The Houdini Magical Hall of Fame fire 30 years ago today

Our friend Tom Interval at Interval Magic reminds me that today marks a grim anniversary. It was 30 years ago tonight that the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Canada, burned in a late fire. Among the Houdini rarities destroyed was the original Water Torture Cell. Below is the news as it appeared in The Toronto Star the following day.

The Toronto Star, May 2, 1995.

Do you remember when and where you learned the news that the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame was no more?

Related:

• Houdini Magical Hall of Fame site today
• Return to the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame
• Geno Munari Houdini collection lost in fire

The tragic death of Lyda Hyman

Here's an account of the tragic death of silent movie actress Dorothy Dale, whose real name was Lyda Hyman. Lyda was the wife of Jacob Hyman, Houdini's long-time friend and first performing partner. The paper even topped the story with a photo of the Houdinis and the Hymans.

Citizen News, May 14, 1957

Not to diminish the human tragedy here, but one can't help wondering if any precious Houdini mementos went up in flames or were among the items dumped "out into the driveway."

Below is the site of Lyda Hyman's home today.

Want more? This article appeared on the front page of Citizen News, a regional Los Angeles paper that served Hollywood and the valley. I've shared the full front page on my Patreon, along with an alternate photo of the Houdinis and Hymans.

Related:

• Uncovering the grave of Houdini's first "Brother"
• Jacob Hyman aka J.H. Houdini
• Geno Munari Houdini collection lost in fire

Los Angeles fires temporarily threaten Magic Castle

By now, I'm sure everyone is aware of the catastrophic brush fires ravaging Los Angeles. Last night, a new fire erupted in the Hollywood Hills. Called the Sunset Fire, both the Magic Castle and the Houdini Estate fell within the evacuation zone. For a time, the Magic Castle appeared under serious threat and was being wetted down. However, this morning, the evacuation order has been lifted. Randy Pitchford posted the following on his social media:

The Magic Castle was under threat, but appears it will be safe thanks to the heroic efforts by some Magic Castle heroes and the LAFD. It was touch and go for awhile, but we survived (another) fire! The LAFD is welcome to use our parking lot for staging the fight all night.

The Houdini Estate marked the literal edge of the evacuation zone and appears to have never been seriously threatened.

Houdini Estate inside the red zone.

Also safe are our good friends Mike Caveney and Tina Lenert at Egyptian Hall Museum in Pasadena, although the area remains under an evacuation warning.

The news is not so good from the other fires that are still raging. However, the Santa Ana winds have died down, so let's hope this helps firefighters get these horrible blazes under control. For those who have asked, I'm safe here at WILD ABOUT HARRY headquarters.

Related:

• Magic Castle fire: "I think Houdini had a hand in that."
• Fire at the Houdini Estate in Laurel Canyon
• Geno Munari Houdini collection lost in fire

Geno Munari Houdini collection lost in fire

The $750,000 Houdini collection that Geno Munari donated to Vanishing Inc.'s ShareMagic in 2023 appears to have been lost in a catastrophic warehouse fire. The collection included personal letters, props, scrapbooks, posters, and one-of-a-kind memorabilia. Many of the items had once been part of the Sidney Radner collection.

Vanishing Inc. co-founder Joshua Jay tells me they have not yet been able to access the section of the warehouse that held the collection, so there's still a chance some items could be recovered. But I have also heard it is a total loss. The fire occurred on June 6, 2024, at their Sacramento warehouse, which had been the company’s retail headquarters for over a decade. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

The company's computers were also casualties of the fire, so it's unclear if even an inventory of the collection survived. However, the good news is Geno professionally photographed and documented every item, so there is a complete record of what went to Vanishing Inc. This means the vital history contained in the collection is retrievable, even if the artifacts themselves are now lost.

ShareMagic, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, had planned to use the collection to create "an unparalleled exhibition that will bring Houdini's legacy to life for generations to come." Instead, this may turn out to be the single largest loss of Houdini history ever.

You can read Vanishing Inc.'s account of the fire on their blog and find additional details at One Ahead.

UPDATE: Vanishing Inc. has provided a 2024 overview, which you can read HERE. Nothing about the Houdini collection, but it's clear they've been able to get back into the warehouse. I think we can assume the collection is a total loss.

Related:

• Geno Munari donates Houdini collection to Vanishing Inc. charity fund
• Sidney Radner collection to be auctioned in Las Vegas
• Burglar destroys Houdini collection in arson fire

Geno Munari donates Houdini collection to Vanishing Inc charity fund (update)

Geno Munari, founder of Houdini's Magic Shop, has donated his Houdini collection to Vanishing Inc. Magic Fund aka ShareMagic. According to Vanishing Inc. co-founder Joshua Jay, the collection will be used "to create an unparalleled exhibition that will bring Houdini's legacy to life for generations to come." Full press release is below:

Vanishing Inc. Magic Fund Receives Donation of

Approximately $750,000 in Rare Houdini Memorabilia from Geno Munari

Collection contains Houdini’s handcuffs, straightjacket, posters, photos, props, and more.

SACRAMENTO, Calif (April 3, 2023) - The Vanishing Inc. Magic Fund, a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization also known as ShareMagic, is pleased to announce that Geno Munari, the well-known magic historian and collector, donated a collection of rare Harry Houdini artifacts to the organization in December 2022. The donation has since been valued to be worth nearly $750,000 and will eventually be used to create a special exhibition.

The donated items include Houdini's personal letters, Houdini “challenge” leaflets, posters, and other one-of-a-kind memorabilia. One of the most noteworthy pieces are the remnants of Houdini’s Water Torture Cell (which was nearly completely destroyed by a fire). This prop was used in one of the most iconic and dangerous stunts in magic history, in which Houdini would suspend himself upside down and escape from a locked cabinet filled with water before drowning.

Andi Gladwin and Joshua Jay, cofounders of Vanishing Inc. and the Vanishing Inc. Magic Fund expressed their excitement and gratitude for the donation. "We are thrilled to receive such a significant donation from Geno Munari. Houdini's legacy is an important part of magic history, and having access to these iconic props and photos will allow magicians everywhere to learn from them and appreciate them,” said Gladwin.

Jay added, "As magicians and magic history enthusiasts ourselves, we are honored to be entrusted with these invaluable artifacts. Geno's generosity will eventually allow us to create an unparalleled exhibition that will bring Houdini's legacy to life for generations to come."

Started by Vanishing Inc., the world’s largest magic shop, the Vanishing Inc. Magic Fund is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of magic history and culture. The organization provides support and resources to magicians and magic enthusiasts around the world through its educational programs, publications, and exhibitions.

For more information on Vanishing Inc. Magic Fund or to learn how you can support its mission, visit www.sharemagic.org.

UPDATE: I've heard this collection may have been destroyed in a catastrophic warehouse fire on June 6, 2024. According to Vanishing Inc.'s own account, the roof collapsed and nothing was salvageable. The Sacramento warehouse had been the company’s retail headquarters for more than a decade. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

At the moment, it's unclear if even a catalog of the collection survived, so we might never know exactly what was lost. But it's known Geno acquired many rarities from Sidney Radner. 

 

Related:

• "Houdini’s" will be new Disneyland magic shop
• Eric Olsen on restoring the Water Torture Cell
• Tour Houdini Art and Magic with Joshua Jay (Part 1)

Pittsburgh fire truck escape mystery

Having recently cracked the case of the Cleveland boxcar mystery photo, I thought I'd throw out another puzzling Houdini escape. This time it's not a photo, but a news account of Houdini performing a "series of escapes" on a city fire truck in Pittsburgh on March 4, 1925. Below is the vague but tantalizing account.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette, March 5, 1925

So what exactly did Houdini do here? "Straitjackets and handcuffs"? At the same time? Or did he do multiple escapes as the word "series" seems to suggest? Accounts leading up to the escape reported he would be atop "an 80-foot fire department ladder", but no mention of a ladder here.

For context, Houdini was performing his second week at the Davis Theater in Pittsburgh. This was his last vaudeville tour before he devoted himself to his full evening show in the fall.

What I'd most like to see are any photos from this mystery event. It would be especially exciting to see Houdini in manacles at this later age.

Here is the intersection of 5th and Smithfield streets today.

Top image is a 1925 American LaFrance fire truck from artebellum.com, which may or may not have been the type of fire truck Houdini used on this day.

Related:

• Boxcar straitjacket escape mystery (SOLVED!)
• LINK: Harry Houdini and Pittsburgh, the ties that bind
• The Westminster Bridge jump that wasn't

Fire at the Houdini Estate in Laurel Canyon

I'm taking a break from my break to share news of a fire that broke out in a shed on the Houdini Estate in Laurel Canyon on Christmas night. Luckily, it sounds like the fire did not reach the house itself. The below comes from KABC Eyewitness News.

The fire started just after 8 p.m. in a shed behind the house in the 2400 block of N. Laurel Canyon Blvd., which was once home to legendary illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini. 

Over 100 firefighters responded while helicopters performed water drops. 

Crews say they were helped by the wind which pushed the flames into a small area of brush. 

The fire was fully contained in about an hour. 

Fire in this area is no joke. In 1959 a massive brush fire destroyed the original mansion that stood on this property along with many homes. For a full history of Houdini's connection to the property check out this post.

Thanks to Mark Willoughby for the alert.

UPDATE: Below is some video of the action.

Related:

• Houdini Estate sees wedding of owner José Nazar
• We're getting closer to putting Houdini in Laurel Canyon (for real)
• A new addition to The Houdini Estate

Mystifier, Second 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 Second Quarter 1995 Mystifier opens with the news that a collection of photographs, clippings, and letters related to Houdini's first performing partner Jacob Hyman was donated to the HHC by Joy U. Reynolds, Hyman's great-niece. (As this was not part of the Radner collection, presumably the material is still held in Appleton.) That's the good news.

The bad news is a report on the catastrophic fire at the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls on May 1, 1995. The newsletter gives a good accounting (better than press reports at the time) of what was destroyed:

According to fire inspectors' reports, the blaze began when rubbish containing cigarette butts smoldered and eventually caught fire. As of this printing, the damages have not been fully assessed. According to Hall of Fame owner and HHC Board Member Henry Muller, "It's hard to estimate the total losses. About two-thirds of the museum is still standing, but it's a question of relative value, since the Chinese Water Torture Cell and the secret message burned." [...] Another irreplaceable item lost was a one-of-kind leather straitjacket, which was made especially for Houdini and used in Scotland. Fortunately, many items such as picks, keys, handcuffs, packing cases, and several Blackstone and Thurston illusions survived the fire unscathed.

Dr. Morris N. Young then writes about meeting Dorothy Young, and how, on his suggestion, she painted a portrait of Houdini "as she has seen him in 1926." Dr. Young says the painting was donated to the HHC for display. I don't believe I've ever seen this, but would love to!

The newsletter also includes a report on rising attendance, and that David Copperfield has joined the HHC Board. Among the "New Members" listed is one John Cox. (What took me so long?)

Sid Radner devotes the first part of his "Backstage" column to the Hall of Fame fire. He says that a planned auction of several of the illusions housed at the museum will no longer go forward. He also writes that "the loss of the Water Torture Cell could present a fresh opportunity to lobby for  Houdini postage stamp featuring the cell."

Sid then notes that James Bond author John Gardner is a member of the HHC. He reports that the HHC was recently mentioned on Jeopardy!, and that Houdini's connection to Appleton was included in the April 4, 1995 New York Times crossword. He also announces the upcoming publication of "a very important limited edition book explaining how Houdini came to America", and that there will be a new restaurant chain similar to the Hard Rock Cafe with a Houdini/magic theme.

The book, Houdini Comes To America by Ronald J. Hilgert, appeared the following year. The restaurant never materialized.

Mystifier

Volume 5, Number 2

Second Quarter, 1995

6 pages

Contents:

Recent HHC Donations

Fire: Loss of Magic History

Center Attendance Up

Museum Shop
Copperfield on HHC Board

Backstage with Sid Radner

PREVIOUS ISSUE | INDEX | NEXT ISSUE

Related:

• Jacob Hyman aka J.H. Houdini
• Houdini Magical Hall of Fame site today
• Dorothy Young remembers her days with Houdini

LINK: Houdini in vanishing San Francisco, part 3

The third and final installment of Christine U'Ren excellent series on "Houdini in Vanishing San Francisco" has been posted to the SF Silent Film Festival Blog. I've linked to each installment in this post, but I thought I'd give a top-of-the-page shout-out to this latest part which covers 1923-4. I'm excited to see that Christine has uncovered newspaper clippings of Houdini's suspended straitjacket escape from the Hearst Building with photos I've never seen. (I visited the building during my recent visit to SF for the Official Houdini Seance.)

Click here or on the headline to have a read at the SF Silent Film Festival Blog.

Related posts:

• Christine U'Ren captures Houdini in San Francisco
• REPORT: The Official Houdini Séance 2015

Fire at the HOUDINI cinema in Zürich

A fire broke out at the well-named HOUDINI cinema complex in Zürich, Switzerland this morning. Emergency services were called at around 7.30am after a passer-by reported smoke pouring from the building.

Firemen evacuated 40 people. No one was injured. The cause of the fire remains unknown, though it is thought to have started in the bar on the ground floor of the building.

The HOUDINI cinema opened last August and occupies the first three floors of a seven-storey building which also comprises apartments, shops and restaurants. You can check out the official website at www.kinohoudini.ch.

Source: The Local Switzerland. Photo: Marcel Haertlein.

Ransom Center shares Harry Houdini Scrapbook Collection online

The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin has made their Harry Houdini Scrapbook Collection available online for free. The collection contains ten scrapbooks owned by Houdini with material dating from 1850 to the 1920s. Among them is a spiritualism scrapbook with a clipping from the April 8, 1923 New York Times about Houdini's fire escape challenge with a dramatic photo that I've never seen before.

Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin.

The University has also made available their Magic Posters and Playbills Collection. This collection contains several Houdini playbills, including a rare 1890s advert for Harry and Bess giving a full-on "Spiritualistic Entertainment" (busted).

Both these collections were previously only available online for a fee (free for students). The University of Texas acquired their vast collection of Houdini memorabilia and magic material in 1958.

Our friend Tom Interval at Houdini Museum has done a great job breaking down the collection and providing links and descriptions of all the scrapbooks and individual posters. Click on over to Tom's site or the Ransom Center to have a browse of these Houdini treasures.

Thanks to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin for permission to use the above image.

Did Houdini play hero in a forgotten theater fire?

One of the great stories of magic involves Harry Blackstone Sr. averting possible disaster in 1942 when a fire broke out in a building next door to the theater during one of his performances. Blackstone was warned privately of the fire and told that he needed to stop the show. Realizing this could cause a panic, Blackstone stepped to the footlights and explained that his next trick was so big it would need to performed outdoors. He then led an orderly evacuation of the theater. Only then did the audience realize that the theater was in danger of burning down.

It's a great story and a part of the Blackstone legacy, but did Houdini perform similar heroics 17 years earlier?

In the new monograph Houdini & Gysel, author Wayne Wissner quotes a letter to Houdini from Robert Gysel in which he states:

"Understand that you was [sic] some hero at the Keiths fire in Indianapolis on apl 4th, that thru your coolness saved the spectators from being terrorized, Good for You."

Now, in a wild coincidence (which happen to me frequently when it comes to HH), right after reading this passage in the Gysel book I logged onto eBay and saw this beautiful original program advertising Houdini at the Indianapolis B.F. Keith's Theater in March 1925. There's no date for the Gysel letter, but as this program says this would be Houdini's first appearance in Indianapolis in 10 years and the majority of the Gysel correspondence is from the 1920s, it appears this could very well be the week of the Keith's theater fire. (The program sold for $214.)

But the big question remains -- what exactly did Houdini do to "save the spectators from being terrorized"? I can't find any mention of this in any biography. I also tried to find news of a theater fire in Indianapolis on April 4, 1925, but turned up nothing.

I'll throw this one out to the Houdini detectives.

Rare photo shows Houdini staked out

Here's a fantastic unpublished photograph from the collection of Jon Oliver -- the man who sleeps in Houdini's bed and also holds Bessie's hair -- of Houdini being tied to a stake by what appear to be two Indian braves in traditional feathered headdresses.

This is almost certainly the infamous burning stake challenge that went wrong for Houdini. The terrain and Houdini's clothes appear to match the one published photo from that event. However, accounts say that was a challenge issued by the Boy Scouts of America and nothing about the involvement of Native Americans. But photos don't lie.

This was one of the unpublished photos I shared during my presentation at the 2012 Official Houdini Seance (although this one went by a little quick). I think this is a quintessential photo of Houdini being challenged, and I'm thrilled to be able to share it here now.

Thank you, Jon.

UPDATE: This newspaper clipping from the Des Moines Register Nov. 23, 1924 shows that this migt have been an entirely different "bonfire" challenge than the Boy Scout challenge, which the caption says occurred in San Francisco.

Click to enlarge.

Houdini's close call

Here is the only known photo of Houdini escaping after being tied to a burning stake. This challenge was made by the Boy Scouts of America and went wrong when the overenthusiastic scouts doused the flames with gasoline. By the time he was free, Houdini's clothes were singed. It was the only time he did such a fire escape.

UPDATE: You can now see more photos from this challenge: Rare photo shows Houdini staked out and Ransom Center shares Harry Houdini Scrapbook Collection online.

UPDATE 2: Christine U'Ren has identified this escape as talking place in San Francisco on or around April 7, 1923. Read more.

Magic Castle fire: "I think Houdini had a hand in that."

The Magic Newswire has a special podcast interview with Magic Castle owners Irene Larsen, Erika Larsen, West McDonough and Milt Larsen about the Magic Castle fire on Halloween. Not only do they provide a first hand account of exactly what happened, but you gotta love it when Irene says:

"I think Houdini had a hand in that. Because we had so much publicity, we were on every news station all day long and even the next day. I mean, it's not the publicity you're looking for, but you know how Houdini loved the publicity [laughs]."

Even Milt chimed in on the Houdini connection:

"That was the anniversary of Houdini's passing in 1926, and one of the rooms that wasn't even touched by the fire was our Houdini Room, so you kinda wonder about those kinds of things. It probably started right around the time that he died so...spooky!"

Listen to the entire interview at The Magic Newswire.

The Castle is currently open Wednesdays through Sundays while repaires are underway. Updates will be posted on the official Magic Castle website.

BREAKING: FIRE AT THE MAGIC CASTLE!

Joe Fox just sent me this alarming news from KABC:

HOLLYWOOD (KABC) -- A fire burned part of the attic at Hollywood's Magic Castle restaurant Monday afternoon. L.A. city firefighters responded to a report of a fire in the attic at the Magic Castle, located on the 7000 block of West Franklin Blvd. in Hollywood, after 12 p.m. Monday. The department reported a search and rescue under way. The department reported fire had reached wall space in the structure.

UPDATE: The L.A. Times reports that the fire is out and the damage is being assessed. The report says "the blaze was contained largely to the attic and walls of the historic venue but that there might be significant water damage."

Whew!

Still, I can't help but comment on the fact that this happened on the very day and during the exact hour that Houdini died 85 years ago. Also, this was Inferno Week at the Castle.