Los Angeles fires temporarily threaten Magic Castle

By now, I'm sure everyone is aware of the catastrophic brush fires ravaging Los Angeles. Last night, a new fire erupted in the Hollywood Hills. Called the Sunset Fire, both the Magic Castle and the Houdini Estate fell within the evacuation zone. For a time, the Magic Castle appeared under serious threat and was being wetted down. However, this morning, the evacuation order has been lifted. Randy Pitchford posted the following on his social media:

The Magic Castle was under threat, but appears it will be safe thanks to the heroic efforts by some Magic Castle heroes and the LAFD. It was touch and go for awhile, but we survived (another) fire! The LAFD is welcome to use our parking lot for staging the fight all night.

The Houdini Estate marked the literal edge of the evacuation zone and appears to have never been seriously threatened.

Houdini Estate inside the red zone.

Also safe are our good friends Mike Caveney and Tina Lenert at Egyptian Hall Museum in Pasadena, although the area remains under an evacuation warning.

The news is not so good from the other fires that are still raging. However, the Santa Ana winds have died down, so let's hope this helps firefighters get these horrible blazes under control. For those who have asked, I'm safe here at WILD ABOUT HARRY headquarters.

Related:

• Magic Castle fire: "I think Houdini had a hand in that."
• Fire at the Houdini Estate in Laurel Canyon
• Geno Munari Houdini collection lost in fire

Houdini & Doyle S.A.M. banquet footage appears like magic

There was a fair amount of Houdini excitement over the holidays, but nothing more exciting than this. If you watched the PBS series Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs. Doyle, you saw rare footage of Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the 18th Annual S.A.M. banquet at the McAlpin Hotel in New York on June 2, 1922. I knew footage was shot at this banquet and hoped it would one day surface. Now it has!

Not only did we get to see Houdini, Bess, Sir Arthur, and Lady Doyle at their dinner table, but there's also footage of Howard Thurston, Horace Goldin, Max Malini, Carl Rosini, and Houdini on-stage magically producing their wives from a large cloth. Wow!

It's likely the production acquired this footage from a stock footage house. There are several listed in the credits. However, a search of their websites turned up nothing. It's also possible this came from the Doyle estate. Whichever the case, there may be more than what we see here!

I ran a moving picture, taken at the banquet, and if you desire a copy, I shall be pleased to let you have one. It is a remarkably good picture of Lady Doyle, and you have a very amused expression on your face as if you were in a good humor—and I hope you were!

- Houdini to Conan Doyle, June 1922.

If you missed the series, you can watch it for a limited time on the PSB website. The Houdini footage appears in S1 E3: Shadows and Sleuths. You can also buy the series on Amazon. For those in the UK, you can watch the series on the BBC iPlayer under the title Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle.

You can also view the footage and read MUM's report on the banquet as a member of my Patreon. Just click below.

Related:

• The true story of Houdini & Doyle
• Houdini in 1922
• Dark Doyle

Diary book updated update

At the start of last year, I gave an update on the Houdini diary book, in which I assured readers it would be a 2024 release.

Well, it wasn't.

I'm learning a lot about book production, and one of the things I've learned is it takes longer than expected. But the reason for the delay is the book has grown into something much larger and more ambitious than initially planned. How does a pocket-sized 70-page diary become a 400-page coffee table book? You'll find out!

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Mike Caveney's Magic Words is publishing Houdini's first known travel diary from the collection of Dr. Bruce Averbook. I have annotated the diary and gathered many rare images from several major collections to illustrate it. The talented Michael Allbright, who does all the design work for the Magic Castle, is designing the book.

Last year, I revealed the title at the Magic Collector Expo, Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini 1897-1899, and gave a major preview of the book at MAGIC Live. I also shared the prototype cover on my Patreon.

So what about the release date? The good news is Michael has finished a draft, and we are fine-tuning it before entering the final production stages. Printing can take several months, so that's the wild card. I don't want to again promise something that I can't deliver, but I don't see how this isn't a 2025 release. It better be! I'm well into my next book, and we don't want a log jam of Houdini books, do we?

Wait, a log jam of Houdini books sounds pretty great!

Thanks for your continued patience. As I said last year, it will be worth the wait!

Related:

• You will soon be able to read Houdini's first diary
• Revealing Houdini's diary at MAGIC Live!
• Houdini diary book update (2024)

Houdini comes out swinging

Houdini spent much of 1924 making his case against the practices of fraudulent spirit mediums as an author, scholar, and lecturer. But at the start of 1925, he came out swinging as a skeptic, crusader, and showman. He went from puffing a pipe to breathing fire! It started with an exposure of "Margery" at Symphony Hall in Boston on January 2nd and 3rd. Houdini told his audience, "This is not only a lecture, but a very important night in my life."

Below are some clippings related to Houdini's important night.

Symphony Hall in Boston still stands today and doesn't look all that different from how it looked when Houdini took the stage one hundred years ago.

Want more? You can read a detailed account of Houdini's Symphony Hall exposure as a "Scholar" member of my Patreon.

Related:

• Mina Crandon a.k.a. Margery
• Outing Margery in Sherman, Texas
• Houdini vs. Margery II: The rematch that wasn't

Welcome to a WILD new year

Let's kick off 2025 with a New Year puzzle from Red Magic that appeared 100 years ago. 1925 was an exciting year for Houdini, and I think 2025 will be an exciting one for us. There will be several new books, at least one major play, and some significant centenaries. So let's go wild!

Related:

• Happy New Year from Gay Paree! (Patreon)
• Have you read Red Magic?

LINK: 2024: The Year Houdini Finally Returned

Let's bid goodbye to 2024 with this piece from Genius about Houdini's footprint in music this year. Notably, the two hit songs from Eminem and Dua Lipa, both called "Houdini." But my favorite part is excerpted below.

Em an Dua weren’t the only artists to give Houdini his flowers this year. According to Genius pageview data, ol’ Harry turns up in 43 songs released in 2024. His admirers range from country-rock hero HARDY to R&B great Kehlani to rapper French Montana. But—plot twist—it turns out 2024 isn’t the top year for Houdini mentions. Not by a long shot.

That distinction belongs to 2020, when Houdini magically appeared in 103 songs. Rounding out the Top 5 are 2018 and 2019 (86 mentions in each year), 2021 (76), and 2017 (64). Houdini might not have been able to holler at his wife from the great beyond, but insofar as he’s a pop-cultural legend whose name still resonates with the public a century after his death, he’s immortal.

Have a safe and Happy New Year.

Related:

• Dua Lipa drops by the Houdini Estate
• Eminem drops his own "Houdini"
• The Inner Me rocks Houdini

Sam Smiley drops the mic

Just a heads up that while I'm on a break from this blog, I am still active on my Patreon. And it's been a good month! The post below will be of interest to all who love to study and/or debate the infamous Houdini dressing room punch. It's a 1982 interview with eyewitness Sam "Smiley" Smilovitz with some interesting new details. He certainly didn't like Whitehead!

For those of you still circling my Patreon, this is a great time to take the plunge, especially if you want to do the lowest Handcuff King level ($5 per month). On January 1st, material from 2023 will become unavailable for Handcuff Kings, who get one year of archival content. Scholars and Angels can enjoy three years of archival content, which is currently everything.

Use the promo code SMILEY and get 30% off your first month. This end-of-year offer is good until Dec. 31st.

Hope to see you inside!

Related:

• Sam Smilovitz at McGill
• The eyewitness - Smiley's sketch
• The beginning of the end

My thoughts on Disney's Houdini project news

I know I'm on a holiday break, but I felt I had to drop back in to comment on the news of a Houdini project in development at Disney. According to a report at Deadline, Becoming Houdini is a "spy thriller" about "Houdini’s undercover work for his adopted homes of Britain and America." 

Here's the comment I've left on the story. It doesn't appear to have been approved, so I will share it here. Feel free to quote, copy, or steal:

While Houdini was friendly with law enforcement and did advise police at times, the idea that Houdini was some sort of super spy is an idea that has little grounding in fact.

It is true that Houdini was friends with William Melville of Scotland Yard, who is said to have operated an informal, early version of British Intelligence. Houdini appears to have provided Melville with two "reports" while he was in Germany in 1900 and 1902. Does that make him a spy? Kinda! But that's it. Everything beyond this is pure speculation, with no secret missions, assassins, and no connection to U.S. intelligence whatsoever. 

Houdini had a brilliant career as the world’s foremost magician, escape artist, and debunker of fraudulent spirit mediums. It’s a shame to see Disney forgoing his fascinating real life in favor of salacious pseudo-history that is more the stuff of the History Channel.

Good title, though!

It might not be all bad. The article states that the film is "set to be written by Michael Finch and Alex Litvak," which means this was likely just a pitch sale and a long way from becoming an actual movie. Plenty of time for them to find a better approach.

Okay, back to the hot tub.

Related:

• Summit set to turn Houdini into an action hero
• The Secret Life of Houdini screenplay reviewed
• Brad Meltzer is out peddling the myth that Houdini was a spy

Off to see Harry...

I'm going to wrap up 2024 with a speculative journey. I often think about time travel. Well, more specifically, I think about time traveling to see Houdini. I know I'm not alone in this. So if time travel were possible, and, say, you could select 3 specific days in the past in which to see Houdini, what days would those be? Here are the 3 days I would program into my flux capacitor:

Saturday, May 14, 1898

On this day, the Welsh Bros. Circus was playing in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The young Harry and Bess Houdini were traveling with the circus performing Metamorphosis in the circus concert tent, where Bess would also do her seriocomic songs. It's also possible I could find Harry doing his King of Cards act in the sideshow. While all this would be enough, this day marked Houdini's debut as a "clown on bars" in the Big Top show. "Went big and funny," he wrote in his diary. So, yeah, a chance to see so many aspects of the young Houdini and Bess and experience the entire Welsh Bros. show... What a day! Also, if the rules of time travel allow, it would be easy to approach and talk to him.

For my second date, it's very hard to not select March 17, 1904, as that was the day of the famed Mirror Handcuff Challenge in London. Very hard! But the Mirror Challenge was just one performance, and I want to maximize my Houdini time. Besides, I know Joe Notaro will choose the Mirror Challenge, so I can learn all about it from him. Instead, I'm going to...

Saturday, March 2, 1918

This time, I'm landing in New York City to see Houdini vanish his elephant and escape from an underwater packing case at the Hippodrome. In fact, I could see it twice as the Hippodrome had a matinee (at 2:15) and an evening show (at 8:15). After the evening show, I could zip over to Martinka's magic shop and, using a 1918 S.A.M. card borrowed from one of my collector friends, I could attend the 174th regular meeting of the S.A.M. which Houdini presided over as President. But there's more! This was the week Houdini was giving World War I soldiers lessons on how to escape from German handcuffs. So, disguised as a soldier, I could get a lesson in escapes from the Handcuff King himself! Although, a 60-year-old private might seem a bit suspicious. He might think I'm an imitator come to steal his secrets! Maybe I need to rethink this one.

My last choice has to be a performance of the 3 Shows in One. But which one? While it is tempting to see Houdini's final show in Detroit, I think it would be too upsetting. So I'll leave that to others. Instead, I'm going to...

Thursday, September 30, 1926

This was when Houdini was playing his 3 Shows in One in Worcester, Massachusetts. This is also the day of the Summerfield's Department store test, in which he was sealed in a glass casket for an hour propped up on view. Unlike his other outdoor stunts, which were over relatively quickly, this is one I could savor. I'd get to stand and look at the 52-year-old Houdini for an hour! Heck, maybe I could even strike up a conversation with Jim Collins. Maybe get a backstage pass to the show that night! And speaking of that show, Houdini was doing the onstage Buried Alive in Worcester at this time. So I can see exactly how he presented this still largely mysterious escape. Yes, this means I would not see the Water Torture Cell, but I want to learn during each jump. I would also get to see all the new and improved magic for the 1926-27 season, including Slicing a Girl. And how poetic to see Houdini at age 52 doing his King of Cards routine, just as I had seen him do it three days and 28 years earlier.

How about you? What would your three days with Houdini be? Let us know in the comments below. I've also launched a POLL on my Patreon.

Thank you for your patronage and support this year. It was a big year for centennials and celebrations, and I expect more of the same in 2025. Happy holidays. I'll see you all in the future!

The Houdinis 1924 Christmas Card.

2024 in Review:

January (23 posts)

February (20 posts)

March (20 posts)

April (20 posts)

May (21 posts)

June (19 posts)

July (11 posts)

August (18 posts)

September (19 posts)

October (22 posts)

November (18 posts)

December (8 posts)

Most Viewed New Post of 2024

Geno Munari Houdini collection lost in fire (Oct. 21)

When Houdini (1953) came home

I've covered the theatrical release of Paramount’s Houdini on June 25, 1953, and its television debut on January 30, 1963. So today I'm going to tackle the Home Video release. I recently nabbed this still-sealed VHS on eBay, and it made me curious to know exactly when it came out. Turns out there's a bit of a story behind it.

Houdini was released on VHS on April 8, 1991. If you think that seems late, you're right. VCRs had been around since 1976, and movies on VHS were ubiquitous throughout the 1980s. I remember waiting and wondering why Houdini had yet to appear. But to understand why Houdini took so long, we need to review the history of Home Video and, especially, pricing.

In the beginning, home video was primarily a rental market. Studios did not believe people were interested in owning movies to watch again and again. You could still buy a movie, but they'd cost between $50 and $100. I actually bought the entire James Bond series, one tape a month, at this full price. I also snapped up The Man From Beyond. Yes, The Man From Beyond appeared on VHS before Houdini!

In these rental days, studios primarily focused on providing video stores with new releases, recent hits, and classic films. Paramount Home Video was one of the best for classics, releasing Houdini producer George Pal's War of the Worlds (1953) in their first year of operation. You could find older and more obscure movies on independent labels at lower prices, but many of these were movies that had fallen into the public domain and were offered in poor EP mode quality.

Houdini (1953) did not fall into either category. It was not in the public domain, and while I consider it a classic, it appears Paramount did not. So, year after year, there was no Houdini in video stores. There could also be reasons that I don't know. Houdini was still shown often on television, so maybe it was part of a television package that prevented a VHS release at the time?

Disney was the first studio to offer movies on quality tapes at a consumer-friendly price. This would come to be called the "sell-through" market. But it was the sell-through releases of E.T. in 1988, and especially Batman in 1989, that proved the viability of this market. Turns out people did want to own movies! Suddenly, the average price of a movie came down to $29.95, and studios began reissuing new sell-through versions of their most popular rental titles. (Guess who bought the Bond series...again.)

With the rental market becoming "sluggish" and the rise of new stores devoted to just selling videos, such as Suncoast (a Paramount and Musicland joint venture), studios began to mine their archives for older movies and, slowly but surely, began releasing those to the hot sell-through market.

Hence, on April 8, 1991, Houdini appeared alongside Lil Abner (1959), Waterloo (1970), The Klansman (1974), and Is Paris Burning (1966). It was priced at $14.95, recorded in good quality SP mode, and used the original poster art on the box. It was also released on Beta, Paramount Home Video being one of the last companies to offer movies on that format.

Houdini's release on VHS was extra exciting as it was the first time one could be assured they were seeing the entire film. When Houdini aired on television, it was always edited for time, and whole scenes would be missing. But here was Houdini exactly as it appeared in theaters in 1953. The quality of the movie is, and has always been, surprisingly excellent. We've never had to wish for a better quality Houdini. Thank you, Paramount!

The Plain Dealer, June 17, 1991.

Looking back on the original newspapers, it's nice to see how much attention Houdini received. It was certainly the star title of its bundle. And it would remain so. In 1994, Paramount released the movie on the premium LaserDisc format (I snapped that up, too). When DVD and Blu-ray took over from VHS in the 2000s, it did not take long for Houdini to appear on both formats. And when streaming emerged, Houdini was there at a click.

Houdini may have been a little slow in coming to home video, but it has never left our living rooms. Hopefully, people are still discovering the story of Houdini via what I consider to be the best biopic.

Want more? You can see more advertisements for the Houdini VHS, along with other Houdini gems from the 1990s, as a member of my Patreon. It was a good decade for Harry!

Related:

• Houdini (1953) premiered 65 years ago today
• When Houdini (1953) came to TV
• When The Man From Beyond came home

Wand breaking ceremony at Houdini's grave 2024

The SAM Parent Assembly #1 held its annual wand-breaking ceremony at Houdini's gravesite on November 24. Dorothy Dietrich of the Houdini Museum in Scranton broke the wand. This long-standing tradition dates back to Houdini's funeral in 1926.

The SAM used to do the wand-breaking ceremony on Halloween. But it was feared the ceremony was drawing too much attention to the gravesite and resulting in vandalism. It was decided to hold the ceremony on the date of Houdini's death on the Jewish calendar, which is why the ceremony was so late this year.

I, for one, would love to see the ceremony move back to Halloween or the day after. As long as it's not promoted in advance, it will not draw a crowd, and the area has improved. Maybe for the 100th?

Photos courtesy Benjilini and AJ Bernstein.

Related:

• S.A.M. wand breaking ceremony in 1976
• Houdini's grave is in trouble
• The Houdini-Weiss exedra turns 100

Timeless Houdini

Back in 2017, Houdini made an appearance on the time-traveling television show Timeless. Houdini was played by Michael Drayer. Now, you can watch one of the Houdini scenes via the YouTube channel Scene City.

This episode was called "The World's Columbian Exposition" and is set during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. It first aired on Monday, January 16, 2017. Timeless ran for two seasons on NBC.

If you could travel back in time and see Houdini, what would you go to see? I will reveal my own choices in my year-end sign-off post at the end of this week.

Related:

• 'Timeless' Houdini episode will air January 16
• Timeless crew werk'in on Houdini episode
• Houdini will appear in 'Timeless'