Houdini News

I tell you what, John Cox has one of the coolest pieces of news on Houdini I've read in a while. Well, actually Pat Culliton's recently released book was also full of cool stuff too. But online, you can't beat
http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2010/11/rko-589-part-i-paul-muni-would-make.html

I say that without having visited http://houdinihimself.com/ in a while. That site too is filled with crazy cool info on Houdini.  But be sure to read the story from John Cox's site about the earliest script for a Houdini movie, fascinating!

Houdini & The Hippodrome

One of Houdini's most famous feats was when he made an elephant vanish. This took place at the NYC Hippodrome. Above is a photo of the Hippodrome Theatre as it looked in Houdini's day. It was a 5200 seat monster! It was used as a theatre until 1939. Today, a building stands on the very spot where the theatre once was and it too is called The Hippodrome. However the current Hippodrome is not an entertainment complex, just an office building. The location is 1120 Avenue of the Americas NYC

Cool Houdini Find

A few days ago I posted my painting of the above photo (here). Well I just stumbled upon a really cool item relating to the actual photo. It seems that Ken Trombly, the magic collector, has among his collection of magic artifacts, a receipt belonging to Harry Houdini for ALL the items on the table seen in this photo.

Apparently Houdini must have purchased them just for the photo! You can read more about it and see the actual photo of the receipt at the IBM Ring 50 website, http://ibmring50.blogspot.com/

By the way, Ken was kind enough a few years ago to allow me to see his collection and it's incredible! I actually got to see a number of Houdini posters up close. But he's got much more than Houdini in his collection. I was astonished at all the treasures he owns. He's a great guy and you can visit his Houdini site too at http://www.houdinicollector.com/main/template.cfm He also has another great site at http://magicposters.com/main/index.html