The Master Mystery - The Original Terminator?

 

In 1918, Houdini made a Silent Movie Serial called The Master Mystery. Before the Terminator, before Skynet,  before AI, Houdini faced the danger that we all are concerned about today,  Q-The Automaton. This was the first evil movie robot in American movie history.  They called it an Automaton, because the word 'robot' had not been coined yet, let alone, 'android', 'cyborg'  or any other sci-fi word.

The movie is a 15 serial, or 15 episode production. IMDB says of the movie, "Quentin Locke, a Justice

Department agent, is sent to infiltrate a fraudulent patents company. In an attempt to gather evidence on the phony patents, he takes a job as the manager's secretary who takes up residence in the mansion of business partner Peter Brent. Brent wants our of the nefarious scheme and has been rendered mentally incapable of cooperating with Locke through exposure to "Madagascar Madness", a chemical substance that was added to the wax of candles in his room. Locke accepts the challenge of protecting his daughter Eva as the gang pushes forward with their unethical agenda. The vicious gang of thugs use an ambulatory mechanical man to assist them in intimidating the household into supporting their plans."

The original robot is lost to time. But a few years ago, master builder John Gaughan rebuilt Q and he even made an appearance at a Magic History Conference. Today, two of them exist, one in John Gaughan's collection, the other in Roger Dryer's Houdini museum. Im assuming Mr. Gaughan built both of them.

The Master Mystery marked a new chapter for Houdini, the movies. He had made smaller productions in 1905 and 1909, but The Mastery Mystery would be seen by many more people and would lead into several other movies.

Now, if you have nearly 4 hours, you can watch this epic silent movie!

Houdini Challenged!

 

I have had this talk with numerous people and yet have never put it in print. There are many reasons Houdini became famous but one, was paramount. The Challenges. Back in the Vaudeville Days, you would pay one price to see many acts. And even though they performed daily, you would likely only see them once. Why? Because they did the same act. Some artists did the same material for their entire careers. 

But then along comes Houdini. And he flips everything on it's head. When he comes to town, Monday night he will be doing his Needle Swallowing and Metamorphosi act. But before he finishes, he tells the audience that on Tuesday, he won't be going these things. NO! Because you see, he has been challenged by the local brewery to escape from a beer keg filled with beer! But hold on. Wednesday, a group of local sailors claim they can tie up Houdini with rope in a way he cannot escape! Thursday, oh Surprise, he's hanging upside down from a Straitjacket at the local newspapers office and then he will announce the Thursday night challenge. You see, every night was something different. So audiences would have to come back, again and again and again. No two evenings were the same!

The more impossible the escape, the more people would show up. If there was danger involved, well, that could bring out recording setting numbers of people. His bridge jumps for example, brought a huge crowds. It was outdoor theater and as he said, everyone wants to come out and see someone die. Small playbill were handed out and distributed all over town announcing these various challenges. Who would do the challenging? Local businesses. The local brewery, the local newspaper, a nearby dairy farm. In the case of the image at the top of the page, this was from the Weed Tire Company. They made tire chains for tires that had to go through dangerous weather conditions like snow, ice and high water. 

The challenge took place April 10th, 1908 at Keith's Theater in NYC. The success of the event did two things. It brought much press to Houdini. But it also promoted the Weed Tire Companies new brand line of Tire Chains. The cross promotion was so successful, that Houdini repeated the challenge escape in Philadelphia.  It certainly created an iconic image.

Houdini Back From The Dead - A Review

 

I just finished watching all three episodes of Houdini Back From the Dead, a documentary/movie on Fox Nation. I know a fair amount of people will not watch it because it's Fox, their loss. And a fair amount won't watch it because it's AI, also, their loss. It is far from perfect. Many moments are breathtaking. For the average viewer there is much to enjoy. It does a good job of telling Houdini's story. In my opinion it does get a couple things wrong, but I don't know there is a movie or documentary that hasn't done that to some degree. Overall, it's pretty accurate.

Here is what you get to see. You see Houdini as a boy, you see some of his early life. Not in still images, but images brought to life, or apparent life. You see a teen aged Houdini, and you see Houdini starting out in his career. Many historical moments are covered, like his meeting Martin Beck at the Palm Garden in St. Paul MN. Houdini doing his handcuffed bridge jump escapes. Hanging upside down in a strait jacket and escaping. 

They cover his touches with aviation in Australia and they look amazing. They actually give a decent rendition of the Vanishing Elephant. The problem is the theater is way too small to be the Hippodrome! You will get to see Houdini and his Milk Can Escape, which I thought they were going to reveal, but didnt and then hinted at later. You get a very graphic rendition of the accident in Albany in the Water Torture Cell. Trust me, it's quite graphic. But there is also an interesting moment. When the doctor comes on stage to examine Houdini and his ankle, take a good look at the Doctor. He is an older Houdini. Its like they ran out of ai faces, lol. 

Houdini generally looks like Houdini throughout. Bess, Dash other people, do not like like themselves, they resemble the real people, but they are not spot on like Houdini is. Margery is another one, I do not think looks like Margery. But the famous photo of her on her front door step looks totally real.

Missing are Vickery, Kukol and Collins, Houdini's chief assistants. Yet we get Charmain London. And we also get a recreation of the time when Bess returns all the love letters to women who wrote Houdini over the years. But no Daisy White, too bad.

On the negative side: The voice of Harry is awful. Harry sounds like John DeLancie, Q from Star Trek the Next Generation.  Apparently, the roles were played by real actors who then had their faces replaced by ai to look like the different characters, or maybe just had the actor who played Houdini, had his faced changed. Because the others didn't look as spot on.   The narrator was my least favorite, I found him annoying.

As an escape artist, its kind of humorous to watch, as sometimes they have historically accurate handcuffs from the times, darbies, towers, bean cobbs, but then there are crappy ai cuffs, lol. The depiction of the Metamorphosis is wrong. A ton of work went into the detail of the cabinet to make it historically accurate, but then they blow it by placing a cloth over the head of Houdini, instead of putting him into a bag and tying it up. They also never show his 'ghost house' which he used for many handcuff escapes. They also seem to make light of the Water Torture cell and how fast Houdini really escaped. 

Unless I dozed off, I don't recall the Mirror Cuff Challenge, where he cut his coat off with a pen knife. That would have been cool to see. And its possible I dozed off, for a couple minutes. Not because it was bad, but because it was 1am. 

John Cox, David Haversat, Roger Dryer and Dr. Bruce Overbook are listed as consultants.

Despite my little nit-picky things, it's very watchable and enjoyable. And, no real magicians were harmed in the making of this documentary! 

Now for those who shake and convulse when they hear the word FOX, just go on Amazon Prime. You can get a free 7 day trial. Plenty of time to watch the 3 episodes. And then you can quit before the seven days are up. 

I think the big question for many will be the ai. The entire thing was made with ai. I have a love/hate relationship with ai. But even I am involved in two projects right now that involve ai., so I can't totally dismiss it. And, like it or not, ai is not going away. There was a moment in the documentary that made me sit up and take notice. This is when they mention the introduction of Motion Pictures put a real hit on live theater. And now we have ai which is putting a real hit on many many things. I will say, in regards to magic, I truly believe there will always be an outlet for live in person performances. I would venture video related magic, probably going to die or take a big hit. But its not just magic. Im seeing music, so called recording artists who play in what appear to be live venues, and it's all ai generated. They won't ever perform LIVE. But its hard to tell the difference online now.

I do not trust ai for research, it gets too much wrong. But, it completely rebuilt 4 websites for me in less than 90 minutes, 3 of which had be unaccessible for several years. There are clearly positive aspects to the technology. How we use it, is what is important. And then there is the other side, when it starts using us. But that is a topic for another day.