Unique Houdini Event in Washington D.C.

On April 16th, Atlas Obscura is sponsoring an event called Houdini Escapes DC. It's a historical look at Houdini's time in Washington, complete with artifacts from the collection of Ken Trombly, a walking tour of some of the sites Houdini himself had visited and then a show/demonstration of some of Houdini's magic by Dean Carnegie (me).

I have written a lot about Houdini's visits to Washington. And I've visited all but one of the sites where some historical event took place. The one that I have not gone to is the 10th Precinct Police Station, which you can read about here. The only reason I've not gone by is it's still a working Police Station and I don't want to just barge in an disturb them. I'll eventually try and make an appointment to see the station and hopefully the cell that Houdini escaped from.

Many of the buildings connected to Houdini are long gone. Keith's Vaudeville Theatre, Chase's

Theatre, The Gayety Theatre, The Rialto have all been torn down and replaced. However, you can still go to the actual locations. The best spot, in my view, is Keith's Vaudeville Theatre which was directly across from the Treasury Building. This is now the location of Old Ebbit's Grill. Back on January 12th 1922, Houdini hung upside down in front of Keith's performing one of his classic straitjacket escapes.  The location of the theatre is very close to the White House. And there is a story of President Woodrow Wilson sneaking into the theatre to catch Houdini's show in the 1920s.

There are many great stories of Houdini's DC visits, many of which will be covered during the walking tour I'm sure. As for my part of the event, the recreation of some of Houdini's magic. I currently am planning on doing some rope escapes, a challenge handcuff escape, an escape from a pair of thumb screws and other escapes. In addition I'm going to 'teach' a member of the audience how to escape from a rope using mind over matter. I'll be doing a little bit of card magic because Houdini began his career as The King of Cards. I'm also planning on finishing the show with an interactive routine involving all the participants. Though the final thing is not something Houdini did, I feel it's a great way to give the attendees a hands-on magical experience and a perfect way to end the day. I've got a few additional surprises that I'm working on as well, but those I'll keep secret until the event.

It's sure to be a fun day. Space is LIMITED, so if you're interested in attending, go to the Atlas Obscura site to get your tickets. Oh, by the way, if you visit their site, you'll notice a photo of ME in the header. Behind me in the photo is a bridge. I don't know if the folks who chose this photo were aware, but that is a bridge that leads into Budapest, the birthplace of Houdini.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/events/obscura-day-2016-houdini-escapes-dc

A Magical Day of Rememberance

Today marks the 142 Anniversary of the birth of Harry Houdini. It also marks a more solemn event, the 4th Anniversary of the passing of my friend Cesareo Pelaez from the Le Grand David Magic Show in Beverly MA. Interestingly enough, as I type this there is a special 'Birthday Auction' going on over at Harversat & Ewing Auctions. The auction runs till later today March 24th. And on April 10th, there is the Le Grand David Auction II happening online and in Beverly through KaminskiAuctions.com

A couple of days ago, I recorded a brief spot, along with David Bull and Rick Heath about the LGD Auction. You can hear the interview online on SoundCloud. The interviews were conducted by Michael Stroud on his Majinga Over The Edge Broadcast https://soundcloud.com/michael-stroud/le-grand-david-and-his-own-spectacular-magic-company-round-two

Please check out the interview. If you're like me, it never gets old hearing David and Rick talk about their days with Le Grand David. If you listen closely you'll hear some of the audio from one of the performances at the Cabot St. show in the background.

And don't forget the Potter & Potter Auction of Houdini and Davenport items on April 9th.

It's HERE It's HERE!!!! The new Potter & Potter Auction Catalog!

Potter and Potter has an auction of many Houdini items on April 9th. Their catalog is now available to download. I've ordered a printed version too, but if you just want to download and see what is available, now is your chance! http://www.potterauctions.com/auctions/upcoming

In addition, Haversat and Ewing is having a Houdini Birthday Auction on March 23-24. You can view their items here https://haversatewing.hibid.com/catalog/73383/houdinis-birthday-auction/ 

Lots of incredible items up for auction. Be sure you're registered so you can bid the day OF the auction.

Houdini's Right Hand Man Jim Collins Died Today, in 1942

Here is Jim Collins death certificate from 1942. It contains all sorts of amazing information. For example, he died in Philadelphia, but according to the death certificate he was to be buried in New York. Try as I might, I have not been able to locate the grave, yet. I'll have more to add about Collins at a later date.

Sorry, been swamped with gigs right now, so The Magic Detective is behind, but I'll catch up shortly!

Le Grand David Auction, Round 2

I just received word from Rick Heath that the folks at Le Grand David along with the Kaminski Auctions will be holding a second auction of rare and collectible items from the longest running magic show in history.

If you followed the previous auction you might be wondering, 'what's left?'. Well, for the keen observer, there were a number of things that did not sell. And there were a number of things that were not part of the previous auction. I also imagine, there were items that were discovered since that last auction took place. So you'll have another chance to pick up something if you are a LGD collector.

The auction is April 10th starting at 10am. You can bid in person or online. There will be several days of previews where you can go and actually view the items. You can read a bit about the previous auction here: http://www.themagicdetective.com/2014/02/legrand-david-auction-is-now-history.html

There will be a catalog of the items online soon. They are currently photographing everything. As soon as that become available, I'll let you know.