The Margery Box in New York

Below is an illustration that appeared in Reginald Marsh's "The Spotlight" column in the New York Daily News on February 8, 1925. Marsh's column consisted of various vaudevillians sketched from the stage and reviewed with a percentage. His sketch of Houdini shows him inside the famed Margery Box.

Houdini was midway through a six-week run at the New York Hippodrome where he offered a different act each week. For this third week, he exposed the tricks of fraudulent mediums, specifically Margery. Marsh's illustration confirms Houdini used the Margery Box this week. It's also the first confirmed appearance of the box outside of Boston.

New York Evening Journal, Jan. 23, 1925

One wonders how effective this would have been on the gigantic Hippodrome stage. What more could Houdini do than demonstrate how Margery could potentially slip a ruler through the neck hole to ring the bell box? Not quite as dramatic as a vanishing elephant! Maybe that's why Marsh only gave him an 85%.

While this is the first appearance of the Margery Box in New York, it's also the last confirmed appearance of the box anywhere. Where did the Margery Box go after this? That's the question.

Below is a look at the complete Hippodrome bill for this week.

New York American, Jan. 25, 1925.

Want more? You can view Reginald Marsh's full "Spotlight" column as a member of my Patreon below and see which Hippodrome performer received the coveted 100%. Thanks to my patrons for supporting content like this.

Related:

• Is the Margery Box still out there?
• 100 years ago on Lime Street
• Revenge of the beach boy

LINK: Harry Houdini's favorite dinner was a lavish meal

A nice little piece about Houdini's favorite foods by Stephanie Friedman at the Tasting Table. Click the yummy image below to dig in.

Related:

• Was Houdini killed by Chop Suey?
• How to eat like a (Handcuff) King
• "Where he dines daily"

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

Where The Grim Game took flight

Today marks the anniversary of Houdini's The Grim Game opening at B.S. Moss' Broadway Theater in New York City on August 25, 1919. The movie played an exclusive two-week run with Houdini appearing in person at every performance. Our friend Joe Notaro has shared an original program on his blog, Harry Houdini Circumstantial Evidence. I encourage you to check that out.

What I want to focus on is the theater itself. The Broadway Theater opened in 1888 at the southwest corner of Broadway and 41st Street. It sat around 1,700. It was the seventh theater to bear the "Broadway" name. In 1908, it was purchased by B.S. Moss and played a mix of movies and vaudeville. As for the theater's decor, this comes from the excellent Cinema Treasures website:

The Broadway Theatre featured a somewhat generic facade on Broadway, in a five-story red brick office building with little indication of was inside, until a vertical marquee was added in the 1910’s. The elegantly decorated auditorium, with its large proscenium arch, six sets of boxes and twin balconies, featured such touches as antique copper chandeliers, gilded plasterwork around the proscenium, the box and balcony fronts and murals on the ceiling and balcony walls.

Here's something I never knew until today. On the same day as The Grim Game's opening, Howard Thurston opened at the Globe Theater on Broadway and 46th Street. Sorry, Howard, I'm seeing Harry! (But I might sneak over to the Globe the next day.)

B.S. Moss' Broadway Theater closed on January 2, 1929, and was demolished later that year. Below, you can see the site of the theater today. Where The Grim Game first took flight!

Want more? I've shared a nice selection of newspaper advertisements and reviews for The Grim Game at B.S. Moss' Broadway Theater (and a few Thurston ads) on my Patreon below.

Theater photos from Cinema Treasures.

Related:

• The Grim Game turns 100
• Grim Game plane wreck lobby display
• Houdini conquers Hollywood (at last) in The Grim Game

The very best steel

As promised, here's what was inside the mystery box that I posted on Tuesday. This is a beautiful reproduction of the famed Steel Straitjacket as seen in the Tony Curtis Houdini (1953) biopic. This was a gift from Richard Sherry and Dayle Krall of Sherry and Krall Magic. Richard made a small number of these working replicas. This one he painted for me to better match the jacket in the movie. I love it!

Dunninger owned the original Steel Straitjacket and provided it to the production. Today, it is in the collection of Rob Allen (who let me put it at last year's Milbourne Christopher Awards). Richard created his replicas earlier this year and still has a few left if you want to add one to your own collection. Details can be found HERE.

Thank you, Richard and Dayle! I will treasure this.

Related:

• Mystery box
• The Steel Straitjacket
• Own a replica Steel Straitjacket from Houdini '53

Choices, choices...

On the evening of February 27, 1924, both Houdini and The 4 Marx Brothers were appearing in Cleveland, Ohio. Houdini was giving his spiritualism lecture at Engineers Hall while the Marx Brothers were appearing in their breakout hit, I'll Say She Is, at the Hanna Theatre. I'd love to think Groucho worked up a special ad-lib about Houdini being down the street that night. Maybe something about chasing ghouls instead of girls? (Give me your best Groucho quip in the comments.)

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Feb. 27, 1924.

I've covered Houdini's spiritualism lectures extensively, so let's talk about The Marx Brothers and I'll Say She Is. Like Houdini, the Marx Brothers began as vaudevillians. But in 1923, they decided to try their luck with a full evening musical comedy, I'll Say She Is. It made them superstars.

I'll Say She Is was never made into a Marx Brothers film. In fact, for the longest time, precisely what the show contained wasn't well known. But the great Noah Diamond has a particular passion for I'll Say She Is, and he recreated the show from his own research. He also penned the excellent book, Gimme a Thrill: The Story of I'll Say She Is, The Lost Marx Brothers Musical and How It Was Found.

This wasn't the only time Houdini and I'll Say She Is played the same city. At the end of 1924, I'll Say She Is was at the Missouri Theater in Kansas City while Houdini was at the nearby Mainstreet Theater. And when I'll Say She Is settled in for its long run at the Casino Theatre in New York City, Houdini appeared at the New York Hippodrome during the show's final four weeks in early 1925.

The Marx Brothers followed up I'll Say She Is with The Coconuts in 1925. Once again, we find Houdini and the brothers playing New York City simultaneously. In fact, The Coconuts and Houdini's 3 Shows in One opened on Broadway within a week of each other. The Coconuts opened at the Lyric Theatre on Dec. 8, 1925, and Houdini opened at the 44th Street Theater on Dec. 14th.

New York Daily News, Dec. 7, 1925.

I've always wondered if Houdini and Bess ever saw I'll Say She Is or The Coconuts. I would love to think that they did. Houdini and the Marx Brothers would eventually appear at the same charity event at the New York Polo Grounds in 1926, but that's another story.

You can buy Noah Diamond's Gimme a Thrill on Amazon. I'd also highly recommend Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage by Robert S. Bader, also available on Amazon.

Related:

• Houdini and the Marx Bros at the Polo Grounds
• When Groucho met Houdini
• A tour of Houdini's Cleveland

The Last Illusion with Theatre By The Blind

From July 26 to August 3, Arts Up LA! presented The Last Illusion at the Blue Door Theater in Culver City, CA. What made this production so unique is it was performed by an all-blind cast known as Theatre By The Blind.

Unfortunately, I'm only learning about this now. I would have loved to have seen this show. Hopefully, it will return someday.

Below are some other performances of The Last Illusion by B. Dwayne Craft.

Related:

• Murray County Central Schools presents 'The Last Illusion'
• Cypress Lakes High School presents The Last Illusion
• High Schoolers win state finals with help from Houdini

Mystery box

I came home yesterday to find this sitting on my doorstep. What could be in this mystery box? Give me your best guesses in the comments and I will reveal all at the end of the week.

Houdini's last backstage visitor

I recently discovered an account of Houdini's last show from a man who claims to have been the only person allowed to see Houdini backstage after the performance. There are wild connections here to Henry Ford, the Lincoln assassination, and a mummy! I've shared this as a History Exclusive on my Patreon. Click below to go backstage.

Related:

• Backstage with Mr. Houdini
• Houdini takes the stage for the last time
• David Glass remembers Houdini

Houdini's gold lock (update)

Here's an intriguing account of a mailbag escape Houdini performed in New Orleans in November 1907. Is this "Houdini" engraved gold lock still out there somewhere? A new treasure hunt for us!

Times-Picayune, Nov. 11, 1907.

Houdini played two weeks at what was commonly known as the St. Charles Orpheum in New Orleans. (Not to be confused with the Orpheum that still stands today, although Houdini did play that theater in 1923.) During this engagement, he was also challenged by the B. Cohn Company Ltd. to escape a packing case while shackled in "old-fashioned slave chains,” and he dove manacled into the Mississippi river. The St. Charles Orpheum was razed in 1965.

UPDATE: The gold lock may have been found in Roger Dreyer's Houdini Revealed museum! I've shared the discovery with my patrons below.

Related:

• Houdini in New Orleans
• "That's an awful river."
• Bag 'Houdini's Mailbags' on Kindle

Funeral home where Houdini was embalmed

Here's a new walk-through video of the abandoned building that was once the funeral parlor where Houdini was embalmed. It's in bad shape, and I don't know how much longer it can stand, but it's still there!

Want more? On my Patreon, I've shared an interview with Jack Gibbons, one of the men who embalmed Houdini.

Related:

• Go inside Houdini's abandoned funeral home
• LINK: Eerie ghost image–is it Houdini?
• LINK: Detroit funeral home where Houdini was embalmed is neglected

See The Grim Game and Ben Pratt in New Hampshire

This Friday, August 16, comedy illusionist Ben Pratt will be performing at the Park Theater in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. Preceding the show will be a screening of Houdini's The Grim Game. Ben will also do a straitjacket escape during his performance.

You can get more information and buy tickets at the Park Theater website or Facebook page.

Related:

• Houdini conquers Hollywood (at last) in The Grim Game
• Theater owners review The Grim Game
• New image of Houdini in straitjacket

The Bee stings Houdini

Here's an article from The Bee in Danville, Virginia, that must have stung Houdini if he ever saw it. Houdini is included here among a group of movie stars who seem to have disappeared from the silver screen.

The Bee, July 28, 1923.

    Think back to when Houdini was all the rage in moviedom. The famous contortionist who featured in the thrilling serial, "The Master Mystery," made his parting bow to films a long time ago, after which he also served in the Keith circuit, and finally left for the much needed rest.

This article appeared on July 28, 1923. Houdini had released The Man From Beyond less than a  year earlier and was about to release Haldane of the Secret Service, so he was hardly absent from the movie screens. But maybe this shows just how far interest in Houdini as an actor had diminished, at least in Danville!

Related:

• The silent cinema of Harry Houdini
• The Man From Beyond arrived 100 years ago today
• Haldane of the Secret Service turns 100

Revealing Houdini's diary at MAGIC Live!

Part of MAGIC Live!'s mystique is that all performers and presenters are kept secret until the event. So I can only now share that I gave a presentation on Houdini's diary and the upcoming book, Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini, 1897-1899, during MAGIC Live!'s General Session on Monday.

I spoke about how the project came to be and shared select entries from the diary for the very first time. MAGIC Live! is a convention that focuses mainly on performance magic. But based on the kind words I received after my talks, I think this diversion into magic history went over really well.

Initially, we had planned to launch the book itself at the convention. But Michael Albright is still working hard on the layout and design, so I'm afraid we don't yet have a release date. But however long it takes, it will be worth the wait.

Thanks to Stan Allen for allowing me to be part of MAGIC Live! It was a real honor.

You can listen to an interview I did at MAGIC Live! with our friend Scott Wells at The Magic Word Podcast. As always, Scott provided excellent coverage of all four days. I've excerpted my interview for patrons below.

UPDATE: Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini 1897-1899 is now available exclusively from Mike Caveney's Magic Words.

Related:

• You will soon be able to read Houdini's first diary
• Houdini diary book update
• Houdini hangs at MAGIC Live