Happy Birthday Tony Curtis

 

Born June 3rd, 1925 as Bernard Schwartz. He became known as Hollywood Actor Tony Curtis. And to those in the magic world, he was HOUDINI. He starred in the 1953 Paramount Production of HOUDINI along with Janet Leigh, Angela Clarke, Torin Hatcher and others. Joe Dunninger was listed as technical advisor, though George Boston did more work directly with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.

The movie went on to inspire a lot of people to get into magic...(myself included). To many, Curtis's portrayal was our first exposure to Houdini. Though highly fictionalized, it still does a good job capturing many details from Houdini's life

If you'd like to hear more about The Other Houdini, check out my podcast on this very subject. Until then, Happy Birthday Tony!

#Houdini Trends on Twitter

 

May 30th, 2024, I noticed that the hashtag #HOUDINI was trending high on Twitter/X.  I just happened to be on Twitter last night and I happened to notice that #HOUDINI was trending. I chose to jump on the bandwagon and I reposted one of my Houdini podcast links and added the hashtage. Sure enough, that episode shot up in a matter of minutes. It was remarkable.

Now the reason it was trending. Rap artist, Eminem has a new album called HOUDINI. And the cover art is quite interesting. The only thing I can see that is related to Houdini is the NAME and FONT. But there appears to be more Thurston/Kellar inspired with the little red imps. 

I dont know much more about the album, as I'm not really into rap music. But it's certainly a nice nod to HOUDINI.

It Was 50 Years Ago Today - Magic Changed NYC

 

Fifty years ago May 28th, 1974 Doug Henning, a skinny kid from Canada, debuted at the Cort Theater in NYC. He starred in a magical musical called THE MAGIC SHOW. This magic was all Doug Henning. The music was written by a young Stephen Schwartz. Ivan Reitman was one of the shows producers. Broadway star Anita Morris was in the show, as was M.A.S.H. actor David Ogden Stiers who played the antagonist in the musical. 

The Magic Show ran for 4 years and became a touring show. Doug Henning went on the road touring in Colleges for a time and eventually starring in his own WORLD OF MAGIC TV Special for NBC. 

Doug Henning couldn't sing or dance, yet was the star of the show and went on to have an incredible career.