Hardeen's Tramp Chair to be displayed at Oakfest

The original "Tramp Chair" that Theo Hardeen escaped from in 1913 will be displayed at the upcoming Oakfest in Oakland, Maine. Who even knew the chair still existed!

The Morning Sentinel reports that the "so-called tramp chair" is about 800 pounds of steel and stands just 52 inches high. The chair is housed at the Oakland police station where Gary Bennett, owner of Snow Pond Cruises and Historical Tours, said it always raises a lot of interest during his tours. He thinks the lock on it today is the original lock that was used in the early 1900s, as the historical society doesn’t have a key that opens it. The chair is just one of two in known existence from the dozen or so made.

Hardeen escaped from the tramp chair on Tuesday, December 10, 1913 at the Bijou Theater in Bangor, Maine. He was shackled and locked in the chair by a committee from the Bangor City Department. He escaped in 11 mins. Afterwards he told reporters, "I saw the shackles were strong and old-fashioned, not at all like anything I had every tried to get out of, and I knew I would be bothered considerably by this new sort of imprisonment. But I found it easier than I expected. Nothing gave me much trouble but the Yale Lock."

Hardeen was proud of this unique challenge. He printed the full newspaper account of the escape in his pitchbook and also featured it on a poster.

A police cruiser will carry the chair in the OakFest parade at 6 p.m. on July 21. It will then be displayed in a tent during OakFest, July 21-23. The chair is currently available for viewing at the police station during business hours.

For more information on Oakfest visit the official website. You can see more images of the tramp chair HERE.

UPDATE: In the book Houdini's Escapes and Magic by Walter B. Gibson, it's said that Houdini also escape from a Maine Tramp Chair in Boston. Except he called it a "Witch's Chair." It's not clear if it was the same chair here.

Related:

• Theo Hardeen
• The Houdini Tramp Chairs (The Magic Detective)
• Houdini vs. Hardeen in Oakland

The Master Mystery 6-sheet restored

In April came news that David Haversat of David Haversat Magic had uncovered a hitherto unknown 6-sheet poster for Houdini's silent serial The Master Mystery. Now David gives us a first look at the fully restored poster below. A beauty!

The poster was found among a number of antiquities and other silent film posters in Canada. It's for Episode 14 ("The Tangled Web"), which was the second to last episode of the 1918-19 serial that featured Houdini and what is said to be cinema's first robot.

Thank you David.

Related:

• Unknown 6-sheet Master Mystery poster surfaces
• The Master Mystery posters
• Master Mystery episode 3 poster sells for $28,080

Houdini exhibit in Davenport, Iowa

A special Houdini exhibit is currently on show at the German American Heritage Center in Davenport, Iowa. "Houdini: The Magic and Mystery" opened May 28 and runs through November 4.

The exhibit was compiled by assistant director Kyle Dickson and intern Michael McMahon.

"His influences comprised mostly German sources; his immigrant story is a great one," says Dickson. "There's so  many cool stories people don't know. He was a modern man stuck in a pre-modern world."

The exhibit includes historic photos, advertisements, shackles from the Sidney Radner collection, video footage of Houdini's escapes, a recording of the Final Houdini Seance, and a straitjacket that visitors can put on, borrowed from Augustana College's theater department.

On September 23, Duffy Hudson will appear at the museum with his acclaimed Houdini one man show.

For more information visit the German American Heritage Center's website, Facebook, and Twitter. A nice article about the exhibit can be found at QCOnline.

Related:

• Duffy Hudson brings Houdini to life in South Pasadena

Is this a Houdini sub trunk?

Our good friend Jon Oliver checks in today with a Houdini mystery. Below are photos of what might be a hitherto unknown Houdini sub trunk. Here's Jon's story:

About a month ago I was performing outside of Chicago. After the show, Sandy Marshall (Jay Marshall's grandson) asked me to meet for dinner. 

Over dinner, Sandy Jr. told me about some large items that were still at the old shop on Lincoln Avenue, one of which was a 100 year old sub trunk that he was told was once owned by Houdini. 

Unfortunately, as with many items Jay Marshall acquired, he never wrote down upon paper its history. Jay planned to, but until the end, he relied upon his incredible memory. 

The trunk sat in the back part of The Little Theatre close to the stage, but on the left side. It had a small amount of mold on its back and inside. I offered to clean it up for him, and took it back to Michigan.

The trunk's outside hardware is identical to one of the of two trunks I own from Houdini. The lock upon the trunk was replaced, maybe by Jay, as were the outside handles.

The secret is different from the trunk Patrick Culliton once owned, and at the request of the Marshall family will keep it concealed.

So can anyone out there help identify this trunk? If so, please leave a comment below.

UPDATE: David Charvet over at Kevin Connolly's CONJURING HISTORY - BUY, SELL AND TALK Facebook group points out there were "lots of Sub Trunks sold back in the day." Below is an ad from Arthur P. Felsman's 1924 catalog, coincidentally, in Chicago.

Related:

• This is Houdini's original sub trunk
• Houdini's first sub trunk sells on eBay
• Who faked Houdini's signature on this photo?

LINK: Second Prison Cell and Barrel Mystery poster

Joe Notaro by way of Fred Pittella has posted to his blog a NEW image of the second Prison Cell and Barrel Mystery poster glimpsed in the famous lobby display photo below. It gives us a much better look at the poster details and text. But you'll have to go to Joe's site to see it, SO GO!

Below are links that give us looks at a few of the other (not so lost anymore) Houdini posters in this image.

Related:

• Evidence that a lost Houdini poster survives
• NYPL reveals unseen Houdini poster
• S.A.M. reveals a gem on their birthday

Houdini lecture slides sell for $31,980

Twenty-eight original glass slides from Houdini spirit debunking lecture sold today at Potter & Potter's auction of The Grossman-Nicholson Magic Collection for $31,980 (including 20% buyer's premium). The pre-auction estimate was $10,000 - $15,000. Some of the slides were in color, such as the slide below showing Houdini at the grave of William Davenport.

Description: Collection of Lantern Slides from Houdini’s Spiritualism Lecture. New York: Standard Slide Corp., 1920s. Twenty-eight slides total, comprising 21 (of 50) slides from the original lecture series, and seven related slides (inclusive of one duplicate) added by a second contemporary source, possibly Frederick Eugene Powell or Oscar Teale. Original paper-covered boxes, two lacking tops. Old sequencing labels affixed at edges of slides, matching the ordering of Houdini’s handwritten key sheet (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Lot 7426).

A file of ten letters written to Houdini from Harry Kellar between 1917 and 1921 sold for $7,380. In one letter dated April 29, 1921, Kellar wrote: "I really could never guess what risky stunt you were going to do at Niagara. I only hope you are not going to take any of your dare-devil chances with your life." (Read: Houdini's rough ride at Niagara Falls.)

For once it not a Houdini item that was the highest price realized. This time it was Germain's work trunk and magic apparatus which sold for $33,600, annihilating the auction estimate of $6,000 - $9,000.

Transparencies of the Houdini slides adorned the cover of the auction catalog (right), which is still available from the newly revamped Potter & Potter website.

Related:

• Houdini, the Hillstreet, and the birth of a ghostbuster
• The Houdini Museum of New York adds to collection
• The Master Mystery Episode One lantern slide

The Master Mystery episode titles

The 15 episodes of Houdini's serial The Master Mystery each carried an individual title. However, as the posters only carried the episode number, it's surprisingly hard to find these titles. Even the novelization goes without. But here's a clipping from a trade journal that reveals all 15 titles. Great shot of Harry as well.

For more on Houdini's films, check out my standalone reference page: Houdini's Movies.

Related:

• The Master Mystery posters
• Houdini coming to the silver screen
• Listen to The Master Mystery

Korhza would have returned in Houdini & Doyle Season 2

According to screenwriter (and Magic Castle member) Joshua Brandon, his Margery-like medium Madam Korhza would have returned in another episode of Houdini & Doyle had the series been renewed for a second season. The news came during the one year rewatch party currently being held by the fans over at HouDoyle and the Houdini & Doyle Fan Group on Facebook. Joshua participated in a Q&A as they rewatched "The Curse of Korhza" (episode 5) last week.

Joshua also confirmed that he had Margery in mind when he created Korhza, and that he once suggested the title Medium Well Done, which of course has a nice Hardeen connection.

You can join the rewatch party on Facebook and HouDoyle. All the season one episodes can be streamed via Amazon Video.

Related:

• REVIEW: Houdini & Doyle (ep. 5): The Curse of Korhza
• Houdini & Doyle one year anniversary rewatch party
• Spring Heel'd revealed

Watch excerpts from 'Houdini, A Circus Opera'

In 1977 the Carre Theater in Amsterdam premiered Houdini, A Circus Opera with music by Peter Schat and a libretto by Adrian Mitchell. Houdini was played by three different performers in the course of the evening; a signer, a dancer, and an escape artist. I covered this production at length HERE.

Now David Saltman at The Houdini File has discovered video excerpts from the opera itself. This is from 1981 with the signing Houdini played by Jerod Norman and Mark Mazzarella doing the escapes. Enjoy.

Thanks David.

Related:

• Houdini A Circus Opera (1977)
• The first Houdini stage musical, MAN OF MAGIC
• New York Times: What went wrong with Broadway's Houdini musical

Wild About Harry hits 5 MILLION pageviews

WILD ABOUT HARRY has just crossed 5 million pageviews since our debut on November 10, 2010. Houdini lives indeed! Below are a few stats.

The total number of posts as of today is 3,397. The most viewed post of all time is Fact checking HISTORY's Houdini - Night One with 231,379 pageviews. This is followed by The problem with Bessie (78,235), Fact checking HISTORY's Houdini - Night Two (75,142), The illicit loves of Harry Houdini (48,143) and This is J. Gordon Whitehead (34,408). My general biographical page The life of Harry Houdini has garnered 230,675 views.

The biggest single month was September 2014 with 481,653 pageviews. I don't have a way to see what the single biggest day was, but we've had a few.

The vast amount of our viewers are in the United States (3,186,798), followed by the UK (276,645), Canada (168,229), Germany (121,156) and France (115,328). Users connect via Windows (50%), Mac (19%), iPhone (8%), Android (8%) and iPad (7%).

Thank you all for your support.

Related:

• Welcome to WILD ABOUT HARRY
• ONE MILLION PAGEVIEWS
• TWO MILLION

Remembering James Hamilton

Last month I was shocked and saddened to learn that James Hamilton had passed away. James was a wonderful man who was Wild About Herrmanns. He even looked like Herrmann! I always enjoyed seeing James at the Magic Castle and at magic conventions. I felt we were kindred spirits in our devotion to a single magician, and I always asked him what was new and happening in the Herrmann world. To be standing with him when he got his first good look at the magnificent Matthew Brady portrait of Alexander Herrmann at the last L.A. Magic History Conference was a real treat.

It was also James who provided me with the Jesse L. Lasky quote: "[Houdini] did his best acting handcuffed and locked in a trunk at the bottom of a river." I would frequently tell him that his line was still getting the biggest laugh of my lectures. He always liked that. It also seemed like every time I saw him he was in the midst of sharing. Whether it be his knowledge, items from his collection, or just his own great joy and enthusiasm. In fact, I believe I first met him while he was helping a young historian with information about Adelaide Herrmann for her college dissertation on Women in Magic. That was James.

Yesterday at the Magic Castle, I heard someone say, "James is now with Alexander." I do like the idea that Herrmann is now sharing with him.

Items from James's Herrmann collection will be auctioned by our friends Haversat & Ewing Galleries on June 23-24.

Related:

• REPORT: Houdini haunts The 43rd Magic Collectors Weekend
• REPORT: Inside the L.A. Conference on Magic History
• "I don't drink, smoke or chew"

Evidence that a lost Houdini poster survives

Houdini fans are well aquatinted with the below photograph of a Houdini lobby display. One of my favorite things about this photo is it gives us a peak at two now lost Houdini posters (it was three, until this). The most spectacular of these is the large poster in the center showing Houdini being manacled on stage. I've often wondered what this poster must look like in color.

Well, the other night while watching the old 1981 Houdini episode of In Seach of, I saw something that made my jump out of my seat! There were two shots of this very poster...in color. Furthermore, it's not a still image. It appears to be filmed footage of the poster on a wall. So this "lost" Houdini poster appears to exist. Or at least it did in 1981.

Much of this episode was shot inside the former Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Canada. Was this poster on display there? I've never spotted it in any old photos, and it was not there when I visited in 1990. The show also filmed at the home of Sidney Radner, Walter Gibson, and at the Magic Castle. There is also a credit to the University of Austin (what is now the Ransom Center Collection). So maybe this poster was captured at one of those locations?

This is exciting because it means we might one day get a good look at this full poster in color, and maybe even have the fun of seeing it auctioned (would it set a new record?). Hopefully someone out there knows exactly where this rarity is today.

Related:

• When Leonard Nimoy went In Search Of Houdini
• The lost posters of Harry Houdini
• Houdini Magical Hall of Fame was in decay by 1978