Marsh's full "Spotlight" column as a member of my Patreon below and see which Hippodrome performer received the coveted 100%.

Related:

• Is the Margery Box still out there?
• 100 years ago on Lime Street
• Revenge of the beach boy

LINK: Harry Houdini's favorite dinner was a lavish meal

A nice little piece about Houdini's favorite foods by Stephanie Friedman at the Tasting Table. Click the yummy image below to dig in.

Related:

• Was Houdini killed by Chop Suey?
• How to eat like a (Handcuff) King
• "Where he dines daily"

The Mona Lisa Mystery by M.A. Bennett

Here's some Houdini fiction I overlooked last year. The Mona Lisa Mystery by Emma Carroll is Book 3 in her "Butterfly Club" series.

Would you risk the future to change the past?

Luna, Konstantin and Aidan are time-travelling thieves working for The Butterfly Club.

When they are asked to steal a little-known painting called the Mona Lisa, Aidan can only think of one man who can make things disappear – the magician, Harry Houdini. And as luck would have it, Houdini cannot resist a challenge.

The three children and Houdini travel to 1911 Paris where they face an impossible task – stealing a painting right off the wall of the fortress-like Louvre Museum.

As Houdini prepares for the theft, a heist which will require him to pull off his greatest ever trick, the time-thieves realise that the Mona Lisa is smiling because she holds a secret. Her creator, Leonardo Da Vinci, hid mysterious codes within the painting.

The race is on to solve the puzzle in time...

Sounds fun, but why isn't Houdini included on the cover? This is probably why I overlooked it!

Purchase The Mona Lisa Mystery at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Below are some more adventures of Houdini and Time Travel.

Related:

• Houdini joins the Time Spies
• Hurry Up, Houdini! in paperback
• 'Houdini and Me' by Dan Gutman released today

Where The Grim Game took flight

Today marks the anniversary of Houdini's The Grim Game opening at B.S. Moss' Broadway Theater in New York City on August 25, 1919. The movie played an exclusive two-week run with Houdini appearing in person at every performance. Our friend Joe Notaro has shared an original program on his blog, Harry Houdini Circumstantial Evidence. I encourage you to check that out.

What I want to focus on is the theater itself. The Broadway Theater opened in 1888 at the southwest corner of Broadway and 41st Street. It sat around 1,700. It was the seventh theater to bear the "Broadway" name. In 1908, it was purchased by B.S. Moss and played a mix of movies and vaudeville. As for the theater's decor, this comes from the excellent Cinema Treasures website:

The Broadway Theatre featured a somewhat generic facade on Broadway, in a five-story red brick office building with little indication of was inside, until a vertical marquee was added in the 1910’s. The elegantly decorated auditorium, with its large proscenium arch, six sets of boxes and twin balconies, featured such touches as antique copper chandeliers, gilded plasterwork around the proscenium, the box and balcony fronts and murals on the ceiling and balcony walls.

Here's something I never knew until today. On the same day as The Grim Game's opening, Howard Thurston opened at the Globe Theater on Broadway and 46th Street. Sorry, Howard, I'm seeing Harry! (But I might sneak over to the Globe the next day.)

B.S. Moss' Broadway Theater closed on January 2, 1929, and was demolished later that year. Below, you can see the site of the theater today. Where The Grim Game first took flight!

Want more? I've shared a nice selection of newspaper advertisements and reviews for The Grim Game at B.S. Moss' Broadway Theater (and a few Thurston ads) on my Patreon below.

Theater photos from Cinema Treasures.

Related:

• The Grim Game turns 100
• Grim Game plane wreck lobby display
• Houdini conquers Hollywood (at last) in The Grim Game

The very best steel

As promised, here's what was inside the mystery box that I posted on Tuesday. This is a beautiful reproduction of the famed Steel Straitjacket as seen in the Tony Curtis Houdini (1953) biopic. This was a gift from Richard Sherry and Dayle Krall of Sherry and Krall Magic. Richard made a small number of these working replicas. This one he painted for me to better match the jacket in the movie. I love it!

Dunninger owned the original Steel Straitjacket and provided it to the production. Today, it is in the collection of Rob Allen (who let me put it at last year's Milbourne Christopher Awards). Richard created his replicas earlier this year and still has a few left if you want to add one to your own collection. Details can be found HERE.

Thank you, Richard and Dayle! I will treasure this.

Related:

• Mystery box
• The Steel Straitjacket
• Own a replica Steel Straitjacket from Houdini '53

Choices, choices...

On the evening of February 27, 1924, both Houdini and The 4 Marx Brothers were appearing in Cleveland, Ohio. Houdini was giving his spiritualism lecture at Engineers Hall while the Marx Brothers were appearing in their breakout hit, I'll Say She Is, at the Hanna Theatre. I'd love to think Groucho worked up a special ad-lib about Houdini being down the street that night. Maybe something about chasing ghouls instead of girls? (Give me your best Groucho quip in the comments.)

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Feb. 27, 1924.

I've covered Houdini's spiritualism lectures extensively, so let's talk about The Marx Brothers and I'll Say She Is. Like Houdini, the Marx Brothers began as vaudevillians. But in 1923, they decided to try their luck with a full evening musical comedy, I'll Say She Is. It made them superstars.

I'll Say She Is was never made into a Marx Brothers film. In fact, for the longest time, precisely what the show contained wasn't well known. But the great Noah Diamond has a particular passion for I'll Say She Is, and he recreated the show from his own research. He also penned the excellent book, Gimme a Thrill: The Story of I'll Say She Is, The Lost Marx Brothers Musical and How It Was Found.

This wasn't the only time Houdini and I'll Say She Is played the same city. At the end of 1924, I'll Say She Is was at the Missouri Theater in Kansas City while Houdini was at the nearby Mainstreet Theater. And when I'll Say She Is settled in for its long run at the Casino Theatre in New York City, Houdini appeared at the New York Hippodrome during the show's final four weeks in early 1925.

The Marx Brothers followed up I'll Say She Is with The Coconuts in 1925. Once again, we find Houdini and the brothers playing New York City simultaneously. In fact, The Coconuts and Houdini's 3 Shows in One opened on Broadway within a week of each other. The Coconuts opened at the Lyric Theatre on Dec. 8, 1925, and Houdini opened at the 44th Street Theater on Dec. 14th.

New York Daily News, Dec. 7, 1925.

I've always wondered if Houdini and Bess ever saw I'll Say She Is or The Coconuts. I would love to think that they did. Houdini and the Marx Brothers would eventually appear at the same charity event at the New York Polo Grounds in 1926, but that's another story.

You can buy Noah Diamond's Gimme a Thrill on Amazon. I'd also highly recommend Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage by Robert S. Bader, also available on Amazon.

Related:

• Houdini and the Marx Bros at the Polo Grounds
• When Groucho met Houdini
• A tour of Houdini's Cleveland

The Last Illusion with Theatre By The Blind

From July 26 to August 3, Arts Up LA! presented The Last Illusion at the Blue Door Theater in Culver City, CA. What made this production so unique is it was performed by an all-blind cast known as Theatre By The Blind.

Unfortunately, I'm only learning about this now. I would have loved to have seen this show. Hopefully, it will return someday.

Below are some other performances of The Last Illusion by B. Dwayne Craft.

Related:

• Murray County Central Schools presents 'The Last Illusion'
• Cypress Lakes High School presents The Last Illusion
• High Schoolers win state finals with help from Houdini