Houdini book conjured for Amazon's new Kindle

The first Houdini book made for download to Amazon’s new Kindle electronic reader device is Houdini on the Secrets of Magic.

But don’t get too excited. This isn’t a new book, just good old Miracle Mongers and Their Methods repackaged for a digital age.

Still, being on the cusp of technology...Houdini would love it!

Crown buys Houdini vs. Margery book

The New York Observer reports that Crown has acquired rights to a major new book about Houdini and Margery called The Witch of Lime Street. The book will be released in 2010. Click to read the original story below.

Click to enlarge.

This will be the first book devoted solely to Houdini's battles with the celebrated Boston medium.

"Death expert" Bill Bass to examine Houdini's corpse

If the controversial plans to exhume Houdini's body come to fruition, one of the men on the case will be Bill Bass, one of the top "death experts" in the United States. Bass spoke to Wired about his involvement in the Houdini case.

Wired: For the moment, you have another goal -- digging up Harry Houdini. What's the status of that case?

Bass: There are descendants, and they have agreed to the exhumation to settle some of these theories that are out there.

I'm a member of the committee that is supposed to exhume him, once they get all of the legal things taken care of.

A book suggests that instead of dying from a ruptured appendix, he was poisoned. The committee consists of toxicologists, dentists and anthropologists. The toxicologists will take samples to see if there are any chemicals that shouldn't be there.

I'm the one that's supposed to make the positive identification. When he was living, he apparently fractured one of his ankles. Along with other data, we want to make sure there's a healed fracture to the ankle.

Wired: Is there a question about whether the body is really his?

Bass: I don’t think so, but you want to make sure that the person is the person you're supposed to have dug up. You want to make sure that if you're looking for Houdini, that it is Houdini. You don’t want to do all that and then a year from now hear from someone who says they dug up the wrong body.

Houdini's grave in Queens, NY

UPDATE: The Houdini exhumation is back in the news.

Rare Water Torture Cell presentation piece up for auction

A unique Houdini Water Torture Cell related item has gone up for auction via eBay Live Auctions. Rather than me trying to explain, I’ll let the auction description speak for itself. I think this is something very special.

1912 Harry Houdini "Water Torture Cell" Presentation Piece from Circus Busch Containing the Original Concept Art for the Performance's Famous Poster

Offered is the unique Chinese Water Torture Cell Presentation. A solid brass testimonial given to Houdini to commemorate the escape's first public performance. ... The first public performance of the Water Torture Cell was at Circus Busch in Berlin, Germany, on September 21, 1912. The Busch owners, grateful for being selected as the venue for this impressive stunt's debu presented this very heavy, solid brass frame as a testimonial (measuring 11-1/4"-wide by 13-1/4"-tall by 1" in thickness). The front is beautifully engraved, complete with an oval door that displays the circus' name and the performance date in raised letters on its facing, and when opened reveals the original artist's water color concept that was used in preparation of the finished form seen on Houdini's famous 1912 poster for this act. The obverse has been inscribed with the year "1912" above and the words "UPSIDE DOWN IN THE WATER TORTURE CELL" below a large oval window of heavy glass. The glass protects what initially appears to be a plain black and white lithograph of Houdini, both entering the cell and being fully immersed in that same device, while a Teutonic giant secures the lid. This image morphs into full color when the brass handle-fitted divider insert is raised, creating an illusion of its own! (This wooden divider's brass handle section is engraved with the performer's name, as well.)

UPDATE: SOLD for $37,500.

Norman Mailer dies

Pulitzer Prize winning author, actor, director and personality Normal Mailer has died at age 84 from kidney failure.

Mailer’s many works and accomplishments are well known, but less known is the fact that Mailer played Harry Houdini in the avant guard film Cremaster 2 (1999).

Mailer also wrote the bestseller The Executioners Song, the story of murderer Gary Gilmore who claimed he was an illegitimate descendant of Harry Houdini. Much was made of the Gilmore-Houdini connection when the book was first released in 1979.

Official Houdini Seance held at Fantasma Magic

The Official Houdini Seance was held this year at Fantasma Magic in New York City. The annual seance is organized by Sidney Radner and is a sincere attempt to make contact with Houdini.

No word yet on what happened, but I'm guessing Houdini was a no-show. Here's to next year!

Meanwhile, Joe Nickell, paranormal investigator and CSI senior research fellow, and D.J. Grothe, conducted their own 11th Annual Houdini Seance on their show, Point of Inquiry. You can listen to that HERE.

Unlocking the truth of the Mirror Handcuff challenge

Master Locksmith and Houdini historian Mick Hanzlik has published a terrific booklet, Houdini’s Mirror Handcuff Challenge, Getting Closer to the Truth, which lays out his investigation of the 1904 Mirror Handcuff Challenge, one of Houdini’s most famous and celebrated challenge escapes.

Hanzlik helped authors William Kalush and Larry Sloman research the Mirror Challenge for their book, The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of Americas First Superhero. The authors concluded that the escape was a set-up, citing evidence that the cuff was made a full year before the escape and appeared to be custom-made for Houdini’s wrists.

Hanzlik has now gone on to discover the man he believes actually manufactured the Mirror cuff, Thomas Froggatt, and has found evidence that Froggatt was indeed a friend of Houdini.

It’s all terrific stuff, but the full truth is still elusive. Mick says he’ll continue his investigation and will publish an updated book with new findings.

UPDATE: Mick has released a new book about the making of his Mirror replica: Looking into the Mirror.

Metamorphosis poster conjures $50,000 at auction

What is said to be the only known copy of The Houdini's Metamorphosis poster sold today for $50,000 at Swann Galleries Christian Fechner Collection of English and American Magic, Part III.

The poster beat its auction estimate of $30,000/$40,000.

Metamorphosis is one of Houdini's earliest posters. It was printed by the National Printing & Engraving Co. in Chicago around 1897-8.

An original King of Cards poster grabbed $11,000.

The Arcanum gets a director

Looks like we’re one step closer to getting another (fictional) movie featuring Harry Houdini. Cinematical reports that writer/director Randall Wallace (The Man in the Iron Mask) has signed aboard Gold Circle’s The Arcanum.

Based on Thomas Wheeler's fantasy-adventure novel, The Arcanum finds Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft and Marie Laveau teaming up to fight demons in 1919 New York.

Wheeler penned the screenplay which was first purchased by Miramax in 1999. Gold Circle acquired the property in 2004. Wallace will now polish the script before sending it out to casting.

Sleeping With Houdini

A Houdini inspired book of prose poetry, Sleeping With Houdini by Nin Andrews, has been released by BOA Editions. Here is a description of the book from Amazon:

Nin Andrews is arguably the leading female voice in American prose poetry. In Sleeping with Houdini, Andrews speaks as a little girl who wishes she could vanish at will, just as Houdini did. As she grows, Houdini becomes a personal icon, a magical being, a muse, an ultimate lover, and a metaphor for longing.

Purchase Sleeping With Houdini from Amazon.com.

Houdini Speaks Out

A new book Houdini Speaks Out by Arthur Moses (who last year released Houdini A Periodical Bibliography) is released today.

Revealing new insights, Houdini Speaks Out vividly recreates Houdini's solitarian lectures which he presented from 1922 until his untimely death in 1926. The reader becomes involved in understanding his struggles to reach into the afterlife to contact his deceased mother during an era filled with deceptive spirit mediums. Each of the fifty glass lantern slides that Houdini used to highlight his lectures are painstakingly recreated and matched to his original lecture text.

Houdini Speaks Out is available in hardcover ($79.99) and softcover ($45.99). For free shipping (U.S. mail only) contact the author directly at Houdini.magic@gmail.com.

There is also a deluxe leather bound limited edition ($185.00) only available from the author.

UPDATE: You can now purchase Houdini Speaks Out on Amazon.

Kid Houdini comes to life this Halloween

Internet publisher Chemistry Set has announced the launch of online comic Kid Houdini and the Silver Dollar Misfits, slated to start on the 81st anniversary of the magician's death.

The series follows a young Houdini after his running away from his family in Appleton, Wis., in 1886. He joins the circus, and he and the other circus youths will take on any task, no matter the danger, for the price of a silver dollar.

“I have wanted to do this series for quite some time,” says creator Dwight L. MacPherson. “Imagine Scooby Doo meets HBO’s Carnivale, and that gives you an idea as to the feel of the story. There are supernatural aspects to the stories, but they are also grounded in good old-fashioned Sherlock Holmes-styled detective work. Regardless of age, I’m certain that readers will find something to enjoy in these new detective stories.”

The first page of Kid Houdini and the Silver Dollar Misfits will go live on October 31, with a new page posted each Wednesday thereafter.

Tony Curtis at Hollywood Collector's Show

Houdini himself, Tony Curtis, appeared at the Hollywood Collector’s Show in Burbank this past weekend. It was Mr. Curtis’ first appearance at the show and he proved to be incredibly popular; signing autographs and greeting a never ending line of fans.

If you are visiting this site, I doubt I need to remind you that Tony was the first actor to play Houdini on screen. He starred along with his then wife, Janet Leigh, in Paramount’s 1953 biopic HOUDINI.

Houdini art exhibition in Los Angeles

A new exhibition of life-size Harry Houdini portraits by artist Whitney Bedford is now appearing at the Cherry and Martin gallery in Venice, California. The exhibition opened on September 12 and runs through October 27, 2007.

According to the gallery’s website, “these life-size works, based on iconic photographs, compliment the “adventure of death” found in Bedford’s previous shipwreck series. Here, however, the possibility of death is condensed into this enigmatic persona who enraptured audiences with dangerous feats and uncompromising artistry during a tumultuous time in our country’s history.”

Cherry and Martin is located on the west side of Los Angeles at 12611 Venice Boulevard, four blocks west of Centinela Avenue. Phone: (310) 398-7404.