HOUDINI Week 2019 On The Magic Detective Podcast

Over the years, I have had a Houdini Month and or Houdini Week here at the blog. This year, I'm trying out a Houdini Week over on the podcast. It involves a lot more work, but so far things are coming together well. You can also go over to MagicDetectivePodcast.com and listen there. I'm on all the various podcasting sites, iTunes, stitcher, spotify, iHeartRadio and more.

On Monday, Oct 28th, I posted an episode about The Man Who Made Houdini. This was basically about Houdini & Martin Beck. I talked about a new theory that has arisen among some Houdini historians that Beck never saw Houdini in St. Paul, but rather it was a surrogate and only later in Omaha did Beck and Houdini meet. First, I think it's a valid theory. But I explore it a bit further and give you my opinion on the matter. You can listen to episode 32 below.



On Tuesday, Oct 29th, I posted an episode about Evanion-The Royal Conjurer. Henry Evanion was one of the early magic collectors as well as a performer during the Victorian era. He ended up selling part of his collection to Houdini, which became the cornerstone of Houdini's magic history collection.  It's a wild story, and you can listen to it below.


On Wednesday, Oct 30th, I share with you the story of Houdini's Forgotten Protege. I've discussed him here on the blog in the past. This time around I've gathered even more information, so I'm sure you'll enjoy this episode. You can list to it below.

On Thursday, Oct 31st, I talk about one of Houdin's game changing escapes, The Milk Can Escape, or the Death Defying Mystery. You can listen to the podcast episode below.

On Friday, Nov 1, I let Houdini talk for himself. I feature an address he gave before a club in Boston in 1922 and the final article Houdini wrote that didnt make it to print until after he had died. You can listen to this podcast episode below.

Magic Detective Podcast Season 1 Complete

With the addition of episode 31, I've decided to wrap up season 1 of my podcast. I am NOT stopping the podcast. It will be back in October. I just realized I was coming up fast on the 1 year anniversary and with all that is going on in my life, now would be a good time to stop. One of the major things is a move to another state. So right now, my library of research material is split between two locations and it would make doing the podcast somewhat difficult.

Year In Review

When I first decided to do the podcast, I was unsure if I would even find any listeners. Though I figured if a few of my blog readers went to the podcast, I'd be ok. The blog has traditionally had a LOT of readers, though that has declined since my focus has been the podcast. As of right now, I have over 4200 downloads of the podcast. Those are not huge numbers by popular podcast standards, but for a niche topic like magic history, I'd say those are pretty good. And the best part, they continue to increase each month as more and more people find out about the show.

I took the approach to just jump in with both feet knowing I'd figure out how to do the podcast along the way. I did enough preliminary research to know what I needed to do on the backend. The most important thing was sound quality, as I noticed that was one thing that could make or break a podcast. As far as topics, I didn't really think that would be an issue. I had an early list of some 30 potential stories to cover. That list then grew to 100. And now the list stands at over 150. So there are several years of episodes planned.

My first thought was to do the show kind of like popular talk radio shows, with segments, a main topic and then shorter segments. But I don't think I was quite pulling that off the way I had wanted. Then a friend of mine contacted me and said, 'why not try one topic'. So I did, and by episode 4 (Servais LeRoy) I was onto the one topic concept and that worked out better. Another listener contacted me and asked if I could include the references of where the information was coming from, so I soon added the book/magazine references as well. I love the fact that my listeners, YOU, have helped shape the way the show has grown.  One other thing I've attempted to do is link episodes. So if there is a reference to a certain magician in one podcast, and I've covered them already, I can tell the listener to go to Episode such and such, to learn more. IF I were a listener, I would LOVE this particular service.

I think one of the biggest surprises was that it took 3 Episodes to cover Harry Kellar's life. I really covered a lot of ground in those podcasts. The only person who has taken more is Houdini because frankly, I could have just done the entire podcast on his life. In truth, I contemplated that originally, and you'll notice that Houdini's name comes up in almost every podcast. I think there might be 3 podcasts that his name is not even mentioned. But other than that he is a fixture of the podcast. And in Season 2 you can expect considerably more Houdini.

Wyman The Wizard

I love the fact that I covered so many obscure magicians like Wyman the Wizard, Brush, Minerva, and Ablini. They all had incredible stories to tell and deserve their place in the history of magic. As I researched each of them, I contemplated how they would feel, all these many years later to hear their name being spoken of. I try to give everyone a fair shake and if there is a lot of 'negative' stuff to their life, to not focus on it, or at least approach it delicately. I hope I've been successful there. The one person who comes to mind is The Great Raymond. He had a difficult life. He was a great performer, but not the kindest person offstage. Albini was another, he was an alcoholic and chose to insult his audiences during his shows. I believe this was his style, kind of like an early Don Rickles. However, some audiences 'got' him and others did not. And sometimes he was sloshed when he was performing which didn't help.

I think one of my favorite episodes was the one of T.Nelson Downs. I was amazed at the amount of information I discovered on Downs. I continued to find info even after the podcast was completed. I did an extra article on Downs here on the blog to cover something I missed. I could probably do another episode on him easily if I really dug deeper.

My least favorite podcast was Frederick Bancroft, but not for the reason you might think. I did a great deal of research and was happy with what I uncovered. Then as I was scripting out the podcast, I learned that Gary Hunt had written an article on Bancroft in Magicol Magazine, and I didn't have access to it. I just KNEW that some of the stuff I had would potentially be wrong. Sure enough, AFTER, I put up the episode, I found the article and Gary had discovered details that corrected the history. Bravo for him! But not so happy for me. I did mention the corrections in the following podcast. Oh well, win some, loose some.

Daisy White

Another favorite podcast was Daisy White. She has always been a bit of a pet-project. She is an enigmatic figure in magic. Finding details has not been easy, but I did uncover some things a few years ago and wrote about them in the blog. I was always determined to find MORE. And this time around I did. But not only did I find more, I found photos of a young Daisy White!!! I am certain these photos have not been seen in over 100 years. So it was quite fulfilling to include those on the blog at the same time as I did the podcast episode.

About half way into the season I had this idea to start doing short podcasts, which would run no longer than 15 minutes. It was a big experiment really, and it turned out to be successful and I'd received a lot of positive comments on the short episodes. Some performers of old, just don't have enough information out there to cover a 30-45 minute podcast, but I can usually get at least 10 minutes worth. So the short episodes fit the need. The short episodes include: Frederick Bancroft, Litzka Raymond, Houdini & Anna Eva Fay, Minerva, Albini, and finally Talma Queen of Coins.

Oh and the two Doug Henning episodes were personal favorites because Henning was someone I saw in person and looked up to very much.  I was also happy to start including females into the mix, and though I've only covered a few so far, there are many more to come. The episodes featuring females include: Litzka Raymond Gibson, Minerva, Anna Eva Fay, Daisy White & Mercedes Talma.

I think the biggest revelation I had doing this podcast was finding out how inaccurate the David Price book, A Pictorial History of Conjurers in the Theatre is. Don't get me wrong, its a fantastic book. And it gets so much correct. But since the book was published, many details of various magicians lives have come to the surface and they are different from what is in his book. I still use it in every episode. I just try and double check the information. I do know a lot of his information came from Mahatma and The Sphinx.

SEASON 2

As I have mentioned on the podcast, I would like to include some interviews with other magic historians and collectors during Season 2. I do not intend to do the entire season that way. But it would be nice to give the spotlight to some other folks so they can share their passion for magic history here. I am also considering having on some guest narrators.

There will be some changes coming to the blog too. About 80% of the Season 1 podcasts were scripted. So I plan to take those and put them up as blog articles, and include photos and images that I obviously cannot do on an audio podcast. It will help with SEO and will help future researchers. Because this platform is owned by Google, it tends to rank fairly high. So for those people who like to read, you can enjoy the blog. For those that like to listen, you've got the podcast. And for those who like both, hey, it's going to be awesome for you.

Some of the episodes planned for Season 2 include: Adelaide Herrmann, Anna Eva Fay, The Fox Sisters, Dr.Lynn, Signor Blitz, Dr. Walford Bodie, Henry Ridgely Evans, Frederick Eugene Powell, Richard Potter, Ching Ling Foo, and many MORE!!!! Oh, and the occasional episode on HOUDINI.

Right now I plan to have Season 2 start some time in October 2019. I am contemplating doing something special for the first couple episodes, but that I'm keeping to myself for now.  I do know I'm going to have more contests throughout the year. With any luck, I may even have some swag for fans of the podcast. I also intend to do more outreach to pick up a larger audience. So expect great things for Season 2! Until then, why not go back and re-listen to some of the podcasts, or check out the ones you missed. October will be here soon enough!

Thanks for being a listener and reader of The Magic Detective!

Episode 12 Podcast Wyman the Wizard Notes

Episode 12 of the podcast is up and already getting downloads, thanks everyone! I don't have a lot of notes on this episode because most of it was covered in previous blog articles. However. I do have an image for you of Professor Pugh, the friend who Wyman met during his retirement. He gave or sold some of his props to Prof. Pugh and here is a photo of the good professor with them.

By the #s, there is #5 Little Bobbie, you can barely make out the carved head on this thing. # 6 is hard to see but it's in the back, the Spirit Clock/Dial. #7 is the rifle, or as it's listed, Gun and Target. #8 is that odd looking thing that the rifle is leaning against, it's a Pearl Inlaid Chair Back. #9 is pretty obvious, it's a Card Sword. #11 is the Money belt, though I don't see the number in the photo, but I do see the belt. And #13 is also not marked but it's the Canister and Bird Cage. You can see the cage right behind Little Bobbie. The man in the image is Prof. Pugh, not Wyman.

This is the link for the various articles on Wyman that can be found here on the blog...
https://www.themagicdetective.com/search?q=wyman

Magic Detective Podcast Ep 9 -Notes

Episode 9 is up and ready to listen to. This is part 2 of the Amazing Life of Harry Kellar. It covers his years right after the tragic shipwreck, right up to his retirement in 1908.

Along the way I mentioned a few things and I wanted to share them below. First up was the Automaton Psycho that Harry Kellar ripped off from John Nevil Maskelyne. Below is a video of Kellar's Psycho in action.

Next I mentioned the Blue Room and also The Spectre Cabinet. After reading through the book Kellar's Wonders by Mike Caveney and Bill Miesel, it appears that the video below is actually The Spectre Cabinet and not the Blue Room, IF I understood this correctly. It is referred to as The Blue Room, and I'm assuming the two effects are similar in operation. At least you get an idea of how magnificent this effect really was.

This next video has a clip of The Mascot Moth, but you have to wait till the very end of the video. It's in the last few seconds.

Finally, here is an image of the beautiful Golden Butterfly Poster.

Episode 10 will conclude the series on Kellar and will cover his retirement years.

Episode 8 Magic Detective Podcast Additional Notes

Episode 8 of The Magic Detective Podcast is about the Life of Harry Kellar. As I was recording the episode today I quickly realized that this would be a multi-part episode. So this first part only cover 1849-1875. I've covered this period of time on this blog before, so I'm going to give you links that you can check out about the various topics.

1. The Fakir of Ava http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/01/fakir-of-ava.html

2. The Davenport Brothers & The Spirit Cabinet http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/03/spirit-cabinet-history.html

3. William Fay http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/02/who-was-william-fay.html

4. The Shipwreck http://www.themagicdetective.com/2012/06/kellars-sunken-treasure.html
Please note there is a small error on the podcast. I mentioned that following the shipwreck, Kellar wired for money from his father. In truth, Harry Kellar borrowed money, approx $1000 from Junius Spenser Morgan, a banker, and the father to J.P. Morgan. 

5. The Vanishing Birdcage http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/02/vanishing-bird-cage-history.html

And if you'd like to listen to the podcast before you check out the above links. Here you go!!!

Magic Detective Podcast Episode 6- Houdini's Final Days and Beyond

Episode 6 of The Magic Detective Podcast is about Houdini's Final Days and Beyond. All of this comes from previous articles here on the site, and I'm going to include the links below to the various articles. You'll be able to see a number of photos that help to illustrate the various stories.

But first, I'd like to include the names of the books that I mention in the podcast. These are all biographies of Houdini.

The Secret Life of Houdini -William Kalush and Larry Sloman
Houdini The Man Who Walked Through Walls by William Lindsey Gresham
Houdini His Life and Art by James Randi and Burt Sugar
Houdini His Legend and Magic by Doug Henning
HOUDINI!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss by Kennth Silverman
Houdini The Untold Story by Melbourne Christopher

Articles

Tracking the Body of Houdini
The Day Houdini was Buried
Last Days of Houdini
More of the Last Days of Houdini
The Manifestations of Houdini

Episode 7 should be up next Monday. It too will be about Houdini and then when I get to Episode 8, I'll explore some magicians you might not be familiar with.

And anytime you want to check out the podcast, you can always just click the link on the far right of the page. Or just go to MagicDetectivePodcast.com. You can also find the podcast in iTunes!

Episode 5 Magic Detective Podcast The Early Years of Houdini

EhrichWeiss the Champion Runner

Episode 5 of The Magic Detective Podcast is up and ready to download. I had recently been searching through various podcasts for ones about Houdini. And my search sadly ended with none I could recommend. Actually, there was one, by The Bowery Boys, that wasn't too bad. But I felt that overall there was not a good solid podcast that covered Houdini properly. So I decided to go ahead and begin a series of podcasts about Houdini's life.

This first episode is more a Starter Guide to Houdini and covers his early years up until his marriage to Bess. I rather enjoyed the research on this because there were things I wasn't sure about that I was able to put into perspective. The research into his birthdate, or should I say 2 birthdates was amazing. One thing I left off, was an opinion I have regarding births during those times. I have done a LOT of ancestry work and after having scoured hundreds of Census records, I can tell you that dates of birth change often, as do the year someone was born. This was the case at least in the times before 1940. Usually the year is the thing that changes the most, it may change by a year or two. But the one thing that doesn't change are the places people are born. In that, Houdini is unique. Before 1900 he claimed to be Austrian, after 1900 he claimed to be from Appleton Wisconsin. And he even put this information on legal documents.

While doing the research I read an interesting piece about Houdini's days training as a boxer in Milwaukee. I included that in the blog, and I found that information in the Houdinifile.com

The main part of the podcast stops at the arrival of Bess Houdini, who in essence ends the run of the Houdini Brothers. I had a chuckle as it's often a love interest of some kind that breaks up a group. But in the case of Bess, she was extremely important to Houdini's future and I will cover that in a future podcast. And Houdini's brother Theo, was not totally at a loss, as Houdini put him to work as Hardeen, and later working for his Film Development Corporation.

The podcast finishes with a CRAZY piece of information I found in an old Linking Ring Magazine from October 1971. The article was titled 'Somewhere West of Budapest, Somewhere East of Appleton' and was penned by magic historian and collector Robert Lund, who was also the curator and owner of The American Museum of Magic. The article deals with Houdini's claim he was born on April 6th. Among the various things discussed in the article are a letter from Gladys Weiss to Bess Houdini, and a statement made my Leopold Weiss about his brother. It's definitely worth listening too.

There will be another Houdini Episode following this one. I don't intend to cover his entire life in this fashion, but I'd like to have a couple episodes that give a good overview of his life. I hope to have the next episode up in a couple days, as I have something important I'd like to promote. Here is the link again for Episode 5.

Pictures for Episode 3 of The Magic Detective Podcast

Henry Ridgely Evans Grave

Episode 3 is up and already has gotten a lot of downloads. In the episode I mention two graves that I visited, one belonging to Margery the Medium, and the other to magic author Henry Ridgely Evans. Below is an image of Margery's grave, above is the Evan's grave. If you click the links it will take you to my blog that lists the actual locations of the graves.

Margery the Medium's Grave

I also talk about my old buddy Steve Baker who was known as Mr. Escape, here is a picture of Steve. If you'd like to read more about Steve you can visit his website at MrEscape.com

On the HOUDINI RADIO segment, I shared a piece about Queen Victoria's Dress and how Houdini obtained it. And where it is today. Below is an image of Houdini's mother wearing Queen Victoria's
dress.

If you'd like to listen to the podcast on iTunes you can use this link, or if you have an iPhone, go to the podcast app on your phone and type in Magic Detective Podcast and it should come up.

Episode 2 of The Magic Detective Podcast is UP!

I'm really having a fun time with these podcasts. I just uploaded episode 2, and episode 3 is finished and will go this weekend. Episode 4 however is one that I'm REALLY excited about. This one has the first feature that was written specifically for the podcast and will also be a blog article. That is what I had hoped to do all along, use both mediums to complement each other.

In Episode 2, I share some Washington D.C. connections to Magic History. The 15 item list can be seen here. During the HOUDINI RADIO Segment, I share the story of where Houdini got the dog that he gave to The Great Lafayette. Of course, that dog, whom he called Beauty, would be Lafayette's companion for the rest of his life. If you'd like to read more about Lafayette & his dog Beauty, follow this link.

I'll be experimenting with the Interview feature next week, so hopefully by the time I get to episode 5 or 6, I'll be ready to conduct some awesome interviews. And WOW, do I ever have a list of people!!!! You probably know some of them, and you might even BE one of them, lol. And I expect to have quite a few people that maybe you've not heard of but have so much to share!

Personally, I have gathered a great deal of information that I have never used for the blog. Now, I'll finally get a chance to use it for the podcast. I have a couple of interviews I did with people who have since passed on, so those might be fun to include. In addition, I've got some wild ideas that I just can't reveal, yet.

There is one thing I'm very careful NOT to do, and that is reveal secrets. I'm very old school in that regard, so I won't be tipping any big secrets. I know there will be non-magicians listening to the podcast and I don't want to give away the farm, so to speak. I've done a pretty decent job of keeping secrets out of the blog all these years, with the exception of two incidents which are among the 700+ blog articles, so I guess they're safe.

PLEASE DO ME A FAVOR, if you like the podcast, please leave me a review, or comment, or a LIKE, depending upon where you listen to it. 5 star reviews are appreciated. Trust me, I'll be working hard to earn them! And if you're listening via iTunes, please subscribe to the podcast! Or go to, MagicDetectivePodcast.com

The Magic Detective PODCAST Has Arrived!!!

I've been sitting on this news for some time, but I can now let the cat out of the bag and tell you that The Magic Detective has been turned into a podcast! (For the few who may not know what a podcast is, it's basically like a special radio show that you can listen to on your computer or smart phone) Truth be told, I have shared the info on several social media sites previously, I just haven't gone into much detail.

Episode 1 is an Intro podcast. I give you a little taste of what to expect. The first segment of The Magic History Minute is on there, as is the Feature segment, which deals with Houdini in Germany. I've decided to refer to all the future Houdini sessions as HOUDINI RADIO. There are a couple plugs and even a mention of two of my favorite websites that are NOT mine. Episode 1 has a run time of 24 minutes, so it's just shy of my 30 minute mark, but that's ok. Episode 2 is also done, but it hasn't been uploaded yet. It will appear on Oct 15th. Basically, every Monday there will be a new podcast....aka Magic Mondays!  I plan to move The Magic Detective History Contest over to the podcast, so that means I'll be giving away the occasional prize as well!

You may be wondering what will happen to The Magic Detective Blog? Well, it's staying right here, and I'll continue to write articles for the blog as well. I fully expect to point listeners of the podcast over here often so they can see the photos, and read more about the various artists and performers. The two mediums should compliment each other really well. Then there is the third medium, that is video. I intend to bring back The Magic Detective Youtube Show, though that is a bit further down the road. I expect to post the occasional short videos over there however, videos that are supplements to the blog articles or podcast episodes. So eventually, you'll have The Magic Detective Blog, The Magic Detective Podcast, and The Magic Detective Online Show.


So now that I've let you know about this new project, you may be wondering what you can do? I NEED You to do is subscribe to the podcast and then listen to the episodes as they debut. There are many ways to listen to the podcast, if you're on a computer you can listen through the podcast site http://magicdetectivepodcast.com    But if you want to subscribe, you can do that through the podcast section of iTunes. Simply go to iTunes, or click your podcast button on your iPhone, type in Magic Detective in the search area and look for the logo below. Then hit the subscribe button! Episode 1 was released a couple days early because I wanted to be sure that iTunes approved my podcast before Monday. With that done,  I'm very excited about all of this, I know you'll really enjoy this unique Magic history podcast!

The 2nd episode will air Monday Oct 15th!