Mystifier, First Quarter 1995

Continuing my issue by issue look back at the Mystifier, the newsletter of the Houdini Historical Center that ran from 1991-2003.

The First Quarter 1995 Mystifier begins with an excerpt from the transcript of Houdini's 1926 Congressional testimony. HHC curator Benjamin Filene credits the transcript having been uncovered by HHC member Paul Rosen at the Library of Congress. It's interesting to see that Houdini cites Sarah Winchester of Winchester Mystery House fame in his list of people he believes were ruined by their devotion to Spiritualism. Houdini states:

In my 35 years I have never seen one genuine medium. Millions of dollars are stolen every year in America, and the Government have never paid any attention to it, because they look upon it as a religion. Sara Winchester spent $5,000,000; the celebrated judge of New York, Edmonds, spent all his fortune; Professor Hare, of Yale College, heard voices and saw forms, and stated a lead pencil stood upright on the table and wrote messages, and answered questions.

Wisconsin researcher and writer Larry Widen contributes a very well researched article called "Houdini in Milwaukee: The Forgotten Years." I was impressed that Widen mentions Harry and Bessie's 1897 tour as part of "Rogers Orpheum Stars", which is rarely mentioned in biographies. But most intriguing is his paragraph about the magic show young Ehrich Weiss witnessed in Milwaukee:

One evening in 1885, an elegantly garbed gentleman was working on stage at a Milwaukee dime museum. Billed as "The Bloodless Vivisectionist" he produced a series of gleaming, wicked-looking knives and proceeded to dismember a living human being before the audience's eyes. With a flourish, the man then replaced his victims limbs and head, apparently none the worse for wear. Eleven-year-old Ehrich Weiss sat spellbound through this performance. He had never seen magic combined with this caliber of showmanship. Houdini later cited the vivisectionist's performance in Milwaukee as a primary inspiration for becoming a magician.

Notice he does not identify the performer, and that he locates it in a Dime Museum. This is very different from the accepted story of Houdini's father taking him to see the celebrated Dr. Lynn at the local Opera House. In his notes, Widen lists a clipping for "Litt's Mammoth Dime Museum" in the Milwaukee Sentinel for February 22, 1885, which is presumably his source for this performer. This appears to corroborate the recent thinking that it was not Dr. Lynn that young Ehrich Weiss saw that day in Milwaukee.

The newsletter includes a museum shop update, announcing the availability of Benjilini on Houdini. It also notes that HHC Executive Director Donald Hoke has accepted a new position in Dallas.

Sid Radner devotes his "Backstage" column to his recent trip to Las Vegas, where he reports that he saw Dixie Dooley and the Harry Blackstone Jr. show (Siegfried & Roy and Lance Burton's were dark during the Christmas season). He also makes a pitch for artifact donations to the HHC.

Sid finishes with "Houdini in the News" in which he reports that Wisconsin Public Television will feature the HHC and the Harry Houdini Assembly of the Society of Young Magicians on the children's program Get Real. He says that a reproduction Houdini bust and Water Torture Cell poster will appear as props in upcoming episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful set inside Houdini's house.

Sid also has a clever new sign-off: "Until next time, keep opening those locks."

Mystifier

Volume 5, Number 1

First Quarter, 1995

6 pages

Contents:

Houdini Testifies Before Congress

Limited Edition at Museum Shop

Houdini's Years in Milwaukee

HHC Executive Director Moves to Dallas
Houdini in the News

Backstage with Sid Radner

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Related:

• Guest blog: Mr. Houdini Goes to Washington
• LINK: Dr. Lynn fools Houdini
• Houdini found at the Winchester Mystery House

LINK: Dr. Lynn fools Houdini

Our friend David Saltman has posted another must read on his blog The Houdini File. This time David shares the results of his investigation into whether it was really possible that young Ehrich Weiss saw the famous English conjurer Dr. Lynn and his famous "Bloodless Vivisection" in Wisconsin in the 1880s.

Some great information here, so click on the headline and have a read at The Houdini File...and do try to keep your head!

Related:

• LINK: Who inspired Houdini?

FIRST PHOTOS FROM THE SET OF HOUDINI!

The Hungarian website FilmHu has just posted the very first photos from the set of the Houdini miniseries currently shooting in Budapest. These shots do not show any filming, but they still tell us a lot! This set appears to be the Appleton Wisconsin of Houdini's childhood (1880s). But the most exciting and revealing image is that of the traveling circus wagon of Dr. Lynn.

Seeing a performance by Dr. Lynn as a young boy is generally considered Houdini's first encounter with magic. Lynn was famous for a grisly effect called "Palingenesia" in which he would dismember and then restore a member of the audience. Houdini would later acquire Lynn's apparatus from the late magician's son and perform some of his feats, including Palingenesia, in his own Full Evening Show.

Note that Lynn's billing, "The Greatest Necromancer of the Age! Perhaps of All Time!", is the exact billing Houdini used near the end of his career. Nice.

This is very exciting as it marks the first time any biopic has dramatized Ehrich's encounter with Dr. Lynn. (Yes, I'm well aware the Lynn performance happened in Milwaukee and not Appleton, but let's cut them some slack.)

Here are some other shots of period Appleton during what appears to be Halloween? This just gets better and better.

Click here to see all 9 photos at FilmHu.

Houdini stars Adrien Brody as Houdini and Kristen Connolly as Bess. It's being directed by Uli Edel from a script by Nicholas Meyer. Houdini is an A&E Studios Lionsgate co-production. The 4-hour miniseries will air over two nights in 2014.

LINK: Who inspired Houdini?

This is another must read over at Magic Detective. This time the tireless Dean Carnegie investigates the original (and largely unsung) influence on young Ehrich Weiss, Dr. Lynn. Some great information here.

Just click here or on the headline to go.

Young Harry Houdini (1987)

On March 15, 1987, the Walt Disney Company aired Young Harry Houdini as part of their recently relaunched Disney Sunday Movie on ABC. The two-hour made for TV film starred Wil Wheaton and José Ferrer and was introduced by the relatively new Disney CEO, Michael Eisner (along with a special performance by “Mickey The Great”).

Young Harry Houdini tells the story of the “lost years” of Ehrich Weiss. It is actually rooted in fact. The young Houdini did run away from home in 1886 and little is known about his year-long adventures on the road. Screenwriters James Cruickshank and Jim Orr (who also directed) fill in the gaps with a colorful story in which Ehrich finds a mentor in traveling show carney Dr. Tybalt Grimaldi (José Ferrer), a love interest in the pretty Calpernia (Kerri Green), and experiences true mysticism via an indian medicine man (J. Reuben Silverbird).

"Getting this role was like a dream come true for me," said 14-year-old star Wil Wheaton, who performed card and coin magic at the time. "I've idolized, you could almost say worshipped, Houdini all my life!"

The film begins with the adult Houdini (played by Jeffrey DeMunn who also played the magician in the film version of Ragtime) performing the Water Torture Cell in England. It’s a pretty good recreation of the USD with a fairly authentic looking cell, although the conclusion owes more to Doug Henning’s interpretation than Houdini. Later in his dressing room, Houdini relates the story of his runaway days to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Roy Dotrice). “It is the most fantastic story you will ever hear,” says Houdini.

Flashback to Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1886, where we meet “Ehrich Prince of the Air” honing his performance skills while also apprenticing to a local locksmith. An encounter with “The Great Merlin” leads to Ehrich losing his locksmith job and after a dressing down by his stern father (Byrne Piven), Ehrich runs away to prove himself as a magician.

Here the story travels into wholly fictional territory, nevertheless it still has nods to established Houdini lore. Ehrich hops the wrong box car and ends up in Kanas City, as did the real Ehrich Weiss. There is a clever variation on the “convict in cuffs” story when Ehrich frees a fellow traveler from handcuffs. When Ehrich first sees Dr. Grimaldi, he is performing a (Disney-friendly) version of Paligenesia, the effect associated with Ehrich’s real-life influence, Dr. Lynn.

The second half of the film gets a little lost in sometimes bizarre “chosen one” mythology, but along the way we get to see Ehrich reading The Memories of Robert-Houdin and perform his first packing crate escape. And the movie does have a satisfying twist that I won’t reveal.

One point of interest is where exactly Young Harry Houdini was shot. Much of the action is set on what appears to be a western backlot. This could be the Disney Studios in Burbank or Disney's Golden Oaks Ranch near Newhall. Jim Steinmeyer was the technical advisor on the film. Jim worked with Doug Henning at the time, so the technical advisor credit reads just "Doug Henning Magic." The Water Torture Cell was supplied by John Gaughan and went on to make many more television appearances.

As far as I know, Young Harry Houdini aired only once. The new Disney Sunday Night movie would go the way of the old and cease broadcast by 1989.

Young Harry Houdini did find it’s way onto videocassette in Great Britain, but it has never been released on any home entertainment format in the U.S. That’s a shame because Young Harry Houdini is a well-made, entertaining family film that deserves to brought up from the Disney vaults.

The real young Harry Houdini

Also enjoy:

• A look back at The Great Houdinis (1976)
• A look back at TNT's HOUDINI (1998)
• A look back at HOUDINI (1953)
• A look back at FairyTale: A True Story (1997)