More treasures of the Harry Ransom Center

Last month I spent an incredible six days at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin, which holds the largest public collection of Houdini research material in the world. I shared some of the incredible treasures I saw on my first day in this post. Today I'm back with more.

It's worth repeating that the Harry Ransom Center is open to the public, so "anyone with a photo ID and a sense of curiosity" can see the treasures I'm about to show. Their website has excellent finding aids for the Harry Houdini Papers, the Harry Houdini Collection, and the Magic Collection. And if you are considering selling or donating a Houdini collection or item where it will be well protected and forever available, the Harry Ransom Center should be at the top of your list. So let's get back there!

One of the best things about my visit was the remarkable VIP treatment I received from Eric Colleary, Cline Curator of Theatre & Performing Arts Collections, and my good friend. Eric allowed me to do my research in the stacks where I could pull down boxes of Houdiniana at will. He also had a nice surprise waiting for me there. He had unboxed and placed their famous Houdini Estate bank box on the table right in front of me where it remained the entire time. So this was my view in paradise.

Each morning I also walked past a remarkable piece of furniture. This breakfront belonged to Houdini and stood in the parlor of 278. This actually played a key role in Messmore Kendall acquiring Houdini's collections from Bess in 1927 (as you can read here). The breakfront came to the HRC in 1958 along with the Kendall Collection. But it went on an odyssey adventure and even resided for a time in the Governor's Reception Room of the Texas State Capitol. In 2019 Eric discovered it in storage and brought it back to the Harry Ransom Center where it lives today. Good morning Houdini's breakfront!

My primary goal was to read all the correspondence in the collection and mine dates and data for my upcoming chronology book. Yes, I was there to "work." But there was a lot of correspondence to read! Some files bewitched me more than others. First and foremost was a large file of letters written by Houdini to Bess. As I shared in part one, this was the file I started with and the letters are remarkable. It's also the file that contains the most letters written by Houdini himself. (As these are Houdini's own files, most of the Ransom Center correspondence are written to him.)

Here's another delightful letter from that precious file. A marvelous slice of 278 life:

Another file of interest was a large collection of letters written by Montraville M. Wood, a Chicago inventor and associate of Thomas Edison who worked with Houdini on his Milk Can. The file is packed with letters related to improvements to the apparatus and the construction of new cans. Wood includes many illustrations. But there was one illustration at the end of a letter that tickled me as it must have tickled Houdini.

Another standout file contained correspondence from Birchet "Kit" Clarke, a famous press agent and Harry Kellar's former manager. I loved these letters! I don't know why Clarke isn't mentioned more in Houdini biographies as his letters are loaded with gold (including the mention of a Vanishing Elephant poster). They are also very, very funny. He uses a variety of nicknames for Houdini, his favorite being "Googley." There's even one letter that Clarke taped together as one giant scroll (below). Their friendship was a revelation to me.

Occasionally Eric and I would fall down a side rabbit hole. While chatting about newspapers, Eric pointed out that the Ransom Center has the photo morgue archive of the New York Journal-American. He did a quick search and found there was a Houdini file in that collection. Had anyone ever looked at it? Eric asked if I wanted to take a break and head down to those stacks and see what might be there. Yes please! Once there, Eric pulled a thick file of press photos from a container. The photos were fantastic, but largely familiar. And then this happened!

If you're like me, you just went weak in the knees. Yes, this is a third variation of the famous "my two sweethearts" photograph taken at the F. Gutekunst photo studio in Philadelphia in 1907. This is actually a photograph of a photograph, not an original, but still a great find. The Ransom Center has the originals of the other photos from this famous session, because of course they do!

Occasionally I'd come across something unexpected, such as the below. The Ransom Center allows researchers to insert notes into a file if they have some clarifying information. Slipped into the sleeve of the famous photo of Houdini and the Roosevelt grandchildren (as seen here) I found this exchange between my friends and mentors Manny Weltman and Patrick Culliton. Pretty funny.

I actually added my own note identifying the photo's location and date (Feb. 20, 1925. Home of Mrs. H.A. Alexander, 167 East 74th St., NYC). So I love that Manny, Patrick and I all now share a sleeve in the Harry Ransom Center.

As the days ticked away, I found myself growing apprehensive. It was becoming clear I was not going to be able to read all the correspondence in the collection, and I knew there were other treasures that I would kick myself for not seeing. I began to formulate a new plan how to split my days between correspondence and big ticket items. But many times I just surrendered myself to anything that might be "cool." Eric, as always, was delighted to lay these treasures before me.

I mean, how could I not see this famous Ransom Center rarity? This is the only known copy of Houdini's very first pitchbook. Even Houdini considered this to be rare. It's actually much smaller than I imagined (7 inches), but what a piece of history.

Anything from Houdini's 1903 Russian tour is a mega rarity. Here are two fantastic broadsides advertising his appearance at the Gordon "Aquarium" Garden in Moscow in July 1903. Can you believe the condition?

Here are two large format photos of Houdini and Samri Baldwin. I wonder why Houdini had these made? The Ransom Center also holds a fair amount of correspondence from the famed "White Mahatma." In one letter from 1919 Baldwin writes:

"I was much gratified at receiving your courteous letter; particularly because so many professionals who become rich and famous forget all their old friends. Your letter showed me that I was never wrong in my estimate of you in thinking that money and fame would never make you a bit different from the whole souled boy I knew in Halifax and Kansas years ago."

This is a large and meticulous scrapbook Houdini kept devoted to his movies. Half is filled with fan mail from all over the world, still in their original envelopes. (One love struck young fan from South Africa starts her letter: "Houdini, I hope you like long letters because I've lots to tell you.") The second half contains newspaper clippings devoted to The Man From Beyond. I was expecting it to continue with Haldane of the Secret Service, but it did not. In fact, Houdini seems to have abandoned this scrapbook along with his movie career.

At the moment, the scrapbook is unavailable to view as it is much too brittle. The Ransom Center is working on a way to best preserve the contents. So this was a rare and exciting thing to see. Thank you Eric!

Speaking of movies, I nearly lost it when Eric brought these out. The Ransom Center has several original title cards from The Master Mystery (and one from The Grim Game). They are hand painted and works of art in their own right. These are the only surviving production artifacts from The Master Mystery, so pretty special!

The Ransom Center has some mysteries as well. Below is a custom picture frame with the name "Harry Houdini" across the top. What special image did this frame once hold? I also got to see the famous Ransom Center seed (found among Houdini's papers). What kind of freak seed is this?

My final day was Saturday, August 13. I only had a half day to research as I had to catch a flight in the afternoon. As Eric was off, I spent that morning in the Ransom Center Reading Room, which I'm happy I got to experience as its very well appointed and the staff is very helpful. I spent these last hours photographing everything I still wanted to read, including files of letters written by Hardeen to his "Dear brother Ehrich", and the Chung Ling Soo file, which Eric emphasized as being a must. I even stumbled on a signed photo of Charmian London. The minx.

Believe it or not, as noon rolled around I sat back and realized I had nothing left to see. I had done it! I had, at the very least, laid eyes on everything I knew I wanted to see. In addition, Eric and I had taken an amazing tour of the Paramount Theater and I was able to enjoy Esther's Follies on the invitation of Ray Anderson, which is a must see when in Austin. So in six days I had accomplished my research goals and also achieved a life-long dream...

I had seen the treasures of the Harry Ransom Center!

When I landed back in Burbank that night, I entered the airport to be greeted by this. An omen? I don't know, but I felt like he might be saying, "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Thanks to Eric Colleary and all the wonderful staff of the Harry Ransom Center for giving me this incredible experience and allowing me to share these treasures here on WILD ABOUT HARRY.

Related:

• Treasures of the Harry Ransom Center
• Exploring Houdini's Austin
• Houdini in the bank

Bess remembers life with Houdini

To celebrate Bess Houdini's 146th birthday today, here are some excerpts from terrific interesting article by Sally MacDougall called "What Magicians' Wives Think of MAGIC". This appeared in The Tacoma Daily Ledger on July 29, 1928.

"My husband thought I was clever, and you don't suppose I was going to disillusionize him," Mrs. Houdini said. "He never told me how to do a trick. He expected me to use my wits and find out for myself. I wouldn't have asked him to explain, not for anything in the world. That would've spoiled something for both of us. In the first sentence I ever spoke to him I told him I thought he was wonderful, and that seemed to surprise him and make him happy. I still think he was wonderful." 

Houdini's celebrated milkcan trick kept his wife puzzle for weeks, although she watched it carefully night after night and really trying to understand it. The contraption looked at her like an ordinary milkcan, and her heart would be clutched with fear every time she saw the thing being filled with water, her husband closed in and the six strong staples on the cover being locked with padlocks. 

"I have been a shame to let him know that it had me mystified," she said. "I watched him, noticed little things he always did. He had a very clever way of covering the trick. I got to know a certain twinkle in his eyes in connection with some secret one mustn't ask about. When he was not around I gave that can a very thorough examination. After that I kept on pretending I had known all the time. It was a simple trick, not easy to detect. The simplest ones are always the best."

Later in the article comes this intriguing nugget:

In the weeks before he died the Houdinis were working on a new and sensational trick for the following season. Mrs. Houdini understood the work and the mechanism up to the point where it is necessary for the performer to escape. Houdini had worked on it for years and he finally solved what he anticipated as the greatest escape of his life. His wife supposed there would be plenty of time to study and learn the escape details. But the secret died with Houdini. In the past year she and some magicians have worked at it day after day, but on the morning she talked with me in her home they saw no glimmer of a solution. 

What might this be? Buried Alive? Frozen in ice? The near perfect mystery?

The article continues with Bess remembering their marriage in Coney Island (the acid on the dress fable). Then comes this delight:

Every year since then if the Houdini's were anywhere near New York they spent June 22 celebrating at Coney Island, going through the old program–looping the loop, doing all the stunts and finally getting their pictures taken. The photographer never failed to be taken in by a certain ritual. 

"We've just been married. Could you take our picture?" an embarrassed man would say. As souvenirs of these anniversaries Mrs. Houdini has an album of bride-and-groom photographs, the last one taken two years ago, the bridegroom standing, his hat poised in one hand, the other hand on his wife's shoulder. 

"We lived in an element of surprise and mystery and we had so much fun," Mrs. Houdini said. "He would talk to craziest nonsense over the telephone, pretend he didn't know me, make a date to meet me. Perhaps we go for dinner to some roadhouse and we'd keep on acting in a manner that would've surprised the other dancers if they had known that we were married before they were born." 

The article circles back to the topic of secrets and concludes with the following:

Mrs. Houdini intimated that one might as well realize that one never knows what the other is hiding, and then perhaps it is as well not to know. She did not know until after her husband's death that several women, one a widow whom she considered a very dear friend, had been writing love letters to Houdini. She found them in a file, with carbon copies of her husband's replies. There was no word in these answers to make any wife less happy. Still, Mrs. Houdini wishes he hadn't kept that secret from her. The letters were, of course, returned to the sender's for safekeeping. But it could have been possible to have sent them back sooner! 

I think we can assume the "widow whom she considered a very dear friend" was Charmian London. While Houdini's brief fling with the widow of Jack London wasn't uncovered until 1996 (by Ken Silverman in Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss), it's interesting that this major clue was dropped by Bess as early as 1928. But enough about that home-wrecker. This is Bessie's day, so...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BESS!

Related:

• Smitten with Bess
• Happy birthday Magigal Bess
• A birthday present for Bess

The Secret Life of Mrs. London revealed today

Today sees the release of The Secret Life of Mrs. London by Rebecca Rosenberg. This debut novel mixes fact and fiction to tell the story of Houdini's affair with the vivacious Charmian London.

San Francisco, 1915. As America teeters on the brink of world war, Charmian and her husband, famed novelist Jack London, wrestle with genius and desire, politics and marital competitiveness. Charmian longs to be viewed as an equal partner who put her own career on hold to support her husband, but Jack doesn’t see it that way…until Charmian is pulled from the audience during a magic show by escape artist Harry Houdini, a man enmeshed in his own complicated marriage. Suddenly, charmed by the attention Houdini pays her and entranced by his sexual magnetism, Charmian’s eyes open to a world of possibilities that could be her escape. 

As Charmian grapples with her urge to explore the forbidden, Jack’s increasingly reckless behavior threatens her dedication. Now torn between two of history’s most mysterious and charismatic figures, she must find the courage to forge her own path, even as she fears the loss of everything she holds dear.

Ironically, next month marks the 100th anniversary of Houdini and London's alleged affair, which was first uncovered by Kenneth Silverman in his 1996 book Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss.

You can purchase The Secret Life of Mrs. London at Amazon.com (U.S.) and Amazon.co.uk (UK). For more on the book and upcoming events, check out Rebecca Rosenberg's official website.

Related:

• Houdini in 1918
• The illicit loves of Harry Houdini
• Houdini and Charmian London battle Martians

The Secret Life of Mrs. London to be revealed in 2018

Looks like 2018 is going to kick off with a provocative piece of Houdini fiction based on fact. Here's the description and cover art for The Secret Life of Mrs. London by Rebecca Rosenberg.

San Francisco, 1915. As America teeters on the brink of world war, Charmian and her husband, famed novelist Jack London, wrestle with genius and desire, politics and marital competitiveness. Charmian longs to be viewed as an equal partner who put her own career on hold to support her husband, but Jack doesn’t see it that way…until Charmian is pulled from the audience during a magic show by escape artist Harry Houdini, a man enmeshed in his own complicated marriage. Suddenly, charmed by the attention Houdini pays her and entranced by his sexual magnetism, Charmian’s eyes open to a world of possibilities that could be her escape. 

As Charmian grapples with her urge to explore the forbidden, Jack’s increasingly reckless behavior threatens her dedication. Now torn between two of history’s most mysterious and charismatic figures, she must find the courage to forge her own path, even as she fears the loss of everything she holds dear.

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of Houdini and London's alleged affair, which was first uncovered by Ken Silverman in his 1996 book Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss.

You can pre-order The Secret Life of Mrs. London at Amazon.com (U.S.) and Amazon.co.uk (UK). Release date is January 30, 2018.

Related:

• The illicit loves of Harry Houdini
• LINK: Jack London, Public Intellectual
• Houdini and Charmian London battle Martians in 'Metamorphosis'

Houdini vs. Hardeen in Oakland

It was 100 years ago today on November 21, 1915, that Houdini and Hardeen both opened in Oakland, California. The brothers would play out the Thanksgiving week in direct competition in theaters only a few blocks apart. While they had played against each other in San Francisco the week before, Oakland was a much smaller city. Would it prove too small for two Handcuff Kings?

The papers heralded this first appearance of Houdini at the Oakland Orpheum with news of two challenges awaiting "The Genius of Escape." The first was from Alameda County Sheriff Frank Barnet to perform a suspended straitjacket escape from the First National Bank building at Broadway and 14th Street, then home to the offices of the Oakland Tribune. (Today we tend to think of Houdini's suspended straitjacket escapes as standalone publicity stunts, but they were always promoted as challenges from local police or newspapers.) The second challenge came from the firm of H.C. Capwell Co. to escape from a "strong packing case which we will especially construct." The Tribune enthused:

Interest in Houdini's engagement at the Oakland Orpheum, which begins next Sunday, has apparently risen to a fever heat, for their are a dozen challenges ready to be hurled at Houdini from all kinds of business men, private citizens and firms who wish to test his alleged powers. It is evident that Houdini is too create the same remarkable sensation in Oakland that he has achieved elsewhere. It would be strange if he did not.

Hardeen also came into town with a packing crate challenge awaiting him from the Kahn Bros. Co. Advance publicity for his appearance at the Pantages Theater ("Oakland's Vaudeville Temple") did not hide the fact that he was Houdini's brother, but it did play a little fast and loose with the facts:

Hardeen is the older brother of Houdini, also famous as a handcuff artist, and is the man who taught his brother the first rudiments of the art of making escapes. For years they traveled together as the Houdini Brothers, laying the cornerstone of their fame, and lately they have starred separately, Harry Houdini under the original name and his brother under the name of Hardeen. He is the highest-priced Illusionist in the world.

For the record, Hardeen was Houdini's younger brother, and the Brothers Houdini had dissolved 21-years earlier. As for the claim that Hardeen taught Houdini the "first rudiments" of escape and was the highest-priced Illusionist in the world...well, that's for the brothers to fight out.

Two packing crates await the Brothers Houdini in Oakland.

When Houdini arrived in town on November 21st, the Tribune gave him a reception worthy of show-business royalty:

Houdini is here. He arrived at the Orpheum at midnight last night from San Francisco, and with him came fifteen men who will constitute his entourage. Houdini travels in state as befits one of his rank. A special car conveys him and his enormous quantity of apparatus which he uses in his feats on the Orpheum stage. All is bustle and excitement on the stage of the Orpheum, where everything has been made ready to receive him.

As one might expect, Houdini dominated the papers with his suspended straitjacket escape on November 22, 1915. But the stunt did not go smoothly. Not only was it raining, but as Houdini was being raised, the guide line slipped and he swung hard against the building and hit his head. It was thought at first that he had been knocked unconscious, but then they saw he was smiling.

After Houdini had struggled free from the jacket, he asked to be lowered. But the ropes didn't budge. It was then discovered that his gyrations had tangled the block and tackle. Houdini had to hang for a full eight minutes before the ropes could be reached and fixed. He told the Tribune afterwards:

"The blow on the head I did not mind so much––one gets used to hard knocks––but the trouble with the ropes was different. The exertion of freeing myself so tightened the ropes that they stopped my circulation. My limbs were throbbing painfully, and one of them was bandaged from a previous accident at the time. I was a pretty sick man by the time they got that tackle working. I don't blame the men, of course, they were not used to the thing, but I'm mighty glad I am free again."

There was one other twist to Houdini's escape that day. Hardeen hired boys to fan out into the massive crowd and hand out cards with his photo and the words, "All This Week at Pantages," leading many to assume that it was Hardeen doing the escape. "It took Houdini years to think that was amusing," Hardeen told The Sphinx in 1939.

Wait, who did what where now?

Hardeen garnered his own newspaper attention with his challenge packing crate escape on November 23. In a story headlined "Hardeen Escaped Heavily Nailed Box" the Tribune reported that the box was built onstage and roped with "a hawser that looked strong enough to hold a battleship." Hardeen freed himself in 5 minutes and the box was immediately carried over the footlights, through the audience, and put on display in the Pantages lobby "where those skeptical may examine it." Not to be outdone, Houdini accepted a second packing crate challenge that week from the Roos Bros.

During their respective stage shows, the brothers not only matched each other with their challenges, but each offered up a dash of underwater death-defiance; Houdini with his Chinese Water Torture Cell and Hardeen with the Milk Can. One big difference was that Hardeen rounded out his act with handcuff escapes while Houdini performed traditional magic. Houdini did his famous Needles trick and also "The Illusion of the Burning Turban," in which he cuts and burns the middle section from a long turban and then restores it. The Tribune called it "one of his most mysterious puzzles."

Houdini featured the Burning Turban in Oakland (from Houdini The Key).

This 1915 engagement is notable in Houdini history for another reason. It was during this week in Oakland that Houdini met author Jack London and his adventurous wife Charmian. The Londons came to see Houdini twice at the Orpheum (Jack served as a member of a committee), and they also shared Thanksgiving dinner with the Houdinis at their hotel. The Hardeens and Alexander Pantages were also invited to the Thanksgiving gathering. When the bill came, Houdini presented it to his brother and left. Payback for the straitjacket prank.

Hardeen closed his week with a challenge from Chief of Police Woods to escape from what the papers described as a "torture suit" (a full body straitjacket). Houdini closed with a challenge from the Riggers' and Stevedores' Union in which he was lashed with ropes to a seven foot plank with a broomstick between his knees (which sounds uncomfortably similar to the torturous Hodgson challenge of 1902). The papers noted:

Houdini has accepted this challenge, the last he will accept in Oakland, because he believes it to be the most unique as well as the most difficult test to which he could possibly be put.

While Hardeen returned to Oakland in 1917 (and announced his retirement), Houdini wouldn't make it back until 1923. During these later engagements, the brothers had the city all to themselves.

Oakland today

Last month when I attended The Official Houdini Séance in San Francisco, I hopped across the Bay to see if anything remained of Houdini and Hardeen's Oakland. The Orpheum Theater where Houdini performed sat at 574 12th Street near the intersection of 12th and Clay. It closed in the 1930s and was demolished in 1958. Today modern office buildings occupy the entire block.

Houdini's Orpheum is long gone.

Hardeen's Pantages is also gone, but not forgotten. Part of the building exterior remains at 414 12th Street and a replica of the original Pantages marquee hangs on the outside. Seeing this was a very pleasant surprise! It was Sunday and the offices where closed, but through the window I could see a large photo of the original Pantages Theater. This is the only photo of Hardeen's Pantages I've ever seen.

A memento of Hardeen's Pantages remains!

The Pantages in the day.

The First National Bank Building where Houdini performed his head-banging straitjacket escape still stands at 14th Street and Broadway. Today it is better known as the Lionel J. Wilson Building and is a city landmark.

Site of Houdini's 1915 suspended straitjacket escape.

When Houdini returned to Oakland in 1923, he repeated his straitjacket escape from the new Tribune offices at 409 13th Street. The newspaper was in the process of building a 305-foot clock tower at the time, and it was from the construction site that Houdini dangled in his straitjacket. This time the escape came off without a hitch.

The Tribune Building where Houdini dangled in 1923.

The Tribune Building and Tower still stand, and I'm happy to report that they are also well aware of their Houdini history. On the ground floor is the Tribune Tavern and above their bar hangs a terrific shot of Houdini doing his straitjacket escape from the tower construction.

Houdini remembered inside the Tribune Building.

So which brother won the great Oakland face-off of 1915? Well, the citizens of the city might no longer recognize the name Hardeen, but his theater is well remembered, and that's something. Houdini's performance space has been long forgotten, but the man himself lives on in memory.

So I think we can call it a brotherly draw!

UPDATE: This image from Bill Counter's excellent Bay Area Theatres Facebook group shows Houdini's Orpheum at 574 12th St. in relation to the Tribune Tower and the Pantages (which sat behind the Tribune building on 12th).

Click to enlarge. (Bay Area Theatres)

Related:

• Houdini in 1915
• The Modern Monarchs of Mystery
• Brother's keeper
• The Houdini franchise
• Hardeen hangs up his handcuffs

LINK: Jack London, Public Intellectual

VERSO, the blog of the Huntington Library, has a nice article by Matt Stevens about author Jack London. The piece references Houdini several times and features this excellent photo of Houdini and London from the Huntington Library collection. Houdini met Jack and his wife Charmian in Oakland during his 1915 tour of the West Coast. The Houdinis and the Londons spent that Thanksgiving together.

The Huntington Library also houses the private diaries of Charmian London, which include coded references to a possible affair with Houdini after Jack's death. These diary passages were uncovered by Kenneth Silverman for his book Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss.

Click here or on the headline to read the full article at VERSO.

Related:

• Houdini in 1915
• The illicit loves of Harry Houdini
• Houdini and Charmian London battle Martians in 'Metamorphosis'

Houdini in 1915

Welcome to another year of being WILD ABOUT HARRY! When a new year turns over, I always like to think about where Houdini was in his own life and career 100 years ago. So let's kick off 2015 with a look back at what Houdini was up to in 1915.

This post is now retired. 

But you will still be able to enjoy the story of Houdini in 1915 with the publication of my upcoming book.

Why does Jerry Seinfeld think Houdini was impotent?

Seinfeld is a television classic that will probably run in syndication forever. This is not the best news for Houdini. Because in Episode #65, "The Mango", there is this exchange between George and Jerry on the topic of erectile dysfunction:

JERRY

You know it happens to everybody. Happened to Houdini, and he could get out of a trunk underwater with his hands in chains. But he had a problem with that.

Later George returns to the subject...

GEORGE

Hey, is that a joke about Houdini?

JERRY

No.

GEORGE

Well if Houdini couldn't do it, what chance do I have!?

So why does Jerry Seinfeld think Houdini was impotent?

The answer has everything to do with when this episode was made. "The Mango" was taped on Tuesday, August 17, 1993 (directly across the street from where I'm writing this now) and aired on September 16, 1993. At that time a new Houdini biography had just been released in the UK, The Life And Many Deaths of Harry Houdini by Ruth Brandon. This was the first major Houdini biography in several years, and in it Brandon engaged in some amateur psychology as to why the Houdinis didn't have children and why Harry wrote love letters to Bess. On page 52 the author states:

One can only conjecture as to the reason for this childlessness. […] Infertility is not uncommon. But my own guess, based on his effusive daily--sometimes thrice-daily--outpouring of love-declarations--is that Houdini may have been impotent. Why all those protestations? What was so wrong that he had to keep proclaiming his devotion? Was this constant need to reassure both Bess and himself?

This salacious "revelation" was used as a selling point and featured in book reviews and in interviews with the author. Brandon also shared her theory in the 1993 BBC documentary, Houdini, The Life of the World's Greatest Escapologist. It was in this environment that the Seinfeld writers wrote what at the time was a topical reference to Houdini's "impotency."

Of course, the reason the Houdinis didn't have children was because Bess suffered from a medical condition that prevented it, information that was shared with me by her niece, Marie Blood. (You can read more about that here.)

Brandon's theory received a dose of cold water just a few year after the publication of her book when Kenneth Silverman revealed evidence of an extramarital affair Houdini had with Charmian London in his own biography, Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss (1996). Now the pendulum may have a swung a bit too far the other way with Houdini sometimes portrayed as a bit of a Lothario (we'll see how the upcoming Houdini miniseries handles all this).

It's too bad this blip in Houdini history had to be immortalized in pop culture. True or false, it's just not the kind of thing you want people to know!

Related:

• The problem with Bessie
• Did the Houdinis have a daughter?
  
• The alleged loves of Harry Houdini

Another day, another unseen Houdini photo

I've said this many times, but it blows my mind how after 35+ years of obsessive Houdini collecting and research I continue to see new photos of him almost every month. How many photos of this man exist!? Last month we saw an unpublished photo of Houdini in the Lawsons auction. Now just seven days into March we have another.

This shot is from a large collection of press photos currently on eBay. It shows Houdini and Bess seated across a seance table. I've seen other pics from this same session in which Houdini demonstrates methods used by fraudulent spiritualists, but never this particular one. Bess is writing on a note pad and Houdini is looking intently contemplative. Perhaps Bess is "automatic writing" her husband's thoughts?

With high tech instrumentation here at WAH HQ, I've actually been able to read the pad. It says: "Don't think about Charmain. Don't think about Charmain"...

Normally my policy here is to not write about eBay auctions until after they are over. But with a starting price of $688.88, this isn't exactly a bargain to let fly under the radar for some lucky buyer.

Other photos in the lot are of Herbert Hoover, Rock Hudson, Howard Hughes, Mae Clarke, Lena Horn, Ozzie & Harriet, Jesse Jackson, Arnold Palmer, and more. But it's the photo of Houdini (and Bess) they used to showcase the auction.

Houdini and Charmian London battle Martians

First released in 2010, the second novel in the Wonder of the Worlds trilogy by Sesh Heri, Metamorphosis, is now available as a Kindle eBook from Amazon and as a print-on-demand from Lulu. The series finds Houdini joining forces with Nikola Tesla and other 20th Century notables in a battle against Martian agents on Earth...and on Mars!

It's over twenty years since the top secret flight to Mars and Harry Houdini is now a world-renowned escape artist recruited by the covert Majestic Seven group to pursue Martian agents on Earth. Time itself becomes the battlefield as the NYMZA, inter-dimensional masterminds using the men from the Red Planet and the astonishing mercury vortex torsion device known as The Bell for their nefarious purposes, are exposed. Houdini is joined by author Jack London and his adventurous wife Charmian, a woman ahead of her time, in the struggle to keep humanity free from eternal slavery and ultimate destruction. Nikola Tesla and young US Navy Ensign Chester Nimitz hold up their end of the fight in a classified submarine designed by the great inventor. The biggest, darkest and most revealing of the trilogy from Sesh Heri!

Houdini and Charmain London battling Martians in a 623 page novel-? Wow.

The third book, The Lost Pleiad, is also available. However, the description doesn't say anything about Houdini's involvement in the final story. Maybe the Martians (or Charmain) get the better of him in Book 2?

The alleged loves of Harry Houdini

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