Houdini pic produces $1,377 with a flourish

A vintage press photo of Houdini brandishing playing cards sold on eBay today for $1,377. That's an impressive price for an unsigned file photo, but images of Houdini as a "classic" magician are not common. The auction started at .99¢ and received 25 bids from 13 bidders.

The photo comes from the collection of the New York Journal American and shows Houdini in his "3 Shows in One" tuxedo with bare arms. Houdini would "tear" off the arms at the start of the magic portion of the show to prove he had nothing up his sleeves. (What ever happened to this jacket, I wonder?) The card flourishes Houdini performed went back to his earliest "King of Cards" days.

Thanks to Kevin Connolly for the alert.

Related:

• Houdini's grand finale: 3 Shows In One
• The King of Cards in 1926
• Harry Houdini, card cheat

Chris Hardeen in the ring

Houdini's great grandnephew Chris Hardeen fought a three round fight last week at the New York Style Throwdown III in Cottonwood, AZ. According to a report in Verde Independent, "It was a hard fought battle from both contenders."

Chris Hardeen of Team Gladiators in Flagstaff (Right) and Besmik Gashi of Kicker’s MMA in Phoenix trade punches during their three round fight on Saturday at the New York Style Throwdown III in Cottonwood. Gashi was victorious in this fight by decision. (Photo by Greg Macafee)

Boxing must be in the Weiss genes. Young Ehrich Weiss boxed in his youth and showed great promise.

Thanks to Patrick Culliton.

Related:

• NPR unlocks the secret of Houdini's bloodline
• Houdini vs. the Pottawatomie Giant
• Houdini's Forgotten Years (The Houdini File)

Alan Davies Houdini doc will air in Australia, Aug. 10

The well-made 2014 documentary The Magic of Houdini with Alan Davies will air on the HISTORY channel in Australia this Wednesday, August 10 at 7:30 PM. This is the first airing of this doc outside of the UK where it was produced by What Larks! for ITV.

Here's hoping we'll see an airing on the U.S. HISTORY channel as well.

For more information visit HISTORY Australia. You can also read my full review of The Magic of Houdini with Alan Davies HERE.

Related:

• Alan Davies brings us Houdini in 2014
• Alan Davies goes in search of Houdini
• ITV announces The Magic of Houdini with Alan Davies

Houdini & Doyle stars thank the fans

Stars Michael Weston and Rebecca Liddiard tweeted the following to Houdini & Doyle fans yesterday. FOX announced the cancellation of the series on Tuesday.

Hey y'all! Deep thanks for your time love&support! You made H&D!! Now, we'll have to take your wonderful energy and forge something new! 💪❤️

— Michael Weston (@_Michael_Weston) August 3, 2016

And with a sigh, thats a wrap. Thanks for the love & art & support everybody! This was such an incredible ride. One last #HoudiniAndDoyle

— Rebecca Liddiard (@RebeccaLiddiard) August 4, 2016

Count me now as a big Rebecca Liddiard fan. Hope to see more of her. And here's hoping someday we will see Michael Weston play Houdini again.

You can watch Houdini & Doyle on Hulu until Aug. 8 and on FOX NOW until Aug. 9. Episodes are also available on Amazon and iTunes.

Related:

• Houdini & Doyle cancelled
• Houdini & Doyle - It's a wrap!
• Houdini & Doyle - Episode Guide

A lost Houdini poster stays lost

I'm returning today to a favorite topic, that of lost Houdini posters. Below is the only known image of a remarkable Houdini poster that appears in Kenneth Silverman's Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss. Oh to see this poster in color!

Click to enlarge.

Silverman dates this as 1906 as it primarily features Houdini's escape from the United States Jail that year [read: Houdini's escape from Murderers Row]. The poster also features several famous European Houdini feats, including the Mirror Handcuff challenge (the only known representation in illustrated poster form), the Siberian Transport Cell escape (notice Houdini is not nude in this version), and his slander trial in Germany.

This image is credited as coming from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York. Does that mean they have the original? With hopes of getting a color image to share here, I wrote to the museum to find out. They got back to me quickly and were very helpful. Unfortunately, their response was disappointing:

"The image comes from a poster card issued by the J.G. Strobridge Company. Our understanding is that poster cards served as a catalog by which clients could order full size reproductions. The image we have is black and white. The measurements of the card and the image, respectively, are H: 5 inches, W: 8 inches and H: 4 ¼ inches, W: 4 3/8 inches."

So no color original. One wonders if an original even still exists. We do know this poster was used in Houdini's day. A variant appears in a street scene photo in Milbourne Christopher's Houdini A Pictorial Life (below).

Let's hope someday this beautiful poster reappears.

Click to enlarge.

Thanks to Lauren at the Museum of the City of New York.

Related:

• The lost posters of Harry Houdini
• Lost Houdini poster FOUND!
• Latest on the "lost" posters of Houdini

Houdini & Doyle cancelled (UPDATE)

TV Line is reporting that Houdini & Doyle is not being renewed by FOX. Other sites are picking up the news, but there is yet no official confirmation from FOX or anyone involved in the production.

As I reported last week, the series is an independent production, so it's not impossible that a second season could still air on another U.S. network.

I'll report back when I have something more official.

UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter says it has "confirmed" no Season 2 for Houdini & Doyle, so it looks like this bad news might be true.

UPDATE 2: Deadline reports that FOX has confirmed the cancellation.

UPDATE 3: GlobalTV in Canada has announced it will also not be renewing the series:

"Global will not be renewing Houdini & Doyle for another season," a statement from the network announced. "We are proud of this series and thank our production partners for their passion and collaboration on this project."

"We are very proud of Houdini & Doyle," Christina Jennings, executive producer, chairman and CEO of Shaftesbury, said in a statement. "This has been an extraordinary collaboration with multiple partners from the get go and has required all three broadcasters to pull off. Unfortunately, when one major partner does not renew, it makes it very difficult, almost impossible, to continue."

Site of Houdini's last publicity stunt

The Worcester Telegram has posted a short article about how on September 30, 1926 Houdini remained sealed in a glass-topped air-tight coffin while up on display at Summerfield's Furniture store in Worcester, MA. This was Houdini's third air-tight container test, and the only one done for the public. This was also likely Houdini's last publicity stunt.

While the Telegram article has less information about this stunt than what I posted here back in 2011, it does have a nice photo of the store from that time.

Read: Then & Now: Do you know where this is?

As revealed in the Telegram's follow-up story HERE, the building, known as the Thule Building, still stands at 184 Main St. in Worcester.

Thanks to Melissa McKeon.

Related:

• Uncovering Houdini's THIRD air-tight container test and death casket
• Uncovering Houdini's SECOND underwater test
• Houdini death photo keeps us guessing

Grim Game pressbook sells in auction

An original pressbook for Houdini's The Grim Game sold for $526 in an eMoviePosters auction last week. I've never seen a Grim Game pressbook come up for auction, so I feel like this might have been a steal at this price. But it also might have been because the pressbook was missing four pages and the condition was described as only "Fair."

This came from a bound volume of 21 Paramount pressbooks, all from 1919. The auction site unbound them and auctioned each individually. The Grim Game was the highest seller by far. In second place was Lon Chaney's Miracle Man at $98.

Related:

• 11 Houdini lobby cards sell in auction
• Haldane slide spies $494 on eBay
• Grim Game poster sets new auction record

Now you see him...

This animation created by Christopher Baker was posed to the Houdini & Doyle Facebook Fan Group today. I thought it was worth a share here as well. Pretty cool.

View on Imgur

Houdini & Doyle is currently streaming on FOX NOW (until Aug. 9), Hulu (until Aug. 8), Amazon and iTunes. You can find links to my reviews of each episode HERE.

Related:

• Meet the new Houdini
• "My wife said to me when I got this role, ‘I love Houdini.’ I had no idea."
• Houdini & Doyle - It's a wrap!

Houdini & Doyle ratings, renewal hope

Here is a ratings chart for all 10 episodes Houdini & Doyle. The series aired in the U.S. on FOX from May 2 to July 4, 2016. The charts shows the series hit its highest viewership of 2.615 million with episode 4, Spring Heel'd Jack, on May 23. The lowest viewership came with episode 7, Bedlam, on June 13. Is it a coincidence that "Bedlam" was the episode that focused on Doyle over Houdini? Just saying.

Click to enlarge.

This chart comes from the website TV Series Finale which reports ratings and tracks news of series renewals. For Houdini & Doyle the site reports:

The ratings are typically the best indication of a show’s likelihood of staying on the air. The higher the ratings (particularly the 18-49 demo), the better the chances for survival. Though FOX is airing this show in the United States, it originates in the UK so it’s unclear what impact American ratings will have on Houdini & Doyle’s chances for a second season. Will it be cancelled or renewed for season two? Stay tuned.

Creator David Shore told the Television Critics Association that the plan for Houdini & Doyle "is to do many, many more." Actor Stephen Mangan, who plays Doyle, says if there's going to be a second season, they would start filming in October. That seems to suggest that a renewal decision would need to come sooner than later as scripts would need to be written in just a few months.

Of course, Houdini & Doyle was produced independently, so it isn't really locked into any network schedule. It could adopt a more cable-like model with extended periods of time between seasons, or even change networks if FOX didn't want to renew. I'm also wondering how all-important ratings still are in this world of increased streaming and changing television watching habits.

Josh Brandon, who wrote episode 5 and has been very active on Twitter @THEJoshBrandon, speculates that a renewal decision would need to come before the actors contracts expire, "whenever that is." Hopeful fans on Twitter and Facebook have kept up a steady renewal campaign #RenewHoudiniAndDoyle.

Houdini & Doyle is currently streaming on FOX NOW, Hulu, Amazon and iTunes. It leaves Hulu on August 8 and FOX NOW on August 9. While it has been released on DVD in the UK, there's still no news of U.S. DVD release.

Related:

• Houdini & Doyle - It's a wrap!
• Houdini & Doyle - Episode Guide
• The real story of Houdini & Doyle

McCord shares Houdini collection online

The McCord Museum in Montreal, Canada has put a number of Houdini items from their collection online. Among the 669 artifacts are letters, programs, and several unpublished photographs.

Last year the MCord received a large bequest of magic memorabilia, including many items related to Houdini. "It’s the second-largest collection of Houdini material held in a public institution," said David Ben, artistic director of Magicana, who served as an adviser to the museum.

The McCord Museum is housed in the former McGill University Student Union building where Houdini lectured during his ill-fated visit to Montreal in October 1926.

CLICK TO VIEW THE McCORD COLLECTION

Next year Magicana's Magic Collectors Weekend (MCW) will be held at the McCord Museum, May 25-27. You can find more information on that HERE.

Related:

• McCord Museum receives magic and Houdini collection
• The Pickleman punch

How Houdini planned to (not) go over Niagara Falls

For some reason, many people think Houdini went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. I continually see people landing on my blog via a Google search looking for info on this. Of course, this was one daredevil stunt that Houdini did not perform. The closet he came was swimming the rapids of the Niagara River for the climax of his film The Man From Beyond [read: Houdini's rough ride at Niagara Falls].

But this doesn't mean he didn't consider the idea. In the book Houdini's Escapes, Walter B. Gibson reveals that Houdini made notes on a "Niagara Falls Escape" that would see him going over the falls in a packaging box. Gibson says Houdini's notes were "merely suggestions that had not reached the point of practical solution" and that it would have been a "trick test."

Here are the notes as Houdini recorded them:

The idea is to be nailed in a packing case, thrown over Niagara Falls, and eventually make an escape!

So that the crowd can see that I am being nailed into the packing case, the nailing is done on a platform, into which I can slide after the box is nailed up.

The best way would be to have the platform on a large wagon, which is drawn down to the landing place, where I get into the water according to opportunity.

Or else get back into the box when placed on wagon, and be found there, having failed to escape (being "knocked out" coming over the falls).

This can be worked into an extra good idea and needs doing some time.

It's not surprising that Houdini would not plan to actually go over the Falls. That would be suicide. But it is a little surprising that he would entertain the idea of an outdoor stunt that would be a fake -- more magic trick than escape. It's also interesting to see that he that considered a "failure" would be just as effective an outcome. No doubt he saw the enormous publicly value of such an exploit.

But it's possible the reason he never brought the idea to fruition is that a "trick test" just didn't seem like a very Houdini thing to do.

Despite never doing his stunt, Houdini's connection to Niagara Falls remains strong. Not only did he shoot The Man From Beyond on the rapids, but for years Clifton Hill on the Canadian side was home to the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame. Ironically, the museum housed Houdini's overboard packing box, which may have been the very box Houdini would have used for his Niagara Falls Escape.

Related:

• Houdini's rough ride at Niagara Falls
• Houdini Magical Hall of Fame was in decay by 1978
• "Had Houdini lived he would have written this book"

'After Houdini' coming in 2017

Amazon has a pre-order listing for After Houdini: Volume 1, a new graphic novel by Jeremy Holt with art by Kevin Zeigler. This was first announced back in 2013. Great to know it's finally on the way, even though we have to wait until April 2017. Here's a plot synopsis:

Harry Houdini, master magician and covert spy for the United States, has been kidnapped. The only man who can save him is his estranged son Josef, who, like his father, knows the power of magic—and how it can be more than just an illusion.

Josef Houdini takes after his father: A gifted escape artist, there’s not a jam he can’t get himself out of. Then again, when your father is one of the greatest illusionists of all time, that comes as no surprise. What does come as a surprise is the fact that Harry Houdini is not only the world’s greatest magician, but also a top-secret operative for the US government during World War I. In rare form he finds himself trapped—stuck on a mission he is unable to escape from. That’s why the government needs his son to fill his shoes and complete the mission—but does Josef have the wherewithal to do it? Or is the possibility of success just an illusion?

Packed with intrigue, suspense, and fantasy, After Houdini is a revisionist look at one of history’s most mysterious figures that is sure to take readers on a journey they’ll never forget.

You can pre-order After Houdini: Volume 1 at Amazon.com (U.S.) and Amazon.co.uk (UK).

Related:

• After Houdini
• Houdini's daughter is back

A day at the pool (UPDATE)

After last week's experience with the questionable Houdini tintype, I think it's time we all took a Houdini eye test. Luckily, the American Museum of Magic Research Center in Marshall, Michigan provides an unpublished photo that suits our needs perfectly.

This photo is credited as being the pool at Hotel Shelton in New York, but it doesn't match other images of the Shelton pool, so I believe this is another location. Nevertheless, on this day there appears to be some kind of water-spot activity with Houdini in attendance. Can you find Harry?

Click to enlarge.

Thanks to Alex and Keli Hindenach of the American Museum of Magic. Click the links below for other rare unpublished images from their collection.

UPDATE: Our good friend Perry from NJ has discovered the location of this photo. It's not the Shelton, but it is a location with a strong Houdini connection. This is the "Roman Bath and Swimming Pool" aboard the S.S. Imperator, the ocean liner on which Houdini performed for Teddy Roosevelt in June 1914. Below is a photo from the website GG Archives.

Thanks Perry!

Related:

• Houdini Headquarters
• The photo Houdini didn't want you to see
• American Museum of Magic shares collection online