Monday...

On Monday I will reveal what I believe is the earliest attempt by a major studio to make a movie based on Houdini's life. As far as I know, this information has lay undiscovered for over 70 years.

Houdini and Hollywood history might be made right here at our humble little blog...

HOUDINI (1998)

On Sunday, December 6, 1998, writer/director Pen Densham (who produced the 1979 documentary, Houdini Never Died) realized a dream when his cable film HOUDINI aired as a “TNT Original” movie. The film was supported with strong advertising, making the broadcast a cable television event. The network even broadcast two “encore” presentations immediately after the debut.

HOUDINI, which was filmed under the title, Believe, stars Johnathon Schaech as Houdini, Stacy Edwards as Bess, and Mark Ruffalo as Theo (Hardeen). Shimada also makes a cameo appearance as a street magician. Production design is magnificent, as is the musical score, and while not the best of the Houdini biopics, it has much to recommend it.

Notably, HOUDINI is the first Houdini biography to tackle and dramatize the issue of Houdini’s egotism. Certainly in this way Schaech’s manic and abrasive Houdini is far different from Tony Curtis or Paul Michael Glaser. Of course, it also makes him less likable and more alienating. But as Bessie says in the film, “I fell in love with Ehrich Weiss. I put up with Houdini.”

While Houdini takes plenty of dramatic license (Houdini’s mother never kissed or held him?), it still does a good job of weaving in Houdini history. It's the first Houdini film to give an accurate account of how he and Bess met. In HOUDINI we see them come together as fellow performers; Bessie as part of the Floral Sisters and Harry performing with brother Theo as The Houdini Brothers (okay, they were “The Brothers Houdini,” but that’s a quibble). We also get to see the death bed promise young Ehrich makes to his father. Jim Collins (Karl Makinen) and Martin Beck (George Segal) play their critical rolls in Houdini’s life and career. Even Houdini’s authorship of The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin is given a mention.

Hardeen gets a larger role in HOUDINI than he's ever had in any biopic. But as with Houdini's relationship with his mother, the filmmakers twist the brothers relationship for their own dramatic needs. Here Houdini creates "Hardeen" as a way to repress his brother's own magic ambitions. "It would be just too confusing; two Houdinis," Harry tells him. This film also sets up a class division between the two, with Houdini performing before royalty and Hardeen performing at a Union Hall. But it is nice that part of the dramatic arc for Theo in this film is to forgive his older brother for stealing the spotlight, and it's effective when he "exposes" the final Houdini seance just as Bess is starting to believe.

The film starts to get somewhat loose in its history in the final third, with Houdini suddenly ensconced in a throne-like office space and, yes, failing to escape from the Water Torture Cell after being punched in the stomach. The great Hollywood myth of the USD contributing to Houdini’s death continues here. Unbelievable.

But the film keeps the pedal to the metal in its depiction of Houdini’s stunts, eager to show Houdini as the original king of “extreme” (is that still a thing?). Standouts are the suspended straightjacket escape and a rather flamboyant depiction of the Milk Can. Jim Bentley and Jim Thompson are credited as magic consultants.

The framing device for HOUDINI is a live radio seance. This is presumably the 1936 final Houdini seance which was held on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood. Here it is presented on a theater stage, probably for budgetary or production reasons. Oddly, the film climaxes with Houdini making a star-child-like return from the dead. It’s a bit off the reservation, but it’s well written and beautifully performed, and does give the movie an emotional and, yes, magical conclusion.

Densham explains his ending by saying, “Well, you can look at it three ways: Either he dreamed it, or she dreamed it, or it really happened. I have my own theory, but I’d prefer not to say.”

HOUDINI was nominated for three Emmys: Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, and Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries. Judy Crown won the Emmy for Hairstyling at the 51st Primetime Emmy Awards held September 12, 1999 in Los Angeles.

HOUDINI was released on VHS in 2000, but it has yet to appear on DVD. While Death Defying Acts was released in 2008 making it the most recent Houdini film, HOUDINI was the last straight-ahead biopic of the great magician. Let's hope it isn't the last.

UPDATE: HOUDINI is now available on DVD.

Johnathon Schaech as Houdini

Also enjoy:

• The Great Houdinis (1976)
• Young Harry Houdini (1987)
• HOUDINI (1953)
• FairyTale: A True Story (1997)
• Death Defying Acts (2008)

Tomorrow...

I'm going to end our first full week online with a post that is a bit unusual. My hope is what I have to offer will help ignite fresh research and lead to new discoveries. It will certainly arouse curiosity in some. So watch this space tomorrow when I reveal... What Sid Told Me.

Hardeen hits the Boardwalk Nov. 28

I’ve finally been able to nail down some specifics on Theo. Hardeen’s upcoming appearance on Martin Scorsese’s HBO series, Boardwalk Empire.

While Houdini’s brother was name-checked in episode six (Family Limitation) and episode nine (Belle Femme), he will make an actual appearance in episode 11, Paris Green, played by actor Remy Auberjonois. That episode is due to air on November 28.

There is also an article by Jim Steinmeyer about Hardeen and Boardwalk Empire in the November issue of Genii.

Hardeen is starting to chock up a respectable filmography. He was first portrayed on screen by Jack Carter in the 1976 ABC telefilm, The Great Houdinis. He had a much bigger role in the 1998 TNT original movie, HOUDINI, played by Mark Ruffalo.

Of course, the real Theo. Hardeen is said to have appeared in a film called Medium Well Done, but I don't believe that film has ever surfaced.

'The Truth About Houdini' on DVD

So Act Network is selling a DVD of the 1971 BBC-Patria Pictures documentary, The Truth About Houdini, on Amazon.

The Truth About Houdini is one of the better Houdini docs, in my opinion. It contains terrific interviews with Milbourne Christopher, Walter B. Gibson, James Randi, and Sidney Radner. It also includes a great deal of unedited Houdini footage, credited as coming from the collection of Larry Weeks (the man who is currently squatting on the only known print of The Grim Game, but don't get me started on all that).

In fact, much of the footage missing from Kino’s Houdini The Movie Star can be found here, including Houdini’s underwater box escape from The Master Mystery and key missing shots from his 1909 movie, Les merveilleux exploits de Houdini à Paris.

This So Act Network copy is a no frills home-made type of thing (listed on Amazon under the title "The Magic of Houdini"), but the quality is decent and the documentary is complete, containing Sid Radner’s punishing punishment suit escape that was cut when the documentary aired on American TV in 1976.

UPDATE: Apparently this DVD is no longer available from So Act Network.

LINK: The American Museum of Magic launches new website

Ragtime released for the Kindle

E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime has been released for the Kindle. As far as I know, this is the first eBook version of the 1975 bestseller.

Ragtime features Houdini in a major role. The book has been adapted as both a film and a Broadway musical.

Get Ragtime for the Kindle on Amazon.

Arthur Moses shares his Houdini Room

Here’s a real treat. This is a guided video tour of the amazing Arthur Moses Houdini collection in Fort Worth, Texas.

Arthur is one of the foremost Houdini collectors in the world, a major contributor to the current exhibition, Houdini Art And Magic (on show now at the Jewish Museum in New York), and the author of Houdini A Periodical Bibliography and Houdini Speaks Out, which utilizes Houdini’s original glass lantern slides (seen in the clip) to recreate his anti-spiritualist lecture. He's also a very nice guy.

Prepare to drool.

You can read an interview with Arthur at The Jewish Museum Blog.

Watch this space...

I've just returned from the Warner Bros. Corporate Archives where I spent 4 1/2 fascinating hours examining a file on what I believe is the earliest attempt by a studio to mount a major "Houdini" biopic. And, no, it's not this one. And, yes, they did have a star in mind.

I think this is a first, and I think Houdini history could be made right here at our humble little blog.

This might take me a while to work up (I have a wealth of material to work through), but I just wanted to give a heads-up and a little tease. Watch this space.

UPDATE: Here's we go. "RKO 589: Discovering Hollywood's first Houdini film"

Did the Houdinis have a daughter?

This challenge announcement appeared in the Ohio State Journal on December 6, 1911. But what makes the particular article so intriguing is in it Bess Houdini states that she and Harry have a daughter?

Okay, obviously the Houdinis did not have children, even though they are said to have both wanted them (they made up for it with pets). While Ruth Brandon speculated in The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini that Houdini may have been impotent (there’s also a theory that he made himself sterile by fooling around with his brother’s X-ray equipment), I was told by Marie Blood in 1995 that it was “aunt Bess” who couldn’t have children.

So what do we make of this quote?

Well, perhaps Bess was as much a myth-maker as her husband? While Houdini created tales that made him into an even greater superman, maybe Bessie on this day decided to make herself into what she always longed to be...(a) Mama.

Thanks to Adam Steinfeld of Adam Steinfeld Magic Live for the alert.

How about a little feedback?

Hello out there in the dark. Don't be shy. How about giving us a little feedback via our oh-so easy-to-use comments feature? I've switched off all the restrictions so you don't need to provide an email address or name, I've even turned off word verification (I can never make those darn things out anyway). At least lay a check in one of those little boxes below our stories and let me know if you like what you've read...or not.

I'd also love some feedback about whether I should retire my old site, Houdini Lives, and move all my Houdini news over here. The Blogger interface is just soooooo much better than iWeb. The Labels feature alone make me want to do everything here. I won't delete Houdini Lives. I'll leave it online as an archive and maybe update the Galleries from time to time, but the real action would be over here. So...anyone got a problem with that!

Stay tuned this week for an exclusive look at "Houdini vs. Boudini: The Forgotten Challenge." Because, remember, we're Wild About Harry. And so are you.

Watch Murdoch Mysteries "Houdini Whodunit"

The Houdini episode of Murdoch Mysteries, "Houdini Whodunit," is now available for $2.99 via Amazon's (new?) Video on Demand service. Amazon offers a 2 minute free preview that gives a nice look at Houdini played by Joe Dinicol.

Based on the award-winning novels by Maureen Jennings, Murdoch Mysteries features shrewd and forward-thinking Canadian detective, William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson), who battles crime in late 19th century Toronto "with a cunning mixture of intuitive deduction and forensic techniques."

This episode from the second season finds the young Houdini Bros. bringing their show to Toronto. While Houdini is giving one of his performances, the bank next door is robbed and the security guard murdered in the process. Could it possibly have been the world famous illusionist?

Now you can find out.

Joe Dinicol as Houdini escapes a tight spot in Murdoch Mysteries

Houdini speaks in 1970

One of the most fantastic finds in the world of magic was the discovery of six Edison Wax Cylinders containing recordings of Harry Houdini’s long lost voice. Below is an article from the Los Angeles Times, July 4, 1970, reporting the discovery.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

The famous six wax cylinders are now part of the David Copperfield collection.

A question to my fellow Houdini nuts... Has anyone ever heard recordings of the remaining cylinders (said to contain a poem read in English and German by Houdini and his sister Gladys)? If so, how can this nut get listen?

You can listen to the available Houdini voice recording HERE.

UPDATE: ALL the Houdini wax cylinder audio has been saved and it's phenomenal!

Young Harry Houdini (1987)

On March 15, 1987, the Walt Disney Company aired Young Harry Houdini as part of their recently relaunched Disney Sunday Movie on ABC. The two-hour made for TV film starred Wil Wheaton and José Ferrer and was introduced by the relatively new Disney CEO, Michael Eisner (along with a special performance by “Mickey The Great”).

Young Harry Houdini tells the story of the “lost years” of Ehrich Weiss. It is actually rooted in fact. The young Houdini did run away from home in 1886 and little is known about his year-long adventures on the road. Screenwriters James Cruickshank and Jim Orr (who also directed) fill in the gaps with a colorful story in which Ehrich finds a mentor in traveling show carney Dr. Tybalt Grimaldi (José Ferrer), a love interest in the pretty Calpernia (Kerri Green), and experiences true mysticism via an indian medicine man (J. Reuben Silverbird).

"Getting this role was like a dream come true for me," said 14-year-old star Wil Wheaton, who performed card and coin magic at the time. "I've idolized, you could almost say worshipped, Houdini all my life!"

The film begins with the adult Houdini (played by Jeffrey DeMunn who also played the magician in the film version of Ragtime) performing the Water Torture Cell in England. It’s a pretty good recreation of the USD with a fairly authentic looking cell, although the conclusion owes more to Doug Henning’s interpretation than Houdini. Later in his dressing room, Houdini relates the story of his runaway days to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Roy Dotrice). “It is the most fantastic story you will ever hear,” says Houdini.

Flashback to Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1886, where we meet “Ehrich Prince of the Air” honing his performance skills while also apprenticing to a local locksmith. An encounter with “The Great Merlin” leads to Ehrich losing his locksmith job and after a dressing down by his stern father (Byrne Piven), Ehrich runs away to prove himself as a magician.

Here the story travels into wholly fictional territory, nevertheless it still has nods to established Houdini lore. Ehrich hops the wrong box car and ends up in Kanas City, as did the real Ehrich Weiss. There is a clever variation on the “convict in cuffs” story when Ehrich frees a fellow traveler from handcuffs. When Ehrich first sees Dr. Grimaldi, he is performing a (Disney-friendly) version of Paligenesia, the effect associated with Ehrich’s real-life influence, Dr. Lynn.

The second half of the film gets a little lost in sometimes bizarre “chosen one” mythology, but along the way we get to see Ehrich reading The Memories of Robert-Houdin and perform his first packing crate escape. And the movie does have a satisfying twist that I won’t reveal.

One point of interest is where exactly Young Harry Houdini was shot. Much of the action is set on what appears to be a western backlot. This could be the Disney Studios in Burbank or Disney's Golden Oaks Ranch near Newhall. Jim Steinmeyer was the technical advisor on the film. Jim worked with Doug Henning at the time, so the technical advisor credit reads just "Doug Henning Magic." The Water Torture Cell was supplied by John Gaughan and went on to make many more television appearances.

As far as I know, Young Harry Houdini aired only once. The new Disney Sunday Night movie would go the way of the old and cease broadcast by 1989.

Young Harry Houdini did find it’s way onto videocassette in Great Britain, but it has never been released on any home entertainment format in the U.S. That’s a shame because Young Harry Houdini is a well-made, entertaining family film that deserves to brought up from the Disney vaults.

The real young Harry Houdini

Also enjoy:

• A look back at The Great Houdinis (1976)
• A look back at TNT's HOUDINI (1998)
• A look back at HOUDINI (1953)
• A look back at FairyTale: A True Story (1997)