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.

Chung Ling Soo's House

According to the The Glorious Deception, by Jim Steinmeyer, he gives an address for the house that William Ellsworth Robinson owned when he lived in London. In the back yard is his workshop. I have no photo of the workshop, but I do have a picture of the house and WOW what a house it is! I'm really glad it's this house too because most of the houses on this street are obstructed from view by the many trees and shrubs. Not to say that this house has a clear view but you can make it out, many of the other homes can't be seen at all due to the trees. The book says that he lived in a 3 story mansion and indeed that is exactly what we have here, at the exact address from the book.

As you may know, William Ellsworth Robinson was the real name for the Chinese Conjurer Chung Ling Soo. He was American, not Chinese. On March 23rd, 1918 while performing the dangerous Bullet Catching Feat on the stage at the Wood Green Empire Theatre in London, Soo was shot to death. There was a great deal of controversy following the death, some people thought it was murder, others thought it might be a clever method of suicide. But in the end, a faulty gimmicked rifle seemed to reveal the truth, it was an accident. Houdini at one time wanted to perform the Bullet Catching Feat and was persuaded not to by the beloved Dean of Magicians Harry Kellar. Houdini listened to Kellar and decided not to attempt the stunt. The Bullet Catch has a history of killing it's performers. Some 12 people have died presenting this stunt and so far only Penn & Teller have presented it on a continuous basis without being harmed.

Here is a photo of the Wood Green Empire Theatre in London. Sadly, the only thing that remains of the theatre is the facade. The theatre itself was turned into a Television studio in the 1950s and then in the 60s it was demolished to make way for a parking garage and stores. There must be a law in England that says if you have an old theatre it must be torn down to make way for a freaking parking garage! That's frustrating to hear and to continually find out. The building that says 'Halifax' on it is the site of the Wood Green Empire.

I will say that for a magician any books on Chung Ling Soo are required reading. He worked for both Alexander Herrmann and Harry Kellar. He was such an iconic performer that he is the only REAL magician mentioned in the movie 'The Prestige' with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. His posters today are some of the most highly prized. I'll be focusing on one of his illusion creations in a later blog to show you his creativity.

Soo/Robinson is buried in East Sheen Cemetery, Section B, grave number 219/220/221 London. Here is a photo of the cemetery entrance. Here is a picture of the grave from Genii Magazine courtesy of MagicPedia.net

IF you have a color photo of the grave, would you please send it to me so that I can post it on the blog. Thanks! carnegiemagic@me.com