Monday, April 8, 2013
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.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
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!
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
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
Monday, April 1, 2013
D.C. Magic History Conference Coming
Big News! Yours truly, The Magic Detective, will be at the Washington Symposium on Magic History April 25-27! I will have a booth in the dealers room with a bunch of my artwork for sale and information on this blog. I'm also hoping to arrange some interviews with people for upcoming editions of The Magic Detective Show on Youtube.
I will NOT be speaking at the event however. Which is fine for me as I already have a very busy schedule as it is. I really want to encourage folks interested in the history of magic to come on out. AND if you live in the Washington D.C. metro area, you really NEED to be here. These kinds of events don't often take place in our neck of the woods so this is a wonderful opportunity to learn about the history of magic, see some incredible artifacts and meet some awesome people!
For more information on the Symposium, click this link! http://www.magicposters.com/conference_2013/main/
Sunday, March 24, 2013
One Year Ago A Great Man Left Us
I can hardly believe one year has passed since my friend Cesareo Pelaez passed away. I've written about him many times on this blog. Probably the two most influential people in my life were Houdini and Cesareo, one was born this day and one passed away this day. I never met Houdini but I did get to meet Cesareo. I often refer to Cesareo as my mentor though I didn't get to spend anywhere near the amount of time with him that I would have liked.
He was the creator and director of Le Grand David Magic Show in Beverly Mass. He was also a highly regarded professor of psychology and he was many many other things but most of all he was my friend. I always think of the saying, "When the student is ready the teacher will come." And yet I never took a class with Cesareo. Instead, we had a number of conversations together over the years which always held some jewel of knowledge. His occasional emails were also inspiring to me as well. For some reason I quickly understood his way of thinking and could usually figure out what Cesareo might do in a given situation. That understanding would help me greatly in the future and it continues to help me today.
I often hear Cesearo in my head when I'm contemplating a new idea or trying to make my mind up about something. Most recently, when I was considering a huge change in the direction of my show I could sense Cesareo smiling in approval. And as I moved further into that new direction many of the things he told me over the years appeared. It was like instant approval from my friend.
I miss him greatly. I miss all my friends in Beverly right now and am thinking of them on this day.
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