Saturday, July 21, 2018

Magic Potion #9 Houdini Artwork


I stumbled upon this yesterday. An unusual piece of art using HOUDINI. It reminded me of the Tony Curtis movie, when they referred to the Water Torture Cell as 'The Man In The Bottle'. Here, Houdini IS the MAN in the bottle!

If you're interested in this piece, you can pick it up in various sizes and in various mediums like canvas, wood print, and more.  http://studio-v.wingsdomain.com/featured/magic-potion-number-9-patent-pending-20140922-wingsdomain-art-and-photography.html

Friday, July 20, 2018

Houdini Commemorative T-Shirt


Here is something you don't see every day. A Commemorative Houdini T-shirt. This is produced by the Camel City Goods Company, and it commemorates the Nov 24th, 1924 performance by Houdini at the Winston Salem Reynolds Auditorium. I'll be honest, I didn't go back and fact check this to see if Houdini did indeed perform there on that date*. I just thought it was a very cool t-shirt.

You can get one here: https://www.camelcitygoods.com/products/houdini-escape-lieu

I've done a bit more research into this, and apparently this is the second t-shirt. The original was a tan shirt with reddish lettering. There was also a commemorative button issued by the same company.

*I've gone back to see if I could find any proof of Houdini performing in Winston-Salem on Nov 24th 1924, and sure enough, an article in The Frederick News, Nov 25th, 1924 mentions his appearance at The Reynolds Memorial Hall in Winston Salem on the 24th.

Happy Birthday Howard Thurston!


On July 20th, 1869, just a few years after the end of the US Civil War, Howard Thurston was born. He was born in Columbus Ohio, and is also buried in Columbus, at the Greenlawn Abbey.

Howard Thurston was certainly one of the greatest magicians of his era. He created an enormous traveling illusion show. He purchased Harry Kellar's Show and toured the country with Kellar for a year. Then on May 16, 1908 in Baltimore MD at the Ford's Theater, Kellar passed his Mantle of Magic on to Howard Thurston.

Howard Thurston died of Pneumonia on April 13, 1936. There is a FANTASTIC book on the life of Thurston by Jim Steinmeyer called The Last Greatest Magician In The World. I would encourage anyone interested in magic history or theatre history to check out this great book.

Thurston's Final Resting Place-GreenLawn Abbey