LINK: Unknown Houdini Illusion for the 1927 tour

Yesterday I posted a rare still from Hardeen's Medium Well Done which I thought might show Harry Kellar's Spirit Cabinet (given to Houdini in 1917). But Dean Carnegie chimes in with a different idea. Dean suspects what we are seeing is Maro's The Mystery of Aryan Illusion, which Houdini acquired shortly before his death and would have passed to Hardeen. I think The Magic Detective has solved another case!

Dean did a post about the illusion in 2015 that I had forgotten about. But Houdini's magic and what could have been is always of interest, so click the headline and have a read at...

Related:

• A new photo from Hardeen's Medium Well Done
• Houdini's grand finale: 3 Shows In One
• Magic Detective Podcast promises lots of Houdini

A new photo from Hardeen's Medium Well Done

In 2016 collector Thomas Ewing shared with us the only known photo from Hardeen's 1937 Vitaphone short, Medium Well Done. Now Tom is back with a new image that's even more exciting!

This photo shows Hardeen giving spiritualist demonstrations before members of the cast, including Gertrude Mudge, Margaret Breen, and Paul E. Burns. Of note is what appears to be a large spirit cabinet. What's interesting is we know Harry Kellar gave Houdini his spirit cabinet in 1917. Presumably, Hardeen inherited it along with Houdini's other apparatus. So are we seeing Kellar's own spirit cabinet being performed here? Also, is that Jim Collins holding the door?

Medium Well Done features Hardeen as a detective exposing the tricks of a bogus medium. It was shot at the Brooklyn Vitaphone Studios in January 1936 and released March 6, 1937. At the moment, it is considered a lost film. But the good folks at The Vitaphone Project have made it their mission to find lost Vitaphone shorts, so here's hoping one day they might uncover this important piece of movie and magic history.

Thanks to Tom Ewing for letting me share this treasure here.

UPDATE: According to Ron Hutchinson at The Vitaphone Project Facebook group, Medium Well Done is NOT lost. He says it "exists in 35mm at Library of Congress." This is great news, and it gives me hope we might one day see it released via the Warner Archive Collection.

Related:

• Hardeen among the celluloid spirits
• The forgotten films of Theo Hardeen
• Time out for Hardeen

Hardeen among the celluloid spirits

This photo from the private collection of Tom Ewing has me doing cartwheels for a few reasons. First, this is the only image I've ever seen of Hardeen doing any sort of spiritualist debunking. While we know Hardeen carried on his brother's escapes and magic, what's less known is that he also carried on Houdini's spirit exposures, or at least he claimed he did (watch for a post on this soon).

But there's another reason I'm flipping out over this image. This, to my knowledge, is the only known photo from Hardeen's 1937 film, Medium Well Done. The photo shows Hardeen with co-stars Gertrude Mudge, Margaret Breen and Paul E. Burns.

Medium Well Done was a one-reel Vitaphone short (Prod. #1958) directed by Lloyd French. It was shot at the Flatbush Vitaphone Studios in January of 1936 and released on March 6, 1937. In it, Hardeen played a "hardboiled detective" on the case of a bogus medium. A story synopsis from a Vitaphone catalogue reads:

Hardeen, brother of Harry Houdini, carries on his brother's work by exposing fake mediums.

Medium Well Done is considered a lost film. But it's possible that's just because no one has made a good search for it. Many of the early Vitaphone shorts survive, and there is an ongoing effort by The Vitaphone Project to find and restore the films. Several DVD completions of early Vitaphone shorts are now available via the Warner Archives.

Here's hoping one day someone might uncover this important piece of magic and movie history.

A big thanks to Tom Ewing for letting me share this treasure here.

UPDATE: According to Ron Hutchinson at The Vitaphone Project Facebook group, Medium Well Done is NOT lost. He says it "exists in 35mm at Library of Congress." This gives me hope we might one day see it released via the Warner Archive Collection.

Related:

• The forgotten films of Theo Hardeen
• Time out for Hardeen
• Hardeen's magic vs. Clara's "IT"

Time out for Hardeen

Houdini wasn't the only Weiss to star in movies. Here's an ad from the July 7, 1937 Abilene Reporter News for the Errol Flynn feature Green Light. Note the "Added Attraction" at the bottom of the page.

Shot in 1936, Medium Well Done was a one-reel Vitaphone short (Prod. #1958) directed by Lloyd French. In it, Hardeen played a "hardboiled detective" on the case of a bogus medium. The film co-starred Gertrude Mudge, Margaret Breen and Paul E. Burns, and featured the Leo Forbstein songs "Racing Luck" and "Alibi Ike" as background music. The surviving story synopsis from a Vitaphone catalogue reads:

Hardeen, brother of Harry Houdini, carries on his brother's work by exposing fake mediums.

While Medium Well Done is the only Hardeen short that we know of, there is some evidence that he made others. Click to read more about: The forgotten films of Theo Hardeen.

Related:

• The Master Mystery starring...Theo Hardeen?
• The voice of Theo. Hardeen
• When Madame Houdini spoke

The forgotten films of Theo Hardeen

Houdini made movies. We know that. Less well-known is the fact that Bess also made a movie (Religious Racketeer). But what about the third member of the performing family, Houdini's younger brother, Theo. Hardeen? It would appear he shied away from the silver screen. But it turns out that isn't the case at all. In fact, it's possible Hardeen may have made more movies than Houdini himself. But these films have been almost totally forgotten -- until now.

Evidence of Hardeen's movie career can be found scattered among the pages of magic magazines from the 1930s. As I recently revealed here at Wild About Harry, Hardeen pitched a remake of The Master Mystery to Paramount in 1934 with, presumably, himself in the role of Quentin Locke. But when he did this he was no cinema novice. According to the same article, Hardeen had "just finished the second series of six shorts at the Astoria studios." This is an astounding revelation. If his first "series" were the same number of films, this means Hardeen had made twelve short films by 1934!

Astoria Studios in 1928

Astoria Studios, located in Queens, New York, was built by Famous Players-Lasky in 1920 and operated as Paramount's East Coast Studio. Many features and short subjects were filmed there between 1920 and 1933, with two most famous being the Marx Bros. first features, The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers. The studio was also home to the Paramount Newsreels and prolific short film divisions. When Paramount moved all production to California, Astoria was turned over to independent producers whose films were released through Paramount. It was during the start of this independent era that Hardeen made his shorts.

It's likely Hardeen made these shorts for Paramount's short film division. He was performing on the Paramount theater circuit at this time, and that fact that he's pitching a remake of The Master Mystery to Paramount shows he's acquainted with the motion picture division. But the year opens up the possibility that the shorts were made independently and just used Astoria as a facility, which makes tracking down information on them, not to mention prints, much harder. At the moment, I can find nothing more about these Astoria shorts, except that they exist (or existed). But that's more than we knew before.

Hardeen touts his film work in this ad

However, there is one Hardeen movie that we do know something about. Medium Well Done was a one reel short Hardeen made for Warner Bros. in 1936. In it, Hardeen played a "hardboiled detective" on the case of a bogus medium. It was clearly made as a starring vehicle for the magician. Surviving production records spell out the title as, "Theodore Hardeen in Medium Well Done."

Medium Well Done was a Vitaphone Short Subject, production #1958, directed by Lloyd French, who directed many of the early Laurel and Hardy shorts. It was shot at the Flatbush Vitaphone Studios in January 1936, but wasn't released until March 1937. The film featured the Leo Forbstein songs "Racing Luck" and "Alibi Ike" as background instrumental music. David Mendoza was the Musical Director. An exhibitor story synopsis reads:

MEDIUM WELL DONE. Vitaphone–Novelty. 10m. Hardeen, the magician, exposes trickery in the seance racket. Posing as a friend of a couple being duped, he accepts a medium's challenge to duplicate her tricks. It is all very interesting. GOOD.

Medium Well Done was said to have been one of four Vitaphone shorts Hardeen made for Warner Bros. However, I could find no record of the other films, leading me to suspect they were never made. Maybe that's because Medium Well Done didn't turn out...all that well done, at least according to Robert Nelson in The Linking Ring who wrote:

"I recently witnessed the Vitaphone short, Medium Well Done, featuring that stellar star, Theodore Hardeen. I don't propose to be much of movie critic, but the picture certainly was 'medium well done.' What ever might have been its purpose, I am sure it failed. As a comedy, it did not even rate (should be classed as such). Oh hum, give me Mickey Mouse next time!"

Currently, there don't appear to be any surviving prints of Medium Well Done. But this could be because no one has even known to look for it. The word is out and the search is on for Hardeen's lost Vitaphone short. Stay tuned.

One film Hardeen surprisingly didn't appear in was the movie version of Olsen and Johnson's Hellzapoppin' (1941), the popular Broadway show that Hardeen had successfully played in for four years. But the movie was only a very loose adaptation of the stage show. Still, this feature has survived, so it would have been our best way today to see Hardeen on film.

Perhaps the info in this post will opens a few vault doors, and maybe one day soon we will see one, if not all, of the forgotten films of Theo. Hardeen.

My thanks to the staff of the USC Warner Bros. Archives and Ron Hutchinson of The Vitaphone Project for their assistance in uncovering information on Medium Well Done. Also thanks to Bill Mullins.

UPDATE: According to Ron Hutchinson of The Vitaphone Project, a 35mm print of Medium Well Done exists in the Library of Congress. This is great news and it gives me hope that one day we might see it released via the Warner Archive Collection. Stay tuned!

Hardeen movie coming into focas...

I'm off to the USC Warner Bros. Archives this morning to examine the file on a long lost Hardeen movie. They tell me they don't have much, but I'm just thrilled they have something. I may also swing by the mighty Academy Library and see what I can turn up there. Just letting you know I'm hot on the trail of Hardeen's forgotten film career, and unless today sends me down a rabbit hole of new research, I'll report my discoveries on Monday.

Hardeen hits the Boardwalk Nov. 28

I’ve finally been able to nail down some specifics on Theo. Hardeen’s upcoming appearance on Martin Scorsese’s HBO series, Boardwalk Empire.

While Houdini’s brother was name-checked in episode six (Family Limitation) and episode nine (Belle Femme), he will make an actual appearance in episode 11, Paris Green, played by actor Remy Auberjonois. That episode is due to air on November 28.

There is also an article by Jim Steinmeyer about Hardeen and Boardwalk Empire in the November issue of Genii.

Hardeen is starting to chock up a respectable filmography. He was first portrayed on screen by Jack Carter in the 1976 ABC telefilm, The Great Houdinis. He had a much bigger role in the 1998 TNT original movie, HOUDINI, played by Mark Ruffalo.

Of course, the real Theo. Hardeen is said to have appeared in a film called Medium Well Done, but I don't believe that film has ever surfaced.