The Linking Ring finds Houdini's voice

Just a heads up that the May 2023 issue of The Linking Ring includes the story of my recent adventure transferring long unheard audio of Houdini's voice from the original wax cylinders in the David Copperfield collection. 

I'm not sure if the magazine is shipping yet, but I've seen the layout and editor Sammy Smith has done his usual stellar job. Always happy to share news with The Linking Ring and IBM members. And this news is a doozy!

You can read my original blog post via the related links below.

Related:

• ALL the Houdini wax cylinder audio has been saved!
• "Houdini's Not-So-Magical Film Factory" in The Linking Ring
• The Linking Ring reveals Houdini's Chattanooga debacle

Website maintenance

It appears some concerned citizen may have taken umbrage at my post in support of the Writers Guild strike and reported my site to Blogger. I'm now having to deal with hundreds of posts removed for content violation (mostly bad links). The good news is I know what links I need to remove and when I resubmit for review the posts are reinstated. But it's a process that might some time. I've also temporarily removed the Writers Guild post to take the target off my back. But this is just all the more reason to join my Patreon.

UPDATE: Thanks everyone for your kind words and support. I'm not suffering and, ironically, this turned out to be a positive. My site never gets tagged, but it needed a look. In the old days I would link to a lot more outside sites as sources. But over a decade some of those sites have gone away and their URLs are now occupied by pages that can spread malware, etc. So Blogger pulls these posts until you remove the links, which is easy enough to do. So it's nice to know where the problems are and fix them. It's also nice to know that Blogger/Google has no other problems with my site. So maybe we should thank our crabby friend for the complaint.

Oh, and...

Why I'm standing with the WGA

Today I woke up to learn that the Writers Guild of America was on strike. This certainly brought back some memories. The last time the WGA went on strike was in 2007-08. I was a working screenwriter in those days and I participated in that strike wholeheartedly. I knew the issues, went to the meetings, and walked the picket lines. I also made some good friends.

Ultimately a deal was reached and I think that strike proved to be good for the future. However, it was destructive at the time. The veterans of previous strikes told me no matter the outcome, there would be a cost. They were right. Whether it was the strike or the 2008 financial collapse that came only a few months later, I was one of those middle class writers who saw their opportunities dry up. I never got another screenwriting job again.

However, this forced me into a new life. I got a regular job in Digital Cinema and all my creative energy went back into my original passion; Houdini. WILD ABOUT HARRY was born of this time. I'm now moving into a new phase of my creative life with the writing of at least two Houdini books. The publication of these books will mean more to me than any movie. It's clearly what I was meant to do.

As an emeritus member of the Writers Guild, I feel a camaraderie with those out on the picket lines. This time I don't know the issues. But I still work in this industry and I know the character of the companies they are up against. I am perfectly willing to accept that if the WGA feels they need to strike, then they need to strike and I'm with them. Therefore, I'll take a pause in posting. No deal, no writing. Houdini supported the White Rats in their strikes against the vaudeville cartels, so I think he'd be with us in spirit.

Good luck writers! I might just stroll over to a studio and pick up a sign...

Click here for the latest news on the strike.

'The Stratton Case' head scratcher

Here's a clipping from November 5, 1924 Chicago Tribune naming Houdini as co-author of a play (at least I'm assuming it's a play) called The Stratton Case. I've seen other clippings from around this time saying Houdini was writing a play (check out this post). Is this that play? 

Chicago Tribune, Nov. 5, 1924.

I haven't been able to find any more info on this. So at the moment, it's a head scratcher!

Related:

• Houdini the playwright?
• The Grim Game on stage?
• Houdini planning a new film in 1925?

Houdini's Harvard Bridge jump

Let's mark the anniversary today of Houdini's jump from the Harvard Bridge in Boston with this account of the stunt from the Boston Post.

Boston Post May 1, 1908.

The Harvard Bridge connects Boston with Cambridge. While parts of the bridge have been rebuilt over the years, it still stands and even has a plaque commemorating Houdini's jump...115 years ago today!

Want more? You can see more newspaper clippings and photos from Houdini's Harvard Bridge jump as a Scholar member of my Patreon. Just click below.

Related:

• Delta Bravo finds Houdini's jump site
• Houdini's Rochester bridge jump
• Houdini's Melbourne bridge jump (sans corpse)

David Glass remembers Houdini

Head over to my Patreon today to hear a 1980 audio interview with David Glass, a 76-year-old Detroit magician who knew Houdini. Glass shoots down a few misconceptions, defends Houdini's skills as a magician, and even claims to have seen Houdini's final show. Just click below to go.

If you haven't yet joined my Patreon, know there is now nine months worth of exclusive Houdini content, including unpublished photos, video, research, and audio such as the above. Patrons also get a special monthly reward. We're currently 75 members strong. Thanks for the support!

Related:

• Janet Langer remembers working for Houdini
• Edwin L. Scanlan remembers his neighbor Houdini
• Jules Traub remembers Houdini

Did Houdini do at least part of The Grim Game airplane stunt?

When The Grim Game was released in 1919, the publicity focused heavily on the famous caught-on-film plane crash that climaxes the film. What was kept secret was the fact that Houdini was being doubled by Robert Kennedy at the time at of the accident. Kennedy's involvement wasn't revealed until 1969's Houdini The Untold Story.

Today it's well-known that Kennedy was the man in the air while Houdini's shot all his plane scenes safely on the ground. However, while watching The Grim Game on the big screen a while back, there's one shot that now makes me question the totality of this conventional wisdom.

The shot is when Harvey Hanford (Houdini) transfers out of the cockpit and scoots along the wing to the first strut. It's an extended shot that gives us a good look at the "stuntman." I've gotten pretty good at recognizing Houdini from a distance as well as his movements, and everything about this person tells me it may be Houdini himself! 

This also makes sense. While a plane to plane transfer was too dangerous and required a stuntman with that specific skill (although, as it turned out, Kennedy did not have that skill), I think Houdini would have been perfectly comfortable sitting on a wing in flight. And the whole point of this shot appears to be trying to show us that it's Houdini himself on the wing. But the camera plane can only get so close.

When the shot changes to an extreme long shot of the plane to plane transfer, the man on the wing is not only in a different position, but also appears taller and somewhat lanky, just as Robert Kennedy was. You can see his legs are clearly hanging further below the wing than the man in the preceding shot.

So what do we think? Did Houdini himself go up in the air to shoot the first part of the stunt and then Kennedy went up and completed it? There are photos of Houdini in costume with the camera plane as well the pilots, so he was there. The irony is Houdini could never take credit for the part he did as he had to claim credit for entire thing.

Food for thought!

Houdini (left) and Robert Kennedy (right)?

Related:

• 100 years ago over Santa Monica
• What caused The Grim Game plane crash?
• Steve Canyon's Grim Game

LINK: Newspaper Clipping About Houdini Proves The ‘Four-Door Coupe’ Is Nearly 100 Years Old

Thomas Hundal at The Autopian has discovered a newspaper advert linking Houdini to the ownership of a 1925 4-door Nash Coupe. The focus of the article is about the origins of the coupe, but this is the first I've ever heard about Houdini owning a Nash or any car this late in his life.

This is from when Houdini was giving his spiritualism lecture at the Kenilworth Hippodrome in Asheville, North Carolina, on November 20, 1924.

Related:

• Houdini buys a Ford
• Under the hood of Houdini's Humber
• We've been looking at this photo all wrong!

Arthur Moses on Collector's Call, Sunday

The mighty Arthur Moses will be on MeTV's Collectors Call this Sunday, April 30. Magician Ash Adams will also be part of the show. You can watch the trailer and find your local time and station at the official website.

Related:

• Arthur Moses on Extreme Collectors
• Arthur Moses reprints the first Houdini & Holmes adventure
• Arthur Moses updates his Houdini Periodical Bibliography

Martin Beck and the nine Houdini "knockers"

G, Z, A, H, S, F, H, Sh, D

Here's one for those of you who really know the players in early magic history.

In David Copperfield's phenomenal International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts there is a file of early correspondence between Houdini and his first manager, Martin Beck. These letters are packed with information and insight into Houdini's early rise to fame. One letter dated November 9, 1899 includes this intriguing postscript.

P. S. We are surely going east, and I just set my mind on it that I will work three times as hard to make a star out of you since the "knockers" have been at work. What others can be the knockers than our magical friends, G, Z, A, H, S, F, H, Sh, D, and other loafers? I have it as a positive fact.

Does anyone want to try and guess the nine magicians behind these initials? Remember, this is 1899, so the magician would have to have been active at this time. The only guess I have is Goldin for "G" as in a later letter Beck clearly appears to consider him as competition. But the others have me stumped. Feel free to share your guesses in the Comments below. 

Want more? I threw this one out early to my patrons and they have a few ideas that you can read as a member below. You can also view the original paragraph.

Related:

• Martin Beck - the man who discovered Houdini
• Houdini's Omaha break
• My incredible week inside the Copperfield collection

Virtual book discussion with Larry Bounds, April 27

Larry Bounds will hold a virtual discussion of the book The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini by Joe Posnanski on April 27. The Zoom event is free but pre-registration is required through Eventbrite: https://bit.ly/ashlandhoudini.

This discussion is the last in a series sponsored by Ashland Chautauqua based on the theme “History’s Real Action Figures.” Bounds will portray Houdini at the Ashland Chautauqua festival in July.

The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini is a book I highly recommend. You can purchase it on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Related:

• REVIEW: A Houdini book for everyone
• Joe Posnanski on The Fantastic Story Society podcast
• Houdini comes alive at the 2022 Chautauqua festival

Bess begins

Here's an exciting find. The below is from the December 15, 1892 Brooklyn Daily Eagle reporting on a reception of the Coronet Yacht club at Tivoli Hall in Brooklyn. Among the entertainers that evening we see "Miss Bessie Raymond, soprano soloist."

I'm betting this is Bess a full two years before she became Mrs. Houdini. "Bessie Raymond" was the stage name she used for her solo singing act before and after her marriage. She was a Brooklyn resident and she was a Miss! In fact, she'd be only 16-years-old here.

Until this, the earliest mention we have of Bess as a performer (or Bess in general) is the June 22, 1894 "Risey in the Box" article from the New York Clipper which mentions her as a member of the "Floral Sisters, neat song and dance artistes." (Try as I might, I've never been able to find any mention of the act elsewhere.) But Bess' sister Marie talks about Bess performing as "Bessie Raymond" before this, and I think that's exactly what we have here.

Bess begins!

UPDATE: Just for clarity, the photo at the top of this post is not Bess in 1892. It's just the earliest picture of her I can find and is likely 1894.

Related:

• Smitten with Bess
• Marie Hinson remembers her sister Bess Houdini
• Harry Weiss, boxer and club swinger?