LINK: CBR remembers the Houdini Miniseries

CBR has a well-written piece by Alex Huffman remembering the 2014 Houdini Miniseries starring Adrian Brody (who is currently Oscar-nominated for The Brutalist). They gave me a nice shout-out, so I thought I'd do the same! Click the headline or image below to re-discover The Great Brodini.

Related:

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

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 Houdinis in the bordello

In the 2014 Houdini Miniseries, there's a scene in which the young Harry and Bess find themselves unknowingly booked into a brothel. Turns out this is based on reality. In fact, I now believe I've discovered precisely when and where this happened, thanks to a letter in the Boston Public Library and a scrapbook in the Library of Congress.

I'm sharing this one as a "History Exclusive" on my Patreon. Click the image below and all will be revealed.

My Patreon is going strong content-wise, but we seem to have stalled at just over 80 members. That's still far from the goal of 100 members, which will unlock unreleased Houdini audio. So, if you've been on the fence, why not take the leap, support my work, and enjoy all the pleasures within.

Related:

• REVIEW: History gets a C- in Houdini
• Fact checking HISTORY's Houdini - Part One
• Announcing WILD ABOUT HARRY on Patreon

David Copperfield breaks down magic in movies

The great David Copperfield gives his take on magic in several movies, including the 2014 Houdini Miniseries starring Adrien Brody.

You can purchase David Copperfield's History of Magic on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Related:

• Penn talks magic in movies, including Houdini (1953)
• Fact checking HISTORY's Houdini - Part One
• Fact checking HISTORY's Houdini - Part Two

Hollywood kills Houdini

Today is the 95th Anniversary of the death of Harry Houdini in Detroit. How did Houdini die? Let's take a look at what Hollywood tells us.

When a Houdini biopic was being shopped around Hollywood in the 1930s, Columbia Picture's head Harry Cohen passed on the project, complaining Houdini's life lacked romance and "needed a better ending than a punch in the solar plexus." Hollywood never seemed to get past this, and over the course of five biopics has tried to add drama to Houdini's death. Here's how Hollywood killed Houdini.

Houdini (1953)

The classic biopic Houdini starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh decided to have Houdini die onstage inside his "Pagoda Torture Cell." It's plenty dramatic and for many decades people believed this is how Houdini really died (and some still do). The idea that Houdini is suffering the early stages of appendicitis is established in an earlier scene. And before he performs the fatal escape he runs into the handle of prop sword in his dressing room, presumably rupturing that problematic appendix.

The Great Houdinis (1976)

By 1976 the belief that Houdini died onstage in his Water Torture Cell was so wide spread that Hollywood couldn't resist doing it all over again. Give the people what they want! But this time the dressing room punch is also nicely dramatized for the first time. And Houdini doesn't actually die onstage. Over a freeze frame we hear Mini's voice explaining that he died a week later in Grace Hospital. So they were able to have it both ways. I do love Mini's final line: "We all knew he was waiting for Halloween. Made such a nice headline."

Houdini (1998)

Despite striving for more accuracy on several fronts, this 1998 movie from TNT decided to once again trap Houdini inside his Water Torture Cell. But he doesn't actually drown this time. Instead he dies in the hospital on what appears to be the operating table. The punch is also part of the chain of events, but it's a blink and you'll miss it moment.

Death Defying Acts (2008)

By the 2000s most people knew Houdini didn't die in the Water Torture Cell and that his death had something to do with a punch to the stomach. That was good enough for this indie feature which depicts Houdini being punched in the stomach in the lobby of a Montreal hotel and dropping dead on the spot.

Houdini Miniseries (2014)

For once Houdini's final days and death are portrayed largely accurately. But despite fine performances by stars Adrian Brody and Kristin Connolly, Harry Cohen might have been right. It's a little anti-climatic. As for Harry being kissed by Mama's in a sexy nurse outfit...what a weird movie this was.

I'm sure Hollywood isn't done killing Houdini in their own creative ways. What does the future hold? We'll find out!

Remembering

HARRY HOUDINI

on the

95th ANNIVERSARY 

OF HIS (REAL) DEATH

October 31, 1926

Fred Pittella follows Harry and Mama to Budapest

On a recent business trip to Germany, our great friend and Houdini collector Fred Pittella followed in the footsteps of Houdini and his mother by taking a side trip to Budapest, Hungary. Not only did Fred visit David Merlini's House of Houdini museum and the 7th district where Ehrich Weiss was born, he also stopped in at the still standing Royal Hotel (today the Corinthia Hotel). It was here in 1901 that Houdini famously rented the hotel's Palm Garden salon to hold a reception with relatives for his mother who came gowned in a dress made for Queen Victoria.

Fred sends us some photos and says, "You could just imagine Houdini walking down these stairs with his mother on his arm, all puffy chest a proud son."

"How my heart warmed to see the various friends and relatives kneel and pay homage to my mother, every inch a queen, as she sat enthroned in her heavily carved and gilded chair." - Houdini

While no photos of this famous reception survive (to my knowledge), it has been depicted in two Houdini biopics, The Great Houdinis (1976) and the Houdini Miniseries (2014).

Here's an image from Fred's collection capturing the real Harry, Mama, and Bess at this very time.

Thanks Fred!

Related:

• Houdini in 1901
• Potter & Potter photo reveals Mama (still) in Europe
• Guest Blog: Houdini Vacation

Houdini miniseries leaves Netflix March 2

The Houdini miniseries starring Adrien Brody will be leaving Netflix on March 2. The streaming network put up the two-part biopic in March 2015. I'm always amused when people tell me they watched "the Netflix Houdini movie" with no idea it was originally shown on HISTORY in 2014.

Netflix streams the edited U.S. broadcast version. The full unedited international version can be found on DVD and Blu-ray. You can read my review HERE.

Related:

• 'The Magic of Houdini' now streaming on Netflix
• FairyTale now streaming on Netflix

Christmas Day screening the Houdini Miniseries at the Jewish Museum of Maryland

The Jewish Museum of Maryland will screen the 2014 Houdini Miniseries on Christmas Day as part of their Inescapable: The Life and Legacy of Harry Houdini exhibition programing.

Houdini: The Mini-Series
December 25 @ 12:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Tickets to this program include Museum admission. 

Buy Now! (Members: Reserve Your Seats!) 

Follow the man behind the magic as he finds fame, engages in espionage, battles spiritualists and encounters the greatest names of the era, from U.S. presidents to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Grigori Rasputin. Houdini stars Adrien Brody, Kristen Connolly, and Evan Jones.

Inescapable: The Life and Legacy of Harry Houdini runs through January 21, 2019. For more information visit the JMM website.

Related:

• REVIEW: History gets a C- in Houdini
• Making the Houdini Miniseries
• Discovering Houdini's Baltimore

Houdini honored as Brooklyn resident

Did you know that Houdini has a marker in a special section of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden honoring famous residents of the borough? This is great, except it's pushing it somewhat to call Houdini a Brooklynite. Houdini's residency consisted of three years when he and Bess lived with the Hardeens in their Flatbush home. But we'll take it!

Of course, in the 2014 Houdini Miniseries, writer Nicholas Meyer placed 278 in Brooklyn for reasons I still don't understand. Maybe he did all his research in the Botanical Garden? That would explain a few things. (Yes, I'm still not over it.)

Thanks to Tom Frueh and KC Wright for this one.

Related:

• The Flatbush years
• Williamsport honors their "Wild Man" with historical marker
• Nick Meyer and "the era of nitpicking"

Ernesto Portillo Houdini Miniseries poster concepts

Creative Director Ernesto Portillo has posted to his official website several poster concepts for the 2014 Houdini Miniseries. I think these are pretty nice and certainly rival the final poster.

Related:

• Unused Houdini miniseries poster art
• HISTORY's Houdini poster mock-ups
• Making the Houdini Miniseries

HISTORY brings back 'Houdini' for October

HISTORY will repeat their two-part Houdini miniseries starring Adrien Brody and Kristen Connolly on Wednesday, October 18 at 8:30am (Part 1) and 10:30am (Part 2). Proceeding the miniseries will be repeat of Brad Meltzer's Decoded (7:00am) and the "Houdini Handcuffs" episode of Pawn Stars (7:30am).

Houdini originally aired in September 2014. The version HISTORY shows is edited. The unedited International version is available on DVD and Blu-ray. Houdini can also be streamed on Amazon and Netflix.

But if you are going to watch just one Houdini biopic this month, I'd recommend the Tony Curtis classic Houdini (1953) which airs several times on MOVIES. While both dabble in fictionalizations, the Curtis film is a better movie about magic and a much more affectionate portrait of Harry and Bess.

Related:

• Fact checking HISTORY's Houdini - Part One | Part Two
• REVIEW: History gets a C- in Houdini
• Decoding Decoded

Houdini challenges the tax man

This book just popped up on Amazon today. What is this? A Italian novelization of the Houdini Miniseries? Perhaps the behind the scenes story of Adrien's "Brodini"? Or maybe a new study that tackles the question of why Houdini never performed in Italy. (Yeah, why is that?)

Turns out it's none of the above. The title, Houdini e il fisco Italiano: Escapologia e Controescapologia, translates as "Houdini and the Italian Taxes: Escapology and Counter-Escapology" (according to Google translate). So it looks like this is a manual to help you escape those pesky Italian taxes. Thanks Harry.

For you completists, Houdini e il fisco Italiano: Escapologia e Controescapologia can be purchased at Amazon.com (U.S.), Amazon.co.uk (UK) and, of course, the Italian Amazon.it.

Related:

• Second Young Houdini book released in Italy
• A taste of Houdini horror from Italy
• Photos from "Houdini in Milano"

LINK: Houdini's circus wagons in Budapest

Philip Treece at CollectingMagic.co.uk recently ran across two Houdini circus wagons in Budapest, one sporting the Welsh Bros name. Where did these come from? Click the headline to find out.

Related:

• When the Welsh Bros. came to town
• Making the Houdini Miniseries
• First photos from the set of 'Houdini'

Unused Houdini miniseries poster art

At the risk of bringing on traumatic memories, here are some unused posters that I recently stumbled across for the 2014 Houdini miniseries starring Adrien Brody. These were created Progressive Productions in Hungary. You'll notice that each promote the series as airing in "Spring 2014." It ultimately aired at the end of summer.

Progressive also produced the concept poster below. This one did find its way into use online (I first shared it HERE), but it was never an "official" poster. You can see it carries the wrong air date as well. Below is a photo of Brody doing the photo shoot for this poster with Creative Directors Michael Scalere & Steph Sebbag.

Progressive was also responsible for the final poster as well as several character stills. To see all their work on Houdini visit their official website.

In other Houdini news, noted English actor Tim Pigott-Smith, who played Houdini's (entirely fictional) spymaster "M", passed away last week at age 70. You can read his obituary at TV.BT.

Related:

• The Houdini miniseries poster is here
• HISTORY's Houdini poster mock-ups
• Houdini & Doyle unused artwork

Houdini miniseries will NOT air November 27

It looks like HISTORY has dropped the Houdini miniseries from their schedule for November 27, so the 2014 miniseries will NOT be airing as planned.

Brodini isn't taking this well.

But cheer up! Know you can watch Houdini on Netflix and Amazon Video, or watch the full unedited international version on DVD and Blu-ray.

Related:

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

Houdini miniseries on HISTORY November 27

HISTORY will repeat their two-part Houdini miniseries starring Adrien Brody and Kristen Connolly on Sunday, November 27 at 7:30 AM (part 1) and 9:30 AM (part 2).

The Houdini miniseries first aired in September 2014. The version that shows on HISTORY is the shortened U.S. cut. The full unedited international version is available on DVD and Blu-ray.

UPDATE: It looks like HISTORY has now dropped this from their schedule, so Houdini will NOT air on November 27.

Related:

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

Making the Houdini Miniseries

It was two years ago tonight that the Houdini miniseries starring Adrien Brody first aired on the HISTORY channel. To mark the occasion, here's a look back at the making of 'Houdini' with some terrific behind the scenes photos from technical advisor David Merlini.

In the spring of 2013, Hollywood had no less than a dozen Houdini projects in development. Summit Entertainment was working on a screenplay that featured Houdini as a super spy. Sony was developing a movie in which Houdini and Chung Ling Soo battled the super-natural. ABC even purchased an idea for a TV series in which Houdini’s ghost would work alongside a female detective in contemporary New York. One thing they had in common: they were all highly fictionalized treatments of the great magician’s life.

Then on April 10, 2013, news broke that Oscar winner Adrien Brody had made a deal to star in a Houdini miniseries that would air on the HISTORY Channel. This new Houdini promised to be a biopic that “traces the arc of the turn-of-the-20th-century master magician’s life from desperate poverty to worldwide fame.” Overseeing the project would be veteran TV producer Gerald W. Abrams, father of director J.J. Abrams.

Unannounced at the time was that screenwriter Nicholas Meyer of Star Trek and The Seven-Per-Cent Solution fame had already penned the first drafts of the screenplay. The writer had an interesting personal connection to Houdini. His father, Bernard C. Meyer, wrote a psychoanalytic study of the great magician in 1976 called Houdini: A Mind in Chains. Meyer agreed to do the job only if the producers optioned his father’s book, which they did. However, Meyer’s final script would owe more to the uncredited 2006 biography, The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero by William Kalush and Larry Slomon, than it would to his father’s work.

The Houdini miniseries would span two nights. Meyer originally gave each installment a unique title. Part One was to be called “Becoming Houdini” and Part Two was “Being Houdini.” However, this two title idea was eventually dropped.

On August 19, 2013, producers Lionsgate and A+E Studios (parent company of HISTORY) gave Houdini the greenlight to start production in the fall with Brody as Houdini and the talented Kristen Connolly as his wife Bess. Wishing to portray Bess as accurately as possible, Connolly did her own outside research, and even fought the producers on their original idea to make Bess Irish.

Oscar nominee Uli Edel was hired to direct. Other crew members included Patrizia von Brandenstein as production designer and Karl Walter Lindenlaub as cinematographer. The entire production would be shot in Houdini’s birthplace of Budapest, Hungary. This was not an homage to the great magician; rather, the decision to shoot in Budapest had to do with favorable tax incentives offered by Eastern Europe.

Louis Mertens as the young Houdini.

Cameras started rolling the week of September 30, 2013. Further additions to the cast included Evan Jones as Houdini’s trusted assistant Jim Collins; Hungarian actress Eszter Ónodi as Houdini’s mother Cecilia Weiss; Jeremy Wheeler as Rabbi Weiss; Louis Mertens as the young Houdini; Tom Benedict Knight as Houdini’s brother Theo Hardeen; David Calder as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and Megan Dodds as Mina Crandon, a.k.a. Margery the Medium.

Digital visual effects (almost 300 shots) would be employed as never before in a Houdini biopic in order to transform the streets and soundstages of Budapest into New York, London, San Francisco, St. Louis and Detroit. Noted escape artist David Merlini was hired as the technical consultant and oversaw the many escapes.

Adrien Brody with technical advisor David Merlini.

October 31, 2013 marked the 87th anniversary of the death of Houdini. It was also the 14th day of shooting on the Houdini miniseries. The scene that day featured Houdini, Bess, and Jim Collins practicing a straitjacket escape in the Dorchester Hotel in London in 1905 (in the finished film, the scene would appear to be set in Houdini’s house). To mark the occasion, David Merlini proposed a minute of silence in honor of Houdini before shooting the scene. Interestingly, Houdini's actual death scene was shot just a few days later.

Details of the Houdini miniseries began to leak online even before production had wrapped. Photos of actress Eszter Ónodi under a sheet of ice revealed the miniseries would include the fictional “trapped under the ice” drama so memorably depicted in the classic 1953 Tony Curtis Houdini movie. For fans, this was an indication that the miniseries would embrace popular Houdini mythology.

Principal photography wrapped in mid-December, and Entertainment Weekly offered the first official look at Adrien Brody as Houdini in their February 21, 2014 issue. While the original plan was to air the series in May, it was later pushed to the end of summer.

Post production and editing took place at EPS-Cineworks in Studio City, California. There the editors were faced with the challenge of creating two versions of the miniseries: a condensed version for U.S. broadcast, and a longer cut for international audiences. This would later prove controversial.

Faced with a tight editing schedule, editor Sabrina Plisco expanded the editorial team to include co-editor David Beatty, and assistant editors Jared Zalman and Paul Alderman. "This Houdini is more of a psychological thriller, so we used jump cutting, freeze frames, and contemporary sound and music to give an edginess to a classic story," explained Plisco.

Oscar nominated composer John Debney was brought in to do the musical score. Debney’s music would further the producers desire to give the series a contemporary feel to attract younger audiences. Debney’s score would also be released on two limited edition CDs. However, the music that would draw the most attention was the song "Simple Pleasures" by Jake Bugg that played over the first full trailer (included at the end of this post).

HISTORY began promoting Houdini in late summer 2014. The network launched an official website in which viewers could take a Houdini quiz, and began rolling out impressive online trailers and TV spots. One novel promotion featured bus stops created by Atomic Props that would fill with water, inviting pedestrians to try to hold their breath as long as Houdini.

A few weeks before the series aired came news that Houdini would reveal secrets. This would be the first Houdini biopic to cross this line and break the Magicians’ Code. Star Adrien Brody, who practiced magic in his youth, put as good a face on this as possible, saying, "There is an oath not to reveal certain tricks. And I had issues with this. But the audience will gain an understanding of how some great illusions worked. You could probably find them online these days. I feel like it's an interesting facet of the storytelling, but I don't really like that certain things are revealed because he wouldn’t have wanted to reveal them."

Houdini hit U.S. airwaves on Labor Day, September 1, 2014. The first night garnered 3.7 million total viewers, making it cable’s number one miniseries premiere of 2014. The second episode aired on September 2nd.

Critical reaction to the miniseries was mixed. Brian Lowry in Variety opined: “Houdini erects a cage from which even the renowned magician can’t escape: Nicholas Meyer’s misbegotten, heavy-handed, narrated-ad-nauseam script and Uli Edel’s equally obtrusive direction. Spread over two nights, there are intriguing elements for those fascinated by Houdini, but the movie feels less like a gut punch than a head blow.”

Allison Keene in The Hollywood Reporter was kinder, saying: “The miniseries nails the most important thing: spectacle. Edel's refreshingly dynamic direction and Brody’s buoyant performance allow Houdini's tricks to retain their wonder, even for the jaded modern viewer. That’s a magical feat indeed.”

Magicians and magic bloggers were predictably upset by the many historical inaccuracies. The general consensus was a channel that calls itself HISTORY should have shown more sensitivity to the facts. Even news station KSDK in St. Louis caught Houdini fact check fever, taking issue with how the miniseries showed Houdini leaping from their own Eads Bridge when he did no such thing. (My own Fact Check of Night One remains my most viewed post of all time.)

It didn’t help matters when producer Gerald Abrams defended the film by stating, "Since this was four or five generations ago, there's no one around to say it didn't really happen the way we show it." Screenwriter Nicholas Meyer’s own feeling was that, “The Italian expression se non è vero è ben trovato seems to apply" (even if it is not true, it is well conceived).

One recurring complaint was that the miniseries didn’t carry a disclaimer, as did the 1976 TV movie The Great Houdinis, which also played fast and loose with the truth. However, when Houdini aired on Sky TV in the UK the following week, a disclaimer was in place. That’s when it was reveled publicly that two different versions of the miniseries existed.

Nicholas Meyer did not hold back his feeling about the two versions, particularly what was shown to U.S. audiences on HISTORY. “I much prefer the Lionsgate [International] version,” he told the official Star Trek website. “[HISTORY] re-cut the movie, and tore a lot of it out, and put in a lot of voiceovers and stuff that I just wasn’t crazy about. And wasn't our intention. It hadn't been written.”

Evan Jones and screenwriter Nicholas Meyer at the DVD launch.

Both versions of the Houdini miniseries were included on the DVD and Blu-ray released by Lionsgate Home Entertainment on October 7, 2014. To promote the DVD release, Nicolas Meyer and actor Evan Jones hosted a Houdini séance at The Magic Castle in Hollywood to which select reporters and bloggers were invited.

Houdini was nominated for 11 Emmys, winning one for Outstanding Sound Editing For A Limited Series, Movie Or A Special. The miniseries was released to Netflix in March 2015, which is where many discovered it for the first time. Today, props from the miniseries can be seen at David Merlini's The House of Houdini museum in Budapest.

Unlike what was promised when first announced in April 2013, the Houdini miniseries proved to be a liberal confection of fact and fiction that did not always mix well together. Two years later, I still can't decide whether I love it or hate it. But it had ambition and scale, strong production values, and a major star in the lead, so today it stands as a worthy attempt by Hollywood to tell the life story of Houdini.

Thanks to David Merlini for providing all the terrific behind the scenes photos. This article was first published in my now out-of-print booklet 'Fact Checking HOUDINI The Miniseries'.

Related:

• Fact checking HISTORY's Houdini - Part One
• Fact checking HISTORY's Houdini - Part Two
• REVIEW: History gets a C- in Houdini
• Why today is October 8, 1976

The House of Houdini opens today in Budapest

The first and only Houdini museum in Europe, The House of Houdini, opens today in Houdini's hometown of Budapest, Hungary. The museum is the brainchild of escapologist David Merlini and houses authentic Houdini memorabilia, props from the 2014 Houdini miniseries (shot entirely in Budapest), as well as a research center and a showroom.

The excellent new official website is also now live. Tickets to visit the museum can be booked there.

The House of Houdini is located at at 11 Dísz Square, within the walls of the Buda Castle, just steps away from the Royal Palace on the Buda side of the Danube River. The museum is open Monday to Sunday from 9:30am to 7pm.

Related:

• House of Houdini opens doors to press
• NEW HOUDINI MUSEUM RISES IN BUDAPEST
• Meet Houdini's technical advisor: David Merlini

Houdini miniseries repeats May 28

HISTORY will repeat their two-part Houdini miniseries starring Adrien Brody on Saturday, May 28 at 7:30 AM (part 1) and 9:30 AM (part 2).

The Houdini miniseries first aired in September 2014. For those who are discovering it for the first time, check out my review and fact checks below.

No shortage of Houdini on TV these days!

Related:

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

HISTORY repeats Houdini miniseries in Canada

In what may have been a clever way to capitalized on all the advance publicity for the new series Houdini & Doyle, the HISTORY channel in Canada aired the 2-part Houdini miniseries with Adrien Brody over the weekend.

The Houdini miniseries first aired in September 2014. For those who are discovering it for the first time, check out my review and fact checks below.

Houdini & Doyle will air on Canada's Global TV tomorrow, May 2, at 9:00 PM. Rebecca Liddiard, who plays Constable Adelaide Stratton, will be participating in a live chat at the GlobalTV Facebook page tomorrow at 10:30am.

Related:

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