Houdini and The Circus Busch

Founded in 1891, Circus Busch was one of the leading European Circuses in the world.  It was started by Paul Busch and seems to have it's origins in fairs or festivals that centered on weightlifting or strong man acts.  Over time more acts were added, including animal acts and many novelty acts.  By 1895 they put up a permanent building in the Bahnhof Börse in Berlin. They also had permanent locations in Vienna, Hamburg and other parts of Europe.

Houdini first appears at the Circus Busch in 1908 with his Straight Jacket escape and Milk Can Escape. This came as a surprise to the many handcuff act imitators who were expecting Houdini to show up with the act he had presented in Germany a few years before.

During another tour of Germany, September 21, 1912, Houdini debuted his original invention "The Water Torture Cell"at the Circus Busch. Houdini actually presented the Water Torture once before in England about a year and half before this, but that was before an audience of ONE. He did that in order to obtain a copyright of the act.

Magic History in March

Sorry for the slowdown of blog articles, but a sudden onslaught of performances has taken up all my time.  However, there are some very interesting things coming and there are a few things of note I'd like to mention.

On March 10th, there will be a very unusual article about Harry Kellar called "Kellar's Final Mystery" which I know will be very popular. I'm also working on another 'trick origins' piece that I'm still pretty deep into, so I don't know when that will be ready.  And keep your eyes open for the next Houdini article just around the corner.

Over at my Dead Conjurers site, I've added a few more graves along with a little biographical information of the people. Some of the most recent graves include:

Anna Eva Fay

The Original Dante - Oscar Eliason

John Henry Anderson -The Great Wizard of the North

Caryl Fleming 

Hardeen

Homes of Mystery 1

Please keep in mind that all of these homes are private residences today. They were ONCE owned by famous magicians, but no longer. Enjoy them here, but don't go knocking on doors!


CARTER MANOR

First up, Carter Manor. This was the home of illusionist Charles Carter. It's located in San Francisco and at one time overlooked San Fransisco Bay. There are lots of other homes in the area now. Though I don't know for sure if you can see the Bay or the Ocean from the house itself, possibly you still can. The property was purchased in 1929 and the house was built the following year. Not long after, Carter tried to sell it for $90,000, but had no takers. According to the Carter Book by Mike Caveney, the house contained: "A Magic Theatre w 150 seats, vanishing bars, moving pictures (on the wall), hidden chambers, closets, passages, and the dinning room table came up from the floor below via a trap door". What it's like now on the inside is anyone's guess. This might be the most amazing house owned by a magician.