Graded Houdini (1953) VHS, because I'm a nut

Some of you may be aware that there is currently a wild collectors market for sealed and graded VHS tapes. A sealed and graded Back To The Future made headlines when it sold for $75,000 at auction in 2022. I recently took a deep dive into the 1991 release of Houdini (1953) on VHS. This was inspired by my buying a still-sealed copy on eBay. I paid $9.00, less than it cost in 1991.

On a whim, I decided to have my Houdini VHS professionally graded by CGC. Here's the result:

Not a bad grade! If you're wondering why this didn't grade even higher, know that companies downgrade for stickers that obscure the cover art. Removing all stickers will get you a better grade. But, for me, the stickers are what tell this story. Houdini was part of Paramount Home Video's 1991 wave of sell-through releases at $14.95. The stickers show this copy is from that first wave. If the idea is to freeze a VHS in time, you gotta freeze the stickers as well!

Now, I am under no illusions that this is valuable or will ever become valuable. In fact, any deal I got on eBay is now out the window. But I love this movie and I thought this was a fun way to honor it and make it as important as any other tape from the VHS era. Maybe it's worthless, but the movie is priceless. And it displays well.

I highly recommend watching this video from one of my favorite YouTube channels, Red Letter Media. It's all about the VHS grading and the collecting phenomena and their own very funny experiment.

By the way, their Nukie ended up selling for $80,600. Now that's wild!

Related:

• When Houdini (1953) came home
• When The Man From Beyond came home
• The Great Houdinis at home

When Houdini (1953) came home

I've covered the theatrical release of Paramount’s Houdini on June 25, 1953, and its television debut on January 30, 1963. So today I'm going to tackle the Home Video release. I recently nabbed this still-sealed VHS on eBay, and it made me curious to know exactly when it came out. Turns out there's a bit of a story behind it.

Houdini was released on VHS on April 8, 1991. If you think that seems late, you're right. VCRs had been around since 1976, and movies on VHS were ubiquitous throughout the 1980s. I remember waiting and wondering why Houdini had yet to appear. But to understand why Houdini took so long, we need to review the history of Home Video and, especially, pricing.

In the beginning, home video was primarily a rental market. Studios did not believe people were interested in owning movies to watch again and again. You could still buy a movie, but they'd cost between $50 and $100. I actually bought the entire James Bond series, one tape a month, at this full price. I also snapped up The Man From Beyond. Yes, The Man From Beyond appeared on VHS before Houdini!

In these rental days, studios primarily focused on providing video stores with new releases, recent hits, and classic films. Paramount Home Video was one of the best for classics, releasing Houdini producer George Pal's War of the Worlds (1953) in their first year of operation. You could find older and more obscure movies on independent labels at lower prices, but many of these were movies that had fallen into the public domain and were offered in poor EP mode quality.

Houdini (1953) did not fall into either category. It was not in the public domain, and while I consider it a classic, it appears Paramount did not. So, year after year, there was no Houdini in video stores. There could also be reasons that I don't know. Houdini was still shown often on television, so maybe it was part of a television package that prevented a VHS release at the time?

Disney was the first studio to offer movies on quality tapes at a consumer-friendly price. This would come to be called the "sell-through" market. But it was the sell-through releases of E.T. in 1988, and especially Batman in 1989, that proved the viability of this market. Turns out people did want to own movies! Suddenly, the average price of a movie came down to $29.95, and studios began reissuing new sell-through versions of their most popular rental titles. (Guess who bought the Bond series...again.)

With the rental market becoming "sluggish" and the rise of new stores devoted to just selling videos, such as Suncoast (a Paramount and Musicland joint venture), studios began to mine their archives for older movies and, slowly but surely, began releasing those to the hot sell-through market.

Hence, on April 8, 1991, Houdini appeared alongside Lil Abner (1959), Waterloo (1970), The Klansman (1974), and Is Paris Burning (1966). It was priced at $14.95, recorded in good quality SP mode, and used the original poster art on the box. It was also released on Beta, Paramount Home Video being one of the last companies to offer movies on that format.

Houdini's release on VHS was extra exciting as it was the first time one could be assured they were seeing the entire film. When Houdini aired on television, it was always edited for time, and whole scenes would be missing. But here was Houdini exactly as it appeared in theaters in 1953. The quality of the movie is, and has always been, surprisingly excellent. We've never had to wish for a better quality Houdini. Thank you, Paramount!

The Plain Dealer, June 17, 1991.

Looking back on the original newspapers, it's nice to see how much attention Houdini received. It was certainly the star title of its bundle. And it would remain so. In 1994, Paramount released the movie on the premium LaserDisc format (I snapped that up, too). When DVD and Blu-ray took over from VHS in the 2000s, it did not take long for Houdini to appear on both formats. And when streaming emerged, Houdini was there at a click.

Houdini may have been a little slow in coming to home video, but it has never left our living rooms. Hopefully, people are still discovering the story of Houdini via what I consider to be the best biopic.

Want more? You can see more advertisements for the Houdini VHS, along with other Houdini gems from the 1990s, as a member of my Patreon. It was a good decade for Harry!

Related:

• Houdini (1953) premiered 65 years ago today
• When Houdini (1953) came to TV
• When The Man From Beyond came home

The A&E Houdini Biography

For some reason I'm feeling nostalgic for the documentary Houdini: The Great Escape, which first appeared as part of the popular A&E Biography series in 1994. But this doc, which was once so ubiquitous, is now among the hardest to see (unless you held onto your VHS machine).

Launched in 1987, A&E's "Biography" series offered up hour long profiles of famous figures in history. The series was hosted by Peter Graves and later Jack Perkins. It took them a while to get to Harry, but they finally did so with Houdini: The Great Escape, first airing on June 20, 1994.

The documentary is well written by Alan Goldberg and is narrated by Jack Perkins. It includes interviews with Patrick Culliton, Harry Blackstone, Jr., James Randi, John Bohannon, Charles Reynolds, Penn & Teller, Mark Edward, Dorothy Young, and Marie Blood. It's especially nice to see Marie as she did not do many onscreen interviews. There's plenty of Houdini footage and photos to enjoy. It's also interesting to see Ken Silverman in the credits as this was well before the release of his book. The documentary was dedicated to Manny Weltman, "In memoriam for his extraordinary archive and love for Houdini." Manny had passed away a month before the first airing.

A&E released select episodes of Biography on home video in the 1990s, and Houdini was among the first. I always felt the photo they used on the box (above) was an odd choice--certainly they could have found something more iconic? But I was also happy for this odd choice as it was a pic I had never seen. And if there's anyone out there who collects VHS, know there was an earlier release with a plain purple box with just Houdini's name on the cover.

With many repeats on cable and the home video always in stock in big bookstore chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders, Houdini: The Great Escape was inescapable. I suspect for many it was their introduction to Houdini's (non-fictional) story. It was later revamped with new narration for the Biography Channel's "Bio 4 Kids" series.

But the doc did not make the jump to DVD, and as far as I know, it has yet to appear on any streaming platform. And while some of the Biography episodes can be found on YouTube, Houdini is not among them. So now seeing this classic documentary is a magic trick in itself.

Here's a bit of related trivia. In a May 1998 interview in Movieline magazine, actor Jim Carrey was asked, "If you could dine with any group of people who have been featured on A&E's Biography, who would you choose?"

Carrey's answer: "Harry Houdini. Benjamin Franklin. Gandhi, I suppose. Jesus."

Related:

• Houdini Documentaries (page)
• 'Biography for Kids' captures Houdini
• The first great Houdini documentary

Mystifier, Second Quarter 1998

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 1998 Mystifier kicks off with the news that The Master Mystery will be released on VHS for the first time, and that the HHC will have a special exhibit devoted to the film called Houdini's Master Mystery. Curator Margaret Ehr explains how the VHS project was spearheaded by HHC charter member Bill McIlhany:

His experience as a collector, author, and video producer led McIlhany to explore the idea of making Master Mystery, originally released in 1919 [sic], available on video. He began by contacting the Douris Corporation in Los Angeles, which owns the best existing copies of the films. McIlhany made a direct appeal to the corporation: "I expressed to them how dearly I wanted to see Master Mystery released on video, challenged them to to do it or have a video publisher do it, or I would like to do it." With Douris' permission, McIlhany began work in earnest in early 1997.

The newsletter continues with the museum shop announcing they now have a reproduction of Houdini's 1913 Hull Palace playbill depicting the Water Torture Cell. Also that the sale of their exclusive phone cards is extended to the end of the year. The newsletter announces the launch of the HHC's official Houdini website at www.foxvalleyhistory.org/houdini (no longer active.) Among the New Members is the familiar name of Joseph Hanosek.

Sid Radner devotes most of his "Backstage" column to debunking the idea that Houdini left no money to Bess after his death. Sid cites the various life insurance policies Houdini had taken out totaling $160,000.

In 1926, $160,000 was a lot of money. Many young workers dreamed of earning $5000 per year in those days. Mrs. Houdini was, unfortunately, a bad money manager and became the victim of many bad investments and unscrupulous people.

Sid then announces that HHC board member Dr. Morris Young recently received honors for a donation of rare books on mnemonics to the government of San Marino. He also teases: "There is much activity concerning Houdini in television and movies–more about this in the next issue."

Mystifier

Volume 8, Number 2

Second Quarter, 1998

4 pages

Contents:

New Videos, HHC Exhibit Resurrect Houdini's Master Mystery Films
Museum Shop Features Exclusive Poster
Member News
HHC Website Premieres

Backstage with Sid Radner

PREVIOUS ISSUE | INDEX | NEXT ISSUE

Related:

• William H. "Bill" McIlhany (1951-2017)
• A Master Mystery revelation at UCLA
• Make a long distance call on Houdini

Mystifier, Fourth Quarter 1997

Continuing my issue by issue look back at the Mystifier, the newsletter of the Houdini Historical Center that ran from 1991-2003.

The Fourth Quarter 1997 Mystifier begins with the first article by new curator Margaret A. Ehr. In it, she addresses the controversial Fox television special Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed, which was running at this time. Ehr condemns it--along with the rest of the magic community--but she notes Houdini himself exposed his own secrets from time to time. She then explores two articles Houdini wrote for The Ladies Home Journal in 1918: "How I Get Out of a Strait-Jacket" and "How I Get Out of My Rope Ties". Near the end she states:

Perhaps Houdini had no fear that others, even knowing his exact techniques, could ever hope to truly challenge him. Houdini himself realized that he was physically exceptional. He understood that his short stature worked to his advantage, as did his impressive strength and flexibility. Few could match Houdini's claims of a double-dislocation at will, or six-inch chest expansion, either. Even knowing precisely what Houdini did to achieve his escapes, few if any magicians would ever be capable of Houdini's success. 

An article by Houdini scholar and regular Mystifier contributor Morris N. Young called "Defending Rabbi Weiss" follows. Young begins:

Too many attempts have been made to malign the reputation of Houdini's father, Mayer Samuel Weiss, especially regarding whether or not he was ordained as a rabbi. It is my purpose to show how unjust those accusations are.

Young goes on to explain how one went about becoming a rabbi in the days of Houdini's father, and how no official paperwork did not mean he was not a rabbi. Young doesn't name names, but this doubt was first cast by Manny Weltman in his 1993 book, Houdini: Escape into Legend, The Early Years: 1862–1900. (Rabbi Weiss's Certificate of Ordination was discovered by David Saltman in 2016.)

The museum shop announces pre-orders for four upcoming videos: Mystic Circle Murder, Houdini The Life of the Worlds Greatest Escapolgist, The Truth About Houdini, and a 2-set VHS of The Master Mystery. The announcement of The Master Mystery was a bombshell as it marked the first release of this movie. A familiar name listed in the "New Members" column is David Byron.

In his "Backstage" column, Sid Radner again sings the praises of the Goodspeed Opera House's Houdini musical. He also gives a detailed report on the Official Houdini Seance, which that year was held on the stage of the Goodspeed. A very special attendee was Anna Crankshaw (Thurlow), great-granddaughter of Margery. Also around the table were: Patrick Culliton, Tom Boldt, Gene Gamache, Larry Weeks, Geno Munari, and Susan Postal, the actress who played Margery in Goodspeed play. The medium was Elaine Kuzmeskus assisted by Barbara Dryden-Masse. Harry, as always, was a no show.

Sid concludes with a mention of a new series by Canada's Discovery TV on the history of magic set to premiere in Fall 1998. Sid says the crew spent 5 1/2 at his home shooting material for the Houdini episode.

[It's surprising this newsletter fails to mention the movie FairyTale: A True Story which was released in October '97.]

Mystifier

Volume 7, Number 4

Fourth Quarter, 1997

6 pages

Contents:

Revealing Houdini's Secrets–Again
Society of Young Magicians Program Update
Defending Rabbi Weiss
New Videos in Museum Shop
Member News

Backstage with Sid Radner

PREVIOUS ISSUE | INDEX | NEXT ISSUE

Related:

• Exposing The Wizard Exposed
• David Saltman discovers Mayer Samuel's rabbinical ordination
• Interview with Anna Thurlow, great granddaughter of Margery

When The Man From Beyond came home

What was the first Houdini movie released on VHS? One might think it would have been Paramount's Houdini (1953). But that famous biopic did not make it onto Home Video until 1991.

The first Houdini movie to appear on VHS was Houdini's own 1922 silent thriller The Man From Beyond. It was released in 1983 by a company that cinephiles of a certain age will remember very well; Video Yesteryear.

Video Yesteryear was located in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and was the largest catalog retailer of public domain films on VHS, Beta, and 8mm film beginning in 1978. (It started as Radio Yesteryear in 1967.) The company released their silent films at corrected frame rates speeds -- a process they called Video Accu-Speed -- and included original organ scores composed and performed by Rosa Rio, who had been a theatre organist during the silent era. The company was purchased by Audio Book Club in 1998.

The Man From Beyond was the only available Houdini silent movie until 1996 when Bill McIlhany released Terror Island and later The Master Mystery on VHS. The print used for the Video Yesteryear version appears to be the one that's still used today.

Happily, I have one of the original Video Yesteryear VHS tapes. I vividly recall not believing my eyes when I saw this on the shelf of Vidéothèque on Sunset Blvd in the 1980s. The catalog price was $52.95. As with all Video Yesteryear releases, it included program notes written by J. David Goldin.

While this remains the only commercial VHS release of The Man From Beyond, it has been released by several companies on DVD and even on Blu-ray. Today it can be found streaming on Amazon Prime.

Related:

• Houdini film print sells on eBay
• A restoration that’s a revelation
• The Man From Beyond DVD released today

John Calvert's Tribute to Houdini

John Calvert had several things in common with Houdini. Not only was he a magician and sometimes escape artist, but he was also an aviator and an actor. He was also good friends with Bess Houdini, who touted Calvert as her choice to play Houdini in a Hollywood biopic.

In 1987, Calvert released a video called A Tribute to Houdini. It's a strange confection of random clips with Calvert the only constant. Calvert is very much a 1940s style magician wrapped into a very 1980s production, which makes this tape pretty weird and also kinda wonderful. The version I have must have been a later release. While the copyright is 1987, it contains a sudden segment about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, with shots of Tammy Calvert flying through the skies above Berlin via video magic.

But what about Houdini in all this? The tape does open with photos and film footage of Houdini under synthesized '80s rock before introducing Calvert as the continuation of the great escapist. It also makes comparisons between the men throughout.

But probably the most interesting Houdini-related element is when Calvert and an uncredited assistant (a fine escape artist herself) do an "underwater Metamorphosis in reverse." Calvert says that Bess Houdini told him this was an effect that Houdini had been developing himself. I've never heard of this before, but it's pretty impressive, and this tape is worth owning just for a record of this unique feat.

The final half of the video are excerpts from Calvert's stage show "Magicarama" at the Orpheum Theater in Memphis, which at one point Calvert characterizes as a tribute to Dante (hey, wasn't this about Houdini?). But with a stage overloaded with assistants clad in every kind of conceivable costume, his show really does evoke Sim Sala Bim, and also reflects the anything and everything esthetic of this tape.

So while this is barely a "tribute to Houdini," this is still a worthy piece of Houdiniana and some weird '80s fun.

Thanks to Bill Goodwin at the Magic Castle Library for providing me with this VHS.

Related:

• John Calvert dies at 102
• John Calvert turns 100
• The men who almost played Houdini

Unlocking Houdini's secrets in 1995

On May 24, 1995, NBC aired the one-hour special Houdini: Unlocking His Secrets hosted by Robert Urich. The show featured modern magicians performing Houdini's feats, intercut with biographical information. It's a well-done special with excellent performances and some nice Houdini photos and film footage. And despite the title, no secrets are revealed.

The stage performances were filmed at Ceasers Palace Circus Maximus on April 30, 1995 (tickets were given out free). Host Robert Urich narrates from the "Magic and Movie Hall of Fame" at O'Sheas Casino in Las Vegas. Here one gets a good look at items from the Dixie Dooley collection. Behind Urich for much of time is the Houdini packing case that Dixie famously retrieved from the basement of 278 in 1985.

The broadcast kicks off with Charlotte Pendragon leaping chained from a riverboat on Lake Mead. It's a well-staged stunt with some nice tension. This is followed by Lance Burton performing a stage-bound suspended straitjacket escape. Again, a well-staged stunt, and it's great to see Burton in his absolute prime. Also in his prime is Mac King who does a comedic thumb tie with Melinda Saxe. The Pendragons do their well-honed Metamorphosis. David Williamson does a very funny take on Houdini's Needles.

It what should be a show highlight, Brett Daniels does Houdini's Water Torture Cell. However, the escape is robbed of tension by over production, with backlighting and smoke and various curtains sweeping up and down over the cell. For me, the best presentations of the USD -- Houdini, Henning, Steve Baker -- keep it a serious "test," too dangerous to load up with smoke machines. Raw tension is all the stagecraft required. Likewise, Jonathan Pendragon's "Exploding Coffin of Death" grand finale seems a little overwrought, but it's in line with the "extreme" escapes of the 90s. Apparently cut from the broadcast was Max Maven who demonstrated the tricks of fraudulent mediums. A shame this wasn't included in the home video release.

Apart from stating that J. Gordon Whitehead was a "college boxing star" and Houdini's final performance took place in "London, Ontario," the biographical segments are good. There are also a few bits of Houdini film that I don't believe I've seen since.

The film footage is credited as coming from the collection of Manny Weltman "by agreement with Nanette Weltman" (Manny died that year). Another notable name in the credits is Executive Producer Gerald W. Abrams, who would go on to make the Houdini Miniseries with Adrian Brody in 2014. Maybe this is where he first discovered the power of selling Houdini?

Houdini: Unlocking His Secrets was released on VHS by Goodtimes Video in 1996. Without commercials, the show comes in at only 30 minutes. It can can still be purchased at Amazon. Unfortunately, the show never made it to DVD.

Below are links to a few other Houdini television specials from the recent past.

Related:

• The Search for Houdini LIVE (1987)
• The Greatest: Houdini (1999)
• Houdini Never Died (1979)

I recently launched a new standalone page devoted to Houdini documentaries and appearances on investigative and reality TV. Check it out under "Media" in the top menu bar or click HERE.

William H. "Bill" McIlhany (1951-2017)

A sad loss to report. William H. McIlhany has passed away at age 66. Bill was a major magic collector who specialized in historic magic film. In 1994, he became the Film and Video Archivist for the Magic Castle.

Bill's great contribution to the Houdini world was the release of The Master Mystery on two VHS cassettes in 1998. This was the first time the Houdini serial had ever been made available to the public. Likewise, Bill arranged for the release of Terror Island on VHS in 1996, paired with the only surviving fragment of Howard Thurston's own 1920 film, Twisted Souls. He also released the 1970 BBC documentary The Truth About Houdini.

In recent years Bill worked with Todd Karr to release various DVD collections of rare magic footage, including Vintage Magic Films, which includes Houdini's card manipulation footage and rare film of Bess.

I've long heard that Bill owned a near complete version of Houdini's 1909 film, Les merveilleux de Houdini à Paris. However, the last time I spoke with him (at the time of my Hollywood Heritage lecture), he was in declining health and wasn't sure where it was among his vast collection.

Bill lived in Los Angeles with his wife, Bobbie O'Toole McIlhany, who survives him.

Bill's The Master Mystery and Terror Island on VHS.

Thanks to Kevin Connolly and Phil Schwartz of Thayer Magic.

Related:

• Puzzling together The Master Mystery
• Film of Bess Houdini in 1938
• Christopher’s Houdini The Impossible Possible on DVD

Bess goes Beyond and Back

In the 1970s, Utah-based Sunn Classics Pictures produced a series of feature documentaries that investigated subjects such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster (The Mysterious Monsters), Biblical mysteries (In Search of Noah's Ark), and even The Lincoln Conspiracy. As a kid, I loved these, and the pseudoscience documentaries that today populate the History and Discovery channels own a debt to Sunn's productions.

In 1978, Sunn released Beyond and Back, which "dared to investigate" the question of life after death. While on-screen host Brad Crandall promised "one of the most extraordinary films of our times", Beyond and Back is more well-known today for making critic Roger Ebert's list of all-time "Most Hated" films.

But Beyond and Back contains a nice surprise for Houdini buffs. It includes a three and a half minute segment about Houdini with real footage, a reenactment of the Arthur Ford séance, and actress Beverly Rowland as Bess (she later appeared in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers). Oddly, they add the words "learn" and "idea" to the end of the Houdini Message Code. For the record, the real code was: Answer (B), tell (E), pray-answer (L), look (I), tell (E), answer-answer (V), tell (E).

The full film is available on YouTube, but I've excerpted just the Houdini sequence below.

Beyond and Back was released on VHS, but I don't believe it ever made it to DVD. As with all their documentaries, Beyond and Back was released as a tie-in paperback. For a review of film, check out one of my favorite blogs, Every 70s Movie.

Related:

• LINK: The Day Houdini (Almost) Came Back from the Dead
• The Margery Files: Inside man
• The Houdini Code
• The women who have played Bess