Is that Julie Karcher in The Grim Game?

While enjoying The Grim Game at the Sierra Madre Playhouse last Friday, I spotted something--or rather, someone--I've never seen before. When Houdini/Harvey Hanford is being arrested and wrestled into a police car, among the bystanders is a woman who appears to be Julie Karcher.

Julie Karcher was a fixture in the Houdinis lives. She can be spotted in many photos, and when the Houdinis has their first lunch with Sir Arthur and Lady Conan Doyle in England, it's recorded that Julie was there as well. According to Marie Blood, Bess and "Aunt Julie" knew each other from school days. She was Bess's "companion abroad and on shopping expeditions" as well as the Houdinis housekeeper (she lived in 278). As with the rest of the family, she was fluent in German. She later joined Houdini's 3 Shows and One as an assistant and helped Bess make the costumes.

Julie did accompany the Houdinis to Hollywood for the making of The Grim Game and Terror Island, so I think it's entirely possible she got a little cameo in the film. The woman in the film has her same jaw line and she's very small in stature, just as Julie was (smaller than Bess, in fact). Alas, no Bess in sight.

So what do we think? Is the woman in The Grim Game the ever present Julie K?

Julie Karcher and Bess in Hollywood (1919).

After Houdini's death, Julie remained by Bess's side. In 1927 she moved with Bess and the family into 67 Payson Ave. But after Bess met Ed Saint and moved to Florida in 1932, Julie seems to vanish from her life. According to Marie Blood, she went to live with Julia Sawyer's mother. I'm not sure what ever become of her. But as she was intimately involved with the Houdinis for so many years, what an amazing interview subject she would have been!

UPDATE: Just a little update on the relationship of Julie to the Houdinis. In a 1920 letter to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Houdini refers to Julie as Bess's "cousin."

Related:

• Houdini sells out in Sierra Madre
• Houdini in 1919
• Houdini press photos sell big on eBay (Julie assistant image)

We're getting closer to putting Houdini in Laurel Canyon (for real)

Did Houdini really live in Laurel Canyon? That's a question I get asked all the time. At the moment, we only know for certain that Bess and Ed Saint rented a guest house across the street from what is today called the "Houdini Estate" (Bess had parties at the larger estate, hence its reputation). Houdini may have rented that same guest house while he was in Hollywood in 1919 making The Grim Game and Terror Island. However, conclusive evidence for this remains elusive.

But recently while working on the year 1919 for my New Houdini Chronology, I found two newspaper clippings that get us a step closer to putting Harry in that house!

The following comes from the Los Angeles Daily Times, April 18, 1919. It announces Houdini's forthcoming arrival in the city and details about where he will stay.

This is significant in that here we have firm evidence that Houdini rented a house in Hollywood. The exclusion of an apartment-house is particularly important. That's because in 1917 Jesse L. Lasky built the Hillview Apartments on Hollywood Blvd. where actors could live while working at the nearby Lasky Studio on Vine Street. This would have been the logical and practical place for Houdini to stay at this time, and it always hung out there as a possibility. But not anymore. Harry wanted a house.

It's said Houdini came to rent the Laurel Canyon house because he was friendly with the owner of the connected estate across the street, Ralf M. Walker. But Walker did not cut Harry a friendly break on the rent, if we are to believe this second clipping from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette dated July 6, 1919:

Again, we have mention of a rental "home." As far as it being "near the studio"... I guess that's relative. Certainly Houdini could have rented a house closer. But even in 1919, the drive to the studio would probably have only taken 15 minutes, and some location shooting on The Grim Game was done on Laurel Canyon's Lookout Mountain.

I also discovered in the April 26, 1919 issue of Holly Leaves that Houdini, Bess, and Julie Karcher initially checked into the famous Hollywood Hotel upon their arrival in the city. Maybe the house wasn't ready yet?

While not a smoking gun, this, combined with the description in Kellock of Houdini's Hollywood home being on a bluff visible from the road, takes us a bit closer to putting Houdini in 2435 Laurel Canyon. But the search for conclusive evidence continues.

Click below for more on the "Houdini Estate", including my post from 2012 detailing the house history.

UPDATE: I recently found a reference to Houdini and Bess "securing apartments near the Lasky studio in Hollywood" when they returned to L.A. in September to make Terror Island. So it looks like the house was just for The Grim Game stay. I'm thinking chances are good this was the Hillview.

Related:

• Inside the Laurel Canyon Houdini Estate
• Is this Houdini and Bess in Laurel Canyon?
• Vintage postcard shows Houdini's (real) Hollywood home

Houdini Headquarters

Here's another incredible unpublished image from the collection of the American Museum of Magic in Marshall, Michigan. This shows Houdini dealing with his correspondence, presumably somewhere inside 278. This is the only glimpse I've ever seen of what could be called "Houdini Headquarters."

The man on the left side of the photo is Bess's brother, John Rahner. The woman on the far right appears to match photos of Julia Sawyer. I'm unsure of the identity of the young woman in the center. Possibly Julie Karcher.

Thanks to Keli Hindenach of the American Museum of Magic. This photo was supplied to the museum by Jon Oliver.

Related:

• The photo Houdini didn't want you to see
• Meet the Rahners
• REPORT: The Midwest Magic History Weekend 2015

Houdini press photos sell big on eBay

A collection of six terrific original Houdini press photos from various Chicago newspaper and sports archives sold yesterday on eBay for a collective $1,225. I knew these were going to draw attention, and I wasn't wrong.

Among the photos are three shots (below) that I've never seen. One is a nice portrait (sold for $152.49), the other a shot of Houdini demonstrating spirit trumpet trickery ($256.99), and the last one is a remarkable shot of Houdini with assistants Julie Karcher and Julia Sawyer ($222.50). This is a fantastic image of Houdini as a magician that has never been published, and what I especially love is that Houdini is dressed in shirtsleeves, suggesting this was maybe taken during rehearsals.

Another thing I find intriguing about some of these shots is the stamp on the back from Houdini's roadshow (below). This tells me that these pictures might have been sent to the papers by Houdini himself.