Sportswriter and boxing maven Burt Randolph Sugar, who co-authored the book Houdini His Life and Art with James The Amazing Randi, died on Sunday in Mount Kisco, NY at age 75.
First published as a paperback in 1976, Houdini His Life and Art was one of four coffee table sized Houdini books released to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Houdini's death. It's actually an excellent book, under-rated as a biography, with sores of rare photographs. It was released as a hardcover in 1977 and has not been reprinted since. The copyright page shows Sugar as the sole copyright owner.
Click here to read Burt Sugar's obituary at The New York Times.
Thanks to Kevin Connolly at Houdini Himself for the alert.
This was one of my favorite biographies of Houdini when I was a teen. I liked the larger format and of course the tons of cool photos. I didn't realize it came out on the 50th Annv.
ReplyDeleteYep, November '76. It was part of that wave that included Gibson's Original Houdini Scrapbook, Christopher's A Pictorial Life, and Henning's book. Great time to be a (new) Houdini fan.
ReplyDeleteI too loved that biography and used it extensively when researching for my book. Sad to hear of his passing.
ReplyDeleteI think that's one of the books I have not read. Or maybe I have? I can't remember. In any case, RIP Mr. Sugar.
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