Monday, March 14, 2011

Surrender to Houdini

This week I will showcase some beautiful exhibitor ads for Houdini's film serial, The Master Mystery, courtesy of the Arthur Moses Collection. These are double sided card-stock inserts from The Moving Picture World magazine, and they don't pull any punches. For instance, this first selection appears to equate the arrival of Houdini's first film with the victory of World War I and Armistice Day (November 11, 1918). Houdini may have left the movie business with a whimper, but he certainly came in with a roar!

Click to enlarge

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3 comments:

  1. melboMarch 14, 2011 at 5:09 PM

    Stand back - here comes Harry. Very good - thanks for posting this.

    Re the water torture cell - it may have revealed the code but you'd still have to be in the know to figure it out. It just looked like the back of ENIAC to me.

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  2. John CoxMarch 14, 2011 at 5:19 PM

    Yeah, that's what I said re the cell. You need to know what you're seeing. But...it did reveal the secret and there is the Magician's Code. I don't want to be stripped of my bunnies. :)

    Re these MM ads -- wait until you see what coming up. The two to follow have beautiful imagery.

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  3. Beth S.March 17, 2011 at 11:26 AM

    Love this ad. Something about it feels very modern.

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