Blackstone In D.C.

Here's a slight change of pace from all the Houdini stuff. Did you know that Harry Blackstone Sr. is in the Smithsonian Museum? Back in the 1985 Harry Blackstone Jr. donated two original pieces of his father's equipment to the museum. Apparently it was the first time they accepted a magic donation. I find that somewhat hard to believe because I'm sure there are Houdini items in the Smithsonian.

But it is still quite exciting for Blackstone to be in the museum. Now whether or not they are on display, that I cannot say. The two items in question are one of the original Dancing Handkerchief Casadega Cabinets and the original Floating Lightbulb apparently built by none other than Thomas Edision!

Houdini Free Friday!

Yep, no reports from me on Houdini. I'm worn out, lol. Plus I was up again till 2am reading the Culliton book. Today it's back to the phones to finish booking shows for next month. Also have a painting I'm working on that I'll hopefully finish tonight.

If you need your Houdini fix, check out www.wildabouthoudini.com. That is John Cox's site and it's simply fantastic. There are links on his site to other Houdini sites which I would encourage you to check out. And try out www.houdinisghost.com which is Patrick Culliton's site. It's filled with interesting facts you won't find anywhere else.

Houdini in London

To me the greatest of Houdini's Challenges was when he was faced with the Mirror Cuffs. This took place at the London Hippodrome. Thankfully, this building still stands however it has been converted to the Hippodrome Casino. A view of their website will show the main casino showroom is clearly the old auditorium. They do offer live entertainment, but it's on a much smaller scale, a 160 seat Cabaret.

I'm not going to go over the whole Mirror Challenge. If you aren't familiar with it, most of the Houdini biographies cover it. The latest book by Patrick Culliton goes into some very interesting details and adds another layer on the mystery of Houdini.