Kreskin's unpublished Houdini book

Here's a curiosity I came across in The Times from April 2, 1975. According to this column, The Amazing Kreskin was writing a Houdini biography in 1975. The book was tentatively titled The Other Side of Houdini -- A Story That Has Never Been Told, and was to be published by Random House. Have a read below.

Click to enlarge.

I do like how Kreskin refers to Houdini as a "scientist-entertainer." Houdini would have loved that. The fact that he had contact with Houdini's "relatives, friends and associates" suggests that he could have had some gold here. (I actually never knew the famous mentalist was such a Houdini buff.)

It's a shame Kreskin's "never told" Houdini story never got told. But maybe it's not too late?

Houdini grave restoration update

The Houdini grave restoration project is moving forward. Our friends Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz of the Houdini Museum in Scranton report that estimates are being taken on the mosaic repair, and conversations are taking place about restoring the headstones of Gladys and Leopold. Dorothy and Dick are overseeing the project along with The Society of American Magicians.

Says Dorothy: "The Society of American Magicians [brought in] mosaic artist Kim Hogan to go to the grave and make an estimate of what would be needed to repair the SAM mosaic there. She also brought the president of a large glass supplier to help check with color matching, which is of great concern to the management of the cemetery and The Society of American Magicians."

As to the missing headstones for Gladys and Leopold, Dorothy says the plan is to get the stones back in place by early Spring 2015.

Thank you Dorothy and Dick for the update. This is going to be an exciting project to follow!

UPDATE: CLICK HERE to read an AP story about the restoration effort.

Related posts:

• Houdini grave restoration details revealed
• S.A.M. planning "huge restoration" of Houdini's grave
• Here are the missing headstones for Gladys and Leopold Weiss

Literary Orphans "Houdini" is live

The latest issue of Literary Orphans online literary journal is titled "Houdini" and celebrates the great escapist on the cover. Edited by Mike Joyce, "Houdini" (Issue 16) contains collected works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art, and interviews. It is live now through February at www.literaryorphans.org.

Below is some promotional artwork for Houdini Issue 16 from the Literary Orphans Facebook page.

Houdini gets a bad rap

It's amazing how many modern musicians and pop stars find inspiration in the decidedly non-musical Houdini, whose favorite song was Auld Lang Syne and idea of stage music was Pomp & Circumstance. Now Long Beach rapper "and style-maker" Rajh Kirch has caught the Houdini bug, as he tells the Long Beach Post:

The flip of “Antidote” is Magic, the album itself: the album hopes to show how hip hop and creativity revolve around magic-making, about making something insanely complex look easy. Which is why Kirch is momentarily obsessed with Houdini, introduced to him by art director and co-director for the “Antidote” video, Bro Brum.

“Brum showed me some vintage Houdini poster art where he's locked in chains,” Kirch said. “It was sort of comic book-ish and that's what inspired the fashion styling and the chain shots for the video. ‘A man that cannot be bound!’ I interpret the song as something about escaping adversaries and personal demons. Houdini was an escape artist. Voila.”

Finding his inner Robert DeNiro, Kirch delved into researching Houdini like an actor, discovering what he claims are parallels between each of them. In Houdini’s brilliant sense of business and understanding of his audience, there was always a sense of, “What’s next?”—a sensation that Kirch feels he always strives for as an entertainer as well as key to Magic’s overall theme.

Related:

• Lady Gaga gives Houdini a nod in her latest video
• Kon Kan's Harry Houdini
• Innocence is your Houdini Girl

The Houdinis 1924 Christmas card

A magnificent Christmas postcard sent out by Harry and Bess Houdini sold on eBay over the weekend for $355. The card has the original stamp and postmark of December 23, 1924.

This card image appears undated in Gibson's The Original Houdini Scrapbook.

Related:

• Happy Holidays from the Hardeens
• Have a Harry Christmas and a Magic New Year
• Wishing everyone Happy Holidays
  

German Houdini (1953) program

This original German movie program for Paramounts 1953 Houdini biopic starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh recently sold at an eMoviePoster auction for a modest $35. Houdini was released in (West) Germany on March 18, 1954.

Related posts:

• HOUDINI (1953)
• HOUDINI on channel 13
• Unique original Houdini (1953) poster

The WILD ABOUT HARRY Press

A Brief History of Houdini's Water Torture Cell is the first publication of what I'm calling the WILD ABOUT HARRY Press. This is a 15 page illustrated eBook version of my post about the famous escape that ran on the 100th Anniversary. You can still read that post HERE for free. This is for those who want a standalone version for their Kindle library. It's also an experiment.

For some time I've been thinking about offering this blog in some kind of a printed version, and this is my first baby step into the world of self-publishing. While this is an eBook only release (it's too short for a printed edition), I'm planning my next WILD ABOUT HARRY Press offering to be in both eBook and print editions.

Eventually, what I plan to do is offer a series of printed annual YEARBOOKS containing every post within a specific year. These will contain not just all the posts and photos, but also all the internal links and comments (which in some cases are more interesting and insightful than the posts themselves!). I think this will be a great way to archive this blog and provide a helpful research tool.

So head on over to Amazon and have a look at my page for A Brief History of Houdini's Water Torture Cell. If you are an eBooker, maybe grab a copy and help me with this latest experiment. Thanks as always to everyone for their support.

LINK: Houdini and his niece have NC connection

Click the headline to read an article by Teresa Leonard at the Past Times Blog about Houdini in North Carolina and the connection the state has with his niece Marie Blood.

Related:

• Never before seen footage of Houdini and Marie Blood
• New book to tell story of Marie Blood
• Marie H. Blood, 1917-2004

The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles Book 2

The second book in Marty Chan's The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles, Infinity Coil, is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. The book is due for release on March 1, 2015. Here's a description:

Ehrich Weisz, Demon Hunter was introduced to steampunk fans in Demon Gate. Now, he is continuing his increasingly desperate quest to rescue his brother in an alternate universe in the sequel, Infinity Coil.

Now a fugitive from Demon Watch, young Ehrich Weisz hides in the underbelly of an alternate New York where immigrants from other dimensions mingle among Americans. Amid growing racial tensions, Ehrich searches for Kifo, the man who stole his brother's mind and locked it inside an ancient medallion. He poses as a stage magician to draw out Kifo's next target—the commissioner of Demon Watch. In the wings, an army awaits Kifo to accomplish his mission so interdimensional soldiers can invade New York. Ehrich is willing to risk the outbreak of war to save his brother, but he must decide whether or not he can betray his friends.

Pre-order The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles: Infinity Coil at Amazon.com. You can also still purchase Book 1, Demon Gate.

Houdini biography from India

The mighty Arthur Moses has uncovered a Houdini biography from India published in 2013. The book runs 96 pages with over 24 photos and is written in Tamil. The title translates to: Houdini The Magician.

Arthur has added this to his growing collection of Houdini foreign language books. But he has also made an extra copy available on eBay HERE.

'Bound By Flesh' streaming on Netflix

Bound By Flesh, the 2012 documentary about conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton, is now streaming on Netflix. Houdini was friends with the young Hilton sisters and gave them advice during their time in Vaudeville. The documentary mentions Houdini and includes recordings of the sisters talking about the advice the magician gave them.

In their heyday, the Hilton Sisters were Vaudeville superstars who earned a weekly salary that was as high as Houdini's. This documentary tells their strange and somewhat tragic story.

You can watch Bound By Flesh on Netflix or buy the DVD from Amazon. For more information visit the official website.

Thanks to Steve Bingen for the alert. Check out Steve's new book, Warner Bros: Hollywood's Ultimate Backlot.

Ehrich Weiss book pulls a Houdini

An 1856 edition of The Confessions by J.J. Rousseau inscribed by its owner "Ehrich Weiss" magically blew past its estimate of $1,000-1,200 and sold for a healthy $13,800 (including the 15% buyers premium) in today's Haversat & Ewing Galleries magic auction. The buyer's ID name was "Copperfield", which is either someone being cute, or it really was the magic man (he did win most of the high-end lots).

It's pretty rare to see an Ehrich Weiss signature of any kind come up for auction. What's especially interesting here is the date of 1893. This is two years into his professional career as "Harry Houdini", yet he still thinks of himself as Ehrich Weiss. Perhaps the act of getting married the following year was what finally made him shed his boyhood name.

Overall, the Houdini items did extremely well, with most selling for well above their estimates. The Houdini Bible fetched $6,238. A Houdini lock pick unlocked $3,018. A letter that mentions H.P. Lovecraft went for $2,817. A rare Dutch advertising card sold for $2,213. A pair of leg-irons grabbed $2,415. (All prices include the 15% buyers premium.)

The lot that I was after (but didn't win) was a Souvenir Program from Houdini's 3 Shows In One. While these aren't particularly rare (and there was a nice reproduction done by Lee Jacobs in 1979) what drew me to this program were the words: "Coast to Coast Tour - Season 1926-27" on the cover. I don't recall ever seeing this on one of these programs before. The fact that Houdini's second season was to be a "coast to coast tour" (his first season didn't travel beyond Illinois) is also a new piece of information to me. Presumably, this would have meant a stop in Los Angeles, which would have been his first appearance in LA since 1923. I wonder what theater he would have played?

Congrats to all the winners, and to Haversat & Ewing for another successful magic auction.

Related:

• Houdini's NYC boyhood home today
• How to spell Houdini's real name
• Houdini's grand finale: 3 Shows In One

Capital One "Houdini" ad

This Capital One ad aired during the Houdini miniseries back in September. I never got a chance to report on this at the time, so I'm happy to discover that it's been posted to the Pacific Motion Control website, where you can also read about how it was made.

Click here to watch at Pacific Motion Control.

The Midwest Magic History Weekend

David Charvet has announced that he will be hosting The Midwest Magic History Weekend on May 28-30, 2015 in Marshall Michigan. The event will be held in cooperation with the American Museum of Magic which will offer attendees a special behind-the-scenes tour of rare museum artifacts and their incredible research library that is not open to the public.

In addition, the 3 days will be filled with speakers on a variety of historical magic subjects; a private day tour to Colon, Michigan, "The Magic Capital of the World" and home to Abbott's Magic Company. The day in Colon also includes a visit to "Blackstone Island," home to the famed illusionist.

Full program details and speakers have not yet been announced, but I have a feeling this will be a convention Houdini fans will enjoy (recall that the American Museum of Magic owns a Houdini-Hardeen Mik Can).

You can find more details and register at the official website: MagicHistoryWeekend.com. There is also a dedicated Facebook page.