Upcoming Articles and other stuff

In the new few days & weeks, I'll be posting a bunch of new stuff. I've got an article coming on the magic used during the Civil War which is proving to be a lot of fun to research. In September I'll have a biographical piece on Walter Truman Best, better known as MARO Prince of Magic. Also coming is a biographical piece on Anna Eva Fay. Plus, there may just be one or two new Houdini articles, but you'll have to wait for those.

Over at my DeadConjurers blog, I just added the graves of Samri Baldwin, the White Mahatma and Maro, Prince of Magic. Please go over and check those out. I believe most of the graves on that blog also show the location of the grave. There are a few exceptions because at least three people listed over there were buried at Sea, so no grave exists.

HELP NEEDED
I'm trying to get together a group of volunteer magicians to help with the clean-up of the grave of Robert Heller in Philadelphia. I've contacted a woman who is a member of the Friends of Mt. Moriah Cemetery, and she is helping me with that. If you are in the Philadelphia area or anywhere nearby and you might be interested in donating your time in the clean-up of the grave/grounds please contact me at carnegiemagic@me.com. I'll give more details as they come.

Happy Birthday Robert Heller!

Robert Heller Happy 182nd Birthday! Well, that is IF it's your 182nd birthday. It's been difficult to pin point the exact year of his birth. My research shows 1829, but others record it anywhere from 1826 to 1830. I've also seen the date as August 10th and August 19th, but I'm going with the 19th (only because the 10th has passed, lol)

It's because of this blog that I developed a fascination for Heller that continues to this day. He was a terribly interesting character. So far there are three blogs on him and I can tell you there will be at least two more down the road.

To celebrate his 182nd Birthday, I treated myself to a copy of 'Melody Magic' the book which contains all the music he wrote, along with pictures of his posters and a biography included as well.

I would like to visit Heller in Philadelphia soon. I know exactly where the grave is, though I understand the location of the grave is in a very bad part of town. That is distressing to find out.

Though, I still may go. I'll let you know...

Houdini and the Funeral Films

Sometime ago I was reading one of the Houdini Biographies and something jumped off the page at me. Houdini had made arrangements to have the Funeral of Harry Kellar FILMED. Then a while later I discovered that Houdini also had his friend Sigmund Neuberger's (The Great Lafayette) funeral filmed as well.

I had never heard or read that before and I wondered what happened to the footage. To that end, I have no answer. But I did uncover proof that not only were the funerals filmed but Houdini had the footage in his possession. In the May 1923 edition of The Sphinx Magazine, it records a visit by Houdini to the Los Angeles Society of Magicians. During his visit he put on a 'special entertainment' for the club by showing the films of the funerals of Harry Kellar and Lafayette. Also in 1923, Houdini showed the film of Harry Kellar's Funeral to the Parent Assembly in NY.

If my memory is correct, Theo Hardeen offered Sid Radner a rather large box of films but he was unable to take them. Could the funeral films have been in this box? Maybe, or maybe not...

GET THIS, On July 25th, 1935 the film resurfaced and was shown at the PCAM Convention in Hollywood! So I believe this film was NOT part of the box of films that Theo offered Sid Radner and in fact may still be somewhere in California! Bess Houdini lived in California in the 1930s, so perhaps the film footage was in her possession. The big question is, where is it now? I checked the listings at the SAM DVD Library and it does not show up there. Any ideas?

ON a slightly different note, I was watching the History Channel recently and they were discussing Thomas Edison and his inventions. They did a demonstration of one of his early wax recording devices. I was quite surprised to hear that the recorded voice was 'higher' in tone than the actual mans voice when he recorded it. I instantly thought of Houdini's wax recording and how it always struck me as somewhat odd that Houdini had such a high pitched voice. But I think it's safe to say that his voice may have been slightly lower than what was recorded. Those early recording devices though amazing were not perfect by any means. However, a high pitched Houdini recording is certainly better than NO recording.