The Houdini franchise

Check out this Hardeen broadside that sold yesterday on eBay for $128.50. In it we get a good look at Hardeen's Milk Can poster which, of course, is identical to Houdini's Milk Can poster only with Hardeen's name on it (I also feel like some work has been done on the face).

What I like about this is it shows how Hardeen was really part of a Houdini franchise (without the financial component as Dash didn't pay a licence to Houdini, as far as we know). Franchising was not uncommon during the Golden Age of Magic. Harry Jansen became "Dante" when he was signed to head a Thurston franchise show. But those masters put their own names on the top of the bill -- "Thurston Presents..." Houdini kept the fact that Hardeen was a Houdini "franchise" a secret. Houdini's intent was to not spread his own name, but to control the market of imitators with his own. Indeed, Houdini and Hardeen were sometimes touted as rivals. However, this poster was a tell.

Did Houdini have other secret franchises? Dean Carnegie, on his blog Magic Detective, recently explored the story of Leonard Hicks aka The Great Leonard, a forgotten Houdini protege (franchisee?), who also performed the Milk Can.

Ken Silverman in Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss revealed that Houdini created a female escape artist named "Miss Trixy" (a name Houdini also gave to one of Hardeen's first assistants) who performed a duplicate version of his famous Water Torture Cell. Miss Trixy's real name was Wanda Timm. Houdini paid her 150 marks per month for a one-year-term, but he retained the right to cancel the contract should she be unable to perform the Torture Cell "because of loss of nerve." Again, this was a response to imitators, especially another female escape artist named Miss Undina who was doing her own, unlicensed, version of the USD.

One wonders if Miss Trixy's posters, like Hardeen's Milk Can poster, were variations on Houdini's own USD sheets. Unfortunately, no Miss Trixy posters, to my knowledge, have ever surfaced.

UPDATE: I just had a closer look at this poster and written on it is "of his famous brother Houdini." So this broadside/poster might date after Houdini's death, or the connection wasn't always so secret. (Unfortunately, there's no date on this.) One thing that's intriguing is this broadside is from the Keith's vaudeville circuit, which was the circuit Houdini played (Hardeen headlined on competitor circuits). Did Hardeen occasionally fill in for Houdini on Keith's where it was in their interest to play up the connection?

Upcoming...

Well, I'm still hammering away at my summer job (with Technicolor Digital Cinema, in case you're curious) and making some "float money" (I learned that expression from Lady Gaga) that will actually "float" a Houdini related project that I will reveal in the next few months. The good news is my schedule has adjusted and is allowing me more time to keep up with this blog. So watch out for posts in the coming days on Houdini's Pets, The Houdini Franchise, and what may be the most revelatory and controversial thing I've ever posted on this blog (and I'm not yet 100% sure I even will post it), The Problem with Bessie.

Because I'm still Wild About Harry...and so are you.

Luminaries available in paperback

Luminaries by Timothy M. Brenner is now available as a paperback from Amazon.com. It had previously been released only as a Kindle eBook.

Luminaries is an "an alternate history mystery-thriller set in the early 1930's" that finds Houdini, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Orson Welles tracking down a serial killer who murdered a member of the British Royal Family. The three famous protagonists are each gifted with supernatural abilities, Houdini being "a master of telekinesis".

The Amazon listing notes the book as being "Volume 1", so might there be a sequel on the way?

New Appleton curator cautions about bogus museum website

Nick Hoffman, the new curator of The History Museum at the Castle in Appleton, Wisconsin, is cautioning visitors about an unofficial website that contains out-of-date information about the museum and its displays, including the Houdini exhibit. Nick writes on his blog:

"Unfortunately, a server hosted in Drum, Pennsylvania, is negatively performing the art of misdirection to confuse our guests. Using information from our old website, they have created a new fake website about the museum using obsolete information and the web address from our former website. Already the website has confused many of our visitors. Among the most flagrant inaccuracies are a listing of old exhibits and inaccurate hours of operation. Please help us by spreading the word about this false website that misdirects our visitors."

Done!

Visit www.myhistorymuseum.org or myhistorymuseum.wordpress.com for the (real) latest news and information about The History Museum at the Castle.

Collins and Mackenberg materialize on eBay

A 1944 "spirit photo" credited as being the elusive Jim Collins (Houdini's chief assistant and engineer) and Rose Mackenberg (one of Houdini's undercover spiritualist agents) has sold on eBay for an impressive $327. This is the best, most detailed photo of Collins I've ever seen, and it's the only photo of Rose that I've seen. The pic is an original Gelatin Silver print, 9 1/2 X 7 1/2 inches, and appears to have come from a newspaper file.

Thanks to Kevin Connolly at Houdini Himself for the tip.

Chicago Children's Theatre adapting The Houdini Box

Broadwayworld.com reports that in January 2012 the Chicago Children's Theatre will unleash The Houdini Box, a world premiere musical adventure based on the book by award-winning children's author Brian Selznick. Master puppeteer Blair Thomas will direct and create puppetry for this captivating story about a mischievous boy who receives a special box that just might contain the secrets of Harry Houdini's success.

Book and lyrics are by Hannah Kohl, with original music by Mark Messing. Chicago Children's Theatre has received two major grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the development of The Houdini Box. Performances are January 27 through March 4, 2012 at Chicago's Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave., followed by a suburban remount, March 14 through March 25 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 N. Skokie Blvd. in Skokie.

CCT's world premiere of The Houdini Box debuts just one month after the December 2011 release of Martin Scorsese's 3D feature adaptation of Brian Selznick's Caldecott-winning novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Houdini is a 2011 Goodwin Champion

Upper Deck has released a new series of "retro" trading cards, the 2011 Goodwin Champions. Among the eclectic collection of sports stars, politicians, and animals we find Houdini. The Houdini card comes as a full size trading card and in a vintage tobacco card "mini" style. Pretty cool.

The photo Upper Deck uses for their Houdini card is a colorized still from his first Hollywood feature, The Grim Game (1919).

William Kalush at the Skirball, July 24

William Kalush, author of The Secret Life of Houdini and director of the Conjuring Arts Research Center, will give a talk on Houdini at the Skirball Cultural Center in L.A. next Sunday, July 24, at 2pm. When I spoke to Bill briefly at the Houdini Art and Magic launch party in April, he said he had some fresh Houdini research to reveal, so this could be exciting. A book signing will follow.

Tickets are $12 and can be purchased on the Skirball website or by phone at (877) SCC-4TIX or (877) 722-4849.

LINK: Houdini - the Copenhagen Affair

Here's a fantastic article on Handcuffs.org by Johan Ahlberg about Houdini's aborted tour of Copenhagen in 1913 when he learned of his mother's death, and the handcuffs that he left behind. This is the first of a series of articles that will be posted to the site and eventually collected and published in a printed volume. What better way to kick it all off than with an article on Houdini! Click the headline above and enjoy.

Also read: Guest Blog: The Stockholm Affair.

Houdini, Carmageddon, and the Skirball this weekend

Just a warning to anyone who is considering going to the Houdini Art and Magic and Masters of Illusion exhibitions at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles this weekend... Reconsider!!!

The city will be closing the 405 Freeway in both directions between the 101 and 10 freeways to demolish a bridge. This is pretty much right at the Skirball Center. The good citizens of L.A. have already dubbed this "CARMAGEDDON" because of the traffic it could cause.

Best advice from all is to stay home this weekend. Maybe you can watch that HOUDINI Blu-ray you haven't gotten to yet.

Don't do it, Harry!

What Sid told me

Sidney H. Radner, who passed away last month at the age of 91, never wrote a book about Houdini. But he was happy to share his insider knowledge with fans and fellow collectors.

In September 1998 I traveled to Appleton, Wisconsin, for a Houdini weekend event and had the great fortune to meet and chat with Sid. Afterwards, I jotted down some notes on what he told me. Not long ago I dug out those notes. While they are just random fragments, there are some intriguing fragments indeed.

What I offer here are those notes with my own comments in brackets. My hope is these precious nuggets from the late great Sid Radner will spur fresh research and lead to new discoveries.

Conversation with Sidney Radner on Sept. 5, 1998 in the lobby of the Paper Valley Hotel and Conference Center, Appleton (~10:45PM to 2:45AM). NOTES by John Cox.

Hardeen "played the ponies."

Sid has met Jim Collins and says he was interviewed. [Whoa, really!? Where is this interview, I wonder?]

Ken Silverman interviewed Smiley [witness to dressing room punch] a couple years ago. His leg was amputated.

Larry Weeks has a copy of The Grim Game, but will not let anyone view or copy it. [Unfortunately, all too true.]

Re the Water Torture Cell: It came apart for shipping. Several pieces. Fit into nice custom-made boxes lined with velvet. It had two extra plates of glass (which still survive). Stocks were VERY heavy.

Two Torture Cell cages existed, one with bars vertical, the other with bars horizontal. Henry Muller "lost" the cage. He also lost the top of a Milk Can. (Sid emphasizes, “He’s my friend.” But is clearly irritated by this.)

Hardeen was trying to build a new Water Torture Cell to teach Sid how to do it at the time of his death. [Patrick Culliton recently revealed the existence of this second cell in his book, Houdini The Key.]

Houdini had an interesting replacement ready for the USD. A box within a box within a box type of thing. Not death defying. More mysterious. Hardeen was excited to show Sid this. [This was baffling to me at the time, but I now know Sid is most likely talking about this.]

USD will be restored “better than new.” Some metal remained. A little wood (to match). [And it was.]

Sid met Bess once. She hooked up with a man after Ed Saint's death in a “story not yet told.” [Whoa!]

Impression that Bess was a bit of a wild card after HH death. Both Sid and Hardeen thought she hooked up with all kinds of con artists and weird people.

Rose Mackenberg, Houdini's spiritualist “agent”, said Houdini was a “perfect gentleman” and that she punched him as a test of his strength. [!]

Rose was an attractive 25 when Houdini hired her.

Rose told Sid that mediums would “grope” her in the dark, and some would lead her to the bedroom so her dead husband could once again show his love (though the medium, of course).

Houdini would instruct Rose to count the number of stairs leading up to the front door, the windows on the first floor, then leave a chalk mark on a stairway. When he exposed the medium from the stage, should they deny Rose’s visit, Houdini would point out these facts. This was in Chicago.

Sid likes to say, “We created Marie Blood.” [I believe he means they discovered Marie?]

HHC [Houdini Historical Center] has the complete Lib of Congress microfilm on file.

Sid was at the HHC when he learned of the fire at the Houdini museum in Canada.

Hardeen's kids were angry at Houdini because it specified that they would only receive their $500 inheritance if they were circumcised (they weren’t). Elise was not Jewish. All the brothers married outside of the faith.

George Hardeen is still alive and living in Arizona. He writes for a horse magazine.

Houdini wrote for some Jewish periodicals. [Have these writings been discovered?]

Hardeen was writing a book about Houdini when he died. He had borrowed the #1 scrapbook from Sid and had it at the time of his death (Sid was in the Army in India).

Walter Gibson found he couldn’t write a bio of Houdini – too "overwhelming." [Too bad.]

Margery’s relations (kids?) thought she was a big fake and a “jerk.”

[Ruth] Brandon came to see Sid after she completed her book [The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini] – if it didn’t jive with her info she “turned the page.”

Sid has nothing good to say about [Bernard] Meyer or his book [Houdini A Mind in Chains]. “They don’t understand show business.” Sid says the guy who painted the milk can poster could have been the one with a womb fixation. (funny)

And last but certainly not least...

When conversation turned to mother, Sid said he “saw something once…” (that would give great insight into their relationship), but then he trailed off and would not tell me, saying it was "too personal." [Damn!]

Houdini's secret revealed!

veterinaryteam.dvm360.com

Houdini and Charmian London battle Martians

First released in 2010, the second novel in the Wonder of the Worlds trilogy by Sesh Heri, Metamorphosis, is now available as a Kindle eBook from Amazon and as a print-on-demand from Lulu. The series finds Houdini joining forces with Nikola Tesla and other 20th Century notables in a battle against Martian agents on Earth...and on Mars!

It's over twenty years since the top secret flight to Mars and Harry Houdini is now a world-renowned escape artist recruited by the covert Majestic Seven group to pursue Martian agents on Earth. Time itself becomes the battlefield as the NYMZA, inter-dimensional masterminds using the men from the Red Planet and the astonishing mercury vortex torsion device known as The Bell for their nefarious purposes, are exposed. Houdini is joined by author Jack London and his adventurous wife Charmian, a woman ahead of her time, in the struggle to keep humanity free from eternal slavery and ultimate destruction. Nikola Tesla and young US Navy Ensign Chester Nimitz hold up their end of the fight in a classified submarine designed by the great inventor. The biggest, darkest and most revealing of the trilogy from Sesh Heri!

Houdini and Charmain London battling Martians in a 623 page novel-? Wow.

The third book, The Lost Pleiad, is also available. However, the description doesn't say anything about Houdini's involvement in the final story. Maybe the Martians (or Charmain) get the better of him in Book 2?

Copperfield plays different recording of Houdini's voice for EMC 2011

HOLY CATS! Dean Carnegie reports on his blog Magic Detective that David Copperfield played a NEW recording of Houdini's voice while giving a video tour of his collection for members of the just completed Essential Magic Conference 2011.

As Dean describes it, the recording is of Houdini giving a slightly different reading of his Water Torture Cell patter from the recording that we are all familiar with today.

Says Dean, "The speech pattern is almost identical. However, there was one giant give-away when on the Copperfield clip. Houdini is heard to say "after it has been filled to the brim with water." But on the clips you can find on youtube and other places, Houdini says "after it has been filled with water". NOT 'filled to the brim', but just 'filled with water'. There are a couple other changes in script as well, so it is a different version."

The existence of this second recording is not generally known, but not a mystery. The original L.A. Times report on the discovery of the Edison wax cylinders in 1970 mentions two recordings of the USD patter on separate cylinders. The other cylinders, six total, are said to contain recordings of Houdini's sister, Gladys, reading a poem, and Houdini re-reading it in German. Oh to hear those!

Thank you, Dean. And thank you, David Copperfield!

UPDATE: Hear 30 seconds of the alternate Houdini voice recording.