Houdini planning a new film in 1925?

Here's a curiosity I came across this weekend in the May 25, 1925 Frederick Daily News.

As we know, Houdini stepped away from movie making after he completed The Man From Beyond and Haldane of the Secret Service in 1921. So the idea he'd consider a return in 1925 is pretty interesting. It's also interesting to see the name of Arthur B. Reeve, who co-wrote The Master Mystery and Houdini's Hollywood films.

In 1923 Houdini told the L.A. Times he planned to adapt his book Miracle Mongers and Their Methods into an "out-and-out stunt picture" following his Keith's vaudeville tour. This item appeared the Monday after he completed that tour. So could this signal the start of that process?

Unfortunately, I've found no other mention of this in any other paper nor any follow-up. So this could just be wishful thinking on the part of E.S. Manheimer, who appears to have been an independent producer with J.W. Film Corp in New York. Nevertheless, I like finding oddities like this and thought I'd share as you never know when we might find another piece of the puzzle.

Related:

• The Landrah Corporation?
• Miracle Mongers the Movie
• The omen

The novelizations

Novelizations are movies written as novels and released as tie-in merchandise. Before home video, novelizations were the best way to "own" a movie and revisit it whenever they like. Novelizations date back to silent era and can be collectible. There are a rare novelizations of King Kong and Bride of Frankenstein, and the novelization of Star Wars was released six months before the movie, making that first edition desirable.

But what does this have to do with Houdini? Well, there have been some Houdini novelizations. Not as many as one might hope (no Tony Curtis movie novelization, dang-in), but enough for a little Wild About Harry Bookshelf retrospective. So away we go!

The Master Mystery

Yes, Houdini's 15 episode movie serial, The Master Mystery, was novelized by screenwriters Arthur B. Reeve and John W. Grey. Released in hardcover by Grosset & Dunlap in 1919, it has become a hot collectible, especially in its original dust jacket. The book also contains photos from the movie. Before The Master Mystery appeared on VHS this was the only way to experience the serial and it remains an excellent way to research missing scenes. 

Here's a sample of the book describing Houdini's (a.k.a. Quentin Locke) straitjacket escape: 

Locke struggled with superhuman effort to release himself from the straight-jacket in which he was held prisoner. The throat-straps pressed against the neck muscles and the strain on the straps could be heard like pistol-shots as the leather stretched his prodigious effort.

With every nerve keyed up and his reflexes answering his keen brain, he swayed backward and forward, rolled from side to side until his shoulder blades were thrown completely out of joint. The pain was intense, but he summoned every ounce of strength at his command and finally succeeded in getting one of the arms free by gradually working his body toward a settee, where, with his elbow on the seat, he pushed his disjointed arm over his head.

Agony was written all over his face as at last with a final effort he extricated his arms and was in a position to loosen the straps which bound them, with his teeth.

Nor was his labor over now. The canvas jacket cut into his flesh and the buckles bruised his muscles. His body ached with weariness, yet he clung to his task. Like a thing incarnate he toiled as he realize the danger that in confronted Eva.

Now in public domain, The Master Mystery novelization has been reprinted several times, including as part of "The Arthur B. Reeve Detective Series" in 2006 and as an eBook and audiobook.

Terror Island

While it never appeared in book form (to my knowledge), Houdini's 1920 feature Terror Island was adapted into an 8-part story that appeared in the May 14, 1921 issue of Boys' Cinema Weekly. Joe Notaro uncovered this rarity in 2018 and reprinted the installments at Harry Houdini Circumstantial Evidence.

It's a shame we didn't get novelizations of Houdini's other movies.

The Great Houdinis

It was many years before there was another Houdini novelization, but then came The Great Houdinis by Melville Shavelson, published by Fawcett books in 1976. This is a novelization of the ABC television movie starting Paul Michael Glaser and Sally Struthers. It's a terrific novelization and a real pleasure to read. It also contains a few cuts scenes. 

Here's the opening of the book which gives a good taste of Shavelson's prose:

Two women walked along the pathway between the crowded headstones, the wind blowing the autumn leaves about their feet, rain dripping from the trees, a damp chill adding to the gloom. One of the women was Bess Houdini, older now, but still Bess. Sadness had touched, but not crushed her. She wore a cloth coat bundled about her, a scarf knotted firmly at her neck, a hat and gloves, and in her hand she carried a small cluster of roses, out of place here, because this was an Orthodox Jewish cemetery where the a customary offering is a pebble. But Harry Houdini was no ordinary tenant, and even after his death he was treated as a headliner; whatever he wanted backstage was okay with the management.

The Great Houdinis novelization was also published in a paperback and hardcover in the UK. The UK hardcover is illustrated with photos of the real Great Houdinis.

The Great Houdinis UK paperback.

FairyTale: A True Story

Ok, this isn't strictly a novelization, but I thought I'd include 1997's FairyTale: A True Story as it is an adaptation of a Houdini movie and was written by Monica Kulling who would go on to pen the children's biography The Great Houdini in 1999. Here's a taste of Tale:

Backstage in the dressing room, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a famous author, was waiting for Houdini. Sir Arthur was very interested in communicating with spirits. Houdini had once dazzled Sir Arthur's daughter by making an apple appear out of thin air. "Never try to fool children," Houdini had told the audience. "They expect nothing and, therefore, see everything."

It's too bad the movie did not also receive proper novelization, but it appears tie-in merchandise for this movie was all aimed at children.

Death Defying Acts

It's surprising that a movie which barely received a release (one week in Los Angeles and New York) would be novelized, but that is what we have with Death Defying Acts by Craig Cox. The novelization appeared as a trade paperback from Pocket Books in 2008. As far as I know it was only released in the U.S. Here a sample from Chapter 1:

Stay calm, Houdini reminded himself. As always, his chief task at such moments was to conquer fear, to retain his wits and faculties despite his alarming circumstances. Even shackled from head to toe, and plunging swiftly towards a watery grave, it was necessary to maintain an absolute serenity of spirit. If I panic, I am lost....

He held on tightly to his breath. Years of practice and conditioning has expanded his lung capacity until he go without breathing for three minutes or more. Cold water leeched the heat from his bones, yet the chill had little effect on him. He routinely bathed and tubs of ice water to inure his body against the shock of sudden immersion. Indeed, he had become accustom to a cold bath every morning and seldom enjoyed going without one. Sydney Harbor was not exactly warm this afternoon, but he had attempted this stunt in far cooler waters. Detroit, back in November of '07... now that had been cold.

Not to be nit-picky, but the "Detroit stunt" was actually 1906. But, hey, we don't read novelizations for the facts. These are for fun.

For more about novelizations, check out this 2014 Vanity Fair piece, Yes, People Still Read Movie Novelizations . . . And Write Them, Too. 

Other selections from the WILD ABOUT HARRY bookshelf:

• "This book is full of lies" - Houdini His Life Story
• The secrets of The Secrets of Houdini - The Secrets of Houdini
• "Had Houdini lived he would have written this book" - Houdini's Escapes and Magic
• The gateway biography - The Great Houdini
• An alternative gateway - Houdini Master of Escape
• The first great Houdini biography - Houdini The Man Who Walked Through Walls
• The perennial - Houdini on Magic
• The textbook - Houdini The Untold Story
• The Fantastic Four - The Original Houdini Scrapbook, Houdini His Art and Magic, Houdini A Pictorial Life, Houdini His Legend and His Magic
• The best forgotten Houdini book - Houdini's Fabulous Magic
• The Brandon book - The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini
• The imposter - The Great Balsamo

The Master Mystery novelization for Kindle

Book Revivals is offering a new Kindle edition of The Master Mystery by Arthur B. Reeve and John W. Grey. Here's the description on Amazon.

The Master Mystery is the novelization of a 1919 silent serial film told in 15 episodes from scenarios written by Arthur B. Reeve in collaboration with Charles A. Logue. The film stars Harry Houdini and is also known as "Houdini Super-serial." It tells the story of Justice Department agent Quentin Locke as he investigates a powerful cartel protected by The Automaton, a robot. 

This eBook is illustrated with all the photographic reproduction that appeared in the original book edition by GROSSET & DUNLAP, NEW YORK, 1919.

I would love it if the publisher offered a printed edition, especially as they are the first reprinter (is that a word?) to use a Houdini cover on the photoplay.

Purchase The Master Mystery Kindle at Amazon.com.

Related:

• Master Mystery photoplay lands $585
• The Master Mystery print on demand
• Houdini's Movies

The omen

I love it when I find a new nugget of Houdini info where I don't expect it. Here's an example from the book A Million and One Nights: A History of The Motion Picture Through 1925 by Terry Ramsaye. This is a remarkable 868 page history of the movies published in two volumes in 1926 (yes, there really was that much movie history by then).

On page 730 we find this:

In 1919 a quartet of brave conspirators met to form the Supreme Pictures Corporation to rehabilitate the status of the serial with a master effort in mystery and detective story thrills. It was to be a million dollar corporation, etc. In electing officers they decided to leave the presidency to the toss of a coin.

Louis Grossman, the business man of the party, flipped a quarter in the air. It struck the desk and rolled off on the floor.

Then the august directors of that million dollar corporation spent a half hour on hands and knees searching for the missing twenty-five cents.

The baffled searching party included John W. Grey, mystery scenario writer, Arthur B. Reeve, author of complex detective tales, and--Harry Houdini.

The corporation has faded and the quarter is still missing.

What Ramsaye calls the Supreme Pictures Corporation was eventually christened Octagon Films, and I can't help but see this comedic incident as a serious omen. Houdini not only had to sue the company for his share of the profits from their one serial, The Master Mystery, he ended up losing a great deal of his personal fortune in various motion picture ventures.

The coin was trying to tell you something, Harry.

UPDATE: It turns out Supreme Pictures was not the same company as Octagon Films. Houdini's involvement with this company might be a untold story.

I've seen The Grim Game

This dramatic poster image was created
from an equally dramatic still photo

Okay, I haven't really "seen" The Grim Game. But last week I had the pleasure of examining the original Paramount files on Houdini's first Hollywood feature in the Special Collections of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library. I was able to delve into some 40 original stills (most I've never seen) and read the original typescript story by Arthur B. Reeve and Charles W. Grey, as well as the full screenplay (or "scenario" as it was called) by Walter Woods. I spent 5 hours immersed in The Grim Game and came away truly feeling like I've finally seen this, ahem, "lost" Houdini film.

This is all going toward a book project, but here are a few interesting nuggets that I'll share now.

Houdini's character name in the original story treatment was Sterling Steel and the paper he works for was called The Star. Come screenplay time, the paper is now The Daily Call and, interestingly, Houdini is just called Harry Houdini throughout the script in both description and dialogue. The name Harvey Hanford doesn't appear until the title card continuity script created after the movie was shot.

Reeve and Grey titled the film The Grim Game from the start, but at one point the alternate title, Circumstantial Evidence, was suggested. Subsequent paperwork scratches out "the", indicating Grim Game was the preferred title. In the original treatment, the villain makes reference to his "grim game" and Mary's career-making newspaper story is titled "Life's Grim Joke." In the script, the villain's grim game line is gone and Mary's story is now called "Tales of the Sunny South."

Houdini style escapes abound in The Grim Game. Houdini escapes handcuffs affixed to his wrists while he sleeps by playful fellow reporters in the Call office; he picks several door locks in the course of the film, and frees himself from heavy shackles and a prison cell. Following the jail escape, he works his way down the side of a tall building using an ever shortening length of flag pole rope. The sequence in which he frees himself from a straitjacket while dangling from a building is absolutely spectacular in its description! I can only imagine what it must be like on film.

Houdini also frees himself from an elaborate bear trap, a sequence that is giving much play in both the treatment and script, yet has been largely forgotten. Maybe that's because the dramatic stills that depict the escape (there are several in the files) have rarely, if ever, been published.

The Daily Call logo can be spotted
in a single behind the scenes still

The mid-air plane transfer is not in the original Reeve/Grey treatment (which has a very different ending), but it is in the screenplay. It's noted that The Daily Call is the only paper to use "aerial delivery," hence Houdini uses the newspaper's plane more than once in the story. In fact, in one of the behind-the-scenes stills, you can see The Daily Call logo on the side of the plane, something I've never spotted in any other still or even the available plane footage.

Curiously, the screenplay contains the famous mid-air plane crash written exactly as it occurred by accident in real life. Maybe this is fresh fodder for conspiracy theorists as Scene 418 clearly specifies "miniature planes falling to earth." Hmmm...

From what I experienced reading the script, I'll join the consensus in saying this is Houdini's best film. It's very lively and modern and is not weighed down with the sometimes creaky melodrama of his other films. The premise is pretty outrageous -- ace reporter Houdini frames himself for murder to score a scoop and prove a point about the dangerous of circumstantial evidence and capital punishment (modern indeed). Of course, the "victim" (Mary's rich father) turns up dead and Houdini finds himself facing an ironclad case against him -- created by himself! From the moment he pitches his plan, it's pretty obvious this is going to happen, but waiting for that shoe to drop is part of the fun, and you are entirely sympathetic to Harry's plight. The film is downright Hitchcockian in this regard.

I was also able to examine the equally voluminous file on Houdini's second Paramount feature, Terror Island, but I'll save that for another time.

My thanks to the staff of Motion Picture Academy's Margaret Herrick Library for allowing me the opportunity to finally "see" The Grim Game.

Houdini's suspended straitjacket escape is a true highlight of The Grim Game

COMING TOMORROW! A terrific behind-the-scenes photo from The Grim Game from the Arthur Moses Collection.

UPDATE: I've now really seen The Grim Game. Read: Houdini conquers Hollywood (at last) in The Grim Game.

The Master Mystery print on demand

A new print on demand edition of The Master Mystery by Arthur B. Reeve is being sold on Lulu by Pulpville Press. This is the 1918 novelization of Houdini’s silent film serial of the same name.

Pulpville/Lulu is offering The Master Mystery as a hardcover ($27.93) and paperback ($14.91) as part of their “Arthur B. Reeve Detective Series” (I’m assuming that’s Reeve on the cover). The book includes illustrations from the “super serial.”

Thanks to Arthur Moses for the tip.