The playbill measures 30 x 20ins and is inscribed by Houdini: "My dear Herwin. Here is one of my bills, it might interest you. Come up and see me 'magisch'"
The Grand Magical Revue was a magic only act that Houdini mounted in the UK in 1914. As you can see on the poster, he revived Metamorphosis, which brought Bess back into the act for the first time in several years. But theater managers were not enthusiastic about Houdini the magician -- they still wanted the escape artist -- so he folded the show after a short time, possibly doing as few as 10 performances.
Anything from the Grand Magical Revue is pretty rare, so I'm not surprised this fetched a high price.
Thank you Joe.
WOW that looks like a one of kind item and mint i only wish I would have known about it. I thought you were going to tell us about these auctions??
ReplyDeleteIt a real beauty also signed damn its sweet!!!!!!!!!!
There's a lot of auctions and a lot of nice HH items out there. Can't tell you about them all.
DeleteYeah I understand I was only joking I think its better if you don't. Its up to the collector to find Houdini and if you win so be it. But I think that broadside is the Finest I have ever seen and you know its never been displayed as it was a gift from HH.
ReplyDeleteAh, sorry, thought you were serious. :) Indeed, it is a great poster. Interesting to see the straitjacket was still part of the Revue, so it wasn't completely escape free.
DeleteYeah its just escaped us, maybe Copperfield snagged it so we may never see it again.
ReplyDeleteI won it, so Copperfield doesn't have everything......
ReplyDeleteCongrats! This is a fantastic get. (Would love to know who you are, btw.)
Delete