Houdini in St Louis

 

This coming week, The International Brotherhood of Magicians will hold their annual convention in St. Louis. This is their 97th Convention. This one, unlike the SAM Convention, is not dedicated to Houdini. The Society of American Magicians Convention was in Appleton Wisconsin, Houdini's home town. 

But, even though, the IBM is skipping Houdini, there is a huge connection to Houdini and St Louis. In January of 1908 Houdini debuted his Galvanized Iron Can  Filled With Water, what we commonly know as The Milk Can. This would go on to be one of Houdini's signature stunts. He often used as a challenge, filling with various liquids other than water. I will bet that in the new book Strenuous Career, by David Haversat and Bruce Averbook, there is a challenge with the Milk Can. 

The performance took place at the Columbia Theater downtown. The theater is no longer there. However, the location is One City Center. An office building and retail shops now fill the location of the ole Columbia. 

By the way, this photo below is a fairly well known image of Houdini in his Milk Can. This was part of a set of photos. Two are public, but there are several that have been unseen....that is until now. Charles Greene's new book, Exposing Houdini, has a chapter with this lost images and even tells where the photo session took place!

Houdini Is Everywhere This Year

In early July, The Society of American Magicians had their annual convention in Appleton Wisconsin, Houdini's adopted home town. As much as I wanted to attend, I was unable. But our friend John Cox over at Wild About Houdini was there and did a great job covering events, taking photos and of course speaking on Houdini at the event. Please visit his blog at this link https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2026/07/houdini-lived-in-appleton-last-week.html

The book, Houdini The Man Who Died Twice by Dr. Larrian Gillespie is also out and ready to purchase. I don't have this book yet, so I can't give you a review or opinion, but by all accounts it contains some stunning new information. I'm looking forward to getting a copy at summers end. You can get a copy here: Houdini The Man Who Died Twice

Brad Ricca's book, Lincoln's Ghost, is also available on Amazon. It's a very interesting read. You can get a copy of that book here: Lincoln's Ghost

Charles Greene's book, Exposing Houdini is out. It's fantastic. This I do have a copy of and though I haven't been able to go through it completely yet, I can say, it's just first class. Charles is a great magic historian and this particular book really shines. You can get a copy at: ExposingHoudini.com I will be writing a review of this book, soon, I hope.

My friend Wayne Alan has two books in the works, actually three, but only 2 are on Houdini. He's been working on these things since the 1980s! Much like myself, work and family commitments got in his way and delayed them. But he's expecting to have them out this year and fairly soon from what I understand. Any guy who has parts of Houdini's actual hospital room in his collection, is a guy who won't stop at anything to track down information on Houdini. 

John Cox, from WildAboutHoudini.com announced recently that his new book on Houdini will be called, Houdini The Handcuff King is coming out this fall. You can get that from John's site. Also, his book, Escaping Obscurity is still available at https://wildaboutharrypress.com/     

I swear I just saw that another book on Houdini was announced just a couple days ago, but I can't find the information on it. I am out of the loop right now on all of this stuff due to my performing schedule. I've done 28 shows since the first of this month and have a lot more yet to do. And those shows are all over the map, so I'm rarely home or in front of the computer. This has delayed the latest episode(s) of my podcast. It has delayed any new articles on the blog. And frankly, delayed a couple projects I'm doing for Houdini 100. I will get caught up, I promise. I'm hoping, with any luck, to at least get a few things ready for late July or early August. You know me, I always get caught up. But work comes first!

Houdini Might Be Returning to 278

 

John Cox recently announced a very exciting event to take place at Houdini's NYC Home on Halloween, The 100th Year Houdini Seance! Now that is something to think about!!! They have a wonderful website and unlike most Houdini Seance's they are repeating this one numerous times. But you also get a tour of the home and some trinkets.

Looks like there are 4 seances total to be held. One appears to be almost sold out. Of course, there is plenty of time between now and Halloween to get a ticket. ALTHOUGH, I have a feeling that come October, there won't be any available tickets left. So you may want to get your tickets early.

I myself, have never been invited to attend any Houdini Seance, ever! It is a personal slight I have done my best not to take personally....hmmmmm, maybe I should rethink that, lol. Suffice to say, I don't think I will be at the Houdini 100, as awesome as it looks. Working magicians, of which I am one, tend to WORK on Halloween, lol. Which again, makes an invite sometimes problematic. 

Still, I honestly hope every seat sells out for this incredible event. Everyone attending is surely going to have a great time and you get to see Houdini's home on top of it. I'm envious. And I'm also grateful that Houdini's name still holds so much power! Also thankful to John Cox for his work on this and to the family who owns the Houdini House today, thank you for this rare opportunity to share this historic location with the world on this special night.