Bess originally planned Final Houdini Seance as a "hunt for magician ghosts"

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This article from The Fresno Bee Republican dated April 24, 1936, reveals an early and intriguing concept for what became the Final Houdini Seance on the roof of Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood on Halloween of that year. Here we see Bess originally planned to hold the seance on a mountaintop, "as near the heaves as possible", and the idea was to not only contact Houdini, but Howard Thurston and Charles Carter as well!

Says Bess, "Now that Houdini, Carter and Thurston have joined forces on the other side of the grave, I am going to make, here in Hollywood, the one supreme effort to contact these great magicians and maybe together one of them may 'come through'."

While the "Final Houdini Seance" has come down as a sincere last attempt to contact the great magician -- and Edward Saint did insist it be a legitimate seance without trickery -- the truth is the seance was largely conceived as a publicity stunt to further Houdini's name and legend, and also goose Hollywood into making a Houdini biopic with Bess and Ed Saint involved in the production.

It both these regards, it was successful. The seance garnered headlines across the country, and Bess and Ed where able to make a development deal for a Houdini biopic at Paramount, as well as an independent starring vehicle for Bess herself.

Looks like Carter and Thurston got left behind.

Related:

• Mountain top announced as original location for Final Houdini Seance
• Recording of the Final Houdini Seance
• The Final Houdini Seance redux 1986