Showing posts with label Magic Detective Show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magic Detective Show. Show all posts

Sunday, October 1, 2017

HOUDINI MONTH IS HERE!


Today is October 1st, 2017 and this begins Houdini Month. During this month, I'll have quite a few new Houdini articles for the blog. I'll also be updating some older articles as well. AND, I'll be revealing some never before known information! The first big revelation will be later this week and it will concern Houdini's Jail Escapes. I'll also be doing some magic articles, and escape articles. I have an interview I did with Steve Baker, Mr. Escape, 15 years ago that I'm going to dig out and post. The entire interview has never appeared online or in print.

Later in the month, I'll be switching over to video, and doing some special editions of my old Magic Detective Youtube Show. And, well, there will likely be some surprises along the way as well. Keep watching, keep listening, it's going to be a lot of fun!!!

Article 1: An Escape Revelation
Article 2: Houdini and Queen Victoria's Dress
Article 3: Steve Baker Interview
Article 4: A Houdini Card Mystery
Article 5: Houdini's Detractors
Article 6: Houdini In Ice
Article 7: The First Statue of Houdini
Article 8: Houdini in Ukraine
Article 9: Houdini: The Latest Bust
Article 10: The Men Who Fooled Houdini
Article 11: Houdini & Dunninger Together, Again.
Article 12: Houdini in Baltimore 1916
Article 13: Houdini in Nashville 1899
Article 14: A Poem about Houdini from 1916
CONTEST 3: Third Houdini Month Contest
Article 15: Houdini's Official Protege
Article 16: 104 Years Ago Today In the Life of Houdini 
Article 17: Houdini and His Ghost Houses

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Radio Interview: Houdini and the Spirits w/ The Houdini Brothers!


Ok, I say 'Houdini Brothers' jokingly, but it was great fun. John Cox and I appeared on the same show tonight, Jeff Richards: Paranormal. We were interviewed about Houdini and his Crusade Against The Spiritualists. It was a really enjoyable interview. The host did a fantastic job splitting up the questions and he came to the show knowledgeable about the subject matter. John Cox as you know runs the WildAboutHoudini.com blog site. And Dean Carnegie, well, he has a lil blog about magic history somewhere, lol.

If you missed it or weren't in Canada listening in. HERE is a link to the interview!
You'll want to pick the Nov 15th, 2015 link http://cjme.com/on-demand/jeff-richards%3A-paranormal

#HOUDINI

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Hear The Magic Detective On The Air!


On Sunday, Nov15th at 8pm (cst)  yours truly, Carnegie The Magic Detective, will be interviewed on the Jeff Richards: Paranormal Radio Show out of Edmonton Canada. I'll be talking about HOUDINI. I'm looking forward to it. It will be on 650 CKOM, or 980 CJME and I've been told there will be a podcast replay, so I will be sure to post the podcast for all those not in Canada or not able to listen to the original broadcast. This is my second Canadian interview this year!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

The Return of the Magic Detective Show, Again.


I can hardly believe it myself, but I shot two episodes of my Magic Detective Youtube Show yesterday. I was able to get one edited and uploaded. This is kind of 'out of format' from what I had done in season 2, but it seemed like a fun thing to explore. I had shot a very short video of me escaping from a pair of handcuffs on Halloween and received a lot of emails and comments about it. So I thought, why not do something like that for the show. I actually included that footage at the end of the episode.

The handcuff I talk about is called the Darby. I had read that it was actually Houdini who gave the cuff that name, but I don't know how true that is. I do know it was a very popular cuff having been introduced in the 1800s. Several different companies manufactured a darby cuff. They are still made today, but not really used by law enforcement. And there are a lot of cheap versions of the cuffs that are some try to sell as vintage, but they are pretty crappy reproductions.

I'm editing episode 2 now, and that will go up shortly. By the time I get to episode three I hope to get back to the format I stumbled upon last year which was recreating magic from the Victorian Era. With any luck, I'll also share some visits to magic collections in coming episodes. Let's see if I can actually get past 5 episodes this time around!!!


Thursday, October 2, 2014

New Episode of Magic Detective Show Season 2 Ep 5


Well turns out I missed last week. Just been busy since I got home from my trip and I've not been able to keep up. However, I do have the new episode up and running. It starts with another trick from the world of Professor Hoffmann. I found what I thought was an unusual trick with a borrowed pocket watch that appears inside a glass of milk. I presented the trick as per the instructions in the book, along with a homemade gimmick that I made fashioned after the one Pro. Hoffmann illustrated. I did have to make a few modifications because in the book the magician gets the help from an assistant. In this case, I had to do everything. One thing I found was that this was a fairly tricky thing to pull off. Despite how it might appear, a mirror glass is not used. The glass that is turned and shown empty and then filled with milk truly has NO pocket watch inside when the milk is poured in. At the conclusion of the trick the pocket watch appears to be dripping with milk, however that is all part of the illusion and the watch is never in any danger. It's definitely a stage trick only. Interestingly, there is a trick in Tarbell where a borrowed watch appears in the soil of a potted plant that has similarities to this effect.

The last item on the show is a photo of FuManchu's grave which I received from Martin Pacheco. I had always heard and I also read it in Genii, that David Bamberg/FuManchu got a burial at sea, in other words his ashes were scattered into the ocean. It turns out this was wrong and indeed he was buried in Argentina. But because there was no upkeep on his grave, Bamberg's remains were eventually moved to a common grave and the whereabouts today are sadly unknown.

Enjoy the episode. It may be a week or two before the next one is up. I've got a busy schedule of shows and some personal things to tend to. By the way, sorry for the slightly blurry footage this week. I'm not sure what was going on, but I was in a rush to get it all shot and this was the result.


Tuesday, September 16, 2014

The Fawkes Egg Bag


Magicians are quite familiar with the effect known as The Egg Bag. Most magicians today know the Malini Egg bag, made popular by Max Malini, Charlie Miller and Johnny Thompson. There are other egg bags all of which bring about the same results with only a slight modification in method. But there is an egg bag lost to time which seems to rear it's head every hundred years or so. THE BIG EGG BAG or what I'd like to call The Fawkes Egg Bag.

Sir Isaac Fawkes was a 18th Century Magician from England. I wrote about him once before on this blog, the article can be found here.

The highlight of his act, or the centerpiece of his act was a large egg bag routine. The modern day egg bag is made from 2 squares of fabric about 8 inches by 8 inches sewn on three sides. The bag that Fawkes used was much larger. The modern day bag produces and vanishes a single egg. The Fawkes bag was more involved. Here is a description of his bag routine from The Annals of Conjuring by Sidney W. Clarke.

"He takes an empty bag, lays it upon the table and turns it several times inside out, then commands 100 Eggs out of it, and several showers  of real Gold and silver coins, then the bag begins to swell, several sorts of wild fowl run out of it upon the table."

THAT is a killer piece of magic! The Malini Bag can't do that!!! The Malini bag which is the modern version, is also a stage or platform trick. By all accounts, Fawkes might have been doing this platform or possibly close-up. I'm sure other magicians copied the Fawkes Bag routine and overtime it fell out of fashion. The Fawkes Bag is revealed in the book HOCUS POCUS The Whole Art of Legerdermain by H.Dean 1727. Oddly, the method described only shows producing less than a dozen eggs, so either Fawkes version was different, or he exaggerated a little in his advertisements.


In 1786, David Leendert Bamberg was born. He was the third in the line of the Bamberg Magical Dynasty. According to Harlan Tarbell in Tarbell #5 pg 345, it was David Leendert Bamberg who invented the large type of egg bag.  As Bamberg was born 50 years after Fawkes had died, I'd say that he either 'reinvented' an old favorite with a slightly new way of performing the effect. His son, David Tobias Bamberg also used the large egg bag to great effect in his shows. David Tobias Bamberg was known as Papa Bamberg and was the father of OKITO, Theodore Bamberg.

The Bamberg Egg Bag can be found in Tarbell #5. The method is interesting and after producing 15 eggs it is then followed with the production of a chicken.

Del Adelphia, known as the Cowboy Magician, also performed the large egg bag in the late 1800s. His routine is described in the new book by Mike Caveney called The Conference Illusions, which is book 2 of a set called Mike Caveney Wonders. Del Adelphia was using the Bamberg Bag. The difference in his routine he apparently only produced 8 eggs and then 2 live chickens.  Mike Caveney set about to recreate the effect developed by Del Adelphia but Mike's methodology was quite different from what Del used.

I have always been intrigued with this 'large egg bag' premise. Ever since I first saw the images of Sir Isaac Fawkes in an old magic book, I have wanted to perform this piece. The Tarbell Course kept my interest cooking and then in 2010, I saw Mike Caveney present his version LIVE on the Essential Magic Conference. I say LIVE because I watched the streaming version online before it came out on DVD. IT was indeed fantastic and in addition, I was fooled by the routine.

Well, fast forward to 2014. I am now working on a version of the Large Egg Bag. Mine will hopefully have elements of the all the different versions and with any luck a completely different ending. Below is a photo of the Fawkes Bag created by a master seamstress, my MOM! She has sewn a number of things for me that are all amazing pieces. I'm hoping this particular creation lives up to the skill and artistry she used in making this incredible bag. MY version of the Fawkes Egg Bag will appear in an upcoming episode of The Magic Detective Youtube Show.




Saturday, September 13, 2014

The Magic Detective Show Season 2 Episode 4

On this weeks episode I share some old Victorian Style Magic. The effect was known as The Magnetized Cards and is a very cool routine that uses cards in a none pick a card fashion. Also, I'll be showing another one of my magician figurines.

Enjoy!


Sunday, September 7, 2014

The Magic Detective Show Season 2 Ep 3

It's time for another episode of the weekly, or semi-weekly, Magic Detective Youtube Show, the five minute online magic history show. This week, I share a new acquisition with you, a piece of apparatus that comes from the book Modern Magic by Prof. Hoffmann. Also, I share one of the large statues from the collection of magician figures! In the coming weeks, I hope to share material from the various Prof. Hoffmann books, as well as Greater Magic, the Tarbell Course and more.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

The Magic Detective Show Season 2 Ep 2

A special treat for the 30 Days of Houdini is a new episode of The Magic Detective. The show is a semi-regular weekly video blog on magic history, typically the episodes run about 5 minutes. This episode has two Houdini items and then finishes with an ESCAPE.

My interest in magic began with the Tony Curtis Houdini movie and one of the things that always stuck out to me in that movie was his Steel Straitjacket. I thought it was such a cool looking prop and a little over ten years ago I had to opportunity to have one made. My jacket routine evolved over time from the type of routine done in the movie to more of a true escape. The current version, is more intense than the one on this video, but I thought you might like to see it just the same. Enjoy!


Tuesday, August 19, 2014

The Magic Detective SHOW New Episode

Well, after a VERY long absence, the Magic Detective Show is back. If you're new to this, the show is a 5+ minute video blog on magic history. This week's episode features a very unusual item from Robert Heller.  Enjoy.


Thursday, August 14, 2014

The Magic Detective YouTube Show is Returning Next Week!


After a very long absence, The Magic Detective Youtube Show is returning! I had a lot of emails over this from folks wondering when I was going to resume. Well, the first new episode is already done and will debut next week. The upcoming episode will actually not have any Houdini stuff, but you can expect Houdini pieces after. The upcoming episode has a couple items on Robert Heller.

So get ready for the new season of The Magic Detective Show! Coming Soon....

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Magic Detective Vanished???

 Hi Everyone,

Sorry for vanishing on you though it was not on purpose. There was a minor complication with my site that caused it to dissappear. I was unaware that the site had been down until I started getting emails from my readers. It's been a very frustrating day of trying to figure out what happened and getting it resolved. You'd think it would be an easy fix, but that was hardly the case. The good news is it's back up and running and viewable by the WORLD!

Thank you to everyone who alerted me to the problem and for those who helped in getting it fixed and back up!

Dean Carnegie



Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Contest ANSWERS Special


The First Magic Detective Contest is now officially over. Thanks to everyone who sent in answers. Seems that I may have made the contest a bit on the difficult side, lol (sorry about that). Maybe next time I'll keep it to 10 questions or less and maybe not so hard. As it was there was no one who answered all the questions correctly. The person who came the closest however was awarded the First Prize, which was the Kellar book by Gail Jarrow. Technically I didn't have to give out a second prize, but I did anyway. I took all the remaining submissions and put them in a box and drew out one and that person got the second prize.

For those of you wondering what the answers to the contest questions were, I decided to put together a special edition of The Magic Detective Show with ALL the answers included. It's a longer video than all the other episodes, it's almost 10 minutes. And it will not be available on the Magic Detective Show YouTube Channel as you need a special link to see it. The only place where you can see the video is by watching it below.

Once again, thank you to everyone who tried and thanks for continually watching my show and reading this blog!


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Episode 5 More Details

Please be sure to watch Episode 5 before reading this....and watch AFTER the credits for the bloopers. 

Now that you've watched the episode you'll notice that I screwed up the name of J. Gordon Whitehead numerous times. In fact, the final take even had it wrong, so I had to pull it OFF the video, lol.

Houdini got punched in the abdomen on October 22nd, 1926 by J. Gordon Whitehead, a student at McGill University. He still performed in a show later that day but complained of stomach pain before and afterwards. His final day in Montreal, Max Malini and Ozzie Malini were in the audience and according to Patrick Culliton Houdini told them, "I let a college kid punch me in the stomach and he caught me wrong, and it's killing me."

When it was all over in Montreal they packed up and headed via Train to Detroit. Houdini had a temperature of 102 and at this point should have gone straight to the hospital. But he was stubborn and when he found out the house was sold out for the evening, he turned down all requests and pleas to go to the hospital. That moment was probably his last chance because he pushed himself past all physical means in order to finish the show and collapsed when the show was over.

He was still alive, but his temperature was now 104 and the damage was done. The doctors had little hope that anything they did would help. They still operated and removed his ruptured appendix, but it was too late and the medical staff did not think he would last long. However, Houdini, ever the fighter, continued to battle this and lived on for several days.

He made it to Halloween, 1926 and died at 1:26 p.m. with his family surrounding him.

A few things I had not mentioned previously, this 1926-27 Tour had Houdini presenting his 3 in 1 Show. Where he did magic, escapes and then exposed spirit mediums to conclude the show. He presented small apparatus magic like Robert-Houdin's Crystal Casket, silk productions, vanishing and appearing lamps and much more. During the escape portion he presented his signature Metamorphosis and the Water Torture Cell....but a broken ankle in Albany NY prevented him from every presenting the WTC again. The finale was exposing fake spirit mediums. This could be quite a lively affair as sometimes he would get hecklers from the audience over this portion and other times when there were no distractions this portion proved to be both fun and educational. It was a massive undertaking and required more than just Harry and Bess to perform.

But it ended in Detroit. I would encourage you to read one other blog article I wrote called "Tracking the Body of Houdini" which follows his body from the hospital all the way back to his burial in NY.

By the way, if you didn't recognize the two people in the photo at the beginning of Ep 5, it was Houdini on the left and ELVIS on the Right....and now you hopefully get the joke :)

Episode 5 of The Magic Detective Show


I can't believe it. I beat the storm! Hurricane Sandy is about to slam us and I was able to get this video uploaded before I lost my internet and the electricity here. This one is about the Death of Houdini. Be sure to watch after the credits for a couple bloopers.

By the way, The Magic Detective Contest Ends Oct 30th, and so far there is no clear winner (meaning no one has answered ALL the questions correct). SO, if you haven't submitted your answers, DO IT NOW as you might be the winner. If no one answers all the questions correct, I'll be going for the person with the MOST correct answers. It's not too late to enter, and email the answers to
carnegiemagic@aol.com

Here is the link to the contest http://www.themagicdetective.com/2012/10/magic-detective-magic-history-contest.html 

On Wednesday, Oct 31, I will have a Special Episode of The Magic Detective Show which you can only access through this website. That episode will have ALL the answers to the contest questions.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Episode 4 Additional Information

Deadly Punch??? Read comments at the end of article*
Episode 4 continues the last days of Houdini. Oct 22, 1926, Houdini, his wife Bess, her niece Julia Sawyer and her nurse Sophie Rosenblatt are about to go into the Princess Theatre. Waiting outside for them are two college students from McGill University, Jacques Price and Sam Smiley (Samuel Smilovitch). You might recall from the previous episode that Sam Smiley was the student/artist who was drawing sketches of Houdini during his lecture at McGill. He showed them to Houdini and invited him to come to see him backstage at the theater.

Houdini, along with the group headed to his dressing room, the time is a little after 11 a.m.. According to the Silverman biography, the dressing room at the Princess Theatre was about 8ft by 10ft. Houdini reclined on a couch in the back of the room while Smiley in Price sat in chairs a few feet from Houdini. Smiley was there to do another sketch of Houdini.

A few moments later there was a knock on the dressing room door and Julia Sawyer got up to answer the door and she let Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead into the room. He briskly walked over to Houdini and returned a book that he had borrowed. Houdini introduced Whitehead to the other boys, so it was more than just a first time meeting for them, which many of the older Houdini biographies make it sound like. Whitehead had met Houdini before. In fact, he met him several times before.

The Don Bell book about Whitehead says that Whitehead called on Houdini at his hotel on two occasions and mentions borrowing the latest copy of Scientific American. In this meeting, Whitehead is returning a book. When Whitehead entered he took over the conversation, irritating Smiley. Whitehead asked him about the miracles of the Bible and Houdini chose not to discuss that, but added that the stunts he did would certainly look like miracles in biblical days. Whitehead then asked if it was true that Houdini could withstand a punch to the stomach without feeling any pain. Now here is something I had missed before, Houdini tried to change the subject and pointed to his strong arms and shoulders. He even went so far as to let the students feel his arm muscles. When Whitehead again asked if Houdini could take a punch, Houdini again shifted focus to his arms.

My one question is, when did Houdini ever use punching him as a bragging point? 'Ladies & Gentleman, not only am I the greatest escape artist in the world, but you can punch me and I will feel nothing!' Really??? I don't think so. But regardless, Houdini agreed he could take the punch. Apparently Whitehead misunderstood this as an invitation to throw some punches. Houdini was still reclining when the barrage of punches flew. As I pointed out in the episode, it was not a single punch either. Whitehead hit Houdini numerous times before Price pulled him off.

There were only 4 people in that room when the incident took place. Houdini, Smiley, Price and Whitehead. The students all gave a deposition as to what they remembered. It was not viewed as a criminal act and Whitehead was never arrested.

A few minutes after the punches, Smiley finished his sketch of Houdini, and he signed it and gave it to the magician. When Houdini saw the sketch he mentioned to Smiley, "you made me look a little tired in the picture....the truth is I don't feel so well". I think if we look back at what had been taking place; Houdini had been nursing a broken ankle, he was under enormous amounts of stress over the million dollars worth of lawsuits, he was receiving death threats, he was not getting much sleep at all, and now he just got hit with a barrage of punches to the stomach. I also can't help but wonder if back in Providence R.I. just a short time before when Bess got food poisoning, if perhaps Houdini had also contracted a small case of that as well. I'm guessing of course. But we know he did not look well and here he admits to not feeling well either.

The students left around noon and Houdini prepared for the show. He still had a show that night to do and the Saturday performances before they were to leave for Detroit.

J. Gordon Whitehead after this point almost vanishes from history. Author Don Bell spent 20 years digging up information on Whitehead and discovered he lived the life of a recluse. If he were alive to see the name of the book Bell wrote, "The Man Who Killed Houdini" I imagine he would be glad he never went out in public. But is it fair to say he killed Houdini? I understand it makes an exciting story and certainly very intriguing. But according to Bell, Whitehead met with Houdini at least two times following the October 22 incident in the dressing room. So if he really had murder on the mind, you'd think Whitehead would have finished him off. I think it's very likely that someone would have attempted to kill Houdini and possibly succeeded, but his own stubborness about not going to the hospital and attending to his health issues really was his undoing.

Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead died of malnutrition in 1954. He is buried in an unmarked grave. I have a photo of the plot of grass where he is buried over at my DeadConjurers blog. It's interesting to me that of the almost 50 graves pictured on the site, the one that is most viewed is actually Whiteheads. The number of views even dwarfs that of Houdini's grave.


*The photo at the top of the page is actually a staged photo with Houdini and the fellow with the boxing gloves on is Jack Dempsey. I thought it made a pretty good picture to add to this particular article which is really about a deadly punch, but I also wanted to point out the photo is NOT from the actual event on Oct 22.
This is all thats left of the Princess Theatre today.

Houdini - Whitehead, Episode 4


Today marks the 86th Anniversary of the infamous 'punch' incident where Houdini was hit numerous times in the stomach by J. Gordon Whitehead. The Magic Detective Show Episode 4 delves into this event and shares some information about just who Whitehead was.

This episode is coming out a little early because I wanted it to try and follow the important events of Houdini's life as they unfold.

Don't forget to check out the  'Additional Information' on Episide 4 either later tonight or tomorrow. Until then, enjoy Episode 4!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Episode 3 Additional Information

Episode Three of The Magic Detective Show is about Houdini's Final Tour and gave some facts that happened on and prior to October 19th, 1926.

Let's begin. The final Houdini Tour started on September 7th 1926.  It was supposed to be a five month tour. Houdini was taking a route that he had taken many times before according to Kenneth Silverman. The tour opened at the Majestic Theatre in Boston Mass for a two week run. Houdini had a couple new features in his show this fall. He was presenting an illusion he purchased from Joe Dunninger, "Cutting a Woman in Eighths" or as one newspaper ad said "Slicing a Woman in Seven Parts". He also had another new feature that he restricted to venues that were two weeks long. This other feature is referred to in the Kalush Biography as "The Mystery of the Sphinx.  This was Houdini's Buried Alive Escape done on stage. According to the Kalush Bio, he debuted the escape in Worcester, however on John Cox's blog WildaboutHoudini.com there is an ad for the Majestic Theatre in Boston which clearly says he is doing this escape at that theatre and I found a similar ad which you can see below. It makes sense as the Boston gig was two weeks long. On Episode 3 I actually said he debuted it in Worcester because that's the information in all the books, but I think the ad shows that indeed Houdini was doing the buried alive escape in Boston.

In Patrick Culliton's book Houdini The Key, he gives a description of the effect along with method. I've seen many Houdini escapes duplicated, but this is one I would have love to have seen live!

After being being placed in a straight jacket, then into a canvas sack and into the coffin, the coffin was lowered into the large glass fronted box and covered with sand. Houdini would step out from behind the large box to take his bow! Houdini made his escape in two minutes.

How on earth they traveled with something of this size is beyond me. I'm going to guess that the dimensions of the larger outer box might not be quite as large as they appear in the poster. Certainly less sand would be required if this were the case. Also, the outer box had a front made of glass. It would be near impossible to travel with a thick piece of glass the size that is indicated on the poster, so again I think it makes sense that the outer box was not quite as large.

After Boston, Houdini headed west to Worcester MA. This was another two week run and it was here that he presented his third Underwater Coffin Test at YMCA Pool in Worcester. His run in Worcester was followed by a short 3 day run in Providence Rhode Island. This is where Bess Houdini contracted food poisoning after a dinner out with Harry and H.P. Lovecraft. The run in Providence ended on Oct 8th and Houdini sends Bess and crew to Albany NY, while he takes a detour to NYC. Houdini needed to meet with his lawyer to discuss the mounting lawsuits he was receiving. He also met up with Joe Dunninger, who served as taxi driver for Houdini while he was in town.

Houdini took the train back to Albany and arrived early in the morning. At this point, he was going on very few hours of sleep.  Opening night at the Capital Theatre in Albany Houdini had an accident as he prepared to do the Water Torture Cell Escape. However, I'm unclear on exactly what took place.
The Silverman Bio says "the cables twisted or swayed" and the resulting 'lurch'  cracked the footstock and he fractured his ankle. The Kalush bio says simply that "as he was hoisted in the air he gasped and his face twisted in pain." The Henning bio says "as he was lifted in the air one of his ankles snapped", the Gresham bio says basically the same thing. In Randi's biography it says "as he was lifted he felt a crack. The frame (footstock) had loosened and wrenched his left foot, injuring the bone." Here is what Houdini had to say in a letter he wrote on Oct 12th, two days after the accident, "The cover snapped as we were drawing it up, and I have some sort of fracture on the left leg. The left side of my body is somewhat weaker than the right, or perhaps it just struck a glancing blow. Anyway, it hit with enough force to smash the cover which is of heavy nickel-plated steel." This comes from a letter reprinted in Houdini The Key by Patrick Culliton.  The odd thing is a Doctor was reported as saying that if the stocks had not cracked Houdini's leg would have been cut off.....I'm not quite getting that part of it. I wonder if John Gaughan saw the cracked stocks when he refurbished the WTC? All the stories are similar and whatever the actually cause, the end result was a fractured bone. 

At any rate, Houdini was hurt and unable to do the WTC. A doctor put a splint on his leg and told Houdini to go to the hospital. Of course, Houdini refused because he had a show to finish. He did his Needle Trick and then went on with the exposure of fake mediums to finish the show. The remainder of his tour he was in constant pain due to the fractured left ankle.

From Albany they ventured down the road to Schenectady NY, where despite the injury he presented three days of shows. Next stop, Montreal Canada. He opened on October 18th at the Princess Theatre in Montreal (though the Gresham book says he opened on the 17th).  By all accounts Houdini looked 'sickly' and tired and frankly old. If you figure in the lack of sleep, the pain from his leg and add to that the stress of $1 Million in lawsuits being filed by ticked-off spiritualists, Houdini sure had a right to look bad.

He accepted an invitation by the head of the psychology department at McGill University to give a talk before the students. The lecture set records for attendance and it took place in the Student Union Building. Today this building is known as the McCord Museum and a photo can be seen in Episode 3 of the Magic Detective Show. Houdini's lecture took place in the ballroom at 5p.m. on Oct 19th, 1926. His talk was on Magic & Spiritualism. A stand-out moment in the lecture was when Houdini took a needle and shoved it through his cheek to demonstrate his high tolerance for pain. This is a stunt he had done for years in his talks and lectures. He finished his lecture talking about fake spirit mediums and his encounters with Lady Doyle, the wife of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and with good ole Margery the Boston Medium.

Following the lecture he met with students and one of those he talked to was Samuel Smilovitch, known as Sam Smiley. Sam had been doing sketches of Houdini during his lecture and showed them to him. He liked the artwork and invited Sam to meet with him backstage at the Princess Theatre before one of his performances over his run in Montreal. And that is where I stopped the Episode.

What takes place next is historic and tragic and will directly lead to the end of Houdini's life. Be sure to watch the next Episode of The Magic Detective for the details!

Red Marks to Tour Route. Blue is Houdini's detour to NYC

The Magic Detective Show Ep 3


Finally! What a nightmare this has been. I tried to upload this episode last evening and the power went out. Then the power came back and during the second attempt to upload, I lost my internet connection. Needless to say, Episode 3 is finally online!

This show talks a little about the Final Houdini Tour and his last lecture at McGill University in Montreal. Watch close because you'll see the building where Houdini presented his lecture. It took me a while to find this building because today the building is a museum. But 86 years ago it was the Student Union Building.

I hope you enjoy Episode 3 and this weekend I'll post the more in-depth blog article about Houdini's Final Tour.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Magic Detective Show Upcoming News


This Friday, Oct 19, another episode of The Magic Detective Show will air on Youtube. You'll want to check this one out because it's the first one to feature HOUDINI. The feedback from the two previous editions has been very positive, so thank you everyone who has contacted me about the show. The number of views is actually pretty decent at the moment too. I know it's mostly magic folk viewing the show and that's fine, as they are the target audience right now.

By the way, I found out more information on who the real George Waldo Heller was and added that to the end of the article from yesterday

See you all on Friday!

Don't forget to enter the Magic Detective History Contest going on this month! The contest ends on Oct 30th, 2012, and the answers will be revealed on a Special Edition of The Magic Detective Show!