Here's one that's been hiding in plain sight. We know that Houdini's mother did not speak English. So what language(s) did the Weiss family speak? The quick and correct answer is German. That was the primary language of the Weiss household and language Houdini himself spoke and wrote with his mother.
But there is also a general assumption that Mrs. Weiss spoke Yiddish. Her husband was a rabbi after all. This information appears again and again in articles (including this 2010 piece on Houdini and assimilation), and in the 1998 TNT biopic, Houdini, Mama (played by Grace Zabriskie) is shown speaking Yiddish to her Ehrich.
But in a lengthy and revealing letter Bess Houdini wrote to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle after Houdini's death (reproduced in full in Houdini His Legend and His Magic by Doug Henning), she adds a P.S. that corrects this very assumption and reveals exactly what languages Mrs. Weiss spoke:
P.S. One exception to your article enclosed. Houdini's mother never spoke Yiddish, not even Hebrew,--German, French, Italian, Spanish and her own Hungarian only.
Bessie's own family were also German speakers. I've often thought one of the things Bess and Harry instantly had in common was that they both came from large immigrant families whose first language was German. This must have certainly made Bessie's assimilation into the Weiss family easier.
Recordings of Houdini speaking German with his sister, Gladys, exist on the famous Houdini voice cylinders in the collection of David Copperfield. Unfortunately, these recordings have not been made public.
So it looks like the old-world Yiddish speaking Mama is another Houdini myth. In fact, Cecelia Weiss seems quite cosmopolitan with her mastery of five languages. It's surprising that she never learned English.
Grace Zabriskie as the old-world Mrs. Weiss in Houdini (1998).
Because Houdini was too old to serve during World War I (he did try to enlist), he instead took up the challenge of selling "Liberty Bonds". During one fund raiser at the New York Hippodrome, a man in the audience offered to buy $1000 worth of Bonds if Houdini could get out of his shirt in 30 seconds. Houdini tore off his shirt in six. The man then offered another $1000 for the torn shirt. By the end of the war, Houdini is said to have sold $2 million worth of Bonds.
Amazingly, Houdini is still at it today! Our friend Joe Hanosek sent over this advertisement for investment firm AllianceBernstein featuring our favorite Bonds salesman. This ad appears in the November 2012 Investment Advisor.
The talented Polly Guo (pollums.com) has released a special digital edition of her two Houdini & Holmes graphic novels. This new version has extensive edits and revisions to the script and artwork, plus 22 pages of extra content, including concept art, historical notes, and a fun extra story called Quite a Pair.
Polly's story finds Houdini, Conan Doyle, Holmes and Watson embroiled in the murder of a spiritualist (Houdini, of course, is a chief suspect). One bit of fun is Polly illustrates the real-life moment when Houdini did his thumb racket for Doyle, amazing the author with his "powers". Bess is also part of the action as her husband's wily helpmate in various sticky situations. Again Polly shows she did her research with Houdini at times calling Bess "sweetie wife mine".
Buy the Houdini & Holmes Special Digital Edition HERE. You can also buy digital editions of Issue #1 and Issue #2 separately.
Author Bruce MacNab talks with CBC Radio about Houdini's performances in the Canadian Maritimes and his new book The Metamorphosis: The Apprenticeship of Harry Houdini.
A 1934 magic kit officially licensed by Beatrice Houdini and Bernard Ernst has sold on eBay for $204. These kits are a nice early example of Houdini tie-in magic merchandise. I was fortunate to examine a few of these in the Arthur Moses collection during my recent Texas adventure. This particular kit was noted as being an "estate find."
ARTINFO's Patrick Pacheco and NY1 theater reporter Frank DiLella talk to Broadway architect and producer David Rockwell about his most recent set designs, including the upcoming Houdini with Hugh Jackman (the Houdini talk starts around 4:00).
The Mail Online reports that a painting by Stone Roses guitarist John Squire called "Harry Houdini" was one of the works of art destroyed in fire that burned the artist's studio to the ground on Wednesday. The painting was part of a popular series of abstract representations of famous celebrities. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the blaze.
There's a moment in Paramount's 1953 Houdini biopic when we see Harry (Tony Curtis) doing a classic levitation with Bess (Janet Leigh). The levitation is one of the most iconic tricks in all of magic, so of course the filmmakers wanted to include a shot of Houdini performing the effect. The image even made the poster. Trouble is, there is no record (that I can find) of Houdini ever doing a levitation, so I've always chocked this up to just another fictional embellishment of the film.
But now it looks like the Curtis movie had it right (without knowing it). Turns out Houdini did indeed perform a traditional levitation with Bess early in his career. This fresh revelation comes from the new book, The Metamorphosis: The Apprenticeship of Harry Houdini by Bruce MacNab (see, I told you this book rewrites Houdini history).
Here's the story...
When Harry and Bess set out as part of the Marco Magic Company's tour of the Canadian Maritimes in 1896 (the subject of Bruce's book), one of the headline effects of the show was a levitation. At the time, it was fashionable to tie-in the levitation with the popular novel Trilby by George du Maurier (as Alexander Herrmann had done). Onstage "Marco", aka Edward James Dooley, played the part of Svengali with Bess as his hypnotic subject, Trilby. Bess/Trilby would be laid on a plank across two chairs. On Marco/Svengali's command, the chairs would be removed and Bess with remain suspended in mid air. It's possible Houdini, who doubled as an assistant in the troop, might have operated the complex levitation apparatus behind the scenes.
But when the Marco show failed and folded and Dooley went home to the U.S., Harry and Bess continued the tour with their own act. Many of Marco's props had been confiscated for non-payment of bills, but somehow Houdini was able to salvage a few pieces of equipment, including his own Metamorphosis trunk and the Trilby levitation.
So when The Houdinis performed their act in several Maritime cities, along with handcuff escapes and Metamorphosis, audiences saw "Mysterious Harry" and "Le Petite Bessie" doing a classic Trilby levitation as part of their show. In fact, a review of The Houdinis act at the Moncton Opera House singled out the effect for praise:
"Trilby, or the mystery of Mahomet, in which a human being actually floats in space without any visible means of support, was one of the startling features of last night's evening's performance."
But it looks like the levitation would be unique to Harry and Bessie's Canadian adventure. When they booked passage home abroad the steamship S.S. Yarmouth, they couldn't even afford the price of a ticket for themselves, let alone heavy cargo. The Metamorphosis trunk made the trip, but it appears the Trilby levitation remained behind in Nova Scotia.
(Interestingly, Howard Thurston patented a "Trilby" levitation in 1927, although I expect Thurston was using a completely new and much more complex method.)
So there we have it. Harry Houdini did indeed perform a traditional levitation with Bess, if only for a short time. So now the question remains -- what ever happened to Houdini's levitation apparatus? Also, how awesome would it be if we could find a photo of the young Harry and Bess performing the effect...just like Tony and Janet 57 years later.
Bruce MacNab's The Metamorphosis: The Apprenticeship of Harry Houdini can be purchased on Amazon.com or direct from Goose Lane Editions. For more about the history of the levitation illusion, enjoy this episode of the BBC documentary, History of Magic.
UPDATE: Houdini's Trilby levitation is mentioned on page 1 of Houdini The Key by Patrick Culliton. So it's Patrick -- who also wrote the forward to Bruce's book -- who deserves the credit for first bringing this information to light.
UPDATE 2: Eric Fry reminds me that Houdini put the secret of the Trilby levitation up for sale in his 1898 magic catalog, Magic Made Easy. Price: $1.00
The Original Houdini Scrapbook
UPDATE 3: Want to see a photo of Houdini doing a levitation? Here you go.
Back in December 2009 Houdini expert Patrick Culliton put forth the intriguing theory that Franz Kukol, Houdini's first chief assistant, did not leave Houdini's employment in 1914 as history has recorded and Houdini himself claimed. According to Patrick (who played Kukol in the ABC TV movie The Great Houdinis), Houdini transformed Franz into "Frank" and he continued to work with Houdini right up to the end of the magician's life.
Part of the evidence Patrick cited was a privately held letter written by Houdini in 1924 to The Roosevelt Memorial Association stating that "Frank Kukol" will come and swear that he took the famous photo(s) of Houdini and the former President aboard the Imperator in 1914.
Now David Saltman has published that very letter on his website, The Houdini File. It's a remarkable artifact that does indeed prove that Kukol was working with Houdini during the 1920s.
Also on the Franz front, recently a gentleman named Rolf R. Safferthal, a retired German electronics engineer, has come forward with the claim that Franz Kukol was his maternal grandfather. Rolf has joined the discussion on this very topic at the Genii Forums and has even posted rare unseen photos of Kukol.
A new Deluxe Collector's Edition of Milbourne Christopher's classic 1969 biography, Houdini The Untold Story, is available now from David Haversat Magic.
This new release is limited to only 300 hand-numbered copies with special binding and a new 8-page section of rare color photos from David's collection (including the wonderful photo of Houdini and Bess I shared during my presentation at the Houdini Seance in Fort Worth).
This publication is made possible through the Milbourne Christopher Foundation. Price is $65.00. + $5.95 for shipping. Order via Paypal - zanadumagic@gmail.com
Alterna Comics updated edition of The Secret Adventures of Houdini by Todd Hunt and Sean Von Gorman is officially released tomorrow, and once again artist Sean Von Gorman has come up with a clever publicity to stunt to help promote the book. Tomorrow, November 21, Sean will be locked in a cage at Forbidden Planet in New York and will remain inside the cage until every issue is sold. The event will be live-streamed on Forbidden Planet's YouTube channel.
The Secret Adventures of Houdini was first released as an indie comic in December 2011 (you'll recall that Sean locked himself to a light post to promote that edition). This new edition of Book One adds new material that broadens the scope of the story and introduces Sir Arthur Conan Doyle into the series. It also features beautiful new cover art by Michael Jared DiMotta.
With Genii back to full health and going strong in the 21st century, Houdini would again appear on the cover of the December 2006 issue...kinda. That's because during this time Genii was doing a double cover -- one cover image and then a loose wrap that created a second cover image. "100 Years of S.S. Adams" graced the "real" cover of this issue with Houdini being the wrap. But it was still, technically, a Houdini cover. Certainly I'm counting it in our series. And because the wrap is only loosely attached, this could prove over time to be the hardest Genii-Houdini cover to find.
This issue includes a nine page excerpt from the new book The Secret Life of Houdini by Bill Kalush. Titled "The Death of Houdini" the excerpt covers, you guessed it, the death of Houdini! It's illustrated with some terrific photos from the book from the collections of Dr. Bruce Averbrook, Ken Trombly, and Roger Dryer. It also includes a photo of Houdini emerging from a safe that is credited to me (hey, I made Genii!). However, this is a mistake that was corrected in the paperback edition of the book. The photo should be credited to Joseph Holland.
The photoshopped cover image, in which Houdini appears to be holding a copy of Secret Life, was created by Elizabeth Kaufman, art director and wife of editor Richard Kaufman. Having made Genii his own (and a beautiful magazine at that), Richard continues Genii's love-hate relationship with Houdini, writing in his Genii Speaks column:
"Perhaps we should rename Houdini "The Man Who Will Never Die," because the bastard just won't allow himself to be forgotten even 80 years after his death on Halloween, 1926, at age 52."
Indeed, there's no escaping Houdini. And there was still one last spectacular Genii-Houdini cover to come. Coming next:January 2011
I've had this record in my Houdini collection for years, but I've never actually heard the song. Now thanks to a tip from Perry in New Jersey, below is the video for Kon Kan's Harry Houdini.
Kon Kan was a Canadian synthpop band made up of Barry Harris and Kevin Wynne. Harry Houdini was the second single from their 1989 debut album, Move to Move. It made the Top 40 in Canada and climbed to #14 in New Zealand.
