Unseen Houdini to end the year

What better way to wrap up 2022 than with an unpublished photo of Houdini that also provides a peek at an unknown poster. This gem comes from the Harry Ransom Center (where else?) and was taken in Boston during Houdini's Christmas week engagement in 1921. I only wish we could see more of the poster behind him.

Below is an ad for that Christmas week engagement. As I shared in my 2020 sign off post, Santa Claus was also on the bill this week.

The Boston Globe, Dec. 20, 1921.

I hope you all enjoyed another year of WILD ABOUT HARRY. I know I enjoyed it. Visiting the Harry Ransom Center in August was certainly a highlight for me. I also made terrific progress on my chronology book. I've embarked on a very exciting Top Secret collaborative project that I think everyone will flip for. And launching a Patreon has proven to be a big success. I really appreciate all the support.

Next year expect more of the same. Because I'm still Wild about Harry! And so are you.

2022 in Review:

January (23 posts)

February (24 posts)

March (29 posts)

April (28 posts)

May (23 posts)

June (21 posts)

July (28 posts)

August (21 posts)

September (23 posts)

October (28 posts)

November (24 posts)

December (14 posts)

Most Viewed New Post of 2022

Watch 'The Truth About Houdini' on its anniversary (May 15)

Happy Holidays

A fabulous start to 2023

Before I take my traditional year end break, I wanted to give a shout-out to the first big Houdini happening of 2023. In January the excellent 1961 book Houdini's Fabulous Magic by Walter B. Gibson and Morris N. Young will be reprinted in a new edition with a forward by Gabe Fajuri. Here's a teaser from publisher Vine Leaves Press.

You can pre-order the 2023 edition of Houdini's Fabulous Magic at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Release date is January 17.

Related:

• The best forgotten Houdini book
• 'Houdini's Fabulous Magic' returns in 2023
• Houdini on Magic gets a cover revamp (update)

_ _ _ _ makes The New York Times Crossword

Today's New York Times Crossword features this Houdini-related clue. 40 Across. Four letters.

Don't look below if you don't want the puzzle spoiled! But I'm betting you already know the answer.

The Dec. 15, 2022 puzzle was edited by Will Shortz and created by Bruce Haight. 

Thanks to Dave Sikula for the tip and image.

Related:

• Houdini penetrates the New York Times Crossword
• Houdini in the Los Angeles Times crossword
• L.A. Times crossword conjures Harry

Hear Dunninger inventory his Houdini collection

David Muller, author of Growing Up With Houdini, recently sent me an extraordinary recording of Joseph Dunninger verbally cataloging his entire collection of magic and Houdini artifacts. Dunninger sold his collection to David's father, Henry Muller, in 1967. These rarities were displayed for many years at the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Canada. 

I shared Dunninger's 29-minute primary inventory for members of my Patreon on Monday. Today I'm posting his 8-minute "supplemental" list unlocked so anyone can listen for FREE. Just click below to go.

A big thank you to David Muller for the share. 

Related:

• Houdini's curious cross escape
• Growing Up With Houdini by David J. Muller
• Announcing WILD ABOUT HARRY on Patreon

The Boy Houdini makes The Black List

Deadline Hollywood has posted this year's Black List, a roundup of Hollywood’s "most-liked unproduced screenplays." Coming in under #11 is a Houdini project.

THE BOY HOUDINI 

Matthew Tennant 

New York, 1889. When young street urchin and aspiring magician Harry Houdini discovers a mysterious puzzle-box, he must use his talent for illusion and escape to unlock the box’s powerful secrets and keep it from the hands of a vengeful occult sorcerer hot on his tail. 

MANAGEMENT: ECHO LAKE ENTERTAINMENT 

MANAGERS: NICK ARNSTEIN, KARA HUME, KEGAN SCHELL 

PRODUCERS: IAN BRYCE PRODUCTIONS, OLIVE BRIDGE 

Sounds similar to Simon Nicholson's Young Houdini series or Marty Chan's The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles. Also sounds like the kind of thing Hollywood loves. Congratulations to screenwriter Matthew Tennant and his representation for making this list. Maybe this will help bring The Boy Houdini to the screen.

Thanks to Dave Sikula for the tip.

Related:

• What's next, Hollywood?
• Young Harry Houdini (1987)
• The Chronicles of Young Houdini

Deconstructing Houdini '53: Explosion

Continuing my scene by scene dissection of Paramount's classic 1953 biopic Houdini. Last time Harry and Bess decided to cash in their Magic Ticket and live a domestic life. Today that plan goes up in smoke.

Chapter 10: Explosion

Read on Patreon

Related:

• Is it safe?
• Houdini Begins
• LINK: Safecracker with a link to Houdini opens mystery safe for the town of Bristo

Unmatched: Houdini vs. the Genie

This week sees the release of Unmatched: Houdini vs. the Genie, the latest in a popular series of role-playing fighter games from Restoration Games. Below is a description and the beautifully illustrated box.

In battle, there are no equals. 

Unmatched is a highly asymmetrical miniature fighting game for two or four players. Each hero is represented by a unique deck designed to evoke their style and legend. Tactical movement and no-luck combat resolution create a unique play experience that rewards expertise. Just when you’ve mastered one set, new heroes arrive to provide all new match-ups. Houdini vs. The Genie is a stand alone expansion for the Unmatched system and includes: 

• Gameboard with art from Brian Patterson
• Hero cards with art from Peter Diamond 
• Pre-washed miniatures for each hero 
• Plastic sidekick token 
• Custom life trackers Instructions

You can purchase Unmatched: Houdini vs. the Genie from Amazon or direct from Restoration Games. If you buy from Restoration you'll get a Foil Promo Card. Game on!

Related:

• Unmatched: Houdini vs The Genie preview (video)
• HOUDINI-OPOLY has arrived!
• Escape Quest Houdini

Houdini at Park East Synagogue, Dec. 23

The historic Park East Synagogue in New York City will remember their "most magical member" with a Shabbat Chanukah Dinner on December 23 staring at 4:20pm. The evening will feature Houdini artifacts and a talk by Benjilini.

The Weiss family were members of Park East from its earliest days. Houdini's father, Rabbi Weiss, had a good relationship with Rabbi Drachman who led the synagogue for 55 years. In fact, Rabbi Drachman bar mitzvahed young Ehrich Weiss.

This event is open to members and non-members. For more information and to purchase tickets visit the Park East Synagogue website.

Related:

• Guest Blog: Houdini Broken Wand Ceremony 2022
• Which synagogue did Houdini visit in Providence?
• Jason Alexander dons straightjacket at Jewish Museum Purim Ball

Buried Alive surfaces in 1922

While at the Harry Ransom Center last summer I found this invoice among papers related to the Houdini Picture Corporation. It's from the Theodore Reisig Co., makers of "high grade scenery," and is dated January 4, 1922. I suspect those who saw this before me might have passed it by as just scenery for one of Houdini's movies. But Houdini was not making any movies at this time. And what's described here is, to my eye, something very different and very exciting!

Click to enlarge.

This "Sand Box with heavy ornamental iron hinges" and "apparatus for loading and unloading sand" can only be Houdini's Buried Alive escape. What we don't see here is the casket Houdini would also use in the effect. The bill is for $420, which in 2022 would be $7,450.30. Houdini settled the bill for $300.

The Buried Alive is one of Houdini's most elusive escapes. Houdini himself claimed to have performed it as early as 1908 in Germany. In 1914 he had a lithograph made for the effect, but there's no record of him performing it at this time. In 1918 he announced Buried Alive for his return to the Hippodrome in Everything, but when he broke his wrist making The Master Mystery he had to substitute it with a suspended straitjacket escape. There's also his famous 1919 accident while rehearsing a Buried Alive stunt in California, but that was an outdoor stunt, not the stage version.

Now here we have evidence of the apparatus being built in 1922. This contradicts Houdini's claim the he had the apparatus "rebuilt" in 1916. But the date does make sense career-wise. Needing money after a year of producing films, Houdini had just embarked on a 9-week vaudeville tour. It's possible he intended the Buried Alive to be his new escape for this and the tours to come. But for whatever reason, it didn't happen. The Water Torture Cell remained his marquee escape and Buried Alive wouldn't surface until 1926, and then only for a couple performances.

Maybe the biggest frustration about the Buried Alive is there are no photos of the apparatus and no good description of Houdini's presentation. The 1914 poster (right) is all there is to go on, and I'm not convinced the "Sand Box" was as large as this poster depicts. In fact, I suspect it was only a little larger than the coffin that fit inside.

Perhaps the records of the Theodore Reisig Co. survive and within them we could find the specs on the Buried Alive they built for Houdini in 1922. I could dig that!

You can unearth my Buried Alive research and see the envelope for the Reisig bill as a "Scholar" member of my Patreon below:

Related:

• Digging into Houdini's Buried Alive
• Houdini's Last Secrets ep. 4 unearths Buried Alive
• At last! Evidence of Houdini's near fatal buried alive surfaces

Houdini creeps into 'Wednesday'

Did anyone spot the Houdini reference in the popular new Netflix series Wednesday? Check out the third paragraph.

Click to enlarge.

Houdini may be in the DNA of this show. Wednesday creator Tim Burton made a short film about Houdini when he was a young Wednesday-like lad (below).

Thanks to Deborah Wexler for the alert and Groucho Marxist @antipyrine for the screen capture.

Related:

• See Tim Burton's HOUDINI at LACMA
• Houdini living on the air in Cincinnati
• The Office continues to tease us with hidden Houdinis

Ye Shall Know The Truth

Here's an interesting ad from the December 1, 1922 Richmond Times Dispatch that may flag the moment Houdini went from being a "seeker of truth" to an active combatant against fraud mediums. Looks like he's gathering ammunition...

Richmond Times Dispatch, Dec. 1, 1922.

Below are links to some of the mediums Houdini ensnared. The Truth indeed!

Related:

• Houdini's hit list
• The Cecil M. Cook exposé
• The Pecoraro Files

Jack Kirby’s Super Houdini

I remember encountering Mister Miracle early in my Houdini mania. I thought I had discovered gold. I liked comics and I liked escape artists, and here was a comic book escape artist! But I never really got into the few issues that I bought. For me to was too much superhero and not enough escapist. (I thought Marvel's The Human Fly, which came a few years later, struck the right balance between daredevil and hero.) 

But Mister Miracle developed a following, and while short-lived in his initial run, the character continued as part of the DC Universe and even saw a popular mini-series revival in 2017.

The below video does a nice job of laying out the origin of Mister Miracle by taking a look at the first issue page by page. One surprise for me was hearing that the character was influenced by real-life escape artist Jim Steranko. Enjoy.

Related:

• Houdini the '70s superhero
• "A Houdini for the Millennium"
• Genii & Houdini: October 1964 (Steranko issue)

The bouncing beds of 278

In 1938 a ghostly phenomena was reported in Jonesville, Virginia, when the Sybert family claimed that the bed of their 9-year-old daughter, Bertha, would bounce uncontrollably whenever she was in it. Bertha also showed signs of possession. The press would dub her "Bouncing Bertha" and a bouncing bed would later appear in The Exorcist. You can read more about "The Legend of Bouncing Bertha" HERE.

In December a reporter asked Bess Houdini about the Virginia phenomena and, as you'll read below, she dismissed it as "bunk" (others would eventually come to the same conclusion). But what I really like about this article is Bess's description of bouncing beds and other trickery inside her former home of 278.

The Skyland Post, Dec. 29, 1938.

Houdini's bed survives today in the collection of Jon Oliver. No reports of bouncing.

Related:

• Houdini and the Omro possession
• The haunting of Houdini's 278
• Houdini's secret mind reading system uncovered?

Unlock 'Handcuff Secrets' free PDF

This month's reward for patrons is a free PDF of Houdini's book Handcuff Secrets. Appropriately enough, this was a Christmas release in December 1909. The book was only ever published in the UK so it's one of the harder Houdini books to find. But you can find by clicking below!

The start of the month is a great time to join my Patreon. You will unlock 45 exclusive posts with 279 images and be set to receive all the great content and rewards going forward. For more information you can read my full pitch HERE.

Thanks to everyone for your support!

Related:

• Announcing WILD ABOUT HARRY on Patreon
• Patreon updates subscription billing
• Houdini's lockpick