Showing posts with label Houdini & Doyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Houdini & Doyle. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Doyle Trumps Houdini in New Documentary

 


The relationship between Houdini and Doyle has been talked about over and over and over. It is generally talked about from Houdini's side. Doyle appears as a character in Houdini's life story. But now there is a documentary that is about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and this time Houdini is the character in Doyle's life. And there is a bonus. This documentary has film footage that most believed to have been lost.

We learn about this from our friend John Cox, from his blog WildAboutHoudini.com The documentary called, "Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs Doyle" on PBS, has footage from the 1922 SAM Banquet in NYC in which Doyle was Houdini's invited guest. Much has been written about this particular moment in their lives, but here is the first time you get to view the actual film footage. https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2025/01/houdini-doyle-sam-banquet-footage.html

I also want to address a bit more about the documentary. I really enjoyed it, though I wasn't thrilled with the magician they chose to be the 'authority'. No offense, but I don't think he had anything more than a passing knowledge of Houdini and Doyle's relationship. The question that Lucy puts to the guest magician is why Doyle wanted to convert Houdini to his belief system. The question is never properly answered. But the truth was, Doyle believed that Houdini himself had mediumistic powers. He saw Houdini's feats of escape to be supernatural in nature and despite all of Houdini's claims otherwise, Doyle believed Houdini had these powers. Of course their relationship sours after the Atlantic City Seance, and they exchange negative words in the press. But I think Doyle had real affection for Houdini, despite their differences. HOWEVER, I could be wrong about his affection for Houdini. In his book, The History of Spiritualism, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he mentions Houdini only twice and both times refers to him as "Houdini the conjurer." No mention of their friendship. In fact, he rather insults Houdini when he is speaking of Margery, and how He (Doyle) was instrumental in getting her before the Scientific American, but also inadvertently putting them in the firing line of Houdini's "preposterous and ignorant theories of fraud".

Ironically, it would be Bess who would have the last word and heal the wounds of this relationship. After, Houdini's passing, Doyle wrote to Bess to share his condolences for her loss. She in turn, sent Doyle a package. It was a portfolio of artwork by Doyle's own father, that Houdini had purchased at an auction. 

One more thing I want to point out and that is the documentary, Holmes vs Doyle, does feature one excellent guest and that is Daniel Stashower. Mr. Stashower is an award winning author, and he has written a number of fictional books about Houdini. These include: The Houdini Specter, The Dime Museum Murders, The Adventures of The Ectoplasmic Man. It also appears that Mr. Stashower has written a couple non-fiction books about Doyle including: Teller of Tales, and A Life In Letters. 


And finally, though this has nothing to do with Doyle, I just learned that Daniel Stashower wrote a book called AMERICAN DEMON. This is about Eliot Ness and his case involving the Cleveland Torso Killer. I mention this because Episode 88 of my podcast dealt with this very topic and one of the people who was considered a possible suspect, and this guy was also a magician. https://magicdetectivepodcast.com/e/ep-88-tales-from-the-dark-side-of-magic/  I need to get Daniel's book to read his account!


Tuesday, December 29, 2015

The Witch of Lime Street -Book Review

The Witch of Lime Street by David Jaher is a book about the life of Margery the Medium. The subtitle of the book is ‘Séance, Seduction and HOUDINI in the Spirit World’. Houdini plays a part, but he is a secondary character even though his image and name appears on the cover of the book. Speaking of the cover, it might be the coolest book cover of ANY book with Houdini because this book cover GLOWS IN THE DARK! It’s very subtle, but I think the glowing in the dark cover and spine add to the already spooky subject matter.

When I heard that a first time author was writing this book, I had my doubts about the quality of the content. But having read the book AND listened to the audio version as well, I can tell you that Mr. Jaher did an outstanding job of research. The book is well written, entertaining and filled with history.

I had never been that big a fan of Margery until fairly recently. I think for me my interest began when I saw the actual Bell Box that was used in the Margery/Houdini Séances. I also got to see the so-called spirit-fingerprints that Walter, Margery’s spirit guide and brother, apparently created during a Séance. Shortly after this, I started to correspond frequently with the late escape artist and Houdini historian Norman Bigelow, about Margery. I wish Norm had lived long enough to read this book, I know he would have enjoyed it.

David Jaher does a great job of laying out the details for the reader of Margery’s character before becoming a medium and after and then during the last days of her life. It would seem that Mina Crandon was a fun loving individual. When she became Margery she developed a seductive air about her. She was overly flirtatious with many men on the  investigative committee. No doubt her suggestive behavior helped to take many of them off their game. Despite this she still had standards of behavior that can be seen when Malcolm Bird tried to bring a prostitute to Margery’s Lime Street home and he was abruptly chastised by Margery and turned away.

Margery was a complex woman. Early in the book, it’s apparent that she doesn’t believe in any of this ‘spirit nonsense’. Though skeptical, she still attends a séance with a friend and encounters a medium who shares a revelation with her that she has a future in the spirit business. Sure enough, she eventually becomes the best-known spirit medium in the country. Oddly, though she likes presenting séances she claimed she didn’t want publicity. She doesn’t even use her real name Mina; rather she uses a form of her middle name Margery. And though she doesn’t want the publicity, she is competing for the top prize in country, to be examined and proven to be genuine by a committee of investigators from The Scientific American Magazine. Yes, she was a complex woman.

Houdini is in the book because he plays a major part in the investigation of spirit mediums during the 1920s and he is an important player in the investigation of Margery. The author shares Houdini’s encounters with Conan Doyle and their early friendship as well as their eventual parting of ways. This helps to set-up Houdini  as an authority on fake mediums, for the reader. Even one of Houdini’s spirit debunking co-workers, Rose Mackenberg, gets featured in the book.

There really is no better person to spot a spirit faker than a knowledgeable magician. I preface that with ‘knowledgeable’ because if the magician doesn’t know anything about fake spirit work, they’ll likely be as taken in as anyone else. Houdini was not the first to expose mediums though he was arguably the most famous debunker. Magicians were involved with exposing mediums since the very early days of Spiritualism. John Wyman, known as Wyman the Wizard at one point helped to investigate the Fox Sisters. John Nevil Maskelyne, in England, went after the Davenport Brothers. So magicians have been at the forefront of investigating fake mediums from the start.

One thing that puzzles me is where Margery learned her tricks of the trade? It’s clear that she used deception. But she was creating manifestations that no one else was doing. And she continued to evolve over time adding more and more unique effects to her Séances. A great example would be the ectoplasmic arms and hands that would mysteriously protrude from her body yet no trace of them could be found after the Séance.

I really enjoyed The Witch of Lime Street. I’m not the only one, as the movie rights to the book have already been picked up. Will we see a Houdini/Margery movie? Time will tell. But what a fascinating movie it could be. It’s a very unique chapter in history and frankly I think we owe it all to Houdini. Without him, I don’t think there would have been as much press exposure.  I also think this unique confrontation would have likely been forgotten over time without Houdini’s participation.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

'Houdini & Doyle' TV Show Just Announced


This is surprising and quite fascinating. I just read on broadcastingcable.com that Fox just picked up a 10 episode drama based on the lives of Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It will apparently be some sort of crime drama where the two investigate crimes of a supernatural nature. That should be interesting. Houdini says, "FAKE! Next!" and Doyle says, "Genuine Phenomenon if I ever saw it!" lol.

I hope it's a little better than a previous Houdini TV program.