Dime Museum Harry - Chicago

Dime Museum Harry at Kohl & Middleton's Chicago

The Houdini Brothers were fortunate enough to get booked during the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. They worked the Midway for about a month and then Harry was able to book the act in a local Dime Museum,  Kohl & Middleton Dime Museum.

There were three locations for Kohl and Middletons. Harry played at the 150 North Clark Street location and also the 294 South State Street location in Chicago. They worked there for a short time before returning to New York. He would return to Kohl and Middletons again as late as 1897.

Click here to see a photo of what the Kohl & Middleton looked like in Houdini's day. None of the original buildings exist any more. However, below is a picture of the location where the Kohl and Middleton Dime Museum on Clark Street once stood. Today the location is filled by Bank of America.

Kohl & Middleton's Dime Museum Once Stood Here.

Dime Museum Harry - Huber's NYC

I think it was Kenneth Silverman who first pointed out that Houdini didn't care for his days in the Dime Museums and even hated being called 'Dime Museum Harry'. Unfortunately, we all have to start somewhere and Houdini got his start in the Dime Museums. One of the first was a place in NYC called Hubers. It was located on 106 East 14st Street and remained open until 1910, when the owner sold the location to a restaurant.

Hubers Dime Museum was a mixture of arcade, freak show, lecture hall, showplace, wax figures, and actual museum housing various curiosities and historical memorabilia. For the beginning performer, this kind of venue is gold, well not in the monetary way, but in gaining valuable performing experience. Houdini first performed there with his partner Jacob Hyman doing fairly simple magic, card tricks and their sub-trunk. They didn't just do one show per day or two, sometimes it was up to 20 shows in a day. Now, keep in mind, 'show' probably meant only a few minutes of material. But doing multiple shows back to back like that is going to make you good really fast.

Another bonus for Houdini was meeting George Dexter, who was managing Huber's and was also a magician. According to The Secret Life of Houdini, it was Dexter who taught Houdini the techniques of rope ties. There is no telling what unusual techniques he picked up from other performers that would later come in handy in his work as an escape artist.

Eventually, the Houdinis (Harry & Bess now) moved up and out of the Dime Museum's and into other venues. But there is no mistaking the value of the time spent in front of live audiences perfecting his craft that was obtained during the Dime Museum days.

Incidentally, in 1910 when Hubers was closing, Houdini attended the auction and purchased a couple items from the vast amount of curios. It was more to have a memento of the place that he first got started in show business.

The location of Hubers today. Nothing remains of the once popular Dime Museum

Houdini's UnMasking - Bonus

Now I know how John Cox over at WildaboutHoudini.com feels. I received this wonderful image of Houdini promoting his book The UnMasking of Robert-Houdin from John Hinson. I split the image into two, so first you'll see the photo Houdini used to promote his book, The UnMasking of Robert-Houdin. The second image is a receipt and copy of the ad that was to appear in The New York Dramatic Mirror on May 2, 1908. Incidentally, the image of Houdini in the chair is signed by Houdini, midway through the photo, 'Harry Houdini 1908'.

 

Thank you John, for your generosity and allowing me to share this great photo with my readers!

The UnMasking of Harry Houdini Part 4

I remember the early days of learning about Houdini. One of the things that I always assumed was that Houdini started the whole Anti-Spiritualist Exposure Shows. I had no idea that many performers had done this before Houdini. Actually, the whole Spiritualism thing helped to expand the branches of magic. Spiritualism really gave rise to the Escape Act, that Houdini would make famous. Though feats of mental magic already existed, quite a few really clever techniques came out of the Spiritualism world which revolutionized the Mentalism field.

But it's the Spiritualism or Anti-Spiritualism acts I want to discuss. I mentioned before that Wyamn the Wizard is credited as the first magician to do spirit or seance type of magic in his act. He had an immense knowledge of how the mediums did their work and added their techniques into his shows. A slew of performers followed like John Henry Anderson, Robert-Heller, Samri Baldwin, Harry Kellar, John Nevil Maskelyne, and on and on the list goes. Some would demonstrate the spirit effects, others would demonstrate and expose them. Magicians used it as some kind of 'high ground' to say you shouldn't be fooled by such charlatans. Though, they were using the same techniques, lol. But in the defense of the magicians, their job is to entertain by fooling, not to swindle people under false pretenses.

The methods of the spirit mediums were fairly well known in magic circles by the time Houdini came along. In fact, Houdini even did some of this mediumistic work early in his career but soon understood how it had a great power to deceive in the wrong ways, and he discontinued it.

Later in life, it's been written that he turned on the whole Spiritualism movement when he found they were unable to contact his mother. I suppose even the great Houdini, in a moment of deep emotional grief wanted to believe the claims of these people. But his vast knowledge of deception wouldn't allow him to be fooled by the same kinds of parlor tricks he had been doing for years. So he went on the attack. Well, that would be the condensed version of it. In truth, Houdini doesn't really turn on the Spiritualists until the 1920s. So even though he never received a message from 'Mama', that alone wasn't enough to cause him to crusade against them. It was an entirely different event....and that I will discuss at another time.

Houdini certainly wasn't the first to expose spirit mediums and their techniques. But he was the most famous for doing so. His celebrity status combined with this very aggressive approach made his battle with the Mediums front page news. Then, to top it off, he made the Spirit Exposure the highlight of this 3 Part Act during his final tour.

I can't help but wonder what Houdini would think about all these Hunting for Ghost Shows on TV these days. I don't think any of them are out there exposing fake phenomenon, but rather trying to prove such things exist, and on a weekly basis. I have a feeling Houdini would have a different take on it all.

John Cox and the Lost Scrapbook

In a few short days, August 23rd 2014, Potter and Potter Auctions is having a huge auction of  Houdini items.
Among the items up for auction is a recently discovered Houdini Scrapbook on Spiritualism. It was none other than my buddy John Cox from WildaboutHoudini.com that first revealed the news of the Lost Spiritualism Scrapbook earlier this year. You can read all about it here.

Now, this Scrapbook is available to the highest bidder.  The estimates for this item are in the $15,000 to $20,000 range, and it could go even higher. What an incredible resource for the Houdini researcher. I can only imagine what new revelations might come out on Houdini and his battle with the Mediums from this collection of notes and newspaper clippings.

Save up your dollars because this incredible piece of Houdini history could be YOURS....or David Copperfield's...but let's hope it's yours.

The UnMasking of Harry Houdini Part 3

Time to examine more of Houdini's MAGIC and where it originated. Today, I'll cover some of the bigger effects in the show. The real news-makers!

The Origins of Houdini's Magic

First off is the Vanishing Elephant. Here is something that on the surface seems very outside the realm of what Houdini might do. But then again, he isn't merely doing a trick. He is setting a world record for vanishing the largest object in history! The routine has a lot of emotional appeal as well because it is a living creature. And it's being presented at the Hippodrome, on one of the largest stages in the world. When you look at it that way, it's a huge publicity generating illusions, yep, that is pure Houdini.

Was the Vanishing Elephant Houdini's creation? Nope. It was the idea of a British magician, Charles Morritt. Houdini had paid Morritt for the rights and plans to build and perform the illusion. He also paid for other illusions, one which Houdini called Goodbye Winter, which was a Vanishing Lady illusion. The Elephant Vanish was based on Morritt's Vanishing Donkey but on a much larger scale. Morritt never presented a Vanishing Elephant, so Houdini once again could claim it as his own. It was probably not one of the better illusions, but the positive publicity was enough to make Houdini happy.

Next, we have Walking Through a Brick Wall. Again, a very unusual illusion and right up Houdini's alley. It was presented in typical Houdini fashion, with a brick layer building the wall right in the middle of the stage. People could come and inspect the wall and find no trickery. After, having successfully walked through the wall on more than one occasion, he invited some brick layers from a local union to come and inspect the wall and they challenged Houdini to walk through a wall that they would build. They did and he did!

But the illusion wasn't an idea of Houdini's. It was sold to him by another British magician, Sidney E. Josolyne. There was a bit of controversy surrounding this purchase as another British magician, P.T. Selbit, claimed it was his illusion. Despite the controversy it became known as a Houdini illusion and put another feather in his magic cap.

More to come...