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Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Stuart Damon dies at age 84
Actor Stuart Damon has died at age 84. While Damon is best known for his roles on TV's General Hospital and The Champions, we know him as Houdini in the 1966 London stage musical Man of Magic.
You can read more about the life and career of Stuart Damon HERE. Check out the below links for more about Man of Magic.
Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Jim Steranko shares his early Houdini comic strip
The website The Drawings of Steranko has shared a series of biographical Houdini comic strips that artist, writer, and one time escape artist Jim Steranko created for his high school newspaper in 1955. These are really terrific. Click the link below and enjoy.
Monday, June 28, 2021
The auto chassis challenge
Here's a little-known challenge that Houdini accepted at Keith's Theater in Philadelphia on January 18, 1912. This was part of "Challenge Week" at Keith's in which Houdini accepted a different challenge every night. I'll let this clipping tell the tale.
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| Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 19, 1912. |
Thanks to our friend David Charvet (who knows vintage cars as well and he knows magic), here's a look at a Marmon "Thirty-Two" motorcar. Now if could only see a photo from this challenge!
Below are some more Houdini automotive adventures.
Sunday, June 27, 2021
Houdini Kitchen Laboratory in Queens is no more
Houdini Kitchen Laboratory opened in 2013 not far from the site of Houdini's grave. Having lunch their before or after a visit to the cemetery made for a nice day in Queens, which is what I did with fellow Houdini nuts Colleen Bak, Fred Pittella, and David Jaher during my visit in 2017.
I'm sad to see it go. However, the second Houdini Pizza Laboratory in still going strong in Fanwood, New Jersey.
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Friday, June 25, 2021
Large '3 Shows in One' poster sells at Potter auction
A large banner poster for Houdini's "3 Shows in One" sold in Potter & Potter's latest magic auction over the weekend for $3,360.00 (including premium). The poster measures 42 ¼ x 108 ¾ and dates to 1925. This is a poster I have seen before. But I'm unsure if this is that same one or a second example. Hey, if you have the space!
The auction had many Houdini ratites all of which sold for high prices. Despite being heavily restored, this untypical playbill for Houdini in Harrisburg beat the $500-$1000 estimate and sold for $5,040.00. I was a surprised to see this fetch more than the 3 Shows in One poster!
Two standouts for me were a 1907 Hardeen Christmas card ($450) and a Houdini luggage label ($1,440), both of which I've not seen before. The auction dated the label as 1920, but the reference to locks makes me wonder if it could be earlier.
As always, congrats to the winners!
Below you can see a few more examples of "3 Shows in One" posters.
Thursday, June 24, 2021
LINK: Hou do you mean?
Okay, this is a non story from tabloid rag The Sun, but...Houdini. And not to be dragged into this, but I think it's fine Ferdinand used Houdini's name instead of Nostradamus. I predict more people will recognize Houdini. Anyway, click below if you dare.
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Meet George Hardeen this Friday in Page, Arizona
Houdini's grandnephew George Hardeen will be speaking at the Canyon Club Friday Night Community Social in Page, Arizona, this Friday, June 25 at 6:00 PM. George will share knowledge of his Uncle Harry and grandfather Theo Hardeen. The event will be held at the Courtyard by Marriott at 600 Clubhouse Dr. and is free.
For more deals check out the Facebook Event page.
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
"Sherlock Holmes Eclipsed"
Here's an advertisement for Houdini at the People's Palace in Halifax (UK) on October 16, 1902. It's a standard basket challenge announcement. But what I find interesting is the tag-line: "Sherlock Holmes Eclipsed."
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I'm not sure how to interpret this. Is this saying Houdini is like Sherlock Holmes only better? Or is it saying that Houdini would fool even Sherlock Holmes? Whichever the case, this is nice reflection on the popularity for Sherlock Holmes at this time. Conan Doyle's classic The Hound of the Baskervilles had been released in book form that year and marked a return after an eight year hiatus for the great detective. Holmes was hot. And so was Harry!
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| Halifax Evening Courier, October 16, 1902. |
If you're wondering, Houdini escaped the basket in three minutes. Elementary.
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Monday, June 21, 2021
The last Houdini poster
Today I'm thrilled to reveal my original Houdini window card. This advertises his "3 Shows in One" in Providence for the week of October 4, 1926, just three weeks before his death on Halloween. To the best of my knowledge this is the latest and therefore last known piece of Houdini street advertising. The fact that it uses Halloween imagery has always struck me as eerily prophetic.
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This window card is one of several that were discovered inside the walls of a house in Warwick, Rhode Island, late last year. It was restored by Poster Mountain and framed by Allan Jeffries Framing. What a journey!
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Saturday, June 19, 2021
Deconstructing Houdini '53: Coney Island
Today I continue my scene by scene dissection of Paramount's 1953 biopic Houdini, in which I'll attempt to make the case that it's much more historically accurate than it is given credit. And anything else that comes to mind. Last time we met Harry and Bess at a New York Dime Museum. We now DISSOLVE TO...
Chapter 3: Coney Island
It doesn't take Houdini '53 long to give us an iconic death defying escape. The idea that Houdini would do such an escape this early in his career is inaccurate. But it is true that he performed in Coney Island and this is a highly effective and entertaining scene. In fact, this was probably my favorite scene as a kid. It's also true that Coney Island played a key role in the courtship of Harry and Bess Houdini.
We start with Bess and the unfortunate Fred (Peter Baldwin) strolling the boardwalk of Coney Island. The large fair-like rides in the background are anachronistic to be certain, but we've already seen how Houdini forgoes historical accuracy and instead uses a blend of modern and period that might be more agreeable to a general audience.
Fred asks Bess why she felt like coming to Coney Island tonight. Bess answers, "Oh, I don't know, I just wanted to come." But she seems distracted, looking around, as if she has a very clear idea why she wanted to come and what she is looking for. And then she spots it: HOUDINI THE GREAT.
I'm not entirely clear on Bess's motivations here. She appears to have had a sudden change of heart and engineered this visit to Coney Island expressly to see the man from the Dime Museum, as if she has been tipped off to his presence. But another way to have played this would have been to have had Bess surprised to see Houdini there. This might have even been the writer's original intention, playing on the idea of fate pulling the two together. But the way it is staged, Bess seems to know exactly what she is after. By the way, how cool is that poster!
This time Bess doesn't see a tuxedoed magician. Instead she sees a shirtless death-defier. It's as if, having been fired from the Dime Museum, Houdini has sunk even lower down the ranks of show-business, now risking his life in a dingy sideshow (or as dingy as this movie allows anything to be).
As for the escape itself; Houdini never did such a buzz saw escape in his career. But he did take a famous photograph roped to a buzz saw table in 1919. This was part of series of staged publicity photos that Houdini took in Hollywood while making his first feature film, The Grim Game. This photo appears in the Harold Kellock book and was certainly the inspiration for the escape we see in Houdini.
"Will Houdini survive? Or will he become a chip off the old block?" The uncredited carnival barker here is Oliver Blake, just one of many wonderful character actors from Hollywood's Golden Age that festoon Houdini '53. After offering a comically brief silent prayer, he throws the switch and Houdini begins to slowly inch towards the spinning blade.
But Houdini has spotted Bess in the crowd and is so bewitched by her presence that he seems to forget all about the escape at hand. This is fantastic stuff. There's also some good humor as the sideshow barker continues with the established script ("Five feet! He's in trouble now!") while, under his breath, he urges Houdini to hurry up.
Bess finally breaks the spell when she realizes Houdini is in danger. She screams for the saw to be turned off (recalling her protection of the Wild Man). This snaps Harry into action and he frees himself moments before he reaches the spinning blade. Notice how the sound of the buzz saw fully takes over the soundtrack in these final moments, as if we ourselves are inches from the blade. Also notice how the sideshow barker has his eyes covered at this point.
This establishes a pattern that will repeat during their marriage. Houdini both thrills and terrifies Bess. She also seems to be the only person in the audience who know when Houdini is in true danger. This also mirrors the final scene when she screams out during the performance of the Pagoda Torture Cell...too late.
Bess is thrilled by his escape, but Fred quickly pulls her away, and when Harry emerges from the tent, she has once again vanished into the crowd.
Ok, sure, none of this happend. But the real Houdini and Bess met in Coney Island and would return on their anniversary. It was a special place for them. So staging a key scene of their courtship in Coney Island is a great nod to their real love story. And the idea of Houdini facing off with a buzz saw is not a whole cloth invention.
But what about our heroes? Once again they have been separated. Could a third time be the charm?
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Friday, June 18, 2021
Harry Houdini VS Dracula (Spooky History)
Spooky History is back with another well-researched Houdini-themed episode. This time Ash Pryce takes a look at Houdini's fiction, namely his three short stories: Imprisoned With The Pharaohs, The Spirit Fakers of Hermannstadt, and The Hoax of the Spirit Lover. Weird tales indeed! Enjoy.
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Houdini's tie-cutter manual and other rarities sell at Bonhams
A nice selection of Houdini rarities sold today in Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts auction. While an original annotated typescript for A Magician Among the Spirits was promoted as the auction highlight (it even made the catalog cover), the item that struck me as the true gem was Houdini's very own 1891 union employee manual from his days as a New York tie-cutter.
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HOUDINI'S OWN COPY OF THE TIE-CUTTER'S MANUAL. [HOUDINI, HARRY. 1874 – 1926.] Constitution and By-Laws of the Neckwear Cutters Association of the City of New-York. New York: Wm. B. Bromell, 1891. 32mo (124 x 78 mm). Publisher's printed wrappers, center fold to front cover, two paragraphs bracketed in the margins, possibly in Houdini's hand, pencil note "HOUDINI" to upper cover, portrait of Houdini pasted to rear cover. Provenance: Harry Houdini (letter of provenance from Charles Reynolds, dated May 26, 1999, addressed to:) Doug Edwards; John A. McKinven (sold his sale, Potter & Potter, Chicago, May 13, 2012, lot 240).HOUDINI'S OWN COPY OF THE REGULATIONS OF THE NECKWEAR CUTTERS ASSOCIATION. From the letter of provenance from Charles Reynolds: "[this manual] was Harry Houdini's own manual when he worked as a tie-cutter for H. Richter's Sons at 502 Broadway, New York City. A page of this manual is picture in the book Houdini, His Legend and His Magic that I co-authored with Doug Henning in 1977. Houdini took special interest in the union's protection of secrecy—an attitude that later affected his outlook on magic." Henning and Reynold's book was heavily illustrated with items from a collection given to Henning by Ruth Kavanaugh, Houdini's niece.
The manual sold for $3,187 including premium.
The annotated A Magician Among the Spirits manuscript sold for $20,312 (inc. premium). A facsimile edition of this manuscript was published in 1996 by Kaufman and Greenberg.
A copperplate for what may be the first illustrated advertisement for "The Houdinis" sold for $5,737 (inc. premium). Bookending that is Houdini's last known full color poster, "Buried Alive!", which sold for $7,650 (inc. premium).
Congrats to the winners!
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Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Houdini's last stop
Here's an item from the October 17, 1926 Detroit Free Press announcing Houdini's upcoming appearance at the Garrick Theater. Nothing revelatory or unusual here. Just another stop on the tour. But it's spooky to know this would be the last such news item to ever appear.
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| Detroit Free Press, Oct. 17, 1926 |
Below is an advertisement for the Garrick from that same issue of the Free Press. Note that Houdini's show was succeeding the play Abie's Irish Rose (which makes for a good trivia question). Opening day, Sunday, October 24, was the only day Houdini would perform.
Monday, June 14, 2021
Roger Dreyer's Houdini Revealed, Parts 4-6
Last year The Houdini Museum of New York moved to New Jersey and owner Roger Dreyer launched a new website called Houdini Revealed. He has also created a multi-part series of biographical Houdini videos. I shared parts 1-3 HERE. Now Roger continues the series below. Enjoy.
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