Chung Ling Soo's Warehouse

Back in 2010, I wrote a short piece about Chung Ling Soo's House in London and I mentioned that he had a warehouse in the back but that I had no photo of it. Well now I do! Thank to Jon Becker, who brought this to my attention.

The photo is of the warehouse and apparently in recent years there were attempts to demolish the site which did not happen and now there is an application in to see if the developer can convert it into a residential dwelling.

Mr. Becker is researching Donald Stevenson, who worked for Soo and was also the person who took possession of Harry Houdini's airplane. How amazing it would be to one day locate this priceless gem...if it still exists. At least it would be nice to know what eventually happened to it.

Happy American Birthday Houdini

Harry Houdini was born March 24th, 1926, but for whatever reason he always claimed April 6th as his birthday. There are numerous theories on why, but I'm not really certain. But John Cox over at WildAboutHoudini has a great piece on why, so check that out!  I think it's just another thing that makes him an unusual and fascinating character. He had two birthdates and two birth locations (Budapest Hungary and Appleton Wisconsin). Happy Birthday Harry!

Robert Houdin Mystery Clock for Sale

I just saw on eBay a Robert Houdini Mystery Clock. I've actually seen several of them in real life, but I can't recall ever seeing one up for sale. It has a price tag of $30,000 which is pocket change to my most of my readers (ok, maybe not most).

The link to the item is http://www.ebay.com/itm/JEAN-EUGENE-ROBERT-HOUDIN-GLASS-COLUMN-MYSTERY-CLOCK-CA-1870S-RARE-/230958035789

It's being sold by MAGICINVESTMENTS which is Mario Carrandi's ebay store. By the way, he also has a beautiful three sheet Thurston poster for sale http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-POSTER-THURSTON-3-SHEET-PORTRAIT-/261139862934?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ccd261596