Houdini and E. Patrick Talon, son of Philippe

Recently, the New York Public Library shared artifacts from their upcoming exhibition, "Mystery and Wonder: A Legacy of Golden Age Magicians in New York City." Among the treasures was a photograph of Houdini with a man identified on the NYPL website as Ira Davenport (right).

This caused some confusion as the man bears little resemblance to the Ira Davenport in the famous photo of Houdini and the spiritulist taken in 1910, and, as far as I know, they never had a second face-to-face meeting.

But by sheer chance, I stumbled on the answer. The mystery man in the photo is actually Edmond Patrick Talon, the son of the magician Philippe. It was taken in Paris, likely in 1909. Below is the photo and an excerpt from the article, "Unknown Facts About Philippe," written by Houdini for the December 1921 M-U-M.

Very little was known of Philippe, though I tried to trace him for a long time. By the merest accident, I made the acquaintance of his son, E. Patrick Talon. One day I walked into the establishment of Caroly, in Paris, who informed me that a son of the celebrated Philippe was alive and wished to dispose of some of his father's letters. An appointment was immediately arranged for at the Alhambra Theatre where I was then performing, which proved to be the inception of a friendship that lasted till the death of Philippe's son. Strange as it may seem, E. Patrick Talon, though he knew not one word of English, was born in Ireland and named Patrick in memory of Philippe's successful stay in Dublin. So great was the joy of Philippe when tiny baby Patrick enriched the musical history of old Erin by giving forth his initial wail, that he produced the inexhaustible wine barrel trick at the performance that evening and bade the audience drink, in good cheer, to the health of his son.

"Mystery and Wonder: A Legacy of Golden Age Magicians in New York City" opens February 12, 2026, and will run until July 11, 2026.

Want more? You can read and download Houdini's entire Philippe M-U-M article as a "Scholar" member of my Patreon below.

Thanks to Leo Hevia and Abby Martin for putting me on the scent.

Related:

• Houdini treasures at NYPL exhibition preview
• M-U-M's The Houdini Years PDF
• "Houdini, we started it, you finish it."

Houdini in Paris

In 1920, Houdini shot footage on the streets of Paris for a film he was planning about counterfeiting. Some of that footage appeared in Haldane of the Secret Service (1923), but a lot never made the cut. Now you can watch nearly 4 minutes of that unused footage on my Patreon.

This is not an exclusive. You can find and view this at Historic Films. But I make things like this easy for patrons!

Related:

• Unpublished Houdini: Street shoot
• Unpublished Houdini: Man of action
• Haldane was here

The Mona Lisa Mystery by M.A. Bennett

Here's some Houdini fiction I overlooked last year. The Mona Lisa Mystery by Emma Carroll is Book 3 in her "Butterfly Club" series.

Would you risk the future to change the past?

Luna, Konstantin and Aidan are time-travelling thieves working for The Butterfly Club.

When they are asked to steal a little-known painting called the Mona Lisa, Aidan can only think of one man who can make things disappear – the magician, Harry Houdini. And as luck would have it, Houdini cannot resist a challenge.

The three children and Houdini travel to 1911 Paris where they face an impossible task – stealing a painting right off the wall of the fortress-like Louvre Museum.

As Houdini prepares for the theft, a heist which will require him to pull off his greatest ever trick, the time-thieves realise that the Mona Lisa is smiling because she holds a secret. Her creator, Leonardo Da Vinci, hid mysterious codes within the painting.

The race is on to solve the puzzle in time...

Sounds fun, but why isn't Houdini included on the cover? This is probably why I overlooked it!

Purchase The Mona Lisa Mystery at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Below are some more adventures of Houdini and Time Travel.

Related:

• Houdini joins the Time Spies
• Hurry Up, Houdini! in paperback
• 'Houdini and Me' by Dan Gutman released today

Title card for Houdini's Merveilleux Exploits (1909)

Recently while scanning through some video tapes from the Manny Weltman collection, I spotted this image. The quality is poor and it only lasted a few frames, but it still knocked me out! That's because this appears to be the original title card for Houdini's 1909 film The Marvelous Exploits of Houdini in Paris. I've never seen this among any of the surviving fragments of that film. I love that it features the Statue of Liberty.

Houdini made Marvelous Exploits for Cinema Lux in Paris in 1909. This was his first foray into narrative film and it shows Houdini in his prime. With the discovery of this title card, I can now say with confidence that the complete film does exist; but in disassembled fragments of varying quality. Still, a restoration is possible.

UPDATE: I've not come to believe that the reason this card features the Statue of Liberty is because it was the logo of the distributor, Film Lux.

Related:

• A plea from Patrick Culliton: Save the Houdini films before it’s too late!
• 'Houdini Defeats Hackenschmidt' and other cinema revelations
• The first Houdini movie poster?

A horrible day

By now everyone knows that the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has burned. This building was beloved by the world, and it appears to have been a favorite landmark of Houdini's as well. He used the Cathedral as a backdrop in his 1909 The Marvelous Exploits of Houdini in Paris, and also took photos in front of the famous doors. Below is a well-known photo. Here he again used Notre Dame as a backdrop while filming random action scenes in the streets of Paris in 1920 (later to be worked into Haldane of the Secret Service). A terrible tragedy and a horrible day.

Related:

• Mick Hanzlik has passed away (door photo)
• Unpublished Houdini: Man of action
• Haldane was here

Ooh la la!

Check out this curious photo of Houdini that Kevin Connolly found on a Hungarian website accompanying an article about the Houdini Art and Magic exhibition. Is this photo on the level? At first glance, it feels like there is something fake about this shot, and it's not just that it's such an untypical picture of Houdini.

However, I followed the AFP photo credit and found the image at the AFP Image Forums. According to the website, this was taken in Paris in April 1909, and is copyrighted Maurice-Louis Branger/Roger-Viollet.

Could this have been taken while Houdini was filming Les merveilleux exploits de Houdini à Paris for Film Lux? The year is right, as is the "movie star" attitude.

Just goes to show, when it comes to Houdini, there's still plenty out there to discover. Nice find, Kevin!