Tim Burton’s HOUDINI

A Houdini movie directed by Tim Burton? Sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it? Well, it exists!

Of course, this Tim Burton’s HOUDINI was a short film he shot in grade school instead of "reading the book", as he explained last year on the South Bank Show. (The "book" appears to be Christopher's Houdini The Untold Story.)

Click below to see a YouTube segment from the interview that includes a clip from Tim Burton’s HOUDINI. The clip starts at 0:54 seconds in.

Related:

• See Tim Burton's HOUDINI at LACMA

LIFE photos reveals cut wing walking scene from Houdini (1953)

LIFE magazine has posted 200+ behind the scenes photos taken on the set of the 1953 HOUDINI biopic Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Among the photos are several shots of cuts scenes, including a performance of the Cremation illusion and The Milk Can escape.

However, the most amazing revelation (for me at least) is that the film originally was to feature a recreation of Houdini’s death defying plane to plane mid-air transfer and wing walk from his 1919 film, The Grim Game.

This is significant in that all the movies so far made about Houdini’s life and career have ignored his stint as a silent movie star in Hollywood. But here is evidence that the 1953 film did not ignore this aspect of Houdini’s life. It just wound up on the cutting room floor.

My question is, where is this footage today?

Thanks to Adam Steinfeld of Adam Steinfeld Magic Live for alerting me to these remarkable pics! 

Six Flags Houdini attraction SBNO

The popular ‘Houdini’s Great Escape’ ride at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey is currently SBNO (“standing but not operating”). That’s fancy amusement park parlance for “closed.”

According to greatadventurehistory.com, the experience of Houdini's Great Escape was a complete themed presentation from start to finish. Guests passed through the gates (marked 278) and entered the garden in front of the house. Guests were then ushered into the parlor, sometimes by a costumed actor who helped set the scene. The room was decorated with gothic fixtures and escape devices from Houdini’s career, including an eerily smashed Water Torture Cell.

An unseen narrator gave background information on Houdini with an accompanying film showing him as a young man. The spirit of Houdini was channeled and moved objects in the room in an attempt to cross over from the other side.

A set of doors opened and the audience was ushered into the next room with the sets of benches lining both sides of the room and a small table in the center. Once everyone was seated, Houdini locked his guests into place with a set of lapbars and the illusion began with the room rocking and then eventually turning a full 360 degrees.

After the first season, the storyline was modified slightly. The original show concluded with a huge illuminated mural of Houdini visible through the large skylight above the room. When modified, the center table with crystal ball and the illuminated keys at the ends of the rooms were added to conclude the story.

Houdini was closed for safety modifications after a power failure in the park had trapped riders for a period of time. Modifications made the ride safer and it re-opened to the public.

For the 2008 season, Houdini's Great Escape was SBNO. Before the season had started plans were in place to open the ride, and new signage was even in place in the weeks leading up to the park's opening day. At the last minute a high level decision was made not to open the ride, and for opening day all the ride's signs had been removed, and the entry gates padlocked. During the season the building was used as a venue for autograph signings, but no other activity took place.

For more pics and information about Houdini’s Great Escape and other Six Flag Great Adventure attractions, visit Great Adventure History.com.

French Master Mystery poster beats auction estimate

A rare French poster for Houdini’s 1918/19 movie serial The Master Mystery (Episode 8 -- Un Plan Diabolique) sold for £5,000 ($7,345) at Christie’s in London on Dec 4.

The poster was Lot 18 / Sale 5425 and carried a £2000 - £3000 ($3,022 - $4,533) estimate.

As a rule, Master Mystery posters that feature either the Automaton (said the be the first movie robot) or Houdini in restraints are the most desirable...and this beauty has both!

Houdini goes high-def!

Bruce Cardozo's amazing restoration of Houdini's The Man From Beyond has been released on Blu-ray, giving it the distinction of being the first silent movie released on the high-def format.

This version of The Man From Beyond offers the best quality and the most complete print of this movie ever presented (see full review here). At 80 minutes, it is also the longest of all the other versions out there.

Bonus material, which includes the almost complete screenplay for The Master Mystery, comes on a second CD-ROM disc.

Purchase The Man From Beyond Blu-ray at Amazon.com.

'The Amazing Harry Houdini' by Tanya Savory

This one slipped right past me, but in September Townsend Press released a new Houdini paperback biography for young readers, The Amazing Harry Houdini by Tanya Savory.

Harry Houdini escaped from prison cells, swallowed needles, and made elephants disappear. How did he do such amazing tricks? Some people believed he was actually a wizard with secret powers. But Houdini knew his only “secret powers” were hard work and imagination. This is the story of the poor boy who grew up to be the most famous magician in the world. He was fearless and determined to amaze his audiences, and there seemed to be no limit to the risks that The Great Houdini would take.

You can order The Amazing Harry Houdini from Amazon.com.

For more information about Townsend Press visit their official website.

"Houdini" aided in Obama victory

No doubt you’ve heard that last night Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. But did you know Houdini had a hand in his historic victory?

In an online preview of a special Newsweek post election issue, we find a revelation about “Project Houdini.”

The Obama campaign’s New Media experts created a computer program that would allow a “flusher”—the term for a volunteer who rounds up nonvoters on Election Day—to know exactly who had, and had not, voted in real time. They dubbed it Project Houdini, because of the way names disappear off the list instantly once people are identified as they wait in line at their local polling station.

Read the article at Newsweek.

LINK: Houdini's Final Trick, a Tidy Grave

Check out this article and video in the New York Times about Houdini’s grave in Queens. Some interesting information here, including the fact that Houdini paid for perpetual care of his family plot. The comments are also worth a read. Click on the headline to go.

Official Houdini Seance held at the Dorothy Young Center

The Official Houdini Seance was held last night in the Black Box Theatre of the Dorothy Young Center for the Arts in Madison, New Jersey. The 101-year-old Young, who worked as an assistant to Houdini during his 1925 tour, participated in the seance alongside organizer Sidney Radner.

“It's still an honest attempt to see if we can contact Houdini,” said Radner, who brought a pair of Houdini's handcuffs which Houdini said he would open, if he could, from beyond the grave. Radner noted. “We would be satisfied right now if it was put on a table and then he comes back in a physical way, he moved it across the table and it fell on the floor, or something like that.”

Last night’s seance was conducted by psychic Jane Doherty of South Plainfield, who investigated the Massachusetts home of accused ax murderer Lizzie Borden and said her stomach expands by several inches when spirits are present.

“I think now, the point of doing it is really to honor (Houdini's) memory,” said Barbara Parker, who is the granddaughter of Dorothy Young. “(Dorothy) talks about the Houdinis as being her second parents during that period of her life.”

Source: The Star-Ledger

Photo from The Official Houdini Seance website. This post originally appeared on Houdini-Lives.com.

Death Defying Acts released on DVD

Death Defying Acts didn’t get much of a theatrical release (only two theaters), but it’s getting a second shot at life on home entertainment as it is released today on DVD.

The DVD includes commentary by director Gillian Armstrong and producer Marian MacGowan, a Making Of documentary, and the trailer.

The DVD art now sports the subtitle: Houdini’s Secret. Guess the marketing department behind this film decided maybe they should trade on the power of Houdini's name after-all.

Death Defying Acts stars Guy Pearce as Houdini and Catherine Zeta-Jones as a Scottish psychic. While it is an entirely fictionalized episode in Houdini’s life, it’s a decent movie with excellent production design and performances.

Purchase Death Defying Acts on DVD at Amazon.

Houdini’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star rededicated

Neil Patrick Harris, Penn & Teller, Tippi Hedren, Milt Larsen, and other notables from the world of magic and movies were on hand yesterday to rededicate Houdini’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

A large collection of media and tourists gathered for the event at 2pm on the corner of Orange & Hollywood Blvd, just east of the famous Graumans Chinese Theatre. After the unveiling, press and guests were invited back to The Magic Castle for a reception and performance by Jim Bentley in the Palace of Mystery. Playing the role of Houdini, Bentley escaped from a straight jacket in true Houdini style. Guests were also given tours of the recently renovated Houdini Seance Room.

Houdini’s star was first dedicated on Halloween 1975 to commemorate the great magician’s life-long involvement with film and his brief stint as a Hollywood movie star. According to the Magic Castle press release, the star mysteriously cracked on Halloween 2000.

Among those contributing to the restoration include magicians David Copperfield, Lance Burton, and Siegfried and Roy.

Plymouth man believes house bricks from Garrick Theater

The Detroit News reports that a Plymouth man is selling bricks from his home which he believes came from the Garrick Theater in Detroit where Houdini last performed before his death on Halloween 1926.

An avid fan of Harry Houdini, Jamie Flora learned from his Plymouth home's original owner that it was built with bricks from the historic Garrick Theatre. He began researching, corroborating the homeowner's tale with a building permit issued by the township in 1928 -- the same year the theater closed and was demolished.

Flora, who removed more than 300 of the bricks during a restoration project, is selling off the 312 remaining "Houdini bricks" at the Lotus Gallery in Plymouth.

"I live in the house made from some of the brick from that theater," Flora said Thursday. "When I go to bed at night all the bricks on stage that night are around me and my wife and five kids."

Three of Flora's bricks have previously gone out -- one of which was donated to David Copperfield for the International Museum & Library of the Conjuring Arts in Las Vegas.

But Kevin Connolly isn't convinced. The member of the Magic Collectors Association has about 3,000 Houdini-related pieces, but said the brick isn't any more valuable than a paperweight -- even with concrete proof of origin.

"To me it's just a novelty. You've got to have provenance this is Houdini's," Connolly said. "When you look at my stuff you know that's Houdini's. That's the quality I want. I don't want questionable stuff."

The custom-made brick displays will go for $945 for a museum edition that includes a large plaque and backboard with historical photos and text and $450 for a smaller, collector's edition, Flora said.

Houdini star rededication ceremony Friday

Siegfried Fischbacher, Neil Patrick Harris and Magic Castle co-founder Milt Larsen will unveil Houdini’s newly renovated star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame on Friday, October 24th at 2:00pm on the corner of Orange & Hollywood Blvd (one block East of Graumans Theatre).

The unveiling comes exactly 82 years after Harry Houdini's final performance.

A reception is to follow afterwards at The Magic Castle at 7001 Franklin Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90028.

Among those contributing to the restoration include top magicians such as: David Copperfield, Lance Burton, Tihany, Marvyn Roy (Mr. Electric), as well as Siegfried and Roy.

Houdini (1953) makes list of 10 most inaccurate biopics

Yahoo Movies has named the 1953 Paramount movie HOUDINI as one of its 10 Most Biographically Inaccurate Movies. Says the site:

“To be fair, figuring out what was fact and what was fiction in Houdini's actual biography wasn't always easy. Even though he was born in Hungary, Houdini claimed in interviews to have been born in Appleton, Wisconsin. Of course, this film -- starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh -- didn't help matters much. The film states that his family name was Schwartz when in fact it was Weisz. The relationship between his Jewish mother and non-Jewish wife was portrayed as harmonious, when in real life it was definitely not. And in the movie, his death was caused by failing to escape from a Chinese Water Torture Cell following an injury with a prop sword. In reality, Houdini died of a burst appendix after being punched in the stomach.”

A few fact checks on Yahoo. The movie never says Houdini’s real name was Schwartz (wasn’t that Tony Curtis’ real name?). The movie actually make no reference to his real name. Their claim that Mrs. Weiss and Bess didn’t get along is speculative fiction from the 1976 TV movie The Great Houdinis. All evidence points to a good relationship between Bess and Mama in real life, not unlike what we see in the Curtis movie. The Water Torture Cell claim, however, is bang on.

HOUDINI was recently on DVD and can be purchased at Amazon.com