Hard to believe the last time England lost a Queen #HarryHoudini was appearing in London and only 26. R.I.P. Your Majesty. pic.twitter.com/eIprFIsp6I
— John Cox (@HoudiniWild) September 8, 2022
Thursday, September 8, 2022
R.I.P. Queen Elizabeth II
Hardeen on the air
I've done several posts about Houdini's many radio broadcasts (and bemoaned the fact that not a single recording seems to have survived). So for a change, here's news of a 1928 broadcast by Hardeen. His topic: Houdini, of course!
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| The Scranton Republican, June 25, 1928. |
Hardeen was playing three days at the Capitol Theater in Scranton, Pennsylvania, when he gave this talk on June 25. Below is a terrific ad for that appearance.
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| The Times Tribune, June 25, 1928. |
The good news is we do have a surviving Hardeen radio broadcast which you can listen to HERE.
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Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Houdini exposed
I've long heard talk about a nude photo of Houdini. Is this it? Click the image below and all will be revealed.
Monday, September 5, 2022
"Darling Kadaria Wilhelmina Weiss"
I'm working hard on my first post about my visit to the Harry Ransom Center and I should have it ready this week. So today I thought I'd serve up a little appetizer. This is a postcard written by Houdini to Bess on March 28, 1903. It was the first thing I read at the Ransom Center and it's a gem.
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| Click to enlarge |
This was one of three postcards Houdini sent Bess on this particular train journey through Germany. You'll note the time is 2:35 AM. As it turns out, Houdini could not find an open hotel and had to sleep "on the soft side of a bench" that night.
The mention of "our son" is interesting. This postcard pre-dates their dog Charlie (if we believe the story of them getting the dog in Russia), so I'm not sure what Houdini is talking about here. I also can't quite make out is his pet name signature.
Stay tuned for more.
Sunday, September 4, 2022
'The Great Houdinis' window card from the future
One of the things I enjoy about Houdini biopics are the glimpses of mocked-up Houdini posters made just for the film. These typically feature the actor's likeness and are sometimes based on real posters. Here's one I had forgotten about until I recently re-watched The Great Houdinis. As we come back from the last commercial break, we establish Detroit and Halloween with the following image of a Houdini window card.
What I like about this is it evokes the real window cards Houdini used on his final tour. But before you think this was deliberate, I don't believe these Houdini window cards were even known in 1976. I believe the first ones were discovered in the 1980s. So the production somehow channeled the past and future. Kind of freaky.
Just to round things out, the only other poster mockup in The Great Houdinis is the large banner used during Houdini's pier jump. The typeface seen here is the same as seen on Houdini's "Europe's Eclipsing Sensation" posters.
You can see more Houdini poster mockups via the links below. And if you want to watch The Great Houdinis, I recently uploaded it to my WILD ABOUT HARRY YouTube channel HERE.
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Saturday, September 3, 2022
Houdini inspires The Sensational Silver City
Houdini and his 1909 visit to Aberdeen is the inspiration for an art installation by visual artist Graeme Roger at the Wonderland festival running Sept. 8-11, 2022. Below is a description:
‘THE SENSATIONAL SILVER CITY’ is a film and sound installation that pays homage to this theatrical event by filming a cross section of the North-east community underwater and suspended in time. A sound design for the work created with composer Lucie Treacher accompanies the work which features the voices of an Aberdeen chorus to create a new ethereal and theatrical artwork.
The inspiration behind the project is based on when the world-famous magician and escapologist Harry Houdini dove into Aberdeen harbour whilst in chains in 1909. A large crowd gathered during a storm to witness him handcuffed and chained and then dropping into the sea from a tugboat within the breakwater of the navigation Channel. There are many references to his ‘notorious manacled dives’ and the level of drama was high as he spent a minute and a half in the murky depths before resurfacing and coming ashore at Fittie. Many people believed Houdini had superhuman powers, he was a headline grabbing, public celebrity sensation.
Friday, September 2, 2022
Houdini The Untold Story free PDF
I'm happy to report that my WILD ABOUT HARRY Patreon is one month old and going strong with 36 members. As I did last month, I'm offering a special reward for all patrons. This time it's a free PDF of Milbourne Christopher's Houdini The Untold Story. This will only be available for the month of September. I know many of you already have this on your bookshelves, but it's great to have a PDF that is searchable. Just click the image below to go.
The start of the month is a great time to join my Patreon as you will unlock all of last month's content (19 posts with 105 images) and be set to receive all the great content I have planned for September. For more information about my Patreon you can read my full pitch in this post.
Thanks to everyone for your support!
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Houdini spills the inspiration for his "Chinese" Water Torture Cell
Unfortunately, we really don't know when and where Houdini got the ideas for many of his most famous feats. That's why what I have today is so exciting.
Houdini debuted his famous Water Torture Cell in Germany in September 1912. At the start of 1913, he brought the effect to England. On January 6 he opened at the Cardiff Empire and gave an interview to the Western Mail. In it he reveals exactly when, where, and how he landed on the idea for his new escape. This has never appeared in any book as far as I know.
I'll let Houdini tell you it himself:
One thing that really surprises me here is Houdini calling it the "Chinese" Water Torture Cell. Before I read this, I would have told you Houdini only used "Chinese" in the United States. In Europe, it was always billed as just The Water Torture Cell. Check out the playbill for this very week in Cardiff as an example.
Acknowledged to be one of the world's greatest mystery men, Houdini, the self-liberator and the original "Handcuff King," who is performing at the Cardiff Empire this week, made the interesting fact known to a Western Mail reporter on Thursday that he will always retain happy memories of Cardiff.
"I like Cardiff, and I like Cardiff audiences, and I think they like me," said Houdini; "but what will ever keep Cardiff dear to me is the fact that your city is really the birthplace of my latest and greatest trick––the Chinese water torture cell.
At the time the inspiration came to me through reading an article in your excellent paper illustrating types of Chinese torture which I purchased in Cardiff. I had rented premises for the purpose of perfecting an entirely different trick. When the idea came I at once stopped working the trick which I was engaged on and set about the 'torture cell,' with the result you may see any evening this week. It is a great trick––my greatest. But, though I had perfected the idea, it was nearly a year before I nerved myself to perform it."
The "entirely different trick" Houdini was working on was, I believe, his frozen in ice escape. As I covered here, this would have involved a glass tank described a being "brass fitted and jointed." News of Houdini working on the effect was reported in January 1911. Houdini played Cardiff in March of 1911. Interestingly, Frank Koval says Houdini visited someone named Charles O. Williams about the construction of the cell this same week. So the timeline of Houdini's story does check out.
I also always though the use of the word "Chinese" was a commercial flourish, like calling the Needles the "Hindoo Needle Trick" or saying the "Chinese Linking Rings." Evoking the mystery of far off lands has long been fashionable in magic. But here's Houdini saying the inspiration for the escape actually came from images of Chinese torture. This is news to me!
Try as I might, I could not locate the original article in the Western Mail that inspired Houdini in 1911. What kind of torture instruments could it have depicted? Sometime involving foot stocks? Water? Inversion? I would love to know.
I guess it's also possible that Houdini is making all this up just for the reporter. We know he sometimes did that. But I sense we have something real here and a unique glimpse into Houdini's creative process.
Want more? You can read and download the original Western Mail article along with other research material gathered for this post as a Scholar on my Patreon.
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Nashville remembers Houdini
Reader Michael Ochoa sends in this photo he took at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. He says Houdini also appears in a film on the auditorium's history. There's no escaping this good old boy!
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This timeline chronicles Houdini spiritualism lecture at the Ryman Auditorium on March 11, 1924. The "sunk in water" escape referred to in the ad was his Double Fold Milk Can. Houdini included escapes during this first lecture tour.
This wasn't Houdini's only appearance in Nashville. In 1899 he played two weeks at the Grand Theater on Church Street and even escaped handcuffs at a local police station. During his second week he shared the bill with Sigmund Neuberger a.k.a. The Great Lafayette. This is when Houdini gifted Lafayette with his cherished dog "Beauty." Below is an ad for that week.
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| The Nashville American, Nov. 12, 1899. |
Thank you Michael!
Monday, August 29, 2022
Gladys and Leopold headstones return to Machpelah
The original headstones were badly damaged by vandals in 1994 and have remained absent all these years. These are new headstones in the style of the originals. They look great! While the headstones are in place now, a formal dedication will be held at a later date.
You'll recall that Dorothy and Dick also restored Houdini's bust to the exedra in 2011. They have continued to be caring custodians of the Machpelah plot. In fact, Dorothy was recently named chairman of the S.A.M. Houdini Gravesite Committee.
Thank you Dorothy, Dick, and David Jacobson for reuniting the family!
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Sunday, August 28, 2022
Barry Spector's Top Secret "Collins Lock"
If you are a reader of this blog you are familiar with Barry Spector's amazing creations using wood from Houdini's New York home (278). But there's one Barry creation that I've never shared here because it exposes a secret. But that's why I have a Pateron! Clicking the image below will take you to photos and a short video of Barry's creation in action.
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Heads up that if you join my Pateron now you will be billed at sign-up and then again on September 1st (Thursday) for that next month. So you may want to wait until the 1st to join. But if you do join now you'll unlock a lot of great content and be able to get the Ken Silverman PDF which will not be available in September. Either way, I look forward to seeing you inside.
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Saturday, August 27, 2022
Madonna's daughter debuts video with a Houdini touch
Madonna's daughter, Lourdes Leon aka "Lolahol", released her debut single and video this week. As you'll see, she shot much of the video for Lock&Key in and around Machpelah cemetery and on the grave of its most famous resident. Think I'm too old to pass judgment on the song or her abilities, but I did love her mama back in the day. Enjoy.
While Madonna never used Houdini in her art, the Houdini Historical Center used Madonna in theirs! This poster was released by the museum gift shop in 1994.
Thanks to Bret Marnell for the tip.
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Exploring Houdini's Austin
Recently I had the pleasure of visiting Austin, Texas, where Houdini appeared twice during his career. It's a great city with some great Houdini history, so let's raise the curtain and get into it!
1916
"Austin is a beautiful place and I will not be here long. I would like to see the town, to do my acts and to be peaceful. But there is something in the air. I have not opened my mail and will not until tomorrow. There should be a challenge in it. You know, this place surprises me. It looks a lot bigger than they tell me it is. And you have in the Majestic one of the finest theaters in the Southwest. It would be a credit to any city."
Originally booked for only two days, Houdini proved such a draw that he was held over for the full week. Because the rest of the company moved on to Arkansas, Houdini expanded his act to an hour and the remainder of the Majestic's bill was filled out with a Theda Bara film, The Serpent.
Houdini featured his Water Torture Cell, Needles, and accepted challenges from the Walter Tips Co. (roped chair) and E.M. Scarbrough & Sons (packing case). But the most heavily advertised challenge came from five University of Texas students to escape from a packing case made on stage. The escape took place on Friday, February 11, with Houdini breaking free in 12 minutes. He then demolished the box onstage and handed out signed shards as souvenirs.
The Majestic was still a relatively new theater when Houdini appeared there. It opened in October of the previous year and offered everything from vaudeville to traveling stage shows and films. It was renamed the Paramount in 1930.
Happily, the Paramount Theater still stands today. It remains a very popular venue for Austin's thriving music and theatre scene. I might even go as far to say the Paramount is the best preserved of any Houdini theater in the United States. Yes, I realize there's the Palace in New York City, but from the outside that theatre is unrecognizable from Houdini's time. But Houdini would have no problem recognizing his "Theater Beautiful" today.
During my trip I was thrilled to get a private tour of the Paramount alongside Eric Colleary, Cline Curator of the Theatre & Performing Arts collections at the Harry Ransom Center. It was pretty wild to stand on a stage that Houdini stood on, and see backstage which is pretty much as it was in Houdini's time. Even the loading dock door is still the original. Just think, Houdini's Water Torture Cell rolled through this door.
The biggest thrill of our tour was when our guide, Pasquale Del Villaggio, Director of Production and Technical Services, lowered the original asbestos fire curtain. This dates all the way back to the theater's first days and is what audiences would have seen the night of Houdini performances. It's rarely lowered for obvious reasons. Even many of the staff had never seen it. So to have this lowered just for us was huge honor and an exciting moment, captured on video by Eric.
The Paramount is well aware of its Houdini history. A nice collection of historical clippings, given to the theater by the local S.A.M. Assembly 206, hangs in the offices. Their lounge is called the "Houdini Lounge". Even their wifi password has a Houdini connection (but I won't share that!). There's also the famous hole above the stage that is supposed to have been made by Houdini for a trick. But I'll leave that one for others to debate.
To promote his Austin appearance, Houdini performed a suspended straitjacket escape from the Littlefield building at 6th & Congress. Named for George Washington Littlefield, this classical Beaux-Arts building was erected in 1912. Houdini was suspended at the fifth floor from rigging on the roof. Unfortunately, the only photo of the escape that I'm been able to find is of Houdini and his challenger, Chief of Police Morris, so I don't know precisely where he hung.
The Littlefield building still stands as a Texas Historic Landmark and it's a beauty! Like the Paramount, I'd put this among the best preserved Houdini locations in the country.
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| Austin American Statesman, Feb. 10, 1916. |
1923
Houdini returned to Austin in 1923, once again on tour with Karl Hoblitzelle's Interstate vaudeville circuit. He arrived in the city on November 15 and appeared that night at a rally in the Women's Gym at the University of Texas. Papers reported that Houdini "consented to appear at the rally to help the girls in making the thing go off big." Today the Student Union building stands on that spot.
This time Houdini played two days, November 16-17, at the Hancock Opera House on West 6th St. The Hancock was designed by Frederick Ernst Ruffini and dates back to 1896. The theater became Austin's home for Interstate vaudeville when the Majestic began featuring first run movies (this week it was The Spanish Dancer with Pola Negri). Houdini presented his Needles, straitjacket, and also the spirit slates. It's possible the theater couldn't accommodate his Water Torture Cell as there is no mention of the escape in the reviews.
The Hancock became the Capitol Theater in 1935 and operated until 1963. Today a modern office building stands on the site of Houdini's second Austin theater.
To promote his appearance, Houdini reportedly once again did a suspended straitjacket escape from the Littlefield building, making it the only building in which he ever repeated the stunt. [While this escape is noted in Ron Cartlidge's excellent Houdini's Texas Tours, I'm still seeking firm confirmation.] He also accepted a challenge from the Barker Motor Company to escape a packing case. The best part of this challenge might be the fantastic photo it gave us below!
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| The Austin American, Nov. 17, 1923. |
Houdini also spoke this week to the Young Men's Business League at the Driskill Hotel. He warned of the dangers of spiritualism, giving attendees a taste of the Houdini to come. The Driskill is where Houdini stayed during his 1916 engagement and likely in 1923 as well.
Now owned by Hyatt, the Driskill is a jewel of downtown Austin. Walking inside is like stepping into a time capsule, and it's easy to imagine Houdini striding through the lobby. It also sits adjacent to the Littlefield building, which I never knew until my visit. In fact, all these downtown Houdini locations are within blocks of each other.
Houdini graced yet another stage in Austin this week. The Crescent Theater at 920 N. Congress Avenue played Haldane of the Secret Service during the Friday and Saturday Houdini was in town. It was reported that Houdini would make a personal appearance at the theater during the run. So you really couldn't escape Houdini in Austin during these two days!
The Crescent operated until 1931. While no longer a theater space, the building that stands on the site today appears to be the same structure. So here's Houdini's third Austin theater!
1958
The story of Houdini in Austin doesn't end in 1923. Houdini returned in 1958. Yes, 1958!
Ironically, it was once again Karl Hoblitzelle who brought Houdini back to the city, this time permanently, when he purchased the Messmore Kendall Collection for the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. Kendall had acquired Houdini's theatrical collection and personal papers from Bess in 1927. So the collection that arrived in Austin in June 1958 was loaded with a lifetime of Houdiniana!
Below you can see a photo of that historic day and the same location as it appears today.
Today Houdini lives in Austin at the magnificent Harry Ransom Center, which is where we will be exploring next! Stay tuned.
My thanks to Erin Waelder, Pasquale Del Villaggio, and all the staff of the Paramount Theater for the unforgettable tour. Jim Nicar for the Women's Gym pic. Ray Anderson of Esther's Follies, which is a must see show in Austin (yes, there's a Houdini reference). And Eric Colleary of course!
Want more? You can view and download 30+ newspaper clippings related to Houdini in Austin as a "Scholar" member of my Pateron by clicking the image below. "Handcuff King" patrons and non-patrons can purchase this research file HERE.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
The New York Times is wild about Ragtime
It only took 47 years, but the New York Times finally got around to reviewing E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime. And they like it! I look forward to their review of the musical in 20 years.
Seriously, this excellent "Book Club" retrospective appeared online last week, but the Sunday print edition showcased Houdini in the title and with a key image, as you can see above.
I was just thinking the other day that Ragtime might be ripe for a movie remark or perhaps as a limited series on streaming. We are coming up on the 50th anniversary. Just saying.
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