Magicol switches on the Houdini Automaton

This alert comes a little late, but the latest issue of Magicol (No. 187) has some nice Houdini content, including an article by Dustin Stinett about John Gaughan's Houdini Automaton and other writing machines. Made for the 2003 L.A. Magic History Conference, the Houdini Automaton can reproduce Houdini's signature (actually, Jay Marshall's forgery of Houdini's signature).

This issue is largely devoted to magicians autographs and autographs collecting. As always, Magicana has done a stellar job. You can subscribe to Magicol at www.magicana.com.

Related:

• "Hanging with Houdini and Gaughan"
• Magicol hosts Guests & Ghosts of 278
• Huell + Houdini = Amazin!

Entertainment Weekly: Now you see him

Entertainment Weekly has what it's calling the "First look at Adrien Brody in History's Houdini", despite the fact that the magazine actually gave us our look at Brody as Houdini back in February. Nevertheless, it's is a great new photo, and along with it comes this new promo trailer which is truly our first look at Brody in performance as Houdini. Enjoy.

TRAILER EMBED HAS EXPIRED
Houdini co-stars Kristen Connolly as Bess, Evan Jones as Jim Collins, Eszter Ónodi as Cecilia Weiss, and Tom Benedict Knight as Theo Hardeen. The 4-hour miniseries is directed by Uli Edel from a script by Nicholas Meyer. It will air over the course of two nights on HISTORY starting September 1, 2014.

Producers talk Houdini miniseries

World Screen News has posted this clip of executive producer Gerald W. Abrams and Sandra Stern, the COO of television at Lionsgate, discussing the upcoming Houdini miniseries. Abrams confirms that it will be a "cradle to grave" biopic, that it will included almost 300 special effect shots, and that it will open with Houdini's (fictional) hole in the ice bridge jump.


Houdini stars Adrien Brody as Houdini and Kristen Connolly as Bess. The 4-hour miniseries is directed by Uli Edel and will air over the course of two nights on HISTORY starting September 1, 2014.

Host a Houdini premiere house party

Looks like HISTORY is starting to unleash promotions for their upcoming Houdini miniseries starring Adrien Brody and Kristen Connolly. For starters, here is a chance to host your very own Houdini viewing house party. What is this exactly? Heck if I know. But for those who want to party like it's 1899, click the link below. And check out what appears to be our first look at the Houdini poster art!

Host a HOUDINI Great Escapes Premiere House Party

The 4-hour Houdini miniseries will air over the course of two nights on HISTORY starting September 1, 2014.

Signed Houdini aviation manual looks to land a sky high price

The Daily Press has a story about York County resident, Gordy Price, who has a remarkable artifact from Houdini's days as a pioneer aviator; a first edition 1909 aviation manual twice signed by the magician. The inscription on the cover page is to M.M. Wood. This is almost certainly Montraville M. Wood, a Chicago inventor and associate of Thomas Edison who not only helped Houdini devise his Milk Can escape, but also worked closely with the magician on his aviation exploits.

Says Price, "My aunt had a costume shop in Glendale, California, back in the 1940s and '50s, and at some point she bought out an old bookstore that was going out of business. In 1972 I was looking through that collection of books when I found this one. I saw the Houdini autograph on the title page, and I definitely thought it was interesting."

Price said the book had been kept in a suitcase for more than 40 years, but it wasn't until recently that he got a hint of its potential value. The Daily Press says that Price "has already fielded an offer from magician David Copperfield, but for now he is considering putting it up for auction."

The book is currently listed on eBay with a starting price of $28,000. While it is certainly a nice item from a part of Houdini's career in which we don't see much material, I think that price will need to come down to earth before it changes hands.

Still, you never know with Houdini. Good luck, Gordy!

Read the full story at The Daily Press.

UPDATE: Houdini aviation manual lands in the Copperfield collection.

Related:

• Houdini was the 25th person to fly
• 100 years ago Houdini showed Australia that a man can fly
• Houdini and the Transatlantic Flight

The Houdini card manipulation movie mystery deepens

Following up on my 4th of July post about the famous footage of Houdini doing card manipulations -- which we discovered was shown in 1926 as a short called, Velvet Fingers -- Tom Interval of Houdini Museum has turned up an intriguing new discovery.

Tom has found this advertisement with suggests this footage might have first appeared as part of a short called Marvel of Motion by Red Seal Pictures. [EDIT: It was actually a series of shorts called Marvels of Motion.] The short featured "startling photographic inventions" including "very remarkable slow-motion pictures of Houdini and his card tricks." It played at New York's Rivoli Theatre in June 1925, a year before Velvet Fingers.

It's very likely this is the same footage, especially as the description of Velvet Fingers also mentions slow motion. It's possible this footage was first created for this Red Seal short and then later extracted on its own as Velvet Fingers. Or maybe Houdini himself shot this footage and licensed it to various film companies for use in their shorts, which means it might have appeared in several different films.

Another tantalizing possibility is that what's contained in Marvel of Motion is footage of Houdini that we have not yet seen.

Another day, another Houdini mystery!

Thank you Tom.

UPDATE: Recently NEW footage of Houdini doing coin and card manipulations has come to light, which throws a wrinkle into the Marvel of Motion/Velvet Fingers saga. This new footage shows Houdini in a suit and tie, so it was not made at the same time. So is the suit and tie footage from Marvel of Motion and the tux footage from Velvet Fingers? Or visa versa? Or was it all one film? The mystery deepens!

Related:

• Houdini in "VELVET FINGERS"
• The King of Cards in 1926

Alan Alan passes away at 87

English escape artist and magician, Alan Alan, has passed away at age 87. Alan was born in November 1926, just days after Houdini's death. He died in hospital in England on Friday.

Alan is credited with inventing the burning-rope suspended Straitjacket Escape, which has been used by many escape artists. In 1949 Alan performed for Pathe newsreel cameras a buried alive stunt billing himself as Houdini II. The stunt went wrong in an eerie echo of Houdini's own near death accident doing buried alive in 1916. (You can view the Pathe report here.)

Alan appeared in a number of television magic specials, including David Copperfield's first TV special in 1978. He was proprietor of Alan Alan's Magic Spot on Southampton Row in London until the mid 1990s. In 2006 he was honored by The Magic Circle with the coveted "Maskelyne" award for services to British magic. Genii magazine profiled Alan with a cover issue in July 2009.

UPDATE: Read Alan's obituary, "Alan Alan: The British Houdini" at This is Cabaret.

LINK: The Great Houdini Murder Case

Click the headline to read a Houdini mystery short story by Barry H. Wiley published at Kings River Life Magazine.

The author notes that his description of Houdini is based on conversations he had with Walter B. Gibson.

Houdini in "VELVET FINGERS"

We are all familiar with the famous film footage of Houdini doing card manipulations late in his career. Little is known about this footage, except that it was made by Pathe in 1926. But while doing some unrelated research, I stumbled on two newspaper advertisements that appear to show exactly when and where this short film played and, most excitingly, the title: "Velvet Fingers."

These ads appeared in The Hutchinson News on April 1st and 2nd, 1926, and advertised the line-up of movies at the Royal Theater in Kansas City. The main feature was the Ralph Lewis newspaper drama, The Last Edition. But look below and you'll see among the short subjects on the bill is HOUDINI in "VELVET FINGERS." The second ad has the more descriptive "HOUDINI in an array of tricks." It seems almost certain that "Velvet Fingers" and the famous Houdini card flourishes footage are one in the same.

Unfortunately, I can't find any other record of a short called "Velvet Fingers" (there was a serial with this title in 1920). Might the theater have invented the title? Hard to know. But the Our Gang short that is billed above the Houdini movie was indeed called "Better Movies."

Royal in Kanas City where "Velvet Fingers" played in 1926.

It's intriguing to wonder just how many tricks in the "array of tricks" existed in the full short. In the surviving film, we see Houdini demonstrate a 32 card forward and back palm, an armspread turnover, a waterfall, and an amazing armspread toss and catch. Houdini was featuring these flourishes in his 3 Shows In 1 at this time, so this is really the only footage that exists of Houdini doing his stage act. Pretty cool.

As far as I know, this short no longer survives complete. Some footage appeared in 1950 feature documentary, The Golden Twenties. The most complete selection of footage can be found on the 3-DVD set "Vintage Magic Films" produced by The Miracle Factory. I once had the fantasy that this could have been a sound short, but certainly that would have been advertised, so I have to put that wish to bed.

And now here's a short clip from "Velvet Fingers."

Related:

• The King of Cards in 1926
• Houdini's grand finale: 3 Shows In 1

UPDATE: Readers Bill Mullins and Joe Notaro have uncovered some clippings that confirm the title and give us even more details about the full footage:

Motion Picture News, March 20, 1926:
Pathe Review No. 12 brings Houdini to the screen as a master manipulator of playing cards in a novelty called "Velvet Fingers."

Greensboro NC Record, March 21 1926:
HOUDINI'S VELVET FINGERS
Houdini, master magician, brings to the screen his grace and form in handling playing cards in a current issue of the Pathe Review. He also presents an expose of some of the card tricks by means of which card sharps have mulcted the public of millions of dollars. Slow motion analyses "the gambler's cut," in which the middle and bottom of the deck are transposed, leaving the top as it was; the "forearm rifle" in which Houdini makes a whole deck of cards obey his orders and the "forearm toss," in which every card stays in its place as if under hypnotic control, and other stunts that make the cards almost sit up and talk. [typos as in original]

UPDATE 2: Was this footage originally part of a 1925 short produced by Red Seal Pictures? Click to read: The Houdini card manipulation movie mystery deepens.

Houdini now spirit busting in Bulgaria

Mega collector Arthur Moses, who specializes in finding Houdini foreign language editions, shares with us a recent discovery. This is a Bulgarian edition of Houdini's 1924 book, A Magician Among the Spirits. The book was published by Shambhala in 2013 and can be purchased HERE.

You can see more unique Houdini foreign language editions on Arthur's website houdinispeaks.com.

Limited Edition Mirror Handcuff Key

Mick Hanzlik, Master Locksmith and Mirror Handcuff expert (and occasional contributor to this blog) is offering a beautiful replica of the key used in Houdini's famous "London Daily Illustrated Mirror Handcuff Challenge" of 1904. The replica is offered as a limited edition of 100 and comes in a black leather look presentation case and a numbered certificate of authenticity.

"I have studied this challenge for many years, and decided to make a replica key from the very few photographs that exist today. The replica is cast in White Bronze from the hand made key that I produced, and as far as I know is a true representation. A few of the people who have been lucky enough to handle the original key have told me that it looks exactly the same!"

- Mick Hanzlik

Click here for more information and to purchase the Replica Mirror Handcuff Key at Lox and Keys.

Related:

• Guest Blog: Silver Mirror cuffs made before the challenge? Not so fast...
• Guest Blog: The Replica Mirror Cuffs
• Unlocking the truth of the Mirror Handcuff challenge

Bess originally planned Final Houdini Seance as a "hunt for magician ghosts"

Click to enlarge.

This article from The Fresno Bee Republican dated April 24, 1936, reveals an early and intriguing concept for what became the Final Houdini Seance on the roof of Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood on Halloween of that year. Here we see Bess originally planned to hold the seance on a mountaintop, "as near the heaves as possible", and the idea was to not only contact Houdini, but Howard Thurston and Charles Carter as well!

Says Bess, "Now that Houdini, Carter and Thurston have joined forces on the other side of the grave, I am going to make, here in Hollywood, the one supreme effort to contact these great magicians and maybe together one of them may 'come through'."

While the "Final Houdini Seance" has come down as a sincere last attempt to contact the great magician -- and Edward Saint did insist it be a legitimate seance without trickery -- the truth is the seance was largely conceived as a publicity stunt to further Houdini's name and legend, and also goose Hollywood into making a Houdini biopic with Bess and Ed Saint involved in the production.

It both these regards, it was successful. The seance garnered headlines across the country, and Bess and Ed where able to make a development deal for a Houdini biopic at Paramount, as well as an independent starring vehicle for Bess herself.

Looks like Carter and Thurston got left behind.

Related:

• Mountain top announced as original location for Final Houdini Seance
• Recording of the Final Houdini Seance
• The Final Houdini Seance redux 1986

The Confabulist from Text Publishing

Check out this paperback edition of The Confabulist by Steven Galloway with cover art that is different from the U.S. and Canadian editions. This edition is released by Text Publishing in Australia. The artwork here is based on a French Master Mystery poster. There's also this alternate plot description for the Text Publishing website:

Harry Houdini was once the most famous person on the planet. He is the man who can make the impossible seem real. So when, on the most extraordinary night of his life, Martin Strauss accidentally kills the great magician, his own life is turned upside down. He loses his home, the woman he loves and every hope he once had. Now his doctor has informed him he is losing his mind too, and Martin decides it is time to set the record straight with Houdini's daughter, Alice.

But this record will not straighten easily. A lifetime of sleight of hand takes some explaining...

Life and death, memory and forgetting, the thrill of escape: Steven Galloway has unleashed the power of a luminous imagination in this dazzling new novel.

You can buy this edition direct from Text Publishing. For links to the U.S. and Canadian editions click here.

Houdini now partying in Russia

A new reprint of the 1927 book, Houdini's Book of Magic and Party Pastimes, has been published in Russia by Izdatelskii Dom Meshcheriakova. While Russian readers can purchase the book here, it is also available on Amazon.com.

Houdini's Book of Magic and Party Pastimes was first published by Stoll & Edwards, Co., New York, in 1927. The copyright reads: "Beatrice Houdini, Executrix of the Estate of Harry Houdini." Much of the content comes from Houdini's "Red Magic" column. As far as I know, this Russian edition is the first reprinting.

Original 1927 edition.

Thanks to Andrey Fedorov for this discovery and Kevin Connolly for sharing it on his blog Houdini Himself.