The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini, Escaping Obscurity, A Review

 

Ok, I will admit it, I'm late to the party. In fact, I'm so late I owe John Cox an apology. I always intended to pick up his book, I just have been a bit overwhelmed with projects. But now I have it. The book that is a work by Mike Caveney, Dr. Bruce Averbook, and John Cox called Escaping Obscurity.

This is the travel diary of a young Harry Houdini. It dates from 1897-1899. And you wouldn't think there'd be that much to cover during that time, but young Harry was a busy guy. I'm personally irritated at myself, because parts of the Travel Diary have appeared in print before. The first time I believe was in the Doug Henning book, HOUDINI His Legend and his Magic, page 19. Yes, it's only a few pages, yes, it's hard to read. But unlike many people today who are not learning how to read cursive writing, I'm of the generation who can. This would have made an excellent blog article or podcast. But they beat me to the punch!

Let me state for the record, Escaping Obscurity is impressive! It's a large volume, far thicker than I expected. 374 printed pages, and many of these are full color. Actually, they are all probably full color, it's just that some images are black and white to begin with. Every recorded day in the Diary is addressed with what was going on and images of either Houdini or the location, or newspaper articles or something that helps support that part of the story. 

There will be a few images that are new to the reader, at least they were new to me. Page 96 has a wonderful and very clear photo of Houdini and Samri Baldwin. I've seen several images of the two performers together, but this one is new to me. Samri Baldwin made the claim to be the first magician to publicly escape from a pair of handcuffs. He also is credited for introducing the Q&A Act into the world of magic, having taken it from the world of the mediums. I have a podcast episode on Baldwin if you are interested. 

On page 89 there is an image, I have seen before, at least I think I have. I can't recall if it was in print, or if Ken Trembly showed it to me. At any rate, it's the first image of Houdini doing any sort of escape routine, captured in a photograph. The image also contains a ghostly figure apparently assisting him. Seeing the larger version is remarkable.

I had only one complaint about the book, which is no longer a valid complaint. The font size is very small. But when compared to the Henning book, it's the same size. So complaint withdrawn! The book is very artistically laid out.  Whenever possible, it contains images of additional performers that might have something to do with that part of the story. For example, there is a photo of Dr. Walford Bodie on page 48. It's included in the book because Houdini gave Bodie his Electric Chair that he acquired from Huber's Dime Museum. This happened in 1920, so it's a bit out to date for the diary, but it helps to fill in the Huber story nicely.

This is not a novel, it's an annotated version of Houdini's Travel Diary. It's beautiful and full of history and adds to many stories you might have read in other biographies on Houdini. But it's not the type of book you sit down and read like a traditional biography. I say that just to let you know what exactly it is.

Also, it's something that you wouldn't have if it weren't for the kindness of both Dr. Bruce Averbook, the current owner of the diary, and Mike Caveney, the publisher. This is a truly rare glimpse into the early career of Houdini. John Cox does an excellent job of filling in the blanks and explaining what each of these 'stops' along the tour was all about. And finally Michael Albright was charged with putting all of it together graphically into the amazing book it is. It's a joy to view and examine. For the Houdini researcher, it's another very valuable tool to help tell the ever expanding story of The Master Mystifier himself!

How to buy the book: go here: MikeCaveney's site or here for a signed copy: JohnCox's site.

MAGIC Magazine Great Historical Column

As promised, I wanted to give equal time to MAGIC Magazine, after my article on Genii. This month (May) the cover story is about The Magic Show on Broadway 40 Years Later. It is a great article on how The Magic Show came about, what Doug Henning was like in the very early years, how the various touring versions came about and the actor/magicians who worked in those shows. Plus in the digital version of the magazine there is a video link to the first 7 minutes of the movie version of The Magic Show. But as great as all of that is, the icing on the cake a 25 minute long video taped interview that David Charvet did with Doug Henning, it was Doug's last interview. It is a MUST WATCH!

When it comes to history and MAGIC Magazine, there is one guy who has the corner on the market and that is Mike Caveney. His column is called Classic Correspondence and it always has some interesting gem. It's a relatively short column and yet it's packed with great historical content.

As for non magic columns, I always enjoy Mark Kornhauser's column called For What It's Worth, always funny observations on his life as a performer. Loving Mentalism by Ian Rowland has had some really stunning material in it lately. But the best of the bunch is Mike Bent's column called Bent on Deception. Mike is a comedy magician, kidshow performer and a truly creative guy.

By the way, Stan Allen has just introduced a NEW digital version of the magazine which you should really check out called M360. To find out more about MAGIC and to subscribe, go to http://www.magicmagazine.com/

Mike Caveney Reveals ALL In Two New Books!

Mike Caveney* is a magical performer, talented comedian and one of the foremost scholars on magic history alive today. If you've ever seen Mike perform you know his material is hilarious and the magic is rock solid.  Mike is also the publisher and occasionally writer of some of the finest magic history books of the last 40 years. A sampling of titles include: Walter Jeans-Illusioneer, Devant's Delightful Delusions, P.T. Selbit-Magical Innovator, Buatier DeKolta-Genius of Illusion, Carter the Great, Servais LeRoy-Monarch of Mystery and many other titles. Mike is also one of the producers of the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History.  And now, for the first time, Mike Caveney is revealing ALL, and then some.

Mike Caveney has just published a new 2 book set called Mike Caveney Wonders & The Conference Illusions. The books are sold as a set, you cannot purchase them separately. Within the pages of Mike Caveney Wonders you'll find his entire act. This is an important point, he'll share with you the methods to the routines, the history behind the routines, the creative process he went through to create the various routines, and humorous stories that happened along the way. In other words, for the historian we are getting a look into the mind of a creative artist and learning the details on how EVERYTHING was done, every step of the way. For the performer, we're getting an education from a true working pro on how to create something really unique and special. It's all in there too, the Arm Juggling routine, The Linking Coat Hangers, The Bow & Arrow....everything Mike has performed!

In my opinion, that volume alone is priceless. But Mike has taken this project even further by adding a second volume called "The Conference Illusions". This book details the various illusions from the Golden Age of Magic that Mike brought back to life during the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History.  For many of us who have never had the good fortune to have attended the conference, this will be a detailed look into the history of the routines and all the work and research that went into recreating them. Some of the illusions Mike presented at the conference include: Dante's Sawing a Lady in Half, Selbit's Bricks, Carter's Million Dollar Mystery, The OH! Chair and many others. The information in this book will be invaluable to the magic historian.

Mike Caveney Wonders is 456 pages, The Conference Illusions is 256 pages and 900 photographs between the two volumes. Often in projects like this, there are two versions a regular version and a deluxe version. With this project there is ONLY a deluxe version which makes them even more special. Please note, this is not a review of the books. But judging by the quality of his previous publications, you can expect nothing short of two fantastic books.

You can pre-order the book from Mike's website right now! This link will take you directly to the page for the book http://mcmagicwords.com/books_mike_caveney_wonders.html
The books will make their debut at the upcoming MAGIC LIVE Convention in Las Vegas and the the orders for books will be shipped out after that.

*Most of us are well familiar with Mike Caveney. But I have a lot of readers who are new to magic history, so I like to give them as many details as I can. IF you are new to Mike, you're in for a real treat!
(above photos are courtesy of Mike Caveney)