The Magicians Gravesite Fund

Gravestone of Carter the Great, Illusionist Charles Carter*

As many of my readers known, I'm very interested in locating the graves of our compeers in the art of magic and documenting the location of the graves and trying to keep the graves in decent order. Unfortunately for me, the one grave I put a lot of effort into organizing the clean-up (Robert Heller's grave) which fell through when I got terribly sick on the day of the clean-up. There are additional issues with these clean-ups, the main one being where they are located. In my case, I don't live close to the Heller grave so it's not like I can stop by anytime I want.

Well, I was thrilled to discover that I was not alone in this quest. Richie Magic and his wife Barbara from NYC have been searching out these old grave sites as well. In fact, they've been working with the SAM Parent Assembly #1 to set up a fund for the upkeep and in some cases restoration of various grave sites. In the NY area there are a lot of magic graves. Houdini of course is the most famous and the work on that grave was actually done by the Houdini Museum folks. But there are other graves in NY, like Alexander and Adelaide Herrmann, Bess Houdini, Signor Blitz, Washington Irving Bishop and many others.

Grave of Herrmann The Great*

*The two grave photos above were taken by Richie and Barbara Magic!

Cesareo Pelaez, teacher; created Le Grand David magic show

This is the obituary for Cesareo from the Boston Globe. I'm still in shock over this, yet I know he would prefer we celebrate his life rather than mourn his passing. Personally, I think it's time he receive the Houdini treatment and continue to promote him and build his status to legend. He certainly earned it.

Cesareo Pelaez, teacher; created Le Grand David magic show

Cesareo Pelaez RIP

I don't even know how to write this, but my dear friend Cesareo Pelaez has passed away. He was the founder and creator of the Le Grand David Magic Show in Beverly MA, he was also a former college professor. Actually Cesareo was many things to many people. To me, he was a mentor and dear friend.
I can't find the words to describe the sadness I feel today.

I was reflecting on this today and how much Cesareo changed my life. He was the one who encouraged me to write, which led me to write a couple books and then a magazine column and of course this blog and others. He also was instrumental in encouraging my artwork and it's continuation. And as far as my magical performances his contributions and suggestions were countless. He was such a wonderful person and I know he had a similar affect on every person he encountered. I will write more later.

Cesareo Pelaez (October 16, 1932 - March 24, 2012)

From my other blog

http://artistofmystery.blogspot.com/2012/03/cesareo-tribute-painting.html

 Previous articles I wrote about Cesareo and Le Grand David.

http://deancarnegie.blogspot.com/2011/05/meeting-magi-1.html 

http://deancarnegie.blogspot.com/2011/05/meeting-magi-cesareo.html

http://deancarnegie.blogspot.com/2011/05/meeting-magic-cast.html

http://deancarnegie.blogspot.com/2011/05/meeting-magi-eyes.html

http://deancarnegie.blogspot.com/2011/05/le-grand-david-family.html

Happy Birthday Houdini

Today is the birthday of Erich Weiss/Harry Houdini. He was born March 24, 1874 in Budapest Hungary. Though he always celebrated his birthday as April 6th and his birthplace as Appleton Wisconsin. The photo above shows Houdini and his wife Bess which was taken on his American birthday, April 6th in the year 1923. He is a young 138 years old today! Happy Birthday Harry!!!

New Twists on Houdini's Russian Tour

The historical record shows Houdini performed in Russia in 1903. In fact, he was appearing at the Yar Restaurant in Moscow, which was a very upscale establishment and some say the best restaurant in all of Europe and Russia at the time. His appearances here ran from May 4th-July 4th, 1903. For a panoramic view of the restored Yar Restaurant, click here.

Stage at Yar Restaurant

In addition to his Yar appearance, Houdini escaped from the Prison Transport Car during this visit, as well as numerous police restraints. None of this is new information.

But I came across something that was news, at least to me. It was a newspaper column called "The Inside Straight" by Michael MacDougall that appeared on April 18, 1954. Mr. MacDougall had a connection to magic, as he wrote several books on gambling and card technique. An earlier column, MacDougall describes some events in the lives of magicians that ended tragically. So I looked forward to the column he wrote on Houdini. He describes Houdini's visit to Russia in 1903 with detail that I'd never read before. First he says that Houdini was staying in the Grand Hotel while performing at the Imperial Theatre, both of these are in St. Petersburg. Houdini received a request to perform before the Czar and this performance could make or break his visit. If the Czar was not impressed, Houdini's contracts would quickly vanish.

This fear of loosing the contracts was also mentioned in a 1931 Omaha World Herald (2-7-31)  article about Ike Rose, who claims to have been the person who booked this tour for Houdini. Though his fear was more about Houdini getting stuck in one of the jails, more than having the Czar kick him out of the country for being no good. For the record, The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush says that Harry Day booked all of the Russian dates. Interesting contradiction here, though I suppose it's possible that Day worked for Ike Rose or vice versa.

So back to the appearance before the Czar. This story is one also confirmed by Orson Welles, who claimed that Houdini was one of his early magic teachers. It's the story of Houdini's incredible feat of causing a bell to ring in an old cathedral in Moscow. The 500 lbs clapper to the bell had mysteriously fallen from the bell twenty years before and killed 100 worshipers and injured even more. The Czar himself barely escaped with his life. The bell had never rung since that time due to a decree by the Czar that no repairs be done and that the bell was to never again make a sound.

On this day, Houdini had planned on causing the bell to ring via magic. He just needed the Czar to agree to the stunt. The mysterious bell ringing is described in good detail in the Kalush biography, but suffice to say, that Houdini did apparently cause the bell to ring 5 times at the stroke of 5 p.m.. The royal members were impressed. But there are some differences between the Kalush account and the MacDougall account. In the Kalush biography, Houdini presented this for Grand Duke Sergius at the Kleinmichel Palace in Moscow and Houdini was to shoot the bells of the Kremlin. Except, Kleinmichel Palace is actually in St. Petersburg and the Kremlin is very far away in Moscow. So there is no chance he shot the bells of the Kremlin. In the MacDougall version, Houdini is presenting the effect for Czar Nicholas and is indeed in Moscow. To further confound the issue, there were two Grand Dukes named Sergius. One was Grand Duke Sergius Alexandrovich of Moscow and the other was Grand Duke Sergius Mikhailovich of St. Petersburg.

Grand Duke Mikhailovich, Grand Duke Alexandrovich, Czar Nicholas II

The MacDougall version of the story also has an ending I had not heard before. Moments after the bell rang, the Czar expressed his astonishment to Houdini, but another member of the party accused Houdini of performing 'a trick'. A short time later another booming sound was heard, much louder than the ringing of the bell. All attention went to the bell tower, where they could hear and see unusual movement of the building and then, the bell broke loose and crashed to the ground. According to the story, Houdini took credit for that as well. The article goes on to say that the newspapers of the time covered the events of that evening. But I don't have access to Russian newspapers, so I don't know how much is accurate and how much is Houdini embellishment. If I had to guess though on the person Houdini presented this for, I'm going to go with Grand Duke Sergius Mikhailovich of St. Petersburg.

I found all of this quite interesting. But there was something else. Perhaps even more interesting than the whole Bell Ringing affair. Houdini did not begin his performance with the Bell Ringing, that was his conclusion. What he apparently opened with was the 'Infamous Bullet Catch' routine. What? The Bullet catch? Wasn't it the Dean of Magicians himself, Harry Kellar who once warned Houdini NOT to present the bullet catch because of how dangerous it was? Indeed.

Houdini had apparently presented the bullet catch, not once but numerous times during his career. John Cox at WildAboutHoudini has a great piece on the history of Houdini's Bullet Catch, though it does not mention the Russian incident.

According to the article, Houdini gave the Czar a repeater rifle and had him mark a bullet and load it into the weapon. The gun was handed to a marksman, who took aim at Houdini's head and pulled the trigger. Houdini swiftly reached out with his hand and apparently grasped the speeding bullet out of mid-air. The still hot bullet was checked and confirmed that it was the marked bullet.  But it didn't stop there, as the Czar wanted Houdini to repeat the effect. This time, the conditions were tougher and the Czar himself fired the rifle at Houdini. But just as before, Houdini caught the marked bullet!

Have you heard this story before? I'm unfamiliar with it and certainly do not recall hearing of the Bullet Catch being performed in Russia. The bullet catch comes from a single source, so it's hard to say where he got it. He may have heard it directly from Houdini while he was alive. Still, it does give yet another example of Houdini possibly presenting the dangerous effect. Houdini was all about danger, or pseudo danger, so it always seemed odd to me that he didn't do the bullet catch, and now, well it appears that apparently he did.

Check out this related blog article:  Rasputin and Houdini!

Thanks to John Cox at WildaboutHoudini.com for the photo of the Houdini Russian flyer.

Less Famous Houdini Photos

I've been receiving some lesser seen photos of Houdini from various sources and also found a couple myself. I thought I'd post two of them. The first is one that I don't recall seeing before. It's an image of Harry Houdini and Samri Baldwin, The White Mahatma. Baldwin was instrumental in creating the Q&A mental routine that is used by mentalists even today. He died in 1924, so by the looks of it, this photo is probably 1923 or 1924.

The next image is of a young Harry and Bess. I've seen a similar photo, but I don't recall this particular one. At first, I thought this was from a photo session in which there is also an image of Houdini, Bess and Cecilia Weiss. However, though Bess seems to be dressed the same, Harry is wearing a different coat and collar, and his hair is slightly different.

Both images are from the archives of the State Library of Victoria.

The Other Houdini Grave

photo from LIFE magazine

For many of my fellow magic & Houdini fans, our initial exposure to the are was through a movie by actor Tony Curtis called simply, HOUDINI. Though, the actual Harry Houdini died back in 1926, the loss of Mr. Curtis in 2010 was truly like loosing Houdini all over again.

Tony's real name was Bernard Schwartz and he was born on June 3, 1925. His parents were from Hungary and I can't help but wonder how interesting it would have been if the real Houdini had bumped into or even known the Schwartz family at some point.

Tony got into acting after a stint in the Navy during WWII. He made many classic movies, among them: Some Like It Hot with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, Spartacus with Kirk Douglas, and of course my favorite HOUDINI which he made in 1953 with his wife Janet Leigh.

Tony retained an interest in magic after making the fictional movie on Houdini's life. He appeared on a number of TV Magic Specials, among them NBC's Stars of Magic in which he performed a Costume Trunk Illusion, HBO World's Greatest Escape Artist in which he was the host,  and I believe he also did some hosting work with Dean Gunnarson during an underwater escape performed by Gunnarson. About a year or so before he passed away, Tony did an interview with Dodd Vickers of The Magic Newswire which can be heard here. 

This Houdini movie was one of the inspirations for my career as a magician, and Tony also was instrumental in another area of my life. Besides acting, he was an artist, a painter. Seeing some of his work, along with the works of Red Skelton and Anthony Quinn in an art gallery years ago, rekindled my interest in art and specifically painting. I figured if the famous could have a career in entertainment and also paint, then so could I! Some of his artwork can be found on his website, but a search on the internet will reveal quite a broad look at his many paintings. http://www.tonycurtis.com/Online_Art_Gallery.html

Tony died on September 29th, 2010 and is buried in the Palm Eastern Memorial Park in 7600 S. Eastern Ave. Las Vegas, NV. Plot: Legacy, Space PG10, Row 3

Place a Stone:

If you cannot be there in person and wish to show your respect, you are welcome to mail a small stone. Your stone will be personally placed on Tony's marker by his wife, Jill. In the Jewish Faith, stones are placed to show that someone visited and that their love is as enduring as a rock.

Stones can be mailed to:

Jill Curtis
2598 Forest City Drive
Henderson, NV 89052

http://www.tonycurtis.com/Tony_s_Memorial.html

photo used with permission of Jill Curtis & Curtis Enterprises

WILD ABOUT HARRY: NEW photo of Houdini and his Water Torture Cell un...

Having once stumbled upon a rare Houdini photo, I can say that John Cox at WildaboutHoudini.com is probably have quite the run of visitors today. If you've not seen it, please click the link below and enjoy a truly incredible photo of Harry Houdini along with his assistants and his Water Torture Cell.


WILD ABOUT HARRY: NEW photo of Houdini and his Water Torture Cell un...: Here is an incredible never-before-published photograph of Houdini performing his Water Torture Cell in Scotland that will be on display sta...

More Trouble For Houdini

It seems my boy just can't stay out of trouble. Another faithful reader alerted me to this one, which appears in the Silverman book on Houdini. Try as I might to locate a newspaper article, I've come up empty handed (so far).

Houdini was performing in Norfolk VA at the Colonial Theatre and got into a dispute with the management. One thing led to another and Houdini got arrested, again! My first article about Houdini getting arrested actually had the Theatre Manager bailing him out. But this time, it's the manager who had him locked up. Why?

It seems that while on stage, Houdini had some derogatory remarks about the theatre management. (no, I don't know what he said) According to Silverman, the New York Office told the manager to withhold  $400 of Houdini's money as a fine. Houdini had finished his last show and was wrapping things up when he found out about the deduction of funds. Never one to be shy about things, he marched out on stage, while another act was performing and addressed the audience and told them what the management had done, then proceeded to demand his money.

The Colonial Theatre Manager had no choice but to call the police as Houdini was causing quite a scene and apparently wouldn't leave. When the police arrived they took Houdini to the jail for disorderly conduct. A fellow performer paid Houdini's bail, though it doesn't say 'WHO' that fellow performer was.
I can't help but wonder how many other performers had gotten fined over the years but didn't have the nerve that Houdini had to cause a scene. And I don't know if he ever got his $400. My guess is no.

Magic History News/February 2012

There are a number of things to mention that are history related. First is the March 2012 issue Genii Magazine with Howard Thurston on the cover. Ok, it's not exactly Howard Thurston, it's Jonathan Levit portraying Thurston at the L.A. Conference of Magic History. The article "Thurston LIVES" is by Jim Steinmeyer and David Regal and is an interview with Mr. Levit about his role as Thurston. It's excellent.

While on the topic of Genii Magazine, there is a fantastic monthly column by John Gaughan called "The Chamber of Secrets." My one complaint about this column is it always leaves me wanting MORE! And that's a good thing actually. The articles are brief glimpses into magical apparatus from yesteryear and the articles are concise enough to draw in even those who are not usually interested in history. Believe me, they are worth checking out. In the past, he has covered The Hofzinser Rose Mirror, Antonio Diavolo the acrobat automaton created by Robert-Houdin, Joseffy's Rapping Hand and many other amazing curiosities.  Please go to www.geniimagazine.com to check out more and if you aren't a subscriber, now is as good a time as any!

If we move over to the monthly periodical of the Society of American Magicians M-U-M, we find a monthly column called "The Nielsen Gallery" by Tom Ewing which covers a different magic poster from the enormous collection of Norm & Lupe Nielsen. Also, there is a new column coming called "Treasures from the Salon De Magie" by Ken Klosterman. I can't say enough great things about Ken. His collection is beyond compare and he couldn't be a nicer gentleman. I've seen his collection first hand and it was one of the highlights of my magic life! You can find out more about them by going to www.magicsam.com

Next is MAGICOL, the periodical for the Magic Collectors Association. It is pure magic history from cover to cover. Besides a fantastic magazine they also have an excellent website as well at www.magicana.com

Another fabulous periodical on magic history is the Gibeciere by the Conjuring Arts Research Center. These are the same folks behind AskAlexander.com. Thanks Joe for the heads up on this. I can't believe I forgot to include them initially.

Then there is the official magazine of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, The LINKING RING. Editor Sammy Smith does a fantastic job covering the history of magic in his articles. Plus the official website for the IBM has a page devoted to magic history with some additional great articles there. http://www.magician.org/portal/en/news/magic_history

FINALLY, there is Stan Allen's MAGIC Magazine. Every issue has at least one and often more than one article devoted to the history of the art. Mike Caveney's column "Classic Correspondence" contains so much valuable information, I don't know how he crams it all in there! Word is he just wrapped up his second run on the column and hopefully a third series will be coming soon. Just a quick example of previous history articles in MAGIC: Nov2011 An article on Billboard Magazines one time coverage of magic news. Dec 2011 there was a cover article on Johnny Thompson who is really living history! And Feb 2012 has a great article about the life and magic of Kirk Kirkham. To subscribe to MAGIC go to www.magicmagazine.com

OTHER NEWS

If you are wondering where 'The Magic Detective YouTube Show' is, well, it's coming. The debut is getting pushed back to March. I'll be doing what a friend of mine calls 'a soft rollout'. Meaning, the show will grow in content as we move forward but in the beginning I'll be keeping it fairly short.

The first episode is going to feature a video of my friend Steve Baker almost getting killed, FOR REAL, in Venezuela. I'll also share with you some behind the scenes things that Steve told me regarding the escape both before, during and after. It's a shocking piece of video, and yet I hope you enjoy it!

INSIDE BLOG NEWS
I received a very kind email from Jonathan Pendragon regarding the article I wrote about him. Well, Jonathan was nice enough to put a link on his Facebook page and that one article shot up past all the others to take the #1 spot! I was thrilled. Well, as of this week, we have a new #1, the article on HUGO and the Real George Melies has now gone past the Pendragon article. I can say, those two will probably fight it out for some time jockeying back and forth between 1&2. They are both good reads and if you missed them, click on their links.

Houdini Going Postal

The examples of Houdini being less than friendly, keep showing up. I'm not implying that he made a regular thing of it, but it did happen. A couple weeks ago I posted When Houdini Got Arrested. Now a regular reader of my blog has alerted me to another example. This time the year is 1925 and Houdini is summoned into court in NYC. But why?

It turns out that there was a business in the city called 'Francis P. Houdina Company' at 1476 Broadway. The owner Francis Houdina was an electrical engineer and inventor. His mail, and Houdini's mail often got mixed up which is how Harry Houdini found out about them. Houdini assumed that the electrician was trying to capitalize upon the magicians name and fame by using a name which sounded similar.

One hot July evening in 1925, Houdini burst into the offices of the Francis P. Houdina Company and accused them of unlawfully using his name. The newspaper article says 'he tore from a packing case a tag addressed 'HOUDINI', the complaint says'. They demanded he return the tag and he refused and that is when a scuffle broke out and property was damaged, by Harry.

A few days later, George Young, the secretary of the company, presented Harry Houdini with a summons just before he was about to go on the air at WOR Radio in New York. He was being charged with disorderly conduct and destruction of property. Mr. Young had two policemen with him when he served the summons, probably a smart move on his part. Houdini began a heated argument with Mr. Young and Young accused Houdini of disgraceful behavior. Houdini followed with "I would have been killed if I had not used force to get out of the office." 


Following this altercation at WOR Radio, Houdini did go on the air and spoke for fifteen minutes about his on-going fight against spiritualist fakery. 


Houdini did appear in court and the charges were apparently dropped because no one from Francis P. Houdina Company showed up. All of this began because the post office initially mis-delivered mail belonging to Houdina and Houdini, which alerted Harry to the similarity in names. 


*Thanks to Ron for the heads-up on this article!

UPDATE: Just learned that this story is actually false. Please read 'Clearing the name of Houdina' to find out the actual story.

Happy 200th Birthday Charles Dickens

Today is the 200th Birthday of famed writer Charles Dickens. The author of such stories as A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, and A Christmas Carol, some might not be aware that Mr. Dickens was also an amateur conjurer. Born Feb 7th, 1812 in Portsmouth England, he went on to become the most famous novelist of his era and his fame continues to this very day. A more thorough biography of Dickens and his magic is certainly warranted but it will have to wait for a later date.

Just imagine, had there been no Charles Dickens, today there would be no David Copperfield. David Kotkin borrowed the name of the famous Dicken's character and used it as his stage name.

By the way, I found the picture below online, and swiped it! I fully admit that in this case. The photo is from a flier or poster for a talk by magician Ian Keable of England. Mr. Keable just presented this at the Churchill Room, Goodenough College, Mecklenburgh Square, in London. I'm very intrigued by the poster and I hope that it's a very successful program and maybe one day Ian Keable will present it here in America...because I want to see it!

Doug Henning, Remembered

It was 12 years ago today that Doug Henning passed away from liver cancer. Feb 7, 2000. What a shock it was to the whole magic world and especially those of us who were so inspired in our youth by Doug Henning's magic. I still remember the very first issue of Genii Magazine I ever purchased, it had that photo above on the cover and a huge ad for the LeGrand David Magic Show. Both Doug and the Le Grand David folks would be instrumental in my magical education.

Below is a video of Doug doing his 'Things That Go Bump In the Night' Illusion. This was a Servais LeRoy idea originally known as The Three Graces. I'm not sure but Doug might have been the first magician of the modern age to bring that illusion back to the masses.

McDonald Birch Magic History Photo

The photo above is a very famous publicity photo of George McDonald Birch and his wife Mabel Sperry.
I'd seen the photo many times over the years. Mabel is sitting upon a stack of 'Next of Boxes' that were used in his act to find a borrowed object.

One day a few years ago I was visiting with Bill King, the magic collector from Hagerstown MD. Imagine my surprise as I walked through the various rooms of his collection and came face to face with the iconic boxes!!! Below is a photograph of those boxes. I imagine they have found a new home since I visited because Mr. King passed away not long ago.

The Inexhaustible Bottle

The Inexhaustible Bottle-A magic effect wherein a bottle is filled with water to wash it out and then emptied. Once cleaned out, dry ribbons of different colors would come out of the apparently empty bottle. But upon command of the magi, several different drinks pour forth from the bottle in a seemingly never ending succession. Some versions of the trick have the performer breaking the bottle open at the end and producing a ring, scarf and/or even a guinea pig.

I suppose it was inevitable that I would come face to face with the trick known as the Inexhaustible Bottle. In my youth, I worked with my younger brother on a version of this using a tea kettle. But back then, I hardly knew anything about the trick and really did not do the famous routine justice.

Robert Heller 1870

Over the years there have been many variations of the Inexhaustible Bottle. Of course, there is the version with bottle, and then there was also a punch bowl, a tea kettle, a milk carton and I’m sure there are variations I have yet to discover.

Robert-Houdin presented this trick for the first time on December 1, 1847 and claimed it as his own creation. It was said that Robert-Houdin produced 100 glasses of wine/port and other drinks from his bottle. Robert Heller and John Henry Anderson first brought the trick to America and made it popular. Harry Kellar, Compars Herrmann and Alexander Herrmann also presented the trick using a bottle.

In the book, The Secrets of My Magic, David Devant explains that it was his wife who came up with  the idea of using a common Tea Kettle rather than a bottle. Devant's routine was called 'The Obliging Tea Kettle'.  Charles Hoffmann or Think A Drink Hoffmann as he was known, used a cocktail shaker and built a career out of this one trick. Today, Steve Cohen presents his version using a Tea Kettle in his show Chamber Magic.  I’ve not seen Steve perform his full routine, though I have seen clips on video. I have no doubt his work is brilliant.

Although, Robert-Houdin claimed to have invented it, Houdini in his controversial book The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin actually proves that this was not the case. Ludwig Dobler, Phillippe, Henri Robin, and others all presented the Inexhaustible Bottle years before Houdin. It had been presented under a number of different names including: The Infernal Bottle, The Traveling Bottle, the Interminable Bottle, and the Bottle of Sobriety and Inebriety. But the trick is even older than the 1800s.

Houdini reveals that the trick can be traced back to the book Hocus Pocus Jr. in 1635. During this time period the trick used a barrel or wooden cask rather than a bottle but worked on a very similar principle. 

The inspiration for the trick possibly comes from two biblical stories. These two stories are when Jesus was at a wedding and turned Water to Wine, the other is the story of the loaves and the fishes certainly an ‘inexhaustible’ miracle.

I added a version of the Magic Tea Kettle to my summer show in 2011. My version was based on an idea by Jim Steinmeyer but I came up with a decidedly different climax to the trick. In all the Tea Kettle versions there is no real climax other than pouring more and more unique drinks. The ending I came up with gave the trick a definite 'ta-da' ending, but it proved to be more shocking than I expected. I actually had to rewrite the set-up for the ending in order to not freak people out.

What was my ending to the Inexhaustible Tea Kettle you ask? After pouring numerous drinks like milk, cool aid, tea and so forth I announced I would attempt Orange Juice, but I apologized in advance in case it didn't work because, as I explained, Orange Juice was the hardest drink of all. Then I told the audience for some odd reason the oranges would separate from the liquid in the strangest way. At this moment, I would pour the remaining liquid and the oranges slices could be seen separated in the water  for a brief moment....then suddenly the audience realized the orange slices were actually GOLDFISH!

Tremendous ending, I thought. First time I tried it, two of the people who took drinks of the other liquids almost puked thinking they just drank 'fish water'. It was terribly funny and somewhat embarrassing and thus required a rewrite in order to have the ending make sense and for the audience members not to get ill thinking they drank dirty fish water. The 'corrected' script solved the problem and it made for a tremendous effect in my show. As enjoyable as my twist on the trick was, I still long to one day present an actual Inexhaustible Bottle effect...if I can ever locate one.

Now if you'd like to see a novel presentation of the 'Think-A-Drink' act presented by Charles Hoffman, please watch the video below.

*portions of this blog were reprinted from my old magic blog dated Feb 9,2010.

Houdini and The US Presidents

Houdini at the White House*

I find it interesting at times to put famous people into a broader historical perspective. Given this is an election year, I can't help but think about the Presidency and that got me wondering what Presidents were alive during Houdini's life. Houdini had a connection to all the Presidents of his time right down to George Washington, which I'll share with you at the end of this story.

Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes

But for now, let's look at the timeline. Houdini was born in 1874. At the time of his birth Ulysses S. Grant was the current President. He would serve until 1877. However, Houdini, then Erich Weiss, would not arrive in the U.S. until July of 1878, so the first President he would have encountered from when he was in this country would have been Rutherford B. Hayes. President Hayes is the person credited with starting the tradition of the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House Lawn, an event that has featured many magicians since it began, though Houdini doesn't appear to have ever participated. President Hayes served until 1881 when James Garfield took over to become the 20th President of the U.S.. Houdini had a unique connection to Garfield.

President Garfield only served for five months. On July 2, 1881, Charles Guiteau shot the President at the 6th Street Railroad Station in Washington. Guiteau the deranged assassin was disgruntled because he wasn't given a job within the government. The President lived until September 19th, 1881.  In November, Guiteau finally went on trial, for murder.

Houdini, in January 1906, was challenged to escape from the cell that once held the assassin of President Garfield at the D.C. Jail. Houdini, not only freed himself, but also unlocked several other cells and had prisoners change cells with one another. The Houdini movie with Jonathan Schaech opens with a scene that I think is a recreation of this escape.

Chester A. Arthur would take over for Garfield, and would serve as President during the time that young Erich Weiss became known as 'Erich, Prince of the Air'. Grover Cleveland was the next President, followed by Benjamin Harrison. When Houdini and Theo and Jacob Hyman went to work the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Grover Cleveland became President, again.

When Houdini got his big break from Martin Beck in March of 1899, William McKinley was serving his third year as President. McKinley would be assassinated in office by an avowed anarchist. His Vice President Theodore Roosevelt would follow him and serve two terms as President till 1909. A few years later, Houdini while sailing aboard the Imperator from England to America, had the good fortune to meet the former President Roosevelt and perform for him as well. Houdini totally baffled the former President and before landing in the U.S., he made sure to have his photo taken with Roosevelt. The photo today is interesting as two versions exist. One with Houdini, President Roosevelt and a number of other gentlemen, and the other version is of Houdini and the President with all the other people airbrushed out!

William Howard Taft was President from 1909-1913. During that time Houdini became the first person to fly an airplane in Australia thus making him a pioneer aviator. He also introduced the USD or the Upside Down Water Torture Cell during Taft's tenure as President. On March 4th, 1913, Woodrow Wilson would be sworn in as the 28th President of the United States and a few months later, Cecelia Weiss, Houdini's mother would pass away, changing his life forever. President Wilson would often sneak over to the Keith's Vaudeville Theatre in Washington D.C. to see Houdini perform. The theatre was easy walking distance from the White House. Houdini also received an invitation from President Wilson to come to the White House.

When World War I broke out, Houdini enlisted but was too old to be considered. Instead, he got behind President Wilson and the war effort by selling Liberty Bonds and performed at military bases across the country to support the troops. He also made an Elephant Vanish and began his movie career during the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson.

Warren G. Harding was the next President serving from 1921-1923. He died during his third year in office. Houdini met Sir Arthur Conan Doyle during this time and had the famous seance in Atlantic City with Doyle's wife. Calvin Coolidge was the Vice President for Harding, so when Harding died in 1923, Coolidge became President. He served until 1929, so that made Coolidge the final President during Houdini's life.

Though he was friendly with Roosevelt and Wilson, I can't help but think that the Coolidge and Harding Administrations didn't take too kindly to Harry. He had testified before Congress about the Anti-Fortune Telling Legislation and it was revealed during this time that seances had taken place at the Coolidge White House, which later was changed to the Harding White House. But it was bad press for the executive branch either way.

Other events not of a Presidential nature that took place during Houdini's life: 

• 1903 The Wright Brother Fly for the first time
• 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
• 1908 The first Model T Ford rolls out of the factory
• 1912 The sinking of the RMS Titanic. Houdini's friend Charles Carter (Carter the Great) tried unsuccessfully to board passage on the Titanic.
• 1913 Grand Central Station Opens in NYC
• 1917 US enters WW1
• 1919 Prohibition becomes the law of the land
• 1923 TIME Magazine published for the first time
• 1924 J. Edgar Hoover appointed to lead the FBI
• 1926 Robert Goddard sends up the first liquid fueled rocket
• 1926 -Oct 31 Houdini dies.

Houdini missed Charles Lindbergh's historic first transatlantic flight by only a few months. And he missed the Stock Market Crash of 1929 by three years.

If you are wondering what Houdini's connection was to all the President's from Washington to Coolidge was, well he was an avid collector of many things and one of his collections consisted of signatures of all the Presidents. I wonder where that collection is today? According to the Silverman Biography on Houdini he even had signatures of John Wilkes Booth and his brothers. Houdini's boyhood idol happened to be Abraham Lincoln, who had only died 9 years before Houdini was born. Another way of looking at that, Houdini was born 9 years after the end of the Civil War. He's such a modern figure, I never really considered that he was born so close to the War Between the States.

Houdini loved America and American history. One thing I really admire about Houdini in this regard is how though he knew politicians, Congressmen, and Presidents, he stayed out of the political arena. He visited both the White House and Congress and he was welcomed by people from all parties, but he never publicly took sides. He surely had political opinions but he kept those private and used his celebrity status to promote one thing, HOUDINI.

*Thanks to WildAboutHoudini.com for the use of the top picture.

The Magic Detective is Evolving

Coming Soon: The Carnegie Magic Detective Show. This will be a web-based show featuring Magic, Magic History and more that will air on my Youtube.com channel. Eventually, I hope to have regular weekly episodes, but it will take a while to transition into that.  Shooting video and then editing video is a slightly longer process than just writing this blog.

Taking this site from a blog to a video show has been in the planning stages for about a year, but implementing it is another thing entirely. All of the episodes will be fairly short, keeping with the Youtube content strategy. As time goes on and I'm able to build an audience I'll offer longer episodes. I've got a number of interviews lined up for the coming months and I'll probably post edited versions of those on the channel and then maybe offer longer ones at another time.

This BLOG will not be going away.  As much as I wish I could interview folks like Daisy White (she is a recent favorite, can you tell?), or HOUDINI himself, they just aren't available. So the blog works well to get their stories out there.

The first episode will contain a video of a near death accident with a famous escape artist. I'm not sure this footage has been seen in the U.S. and if it has, it's not been wide spread. I'll post Air Dates in the 'Coming Soon' box at the upper right hand side of the blog, and of course you'll be able to watch it right from this very blog or via the Youtube Channel. Stay Tuned!

A Bit of David Copperfield History

I found this on Youtube and really enjoyed watching it. Though David Copperfield does own perhaps the largest collection of historical magic, he is also living history.  He accomplished an astonishing amount in his life and I hope this continues for many many years to come. I don't really know what this is from, but it looks like it came from the Copperfield Team. I hope they allow it to remain on Youtube so that more people can appreciate his contributions to the art.

The Oldest Magic Shop in America

The Oldest Magic Shop in the United States* opened it's doors in 1873. Located at 493 Sixth Avenue NYC, NY, it was started by two brothers, Francis and Antonio Martinka. Their original shop had 5000 square feet of room with a showroom in the front and a small theatre and workshop in the back. Martinka & Co. was different from many modern magic shops though. They not only sold magic, they built magic. Everything from small props of wood, glass and metal to large stage illusions were crafted in their shop. They possessed a skill that is rarely seen today.

Their shop was frequented by amateurs and professionals alike. The top names of the day, Robert Heller, Alexander Herrmann, William Robinson, Carter the Great, Harry Houdini and Harry Kellar purchased items from Martinkas. By 1902 it became the hang out for regular NY magicians and that's when Dr. W. Golden Mortimer and Dr. Saram Ellison proposed establishing an official organization for magicians. May 10, 1902 The Society of American Magicians was born in the back room of Martinkas Magic Shop.

By 1917, the Martinka brothers decided retirement was in order. They had been running this shop and a previous one in Germany for more than 50 years. They chose to sell the shop and it was purchased by a young up and coming magician by the name of Charles Carter. Known professionally as Carter the Great, he had become a great customer to the Martinkas. Practically his entire touring illusion show was built in the back rooms of the Martinka shop. Charles Carter had been touring for ten years and was feeling the need to settle down. Purchasing the magic shop would be the ideal thing for him.

Charles Carter had grand plans for Martinkas. According to the Carter the Great book by Mike Caveney, Carter planned to open Martinka Magic Shops all across the country. He even had plans to open a large theatre next to Martinkas to feature acts on the weekends and showcase illusions during the week. But none of it was to be and within a year Carter was looking for a buyer. He was loosing money in the magic shop business. Carter also had pulled in a partner after his initial purchase of the company, Alf Wilton. Mr. Wilton would eventually buy Carter out and get involved with a new group of people, John Collins, Frances Martinka, Theo Hardeen and Harry Houdini. The year was 1919.

What did Houdini do with Martinka's you might wonder. He purchased Hornmanns Magic Company from Otto Hornmann, and merged the two businesses together. Beyond that he did precious little. He was busy with his Film Company and history shows what a debacle that was. He sold his 51 percent controlling stock to Alf Wilton after only nine months as President of Martinka & Co..

Frank Ducrot

In 1920, the business moved to 304 West 34th St. in NYC, where it would remain for many years. The next owner, was Frank Ducrot, a popular New York magician. He hired Daisy White to work the front counter and to act as secretary and sometimes as his magic assistant.

Frank Ducrot died of a heart attack in 1938 and the shop was purchased by Al Flosso, and the name changed to The Flosso-Hornmann Magic Shop. Al Flosso was an old time vaudeville and popular Coney Island performer. He knew everyone in magic and he kept the shop bustling right up until his death in 1976 at the age of 80. His son Jack Flosso eventually took over the shop and just as his father had done, kept the spirit of magic alive and kicking in NYC.

The Flosso-Hornmann Magic Shop was a landmark that was visited by professional and amatuer magicians as well as famous Hollywood celebrities and other famous personalities. In 2000, Jackie Flosso sold the shop to Ted Bogusta in the hopes of retiring. In late Sept 2003, Jackie Flosso went to be with Francis & Antonio Martinka, Frank Ducrot, Charles Carter, Daisy White, Harry Houdini and Al Flosso. He was 77 when he died.

Today, Martinka's Magic Shop is an online magic shop and auction house. And I just found out that they have an actual shop in Midland Park NJ, the address is listed on the website. I think they are most famous today for their online auctions of antique magic, which I must admit have had some incredible items offered! You can see them at www.martinka.com

*I understand there is some debate as to Martinkas Magic Shop being the 'oldest'. It certainly has to be the longest running magic shop in America.

Unusual Houdini Graphic

The image above appeared in 1929 in a syndicated column written by Houdini's Girl Detective, Rose Mackenberg.. It's a very cool image of Houdini and I wish the scan had been better. I can't help but wonder if the original might have been in color.

I'm a little behind on the blog articles at the moment. Between my many projects and doing shows I've come down with a cold which is slowing me down. But I expect to have some interesting things in the next few days.

By the way, the blog article I wrote on The Pendragons which at first didn't quite get the response I felt it deserved has shot up, into the top ten most read articles. Then it quickly jumped into the #2 spot knocking the Hugo/George Melies article from #2 to #3. I have a feeling with the Hugo movie getting nominated for 11 Academy Awards, it's going to move up again. But the Pendragon article is inches away from being in the top spot as the most read article on my blog. Anyway you look at it, it's very nice to have folks reading my blog. Thank you!

Houdini's Mysterious Girl Detective

 

HOUDINI's Mysterious Girl Detective

"Exposing the Weird Secrets of Mediums and Spirits"; so read the headline for a series of newspaper articles by Rose Mackenberg. Back when Houdini was busy making spiritualists all over the globe very unhappy people, he discovered he couldn't do all the work alone. So he had his own agents and one of them was Rose Mackenberg. If the accompanying photos are any indication she was a master of disguise!

Rose would dress up as some character to attend seances, attend spiritualist meetings, and generally investigate and typically detect and reveal fraud. Though he job was to find the fakers, she still kept an open mind about communication with the dead. She said she never experienced it herself but if it was possible she hoped she would get to see it first hand.

She often used the alias Florence B. Rush and was also known as the infamous Rev. Frances Raud (fraud).

When Houdini was before Congress testifying about a proposed anti fortune telling bill "to ban people from pretending to tell fortunes for reward or compensation or pretending to unite the separated" as the The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush puts it. Rose was there also with Houdini to testify about a number of mediums she had visited in Washington D.C.. And Rose had a bombshell to deliver. I doubt anyone was expecting it. She revealed that Congressman and Senators regularly attended seances and one congressman's wife was a medium. Not only that, she revealed that seances had been held at the White House! Her testimony rocked Washington to it's core. The White House was not the least bit happy and issued an immediate denial of the accusation. In the end, it didn't matter, as the bill never got off the floor.

She continued working as Houdini's chief Detective right up until the time of Houdini's death. In fact, Rose Mackenberg was in Montreal participating in the lectures that Houdini gave at McGill University. So she was with him right till the end. Rose was not the only person on the team, Julia Sawyer who was an assistant in the show, also worked as one of the debunking agents. Jane Chapman was another, who Sidney Radner had interviewed about her debunking exploits. The filmed footage of the interview appeared on the Houdini Documentary put out by Unapix Productions. There were possibly a dozen people that Houdini employed in his team to defeat the spiritualist fakers.

After Houdini passed away, Rose retired from her Spirit detective work, but she continued exposing mediums through lectures she gave on the subject. "Exposing the Weird Secrets of Mediums and Spirits" was the title of a ten part syndicated newspaper article she wrote in 1929 that appeared in newspapers across the U.S.. In it she gives her thoughts on the Arthur Ford Seance and spends a great deal of time exposing the fraudulent methods of fake mediums. The photos here are from that article.

Searching for Miss Daisy

Adrienne Barbeau as Daisy White

The first time I heard the name Daisy White was while watching the Houdini movie staring Paul Michael Glaser. Adrienne Barbaeu played the part of Daisy White and in the movie she worked for Hardeen in his show and then later shacked up with Houdini while he was struggling over the death of his mother. This of course is the fictionalized movie version of things. As easy as it is to become enamored with Adrienne Barbeau's portrayal of Daisy, I didn't give Daisy much thought beyond that.

Then I came across this statement "Houdini only ever loved two women, his mother and Daisy White." That's quite an eye opening statement especially given the way the legend of Houdini has been portrayed. By the way, that statement came from Maurice Zolotow, who was a show business biographer. His statement was from a review he wrote in the NY Times for the book HOUDINI: The Untold Story. By Milbourne Christopher.  Needless to say, that was all it took to cement my curiosity and send me on the search for the actual story.

Daisy White

Truth be told there was a real Daisy White. Her name was Gertrude Nickerson* and my research so far shows she was from Middlesex Massachusetts. She apparently got involved in musical theatre or musical comedy, probably in Vaudeville. How she got into magic initially is a bit of a mystery. She apparently worked for Servais LeRoy at some point, most likely in the 1920s. Whaley's Who's Who says that she learned magic as an assistant to Frank DuCrot and then later became a demonstrator at Martinka's Magic Shop (actually Hornmann's at the time). It's unclear though her actual path into magic as several sources give different accounts.

There are a couple interesting stories about her work at Hornmann's Magic Shop. At this time the shop was located over on West 34st St in NYC. One day Max Malini walked into the shop. There were a number of other magicians around and Daisy was working behind the counter. Max walked up to Daisy and grabbed some of her red hair and with a pair of scissors cut off the handful of her hair. The clump of hair was then vanished and her hair was found to be perfectly restored!

Another story involved a young John Scarne coming into to the shop to meet Frank DuCrot of magic lessons. Daisy was there and introduced herself and kept Scarne company until Frank arrived. No one know Scarne at the time. Frank Ducrot and John Scarne went in the back room to start their lesson and John was a little unimpressed with the technique that Frank was teaching with cards. He asked if he could learn something other than cards and Ducrot, somewhat puzzled asked if he didn't like card tricks? Scarne said he already learned a lot from professional card mechanics and proceeded to show Frank Ducrot a number of mind numbing effects. Frank was so blown away he called Daisy to the back room and they both sat there for hours watching John Scarne do effect after effect. Ducrot told Scarne that he needed to meet Houdini, and he set up a meeting for them to meet. The night of the meeting, which was also at the shop, a number of magicians were there and they all went to the back room. Frank wouldn't let Daisy come in the back though, he made her stay at the front in case any customers showed up. Typical boys club attitude.

By all accounts Daisy White exuded sex appeal, though I'm sure they didn't call it that back then. She had a habit of wearing low necked dresses and was known to lean over the counters at the magic shop while doing demonstrations revealing her ample cleavage to the customers and no doubt selling all the inventory they had! The latest book on Houdini, Masters of Mystery by Christopher Sandford, has this description of Daisy, "...Houdini's voluptuous former assistant Daisy White, whose duties had sometimes called for her to parade up and down the stage in an overfull dress while the illusionist prepared his next trick in the background." So she apparently worked for Houdini as well.

Beyond her sexy figure, Daisy was a talented individual. She was an accomplished pianist and often played piano for shows put on by the SAM Parent Assembly. She was quite active in the Parent Assembly having helped put together ladies nights and worked on decorating the banquets. In the 1930s, she was involved in a court case in which a member of the Parent Assembly acted as her lawyer.

Back in the 1920s, Guy Jarrett the eccentric illusion designer, hired Frank DuCrot to present a collection of Jarrett's illusions at the Idle Hour Playhouse in NY. Daisy White was the assistant. It appears the show played a single date. But the unique illusions of Jarrett's were photographed with Daisy White in them. These photos later appeared in the pages of his incredible and controversial book on illusion magic simply titled, JARRETT.  He referred to Daisy as '118 lbs but with quite some gazangas'.

Houdini died unexpectedly in 1926.  After his death, his ever faithful wife discovered a safe in the basement containing love letters from women who had fallen for her husband over the years. Among these were some rather hot and heavy letters that came from Daisy White. Bess had a clever way of confronting the women. She invited them over her house for lunch and as they were leaving, she handed each one of them their letters back tied up nicely with a ribbon. It's unclear if Daisy was one of the invited ones. The confrontation with Daisy however seems to have been more personal. Daisy convinced Bess that nothing happened between her and Harry. This must have been the case because Daisy and Mrs. Houdini remained friends.

I had read in a number of biographies that Bess opened a tea room called 'Mrs. Houdini's Rendevous' in NYC for a period of time. The location of which was where Rockefeller Center is today. The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush, mentions a 'speakeasy' which was run by both Bess and Daisy White. From 1920-1933 serving alcohol was illegal in the U.S.. A 'speakeasy' was an illegal barroom. The Secret Life of Houdini goes one step further referring to the speakeasy as a brothel. This information apparently from Arthur LeRoy, but Patrick Culliton thinks and I agree, that this was a 'mischaracterization' referring to the speakeasy as a brothel. I don't honestly know if the tea room and the speakeasy were one in the same. The tea room apparently made no money because Bess wouldn't allow down on their luck performers to pay. But a speakeasy, well I can't imagine that going out of business during prohibition unless they were shut down by the authorities. No record exists of Bess or Daisy going to jail, as far as i could find, so that's not likely. It will remain an open question until I can dig further.

Next, Arthur Ford enters the picture. He was the Reverend of the First Spiritualist Church in NY. He befriended Daisy White. His charismatic charm won over Daisy and she became a spiritualist and even joined his church. On page 149 of The Houdini Code Mystery by William Rauscher there is a photo of an invitation card for a lecture being presented at Carnegie Hall by Daisy White which reads "You are cordially invited to attend a private demonstration given by courtesy of Miss Daisy White to expose the comparative virtues of Modern Magic, Mind Reading and Spiritualism". The date on the card was April 1929.

Arthur Ford apparently also won over Bess Houdini. Both The Secret Life of Houdini and The Houdini Code Mystery say that Bess & Ford were dating, though very discretely. They met after a lecture/debate on Spiritualism between Howard Thurston and Arthur Ford in which Ford easily won the debate. On February 8th of 1928, Ford gives Bess a message from Houdini's mother. Eleven months later, Ford, through his spirit contact Fletcher, produces a message from Houdini himself. Bess announced to the media it was the authentic and genuine message that she and her late husband had agreed upon.

Then all hell broke loose. The media began debunking the whole affair. Dunninger, the mentalist, got involved and pointed a finger at Daisy White saying she gave the information to Ford. One source said Daisy claimed she knew the code, as did a lot of magicians, but she did not know what the 'message was'. The United Press story that appeared in newspapers of the time said that Daisy knew Arthur Ford but "never discussed Houdini 'in that quarter or never had said she had got Houdini's code before his death." Ford also denied that Daisy had anything to do with it. However, The Secret Life of Houdini says "when some of Houdini's friends threatened to expose Daisy White's involvement, she threatened to go public with her sexual relationship with Houdini and she had 'one or more witnesses' ready to vouch for her story." Which was it really? Did she know the code? Did she give it to Ford? Did she have the affair with Houdini after-all?

To those questions, I don't have concrete answers. It's clear that history has revealed Houdini to be NOT the ultra-conservative straight laced individual that his biographers had painted him to be. Did he actually cheat on Bess or did he just have close relationships with other women? Hard to say. It's so easy to want to paint him into a modern day box and apply the loose standards of today to Houdini. Then again, there is the old saying 'boys will be boys'. We know he had some sort of relationship with other women, and pretty good chance with Daisy White as well. But beyond that we can only speculate.

Sometime in 1933 she was getting work as a numerologist. She had a business card that read 'Science of Sex and Numbers'. As I mentioned above, she gets involved in a court case over her mother's estate in Massachusetts. She eventually was awarded one half of the estate. Then after that Daisy vanishes from the magic literature.

update: Apparently Daisy White/Gertrude Nickerson died July 20, 1957 in St. Michaels Cemetery in East Elmhurst NY. IN 2017 A headstone was placed on the previously unmarked grave that reads Daisy White, then her real name Gertrude Nickerson 1875-1957, it includes the words Vaudeville Dancer and her association to magicians. This information is credited online to ME, however, I dont recall discovering this, nor did I help in a fundraiser for the gravestone. I certainly would have had I known. But I never knew. IF you know who spearheaded this, and discovered her final resting place, let me know. I have it wrong on m podcast Ep24, and I had it wrong in the original article. The best I could uncover was that her death was prior to 1959, and sure enough, this information seems to have nailed it. Thank you to whomever found this out, I would love to give you credit. 

That my friends is all I could find on the infamous Daisy White, so far at least. I'm going to ask a special request to my fellow magic historians. If anyone knows anything about Daisy White that I didn't cover, OR if you have photographs you'd be willing to share, please contact me at carnegiemagic@me.com
I'm going to continue the research on Ms. White and eventually hope to be able to write a much longer piece on Daisy.

*This blog has been an exciting one and new information just came in regarding Daisy White's actual name. It's from a newspaper, so I still need to verify it, but you can read it in the comments below by Bill Mullins. Very thankful for the input by others!



Special Thanks to Joseph Pecore, The Conjuring Arts Research Library, Ask Alexander, Patrick Culliton, John Cox and others who shared their knowledge of Daisy White. Also extra special Thank You to Patrick Culliton for allowing me to use his photo of the real Daisy standing (upper left).

Dennis Haney, The Wizard of Rosedale - News and Features - Baltimore City Paper

Here is a great news article on my friend Denny Haney of Denny's Magic Studio in Baltimore. Always enjoy reading about Denny!
Dennis Haney, The Wizard of Rosedale - News and Features - Baltimore City Paper