The Magic Detectives

Before I became the Magic Detective (a name given to me by Mark Daniel), there were a number of others. One of the first was Harry Blackstone Sr.. His Magic Detective began as Radio Serial which ran from 1948 to 1950. These were 15 minute adventures in which actor Edward Jerome played the part of Blackstone the Magician and shared exciting stories from his life. These were written by the man who was also responsible for another popular radio serial called The Shadow. The author was none other than Walter Gibson.

Gibson was also a confident of Thurston and Houdini as well as many other magicians. His Blackstone radio series was complimented by a Blackstone the Magic Detective Comic Book series as well.

Here is an episode the Blackstone The Magic Detective for you to listen to. If you are interested in listening to more of the series please visit the website
http://www.radiolovers.com/pages/blackstonethemagicdetective.htm 
And if you like you can purchase all 55 known audio recordings of Blackstone The Magic Detective from The Miracle Factory http://miraclefactory.net/zenstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=85

The next magic detective was David Bamberg, who performed under the stage name Fu-Manchu. David came from a long line of magicians, and his father Theo Bamberg performed under the stage name OKITO.

David made a series of three Spanish language films in which he solved crimes using magic. The films were The Ghost of the Bride (El Espectro de la Novia), The Headless Woman (La Mujer sin Cabeza), The Black Ace (El As Negro) and all were made in the 1940s in Mexico. These are available through The Miracle Factory at http://miraclefactory.net/zenstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_19&products_id=14

The next two magic detectives were Bill Bixby and Hal Linden and they both who had their own TV series. Bixby's was called "The Magician" and ran for one season on NBC back in 1973. I'm pretty sure that Mark Wilson was the consultant on this one as Bill Bixby dresses in the same costumes that Mark wore. I vaguely recall this show from childhood, but fortunately the SciFi/Syfy Channel ran the series a few years ago.

Bixby played a character named Anthony Blake and drove a White Corvette equipped with a PHONE! (this was long before cell phones). As I recall there were a number of scenes shot in the famous Hollywood Magic Castle. 

Bill Bixby continued to be a big supporter of magic even following the cancellation of this show. He was a member of the Magic Castle and appeared on a number of magic related TV specials.

Hal Linden played a magic detective along with Harry Morgan in Blacke's Magic. This ran for thirteen episodes on NBC in 1986.

Hal Linden has the classic look of the magician, like a Mandrake or a Cardini. Unfortunately, I can't help but wonder if the consistent use of this kind of dated imagary is what killed the show. Magic appears 'out of date' and frankly, sometimes magic is out of date or out of touch.

I'll bet money that the consultant on this show was Harry Blackstone Jr.. The show's logo looked just like that used by Blackstone Jr. the Magician. I remember seeing Hal Linden on TV promoting the show and doing some magic and he was pretty good. Here is a clip from opening of Blacke's Magic...

But as far as I can tell, the very first magic detective was none other than Harry Houdini. In his 1923 film Haldane of The Secret Service, Harry goes after the bad guys and in the process gets tied up, chained up and bound in every way imaginable.

Houdini is the star, the director and the producer of this movie. It's interesting that he used his old moniker of "World Famous Handcuff King" in the promotion of the movie. I think it's pretty clear who the star of the movie is by looking at the image to the left.
Haldane of the Secret Service is available on the Houdini DVD compilation by Kino, along with The Master Mystery, The Man From Beyond, Terror Island, and clips from The Grim Game along with some archival footage.
http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=896

Houdini Painting Stained Glass-Like

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! What a fun way to bring in the New Year by showing a brand new Houdini Painting! I don't usually double post things, but I thought this painting came out so well that I figured I'd post it over here for the Houdini fans to see. I finished this tonight, 1-1-11. It's painted in acrylics on canvas, NOT stained glass, though that is the look I was going for. I've toyed with the notion of actually doing a work in real stained glass before, but never painting it on canvas. Last night when I began the piece, I had been inspired by a stained glass window I saw and figured it wouldn't hurt just to try it out.

All in all, it's a cool piece and I'm not even sure what number this is for Houdini artwork, maybe it's my tenth Houdini painting or maybe eleventh.

Who Was Houdini's Boyhood Hero?

The first thought that comes to mind was Robert Houdin the french magician who Houdini acquired his name from. But actually if that was your guess, you'd be wrong (well you'd also be right, but I'm going after someone else). You might want to say, Dr. Lynn or Harry Kellar or any number of magicians who were performing back then, but his hero was not a magician. Houdini's boyhood hero was none other than the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

According to the Silverman Biography Houdini referred to Lincoln as "my hero of hereos."Houdini claimed to have read all the books about Lincoln when he was a kid. In the Kalush biography there is a story of young Houdini attending a seance and the medium was relaying a message from Lincoln. Houdini knowing everything there was to know about Lincoln asked a question to Lincoln via the medium and was puzzled when the answer that came back was not correct. This led to his early discovery that most Spiritualists were fake.

Later in life Houdini would collect letters and autographs by Lincoln. He also collected letters by every member of the assassin John Wilkes Booths family. There was a biography written called "The Life and Death of John Wilkes Booth" in which Houdini purchased almost every available copy, few copies remain today. I recently saw a History Channel Show that speculated on John Wilkes Booth not being killed by Union Soldiers but instead having escaped the barn where he had been shot and lived to a ripe old age. IF that is true (which it's still only speculation) I wonder if Booth could have seen Houdini perform!? (probably not)

Houdini also had associations with Abraham Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln. Apparently a medium claimed to have authentic spirit photos of Abraham Lincoln. These photos were actually the creation of William Mumler, the man who is credited with creating the first Spirit Photos.  Houdini sent copies of these to Robert Todd Lincoln and he confirmed that these images were from photos of his father taken at much earlier time period. Houdini often would produce 'fake spirit messages' from Lincoln during his lectures and exposures on spiritualism and even produced his own fake spirit photo with Lincoln. Many spiritualists were claiming that Lincoln was in fact a devote spiritualist and had held seances in the White House. Actually it was Mary Lincoln who actively sought help from mediums to try and contact their dead son Willie. Houdini naturally fought against any idea that Abraham Lincoln was a Spiritualist.


During the promotion of the movie The Master Mystery, it was revealed that Houdini's pet eagle, was named 'Josephus Daniel Abraham Lincoln'. The 'stage name' of the bird was "Miss Liberty" however. Houdini produced the bird at the end of his Whirlwind of Colors routine (the production of scarves and other fabric from a small container). Incidentally, there are photos of The Whirlwind of Colors props in Patrick Culliton's book The Key. I never realized this but the routine that Tony Curtis does early in the HOUDINI movie when he and Bess are onstage doing magic in some small West Virginia Vaudeville theater is a version of the Whirlwind of Colors. Although in the movie they end with the production of a stack of goldfish bowls, Houdini in real life produced the eagle.

Signor Blitz

This next connection is more a Lincoln and magic connection, and it has to do with a graveyard.  Not far from the graveyard where Houdini is buried, Machpelah Cemetery, is Cypress Hills Cemetery and here you'll find the grave of Signor Blitz, also a magician. Blitz is said to have performed at a function where Lincoln and his son Tad were present. There is a famous exchange between the two men. Lincoln asks Blitz how many children he has made happy. Blitz replies that it must be thousands. President Lincoln follows that with “I fear that I have made thousands and tens of thousands unhappy.” This exchange took place as the Battle of Gettysburg raged.  Of course, Houdini was keenly aware of the connection between Blitz and Lincoln.

The last interesting piece of history was discovered by Mark Cannon the escape artist and escape historian. He is currently writing a book on the life of Harry Cooke. It is possible that Cooke was the first escape artist in America. Cooke also worked directly for Abraham Lincoln as a Spy for the Union Army. Harry Cooke had shown Lincoln an escape from a piece of rope and Lincoln was so impressed he put him to work.  It just so happens that Harry Cooke (Horatio Green Cooke) and Houdini knew each other and Cooke's daughter told Mark Cannon that her father was a mentor of sorts to Houdini! There is more to the Cooke/Lincoln story, and you can read that here: https://www.themagicdetective.com/2017/04/the-magician-who-met-abraham-lincoln.html




UPDATE: This article originally appeared on my blog Dec 30, 2010. It had a slight error in the information, and I corrected that. I also discovered if you type in 'Houdini Lincoln' in a Google search you end up at this site...http://weeklyview.net/2017/06/15/harry-houdini-and-abraham-lincoln/.  The author should have given me credit as it appears the bulk of his article came right out of my blog, including an error that I fixed and a section I removed on a letter by Houdini concerning Lincoln Letters.