Max Malini Memorabilia

I was just online watching the auction from Australia for Houdini and various other magicians memorabilia. I was planning on bidding on an item listed as 'magicians clothes'. I knew they were not 'magicians clothes'. What they had there was Max Malini's clothes AND something else. But before I tell you what that something else was, let me tell you about the item before this which was a cigar holder that belonged to Malini with sold for something like $8000. CRAZY!

By the way, the lot was recently corrected to say "Max Malini's Magician's Outfit" Ok, now to the 'something else'. Amongst the items was a little cloth bag and two wooden eggs. Max Malini's egg bag was IN THAT LOT and not even LISTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A piece of cloth from Signor Blitz's egg bag sold for $2000. This lot, with Malini's pants, gloves, walking cane, shoes and his egg bag and eggs, sold for $5000. Three thousand dollars less than the cigar holder and a way bigger bargain. http://www.lawsons.com.au/asp/fullcatalogue.asp?salelot=7919A+++1863+&refno=31006282&image=0

The auction estimate was $300-$600. I was willing to bid in that range, but the auction opened at $3000. So I was out pretty quick, lol. Some of the books have been selling quite low, can't imagine what will happen with the Houdini items, the auction estimates on those are pretty low, but I imagine they'll go through the roof.

Happy Valentines Day with A Little Magic

I actually wanted to post a video of David Copperfield doing this trick, but I couldn't find it! I have it somewhere but not handy. Still, Jansenson does a fantastic job with this trick, in fact he has an added twist to it that was not in the version that Copperfield did.

For the magic history buffs, this dates back to Nate Leipzig and was not originally done with paper hearts. Enjoy!

We Still Miss Doug Henning

It's been 12 years since Doug Henning passed away. If you're a younger reader to my blog, you might not be totally aware who Doug Henning was. He is credited with bringing about a rebirth of interest in magic in the 1970s. His MAGIC SHOW on Broadway was a big hit and it was quickly followed by several years of annual 'Doug Henning's World of Magic' TV Specials on NBC. He was only 52 years old when he died on Feb 7th, 2000, the same age as Houdini.

His magic was mostly old school presented in a modern way. He didn't dress like a magician nor did he act like any magician that modern audiences had seen. He was young and vibrant and most of all enthusiastic about his art. He constantly said words like 'wonder and illusion' like they were candy and they became synonymous with him.

Even though he did tricks for a living, Doug always seemed to believe there was real magic out there, somewhere. An incident that happened to him in 1971 appears to be a turning point in his career. He was booked to perform in an area several hundred miles from the North Pole. It was a tour for the Canadian Armed Forces who were stationed in the frigid arctic region. During the tour Doug also did a show for a group of Eskimos. Who didn't respond at all during or after his show. No clapping or laughing or anything. They paid attention but gave none of the usual reactions that Doug was used to getting from his magic.

After the show Doug spoke to one of the Inuit Eskimos and asked about how they liked the show and it was clearly some sort of misunderstanding. They did not understand why he did magic when in their view magic was everywhere. Doug tried to explain his various tricks were magic in his eyes. The group spoke amongst themselves and told Doug they understood why he did magic, they said "It's because your people have forgotten the magic and you do this to remind them that there is magic in the world"*

That was Doug's mission after that, to bring 'wonder and magic' to the world. He inspired so many of us that are around today. Now in the 21st Century, magic has changed a lot. Attitudes and styles and techniques have evolved. Doug's magic seems a little dated by today's standards, yet the real magic of Doug Henning had nothing to do with the tricks, it was the man himself.

By the way, I want to point you to an article on another blog that is about Doug and one of his props and his influence on the life of a female magician. http://ariannblack.blogspot.com/2012/04/doug-henning-blue.html

Oh, and in case you're wondering if Doug had any influence on me, take a look at the photo below.

*I found this story on the Magicpedia page on Doug Henning. It's very possibly from the book by John Harrison, but I don't have that handy to check it.

The Hat of Robert Heller

A short time ago I had been contacted by an auction house who had acquired a top hat said to belong to a once famous magician. They contacted me because of my many articles about this magician on my blog. The hat belonged to Robert Heller.

It had remained in his family all these many years, but for whatever reason the family felt it was time for the hat to have a new home. I will tell you, the hat sold for more than I expected, but having said that in my honest opinion the hat is priceless. There are precious few artifacts from Heller's life that remain and this item, though not part of his performing act, is still a wonderful piece.

Heller deserves a much more prominent place in the minds of magicians, but today is mostly forgotten. I have tried as best I could to get the word out about him. In fact, I will continue to write stories and articles about Heller in the future.

I don't know who won the hat, but I hope you cherish it for the rare piece of history that it is.

For those who missed my previous articles, please check out this link to the many stories I wrote about William Henry Palmer, known professionally as Robert Heller.

Trivia Questions & News

I'm currently working on a number of history projects, but they are all behind a bit because work has shifted into high gear. I'm putting together some articles on other magic theatres and places devoted to magic performances. If I can find the time, I've got another magic grave to scope out and trip to investigate some rarely seen magic artifacts.

And I have two trivia questions. The first, "which famous magician owned this hat?" There is a very cool story that goes along with the hat and I'm going to be doing a blog article about it in the future, but I wanted to see the variety of guesses that come in.

The next trivia question. Who referred to himself as "The first authentic historian of magic?"

If you'd like to take a guess at the trivia questions, just post your answer in the comments.

UPDATE: The answer to question 1, the Hat was owned by Robert Heller.
 The answer to question 2, Harry Houdini referred to himself as the first authentic historian of magic in an issue of Conjurers Monthly Magazine.

The Magic Theatre Series Pt 2 The UMT

First Studio (before)

After writing the article on The Cabot Theatre recently, I got to thinking about other magic theatres and venues strictly devoted to magic. There have been a number of them, some more successful than others. I was actually involved with a theatre of sorts with two friends of mine.

First Studio (after)

It started back in 2000, my friends Ralph Metzler and Adam Burger and I were looking for a place to store our props and possibly rehearse. After much searching we came across an odd place in the back of a shopping center. It was a very narrow space but deep and with high ceilings. We snapped it up, built an office and a loft and hung mirrors to rehearse. It was a really cool place to work and rehearse but it had some drawbacks. For one, there was no air conditioning in the place and in the summer it could get brutally hot. Two, there was no bathroom. Three parking was less than stellar. So even though we liked our spot we kept our eyes open for something else.

As fate would have it, another unit in the back would eventually open up. This unit was 5 times the size of the space we were renting, it had an office that was air conditioned and more than enough room for storage, rehearsals and a bathroom! So we snagged it.

This new unit was also in the back of a shopping center. Coincidentally, in the front of the shopping center was an old movie theatre that had recently shut down. The new tenants wanted to renovate the place and they knew that I had done some shows there in the past and offered to GIVE me as many seats as I wanted. So my two friend and I loaded up 100+ cast iron seats and lugged them to our new location. It was back breaking work and we only did it because Ralph and I had this crazy notion of fixing them up and selling them on eBay!  As it was, our friend Adam suggested taking some of the seats and putting in a theatre. I'm not sure how keen we were on this idea at first, but he kept bringing
it up, so in the end, it was really his idea to have a theatre.

Installing Chairs only days before First Show at Theatre

That is where things begin. But now it was a matter of transforming what was essentially a warehouse spot into a theatre. We wanted to keep the warehouse look, but 'clean it up'. And we had a tight budget....practically no budget really. So we painted the walls black. We purchased industrial looking lights that we could hang down from the ceiling. There were probably 25 or more lights. We put our old mirrors back up at the back of the area that would be the theatre. And to show just how devoted to the concept we were, we only installed 30 seats. Eventually we would install 50 seats.

The walls were decorated with vintage magic posters and various pieces of memorabilia. The theatre area itself was covered with my magic paintings. Along the wall as you walked into the theatre were large scale magic illusions on display.

When we were working or rehearsing in the space we always used the florescent lights that were part of the unit when we moved in. But when it was time to transform the place, we turned off the florescents and turned on the hanging lights. The first time we did it we were stunned at how cool the place looked. I had come up with the name 'Underground Magic Theatre' (UMT). And we were the 'first' to use the underground name, before Mark & Jinger's Magic Underground, and before others as well.

Though having our own theatre was our friend Adam's idea, he actually didn't want us to install the seats. He thought folding chairs would be better. But the inspiration for what it would become came from two sources, the Larcom Theatre in Beverly MA and Robert-Houdin's Theatre in Paris. At the Larcom, which is the sister theater to the Cabot, they have a huge room upstairs with a gallery of magic posters on display. In the basement is another gallery of all their props and illusions that have been used over the years and were retired from the show. The way this looked inspired what would become known as the 'magic museum' area of our space. The intimate theatre was really from Robert-Houdin and just as he did everything from stage magic to illusions, so would we.

We did not have a raised stage, it was floor level. And the front row was actually part of our performing area. There was an isle down the center dividing the chairs into two sections. My friend Ralph sewed the fabric of what would become the theatre curtains for the entire run. And though I helped, Ralph also drilled 99% of the holes in the concrete so we could install all the cast irons chairs!

We used the space for rehearsals, video taping segments of our shows, magic lectures, magic workshops, birthday parties and field trips. In the summer months, I offered field trips to Summer Camps to visit 'The Underground Magic Theatre'. Not really sure how it would play, it became a surprise to everyone involved that the concept took off! During the first show, the audience was so into things, two boys in the back of the theatre were heard saying "This is awesome magic" and his friend replied, "NO, this is UNDERGROUND magic!". As part of the field trip, the campers saw an hour long show and were taken on a guided tour of our magic museum. First year, we also offered a magic class, but we discontinued that after year one.
We found the show and tour of the museum was more than enough value as people would contact us saying "this was the kids favorite field trip of the summer". Oh, and we did not do a 'kids magic show'. We presented a theatrical magic show with stage magic and illusion and music and costumes. In fact, one evening we opened the theatre up to adults and they loved the show as much as any camper that had come through. It was never designed as a kids venue, it was designed to impress all ages.

My friend Ralph used the theatre to present birthday parties. It was so cool because he could do a much larger show, then set up tables and chairs for the party. We never advertised the parties yet stayed pretty busy with them.

 The theatre also became a 'hang out' of sorts for magicians who were passing through the area. Of the magicians who stopped by at one time or another, they included: Bob Sheets, Bob Fitch, David Kaye, Ken Scott, Mark Daniel, Tim Hannig, Jozo Bozo from Croatia, Joe Romano, Bruce Bray, Scott Humston, Joe Holiday, Dave Risley, Trixie Bond, and many others.

The theatre ran until the end of Summer 2005. At that point, my friend Adam had already moved away. My friend Ralph had decided it was time for him to move as well and he moved out west. The theatre didn't seem the same without my friends, so I closed it down and regretted the decision off and on for years.

It's now 2013, and for the first time since we closed the UMT, I've decided to take a version of that show back on the road this summer. I call it 'The Traveling Underground Magic Theatre Show' and basically taking the best parts of the theatre shows and creating a traveling version. There won't be any illusions, at least not as of this date. But the show will be about the 'history of magic' so it will be fun and educational at the same time. It will pay homage to the original venture, but this will be something unique in it's own way.

Below is a video of what the place looked like with the florescent lights up. It was not the look that theatre goers saw however. But it's still pretty cool looking back. Coming Soon: Part 3 The Magic Salons

The Cabot - A True Theatre of Magic

Fu Manchu/David Bamberg had a dream. His dream was to create a resident magic company (show) in Argentina. Unfortunately, that dream never happened. But somehow, that dream was passed to a young boy who was inspired by FuManchu, that boy was Cesareo Pelaez. He would grow up to be the founder and director of the Le Grand David Magic Spectacular in Beverly Massachusetts.  But before there was a show, the ragtag group of future performers purchased a run down theatre known as the Cabot Street Cinema Theatre.

EARLY HISTORY

The theatre was originally known as The Ware Theatre and it was designed to be a silent movie and vaudeville house.  It opened on December 8, 1920 and was managed by Harris and Glover Ware, two brothers and former vaudeville performers from Marblehead Mass. This was their second theatre in Beverly Mass, the first was the smaller Larcom Theatre a few blocks away. Today it's known as the Cabot St. Cinema Theatre and it has spacious seating on the lower level and has upper balcony seating as well, a total of 750 seats in the auditorium. The stage is enormous with plenty of wing and fly space for curtains. The dressing rooms are in the basement below the stage. The original stage included an orchestra pit for musicians.

1970s HISTORY

The members of what would become the Le Grand David Magic Show purchased the run down Cabot Theatre in 1976. The first thing they did upon being able to occupy the building was do a floor to ceiling cleaning of the place. They reopened the theatre 48 hours later showing movies. However, they didn't show movies the current run movies. Their idea was to show 'Films Worth Seeing More Than Once'. The movies were selected by Cesareo and included such gems as Lawrence of Arabia, Camelot, It Happened One Night, Yankee Doodle Dandy and other classics. The theatre lobby always had fresh cut flowers and the doormen wore tuxedos (they still do today). Often members of the company dressed up in costumes that reflected the movie that was showing. Every movie became an 'event'.  If that wasn't enough for new audiences to enjoy, they would have been amazed to know the flurry of activity taking place after hours and often into the wee hours of the morning.

For six months they worked building illusions, magic props, painting scenery, sewing costumes and redecorating and restoring the theatre. Once the items were built, then they had to rehearse. All this took place after the regular movie showing hours.

On February 20th 1977 the debut performance of 'LeGrand David and his Magic Company' took place on the Cabot theater stage. The name would be altered slightly over the next year to become 'Marco the Magi presents...LeGrand David and his own Spectacular Magic Company'.

MORE

The Cabot St. Cinema Theatre also has several store fronts and a second story above the store fronts. The entire building is owned by White Horse Productions, which is the actual business name for the Le Grand David troupe. The storefronts serve as offices and storage/display areas. The rooms on the second level include a painting room and a sewing room where most of their wonderful costumes were created over the life of the show. 

The LeGrand David show ran for 35 consecutive years. Over the years they had a number of milestones, one of which was purchasing a second theatre, the Larcom. The Larcom theatre was the first theatre built by the Ware Brothers and now both theatres are again owned and managed by the same company. The Larcom is a smaller theatre and the restoration to that property is quite amazing. It is truly a treasure all its own.

These two theatres were home to the LeGrand David troupe. However, they did venture out on several occasions to perform elsewhere. They performed at the White House in Washington D.C. on numerous occasions at the invitation of President Reagan. I believe they did an abbreviated version of their show at the Magic Castle at some point. And there may have been one or two other 'off location' showcases that they took part in. But the bulk of their work, thousands of performances, took place in Beverly Massachusetts. 

Inspired by Richiardi

A recently wrote a blog article about the Richardine Family and the Richiardi Family. I had never heard of the Richardine until I stumbled upon them via AskAlexander.com. It was an eye opening bit of research. In the article I mentioned something about Aldo Richiardi's unique take on the Broom Suspension.

I tend to think a true artist is never satisfied and is always striving to improve and make their performances better. Richiardi changed his Broom Suspension in various ways over the years. One of the incarnations was a story based routine in which Richiardi apparently discovered a handicapped boy and caused him to float in the air and then walk on his own. A powerful visual story and one that he apparently passed on over time in favor of a much faster, more direct presentation.

Imagine my surprise to discover that a version of that story routine found it's way into one of my favorite magic shows, the LeGrand David Magic show in Beverly Ma. I was watching a video of the show that Cesareo had given me years ago and there it was, Webster Bull narrating the story of Marco the Magi seeing David for the first time, but David was unable to walk. This led into the Broom Suspension illusion just as it had with Richiardi's routine. I had seen them perform this many times and loved their version but never knew it's roots were with Richiardi.

I remember sitting in the theatre of the Cabot St. Cinema Theatre one day talking with Cesareo. It was a Saturday when the company was busy in rehearsals and he was telling me about seeing Richiardi Sr. and how he recalled this curly haired boy that used to run around the theatre during intermission. That curly haired boy was a young Aldo Richiardi.

I also knew that Cesareo was greatly inspired by David Bamberg, who was known as FuManchu. But it's clear to me now that Richiardi's magic had also inspired Cesareo. Within the LeGrand David Show there were several routines that were Cesareo's take on what Richiardi had done. They included, The Broom Suspension, the Toy Car Levitation and the Dekolta Chair with tip over trunk.

The Le Grand David Company were not the only one's who carried on Richiardi's magic. Scott Alexander, who was a recent contestant on America's Got Talent, does a fantastic job with the Richiardi version of the Lemon, Egg, Canary effect. I've seen the DeKolta Chair/Tip Over Trunk combo in several different magic acts. I saw the Masked Magician of all people do Richiardi's Buzz Saw on a Talk Show (and he did not reveal it). And yours truly performed Richiardi's version of the Rice Bowls for a time. More than any particular routine though, I think Richiardi's charasmatic style can be found in numerous acts, including Jonathan Pendragon and Joaquin Ayala.

Let me say, I don't think it's right to copy living performers, but I don't think there is anything wrong with reaching back into history and bringing back some of the fantastic magic that these icons made popular. The magic of Richiardi, Le Grand David, Thurston, Houdini, Dante, Blackstone, Doug Henning and so many others deserves to live on for modern audiences to enjoy.

David Bull, One of the True Masters of Magic

There is a magician who in my opinion is one of the great performers of the 20th and 21st century. But he is often overlooked and that is a shame. His name is David Bull, but you probably know him better by his stage name Le Grand David. He was the star of the Le Grand David Magic Show in Beverly Mass, along with Marco the Magi and a big cast of fantastic fellow performing artists.

The Le Grand David Show was the longest running resident magic show in the United States. They began back in 1977 and ran the show every year until June 2012. This fall was the first time in the history of the company that they did not return for a new season. The patriarch of the company, Cesareo Pelaez passed away in 2012 and it's clearly been hard on the members of the group. And frankly, they more than earned a break.

But it's David Bull I want to talk about. Here is a fellow who got into magic basically from a conversation he had with Cesareo. Now Cesareo would later become his mentor, but it's David who put in the hours and hours of practice and rehearsal to develop incredible magical skills. I think he's one of the best, if not THE best manipulator I've ever seen. His skill with Billiard Ball manipulation is breathtaking. But he's also just as adept at coin manipulation and dove productions and his Linking Ring skill is among the best there is. Then there is David's take on the Zombie Ball, I mean what can you say really, it's perfection.  He handles apparatus magic better than anyone out there and his skill as an illusionist is first rate. He does it all with a style that is rarely seen today.

I remember trying to put my finger on David's style a few years ago. I ran down the list of attributes and then it dawned on me, David exhibited from the stage pure confidence. Not arrogance, not a prideful or boastful attitude, just plain confidence and he was pleasant and friendly the entire time. There was also a playfulness about his on stage character at times and other times a seriousness to his performing. He commanded the stage when he was on it but could easily share the stage with fellow artists and performers and had no problem with letting their light shine as well.

As I mentioned, Cesareo Pelaez was David's magic mentor and he was also the creator of the show as well as director. I often wonder if Cesareo had someone in mind that he wanted David to be like when he was helping David along, or if he just showed David what tools he needed and let David himself shine. Ah, and there is the answer, Cesareo was letting David's personality shine on stage!

It appears that one chapter of the Le Grand David saga is over. I was fortunate to watch that first chapter unfold. A new chapter awaits. The pages are blank and I hope that David returns to the stage, along with his fellow artists and performers. Who knows what the future holds for them?  For over thirty years they did what countless others only dreamed of, they did miracles. I think whatever they decide to do, it will be enchanting!

Carnegie, David and Denise April 2012

Harry Kellar's Spirit Cabinet Pt1

Harry Kellar, the Dean of Magicians was well known for his Spirit Cabinet trick. In fact, Kellar worked for a time for the Davenport Brothers, the creators of the very first Spirit Cabinet illusion. When Kellar went off with William Fay to perform on their own, they kept the effect in their show. When they traveled throughout Mexico, rather than carry that bulky and heavy piece of equipment with them, they left the Cabinet behind at each location and had a new one built for each new town they played. So there should be Kellar Spirit Cabinet's all over Mexico!

Houdini coaxed Kellar into coming out of retirement for one more Farewell Show at the New York Hippodrome in 1917.  Kellar gave his Spirit Cabinet to Houdini at the conclusion of that event. This Spirit Cabinet was a 'new' cabinet and not the one he toured with years before. The Kellar Book by Mike Caveney and Bill Miesel says so on page 498. Later, in the New Conjurer's Magazine Vol 1, in 1945, Hardeen ran an ad selling off a number of the Houdini/Hardeen equipment, at the top of the list was the Kellar Spirit Cabinet. The ad even says it had been used by Frederick Eugene Powell and also by Hardeen.

Patrick Culliton mentions this ad in his Nov 1993 Genii article called "Where The Magic Went". He states that no one knows what has happened to The Vanishing Donkey and the Black and White Illusion that were also listed in that advertisement. However, there is no mention of the Kellar Spirit Cabinets whereabouts.

I have found a record of the Hardeen/Kellar Spirit Cabinet, I'm calling it that to differentiate between it and others. It was sold to Dr. Carl S.Frischkorn of Norfolk, Virginia, known as Karland the magician. This appeared in the April 1945 edition of the New Conjurers Magazine. I also found out that Dr. Frischkorn was a member of SAM Assembly #32 in Lynchburg. Norfolk and Lynchburg are NOT close to each other by any stretch. There is also an IBM Ring in Norfolk that at one time was named after Dr. Frischkorn, but apparently they have since renamed it. OK, big question, where is THAT cabinet today??? I'm still hunting and perhaps it resides somewhere between Norfolk and Lynchburg, or perhaps it was sold to a collector? Don't know yet, but I'm searching.

Kellar's 'Original' Spirit Cabinet that he used in the U.S.  would have been sold to Howard Thurston in the big sale. And Thurston only kept a couple of the Kellar pieces in his show, one was the Floating Lady and the other was The Spirit Cabinet.

Here is an interesting twist to the story. In the Sept 1923 issue of The Sphinx on page 195 a magician by the name of Walter Ross, professionally known as Nazami the Mentalist claims to have had in his possession the ORIGINAL Kellar Spirit Cabinet. According to the little blurb it says the cabinet weighed over 600 lbs and Ross intended to start a tour of Vaudeville with the prop. Hmm, did Thurston sell the cabinet or is this another 'original'?

Now I vaguely recall reading that Joseph Dunninger owned a Spirit Cabinet belonging to someone famous, but I want to say it was the Davenport Spirit Cabinet, though I could be wrong, it very well might be where the Kellar cabinet wound up.

But my big question is, does anyone know where Kellar's Spirit Cabinet resides today? Have any of the Mexican Spirit Cabinets ever showed up? I think I might know...stay tuned for part 2.

Influenced by Magic History

It is no secret that I love magic history. I've noticed a lot of folks who enjoy magic history are not performers or are former performers. My friend Denny Haney once told me that you could tell a performer who read magic history books from those who did not simply by the way they perform. In my case it's more than that. I take quite a bit of inspiration from many parts of magic history and I'd like to share one of them with you today.

One of my all time favorite magicians is Charles Mattmueller, better known as Karl Germain. I've never written about him before on this blog, but I think it's time to start including him. One of the things that fascinates me about Germain are his posters. He often used a black/red color scheme in his posters. Though it's very striking visually, I would image part of the reason was because it was cheaper to do than full color.

The poster at the top of the page lists him as 'The Master of Magic' but most often he was known simply as 'Germain the Wizard'. In this day of magician, illusionist, mentalist, mind reader and so forth, I kind of love the simplicity of WIZARD. There are only two wizards people know of today and they would be Harry Potter and Merlin, so it's not bad company to be in.

A few years back I needed a new poster and I decided to look through the many posters that other magicians had done in the past. This is not a new thing. Countless magicians have copied the Kellar/Imps poster. Escape artists and magicians who do escapes love to copy what Houdini has done. IF they don't copy his posters they very often copy the poses he struck in photographs.

I thought, the color scheme of the Germain posters was still appealing and so was the simplicity of the images. But I wanted something to make them more contemporary as well. My solution was to add the various names used by magicians, words like illusionist, conjurer, manipulator and so forth. I put all the names I could think of and used them in the background of the poster.

Then I decided to use the same font that Germain used in his name for my name, and just for fun I used the word 'WIZARD' rather than my usual moniker 'Artist of Mystery'. One other thing I did was add a quote about me by a well known source, The Washington Post. The end result, I think, is a very cool looking poster that gets it's inspiration from the past and yet looks quite modern at the same time. I hope you like it.

NEXT: Coming next will be an article about Two South American Magic Families.

Houdini Painting For Sale

Here is a chance of a lifetime. I never let my paintings go this quickly, but this painting of Houdini, which is painted in acrylics on canvas, 24x30 in size is available. I will ship it in a special box made for artwork, foam fitted, plastic covering the back and front to prevent punctures while in transit.

Though I painted a view of Houdini basically from the waist up, my intention was to put all the emphasis on the face. Notice the texture on the image below. I used a ton of paint on the face to give it a very thick appearance, but kept the remainder of the painting simpler, with the exception of the background. By the way, pay no attention to the color in the photo below, the actual color is closer to the top image.

I've not alerted anyone on my art mailing list about the availability of this painting, mainly because I'm hoping it stays in the magic community. However, today I received my first email from a non-magic person who had an interest in the artwork. So, it may be going into the 'world' rather than stay inside the confines of the magic world. I'm frankly ok with that, I just wanted to make the offer to my magic friends first.

Update: Removing the painting from the market as of midnight Dec 31, 2012.

Christmas and Houdini

I've heard from a number of people that say they find it odd that Houdini celebrated Christmas. He was after all the son of a Jewish Rabbi. Yet, he clearly did have cards/postcards that wished people a Merry Christmas. He married Bess who was Catholic and she no doubt celebrated Christmas.

While scouring through hundreds of newspaper articles over the last few days I saw something kind of interesting. I found brief write ups in the theatrical section of newspapers during the month of December about who was going to be appearing at the local theatres.  Apparently the crowds were traditionally low because of the holidays. Guess who was always working during the holidays? Houdini! And several papers mentioned that Houdini would be very helpful to bring in people. He was a guaranteed draw.

Christmas has always been a duel holiday from what I have discovered. Originally meant as a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the day also fell upon existing celebrations by different cultures. These various traditions merged into one holiday called Christmas but there appears to be a religious celebration and a separate cultural celebration. For Christians the holiday involves all the traditions, the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Christmas Tree, Santa Claus and so forth. For non-Christians, they may also enjoy various parts of the holiday like Santa, the Christmas Tree, decorating, exchanging of gifts and so on but not observe the religious aspects.

One thing very interesting about the holiday is it's always been wrapped up in controversy. First, the early Christians were actually against it.  The holiday was even banned in parts of Colonial America. Today, we find political correctness  and Christmas not mixing too well. Some groups and individuals have complained about having the word Christmas used on govt. calenders, others want Nativity Scenes banned on government property. Some groups even want to ban Santa Claus, though in his modern incarnation he is hardly a religious figure. And others have actually pressured retailers to remove the word 'Christmas' from displays and advertisements. Apparently it's ok at the moment to use the words 'happy holidays', at least until someone complains about that. Oh, and then there are a few christian groups out there actually still protesting Christmas because it isn't in the Bible, so it should not be celebrated. It's gotten a little ridiculous  if you ask me.  But as I mentioned, Christmas has carried a bit of controversy with it since the beginning.

My guess is Houdini enjoyed the secular side of Christmas. Believe it or not, there was a time when saying 'Merry Christmas' to someone was just considered a pleasant greeting. Sending Christmas cards and notes has always been known as a gesture of kindness and friendliness. I tend to think Houdini stood on the side of "Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men" which is a good sentiment any time of year. So to all my readers out there, Merry Christmas! And if you celebrate a different Holiday, may those celebrations be joyous as well. And if you don't celebrate anything, Happy Nothing, I guess, lol, or better, have a nice day!

Happy Birthday Robert-Houdin

Today, December 6th 1805, Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin was born in Blois France. He would go on to become a clockmaker, inventor, scientist and the Father of Modern Magic. Strange moniker today though as all of his magic was very Victorian in it's design and execution. However, for his time it was quite modern. Today he would be 207 years old. Happy Birthday Robert-Houdin!

The Incredible Walnut Street Theatre

I love old theatres, and in America there is none older than The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. It has been around for 204 years and thankfully is still in operation. The Walnut Street Theatre has some unique ties to the magic world which I thought I'd share with you, but first a little history on the theatre itself.

Built in 1809 in Philadelphia, The Walnut was the first theatre in America to have gas footlights, it was also the first theatre to have air conditioning. In 1863, the Walnut was purchased by famed actor Edwin Booth, who was also the brother of John Wilkes Booth.

A few famous names to grace the stage of the Walnut Street Theatre include: Henry Fonda, Ethel Barrymore, Jack Lemmon, Robert Redford, George M. Cohan, The Marx Brothers, Edward G. Robinson, Helen Hayes, Katherine Hepburn and many others.

But it's the magicians I'm most interested in. Since the theatre opened in 1809, it's hard to say who the first magician was to perform at the Walnut, but according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Herr Alexander played the Walnut in August of 1849. And I know that on July 4th 1853, Robert Heller opened at the Walnut Street Theatre for a three week run. Prior to his appearances at the Walnut, Heller had been performing with a fake French Accent and a wig. He dropped those accessories and the first place he performed as himself, was in Philadelphia! Oddly, on Nov 28th, 1878 (134 years ago today!) Heller would die of pneumonia in Philadelphia.

I thought Harry Kellar performed there, but I can't find a record. He did perform at the Walnut Street Theatre in Cincinnati Ohio however. And he played almost every theatre in Philadelphia, so I'd be surprised if he never made it to the Walnut St. Theatre.

I don't have any proof of it, but I'm going to guess that Signor Antonio Blitz might have performed there back in the mid 1800's, as he lived in Philadelphia for a time. And I'm thinking it's very possible the Alexander Herrmann may have also performed there which could be why I didn't see Harry Kellar's name listed because the two were competitors.

According to the website for the theatre, Harry Houdini performed at the Walnut, but I don't know when. A little digging shows Houdini at the Chestnut Street Theatre and also at Keith's Theatre in Philadelphia. Houdini had a number of ties to the city. On one visit he discovered the grave of Robert Heller, which had been lost to time. Heller was originally in Macepelah Cemetery in Phili and then later moved to Mt Moriah. At another time he introduced Remigius Weiss, a spiritualist debunker whose claim to fame had been exposing the slate writing of Dr. Henry Slade.

In October 1947, the Blackstone Show was at the Walnut Street Theatre and they were in need of a replacement girl. Word was sent out to some of the theatrical agencies in town and a young dancer named Adele Friel applied for the job. She met Blackstone backstage at the theatre and he gave her an idea of what was required for the position. She met the other girls in the show and just like that, she was hired! But that wasn't all. This was the afternoon, and there was a show in the evening and Adele had no idea she'd be IN the show that night!

Sure enough, she performed her first show with the Blackstone troupe that night and stayed with them for several years touring across the country in the process. One great blessing for the magic world is that Adele loves to visit with magicians and attend conventions on occasion. If you ever get a chance to meet her, please take the time to say hello and listen to some of her wonderful stories.

Teller

In the modern era, Penn & Teller have appeared at the Walnut Street Theatre as well. By the way, Teller, the quieter half of the duo, was actually born in Philadelphia!

To me the most exciting thing is that this old beauty of a theatre is still running and has continued to do so for over 200 years! The theatre is located at 825 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
If you are aware of the number of theatres that have been razed, destroyed or closed down in the past 100 years, you'll realize just how special the Walnut Street Theatre is.

The Grave of Herrmann The Great

photo courtesy of Kenneth Hughes

Over on my DeadConjurers blog, I have posted photos of the graves of Adelaide Herrmann and her husband Alexander, known as Herrmann The Great. But recently I came upon THIS photo on FindAGrave.com and the owner of the photo Kenneth Hughes kindly gave me permission to put the photo up. Just below this image are two grave markers, one for Adelaide and one for Alexander. But I'd never seen the large tombstone before.

I've written a number of articles on Alexander and his wife Adelaide. I'd encourage you to check them out if you've never read them before!

Magic Detective ALIVE and More

Never fear, The Magic Detective is still ALIVE! He's just been really busy....err umm, I've been really busy.  Getting ready to head into the final month of 2012 and really burning the midnight oil to have a record setting month of shows. But that has also means, I've been away from the blog, and the youtube show. BOTH will be back soon. In the meantime, enjoy this little piece on the HOUDINI MUSEUM in NYC!

Harry Houdini Still Resting In Peace 86 Years Later

86 years ago at 1:26 p.m. in the afternoon, Erich Weiss aka Harry Houdini passed away. His death came as a shock to people all over the world. At the same time it was a welcome relief to fake spirit mediums across the Globe. He went from being a mortal with seemingly super human abilities to mythic or legendary status.

He was the Greatest Escape Artist to ever live. He was one of the greatest showman of all time. And he holds the status as the worlds most famous magician even to this day.

The Spirit of Houdini Lives On!!!

 Happy National Magic Day To All My Magic Friends Out There! 

And Happy Halloween to everyone else!

Contest ANSWERS Special

The First Magic Detective Contest is now officially over. Thanks to everyone who sent in answers. Seems that I may have made the contest a bit on the difficult side, lol (sorry about that). Maybe next time I'll keep it to 10 questions or less and maybe not so hard. As it was there was no one who answered all the questions correctly. The person who came the closest however was awarded the First Prize, which was the Kellar book by Gail Jarrow. Technically I didn't have to give out a second prize, but I did anyway. I took all the remaining submissions and put them in a box and drew out one and that person got the second prize.

For those of you wondering what the answers to the contest questions were, I decided to put together a special edition of The Magic Detective Show with ALL the answers included. It's a longer video than all the other episodes, it's almost 10 minutes. And it will not be available on the Magic Detective Show YouTube Channel as you need a special link to see it. The only place where you can see the video is by watching it below.

Once again, thank you to everyone who tried and thanks for continually watching my show and reading this blog!

Secret Adventures of Houdini-Guest Blogger

Today I have a first for The Magic Detective Blog, a guest blogger, Dan Robinson aka Weasel Dandaw. Dan is an escape artist from the UK and he has written a great piece about the new book, The Secret Adventures of Harry Houdini Book One. Enjoy!

The Secret Adventures of Houdini: Book One

I have just received the Press Pack for The SecretAdventures of Houdini which is to be released on November 21st 2012. It is written by Todd Hunt, illustrated by Sean Von Gorman & published by Alterna Comics.

Firstly, I would like to say that I am not a comic collector in general, but I do have a fair amount of Houdiniana which includes various comics that have there storyline based around Houdini.

What can I say…..?

This is a fantastic read! The book is well produced & the way it’s set out is great. The action starts from the off & continues throughout the book. I love the fact that it is in black & white, as this emphasises the time period in which the story is set.

The story is based on Houdini battling the evils of a group trying to bring back the spirit of Cyprian, a character that actually existed in reality in the early third century & his story is included in the back of this book.

The book starts with Houdini performing his famous Water Torture Cell escape & through the drawings & dialogue, the tension is built. It then continues in 1913 Copenhagen where Houdini’s strength is demonstrated, something that will become important later in the book. Jump to 1923 New York where the real story begins. Houdini uses his skill as a master of disguise to infiltrate a group trying to bring back Cyprian.

I will not go into the full story as I don’t want to spoil it, but I will say….I can’t wait for Book Two!!!

Todd has done a great job of mixing factual events with the fictional elements of the story. The book includes many facts relating to Houdini’s life including not only his escapes, but also his great dislike of fake mediums & spiritualists. Houdini always wanted to make contact with his deceased mother & even went to a séance with Arthur Conan Doyle & his wife to try. It was at this point that Houdini’s friendship with Doyle was ended.

The attention to detail has not been overlooked here either. The séance even includes Doyle’s wife’s spirit writings.

Sean’s illustrations are remarkable & really add to the storyline. His attention to detail is also to be commended. There are the little extra touches like fantastic recreations of Houdini’s posters on the outside of the theatre & when Doyle goes to visit an Asylum, Sean has drawn the guard reading the Hound of the Baskervilles. My favourite is a photo of Houdini with his wife & his mother, which is sitting on his dresser. This is so well drawn that it looks like a photo! It’s these touches that add to the illustrations. You need to look for them, but this adds to the book.

I love the way Todd & Sean have included various characters from Houdini’s life, including his Mother, Father, his brother (Dash) & his wife (Bess), along with his assistant Jim Collins & Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

As I said above I can’t wait for Book Two!!!

So PICK up a copy, UNLOCK the adventure & ESCAPE reality.

Dan Robinson aka Weasel Dandaw
(UK Escape Artist & Collector of Houdiniana)

Episode 5 More Details

Please be sure to watch Episode 5 before reading this....and watch AFTER the credits for the bloopers. 

Now that you've watched the episode you'll notice that I screwed up the name of J. Gordon Whitehead numerous times. In fact, the final take even had it wrong, so I had to pull it OFF the video, lol.

Houdini got punched in the abdomen on October 22nd, 1926 by J. Gordon Whitehead, a student at McGill University. He still performed in a show later that day but complained of stomach pain before and afterwards. His final day in Montreal, Max Malini and Ozzie Malini were in the audience and according to Patrick Culliton Houdini told them, "I let a college kid punch me in the stomach and he caught me wrong, and it's killing me."

When it was all over in Montreal they packed up and headed via Train to Detroit. Houdini had a temperature of 102 and at this point should have gone straight to the hospital. But he was stubborn and when he found out the house was sold out for the evening, he turned down all requests and pleas to go to the hospital. That moment was probably his last chance because he pushed himself past all physical means in order to finish the show and collapsed when the show was over.

He was still alive, but his temperature was now 104 and the damage was done. The doctors had little hope that anything they did would help. They still operated and removed his ruptured appendix, but it was too late and the medical staff did not think he would last long. However, Houdini, ever the fighter, continued to battle this and lived on for several days.

He made it to Halloween, 1926 and died at 1:26 p.m. with his family surrounding him.

A few things I had not mentioned previously, this 1926-27 Tour had Houdini presenting his 3 in 1 Show. Where he did magic, escapes and then exposed spirit mediums to conclude the show. He presented small apparatus magic like Robert-Houdin's Crystal Casket, silk productions, vanishing and appearing lamps and much more. During the escape portion he presented his signature Metamorphosis and the Water Torture Cell....but a broken ankle in Albany NY prevented him from every presenting the WTC again. The finale was exposing fake spirit mediums. This could be quite a lively affair as sometimes he would get hecklers from the audience over this portion and other times when there were no distractions this portion proved to be both fun and educational. It was a massive undertaking and required more than just Harry and Bess to perform.

But it ended in Detroit. I would encourage you to read one other blog article I wrote called "Tracking the Body of Houdini" which follows his body from the hospital all the way back to his burial in NY.

By the way, if you didn't recognize the two people in the photo at the beginning of Ep 5, it was Houdini on the left and ELVIS on the Right....and now you hopefully get the joke :)

Episode 5 of The Magic Detective Show

I can't believe it. I beat the storm! Hurricane Sandy is about to slam us and I was able to get this video uploaded before I lost my internet and the electricity here. This one is about the Death of Houdini. Be sure to watch after the credits for a couple bloopers.

By the way, The Magic Detective Contest Ends Oct 30th, and so far there is no clear winner (meaning no one has answered ALL the questions correct). SO, if you haven't submitted your answers, DO IT NOW as you might be the winner. If no one answers all the questions correct, I'll be going for the person with the MOST correct answers. It's not too late to enter, and email the answers to
carnegiemagic@aol.com

Here is the link to the contest http://www.themagicdetective.com/2012/10/magic-detective-magic-history-contest.html 

On Wednesday, Oct 31, I will have a Special Episode of The Magic Detective Show which you can only access through this website. That episode will have ALL the answers to the contest questions.

Episode 4 Additional Information

Deadly Punch??? Read comments at the end of article*

Episode 4 continues the last days of Houdini. Oct 22, 1926, Houdini, his wife Bess, her niece Julia Sawyer and her nurse Sophie Rosenblatt are about to go into the Princess Theatre. Waiting outside for them are two college students from McGill University, Jacques Price and Sam Smiley (Samuel Smilovitch). You might recall from the previous episode that Sam Smiley was the student/artist who was drawing sketches of Houdini during his lecture at McGill. He showed them to Houdini and invited him to come to see him backstage at the theater.

Houdini, along with the group headed to his dressing room, the time is a little after 11 a.m.. According to the Silverman biography, the dressing room at the Princess Theatre was about 8ft by 10ft. Houdini reclined on a couch in the back of the room while Smiley in Price sat in chairs a few feet from Houdini. Smiley was there to do another sketch of Houdini.

A few moments later there was a knock on the dressing room door and Julia Sawyer got up to answer the door and she let Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead into the room. He briskly walked over to Houdini and returned a book that he had borrowed. Houdini introduced Whitehead to the other boys, so it was more than just a first time meeting for them, which many of the older Houdini biographies make it sound like. Whitehead had met Houdini before. In fact, he met him several times before.

The Don Bell book about Whitehead says that Whitehead called on Houdini at his hotel on two occasions and mentions borrowing the latest copy of Scientific American. In this meeting, Whitehead is returning a book. When Whitehead entered he took over the conversation, irritating Smiley. Whitehead asked him about the miracles of the Bible and Houdini chose not to discuss that, but added that the stunts he did would certainly look like miracles in biblical days. Whitehead then asked if it was true that Houdini could withstand a punch to the stomach without feeling any pain. Now here is something I had missed before, Houdini tried to change the subject and pointed to his strong arms and shoulders. He even went so far as to let the students feel his arm muscles. When Whitehead again asked if Houdini could take a punch, Houdini again shifted focus to his arms.

My one question is, when did Houdini ever use punching him as a bragging point? 'Ladies & Gentleman, not only am I the greatest escape artist in the world, but you can punch me and I will feel nothing!' Really??? I don't think so. But regardless, Houdini agreed he could take the punch. Apparently Whitehead misunderstood this as an invitation to throw some punches. Houdini was still reclining when the barrage of punches flew. As I pointed out in the episode, it was not a single punch either. Whitehead hit Houdini numerous times before Price pulled him off.

There were only 4 people in that room when the incident took place. Houdini, Smiley, Price and Whitehead. The students all gave a deposition as to what they remembered. It was not viewed as a criminal act and Whitehead was never arrested.

A few minutes after the punches, Smiley finished his sketch of Houdini, and he signed it and gave it to the magician. When Houdini saw the sketch he mentioned to Smiley, "you made me look a little tired in the picture....the truth is I don't feel so well". I think if we look back at what had been taking place; Houdini had been nursing a broken ankle, he was under enormous amounts of stress over the million dollars worth of lawsuits, he was receiving death threats, he was not getting much sleep at all, and now he just got hit with a barrage of punches to the stomach. I also can't help but wonder if back in Providence R.I. just a short time before when Bess got food poisoning, if perhaps Houdini had also contracted a small case of that as well. I'm guessing of course. But we know he did not look well and here he admits to not feeling well either.

The students left around noon and Houdini prepared for the show. He still had a show that night to do and the Saturday performances before they were to leave for Detroit.

J. Gordon Whitehead after this point almost vanishes from history. Author Don Bell spent 20 years digging up information on Whitehead and discovered he lived the life of a recluse. If he were alive to see the name of the book Bell wrote, "The Man Who Killed Houdini" I imagine he would be glad he never went out in public. But is it fair to say he killed Houdini? I understand it makes an exciting story and certainly very intriguing. But according to Bell, Whitehead met with Houdini at least two times following the October 22 incident in the dressing room. So if he really had murder on the mind, you'd think Whitehead would have finished him off. I think it's very likely that someone would have attempted to kill Houdini and possibly succeeded, but his own stubborness about not going to the hospital and attending to his health issues really was his undoing.

Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead died of malnutrition in 1954. He is buried in an unmarked grave. I have a photo of the plot of grass where he is buried over at my DeadConjurers blog. It's interesting to me that of the almost 50 graves pictured on the site, the one that is most viewed is actually Whiteheads. The number of views even dwarfs that of Houdini's grave.


*The photo at the top of the page is actually a staged photo with Houdini and the fellow with the boxing gloves on is Jack Dempsey. I thought it made a pretty good picture to add to this particular article which is really about a deadly punch, but I also wanted to point out the photo is NOT from the actual event on Oct 22.

This is all thats left of the Princess Theatre today.

Houdini - Whitehead, Episode 4

Today marks the 86th Anniversary of the infamous 'punch' incident where Houdini was hit numerous times in the stomach by J. Gordon Whitehead. The Magic Detective Show Episode 4 delves into this event and shares some information about just who Whitehead was.

This episode is coming out a little early because I wanted it to try and follow the important events of Houdini's life as they unfold.

Don't forget to check out the  'Additional Information' on Episide 4 either later tonight or tomorrow. Until then, enjoy Episode 4!

Episode 3 Additional Information

Episode Three of The Magic Detective Show is about Houdini's Final Tour and gave some facts that happened on and prior to October 19th, 1926.

Let's begin. The final Houdini Tour started on September 7th 1926.  It was supposed to be a five month tour. Houdini was taking a route that he had taken many times before according to Kenneth Silverman. The tour opened at the Majestic Theatre in Boston Mass for a two week run. Houdini had a couple new features in his show this fall. He was presenting an illusion he purchased from Joe Dunninger, "Cutting a Woman in Eighths" or as one newspaper ad said "Slicing a Woman in Seven Parts". He also had another new feature that he restricted to venues that were two weeks long. This other feature is referred to in the Kalush Biography as "The Mystery of the Sphinx.  This was Houdini's Buried Alive Escape done on stage. According to the Kalush Bio, he debuted the escape in Worcester, however on John Cox's blog WildaboutHoudini.com there is an ad for the Majestic Theatre in Boston which clearly says he is doing this escape at that theatre and I found a similar ad which you can see below. It makes sense as the Boston gig was two weeks long. On Episode 3 I actually said he debuted it in Worcester because that's the information in all the books, but I think the ad shows that indeed Houdini was doing the buried alive escape in Boston.

In Patrick Culliton's book Houdini The Key, he gives a description of the effect along with method. I've seen many Houdini escapes duplicated, but this is one I would have love to have seen live!

After being being placed in a straight jacket, then into a canvas sack and into the coffin, the coffin was lowered into the large glass fronted box and covered with sand. Houdini would step out from behind the large box to take his bow! Houdini made his escape in two minutes.

How on earth they traveled with something of this size is beyond me. I'm going to guess that the dimensions of the larger outer box might not be quite as large as they appear in the poster. Certainly less sand would be required if this were the case. Also, the outer box had a front made of glass. It would be near impossible to travel with a thick piece of glass the size that is indicated on the poster, so again I think it makes sense that the outer box was not quite as large.

After Boston, Houdini headed west to Worcester MA. This was another two week run and it was here that he presented his third Underwater Coffin Test at YMCA Pool in Worcester. His run in Worcester was followed by a short 3 day run in Providence Rhode Island. This is where Bess Houdini contracted food poisoning after a dinner out with Harry and H.P. Lovecraft. The run in Providence ended on Oct 8th and Houdini sends Bess and crew to Albany NY, while he takes a detour to NYC. Houdini needed to meet with his lawyer to discuss the mounting lawsuits he was receiving. He also met up with Joe Dunninger, who served as taxi driver for Houdini while he was in town.

Houdini took the train back to Albany and arrived early in the morning. At this point, he was going on very few hours of sleep.  Opening night at the Capital Theatre in Albany Houdini had an accident as he prepared to do the Water Torture Cell Escape. However, I'm unclear on exactly what took place.
The Silverman Bio says "the cables twisted or swayed" and the resulting 'lurch'  cracked the footstock and he fractured his ankle. The Kalush bio says simply that "as he was hoisted in the air he gasped and his face twisted in pain." The Henning bio says "as he was lifted in the air one of his ankles snapped", the Gresham bio says basically the same thing. In Randi's biography it says "as he was lifted he felt a crack. The frame (footstock) had loosened and wrenched his left foot, injuring the bone." Here is what Houdini had to say in a letter he wrote on Oct 12th, two days after the accident, "The cover snapped as we were drawing it up, and I have some sort of fracture on the left leg. The left side of my body is somewhat weaker than the right, or perhaps it just struck a glancing blow. Anyway, it hit with enough force to smash the cover which is of heavy nickel-plated steel." This comes from a letter reprinted in Houdini The Key by Patrick Culliton.  The odd thing is a Doctor was reported as saying that if the stocks had not cracked Houdini's leg would have been cut off.....I'm not quite getting that part of it. I wonder if John Gaughan saw the cracked stocks when he refurbished the WTC? All the stories are similar and whatever the actually cause, the end result was a fractured bone. 

At any rate, Houdini was hurt and unable to do the WTC. A doctor put a splint on his leg and told Houdini to go to the hospital. Of course, Houdini refused because he had a show to finish. He did his Needle Trick and then went on with the exposure of fake mediums to finish the show. The remainder of his tour he was in constant pain due to the fractured left ankle.

From Albany they ventured down the road to Schenectady NY, where despite the injury he presented three days of shows. Next stop, Montreal Canada. He opened on October 18th at the Princess Theatre in Montreal (though the Gresham book says he opened on the 17th).  By all accounts Houdini looked 'sickly' and tired and frankly old. If you figure in the lack of sleep, the pain from his leg and add to that the stress of $1 Million in lawsuits being filed by ticked-off spiritualists, Houdini sure had a right to look bad.

He accepted an invitation by the head of the psychology department at McGill University to give a talk before the students. The lecture set records for attendance and it took place in the Student Union Building. Today this building is known as the McCord Museum and a photo can be seen in Episode 3 of the Magic Detective Show. Houdini's lecture took place in the ballroom at 5p.m. on Oct 19th, 1926. His talk was on Magic & Spiritualism. A stand-out moment in the lecture was when Houdini took a needle and shoved it through his cheek to demonstrate his high tolerance for pain. This is a stunt he had done for years in his talks and lectures. He finished his lecture talking about fake spirit mediums and his encounters with Lady Doyle, the wife of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and with good ole Margery the Boston Medium.

Following the lecture he met with students and one of those he talked to was Samuel Smilovitch, known as Sam Smiley. Sam had been doing sketches of Houdini during his lecture and showed them to him. He liked the artwork and invited Sam to meet with him backstage at the Princess Theatre before one of his performances over his run in Montreal. And that is where I stopped the Episode.

What takes place next is historic and tragic and will directly lead to the end of Houdini's life. Be sure to watch the next Episode of The Magic Detective for the details!

Red Marks to Tour Route. Blue is Houdini's detour to NYC

The Magic Detective Show Ep 3

Finally! What a nightmare this has been. I tried to upload this episode last evening and the power went out. Then the power came back and during the second attempt to upload, I lost my internet connection. Needless to say, Episode 3 is finally online!

This show talks a little about the Final Houdini Tour and his last lecture at McGill University in Montreal. Watch close because you'll see the building where Houdini presented his lecture. It took me a while to find this building because today the building is a museum. But 86 years ago it was the Student Union Building.

I hope you enjoy Episode 3 and this weekend I'll post the more in-depth blog article about Houdini's Final Tour.

Magic Detective Show Upcoming News

This Friday, Oct 19, another episode of The Magic Detective Show will air on Youtube. You'll want to check this one out because it's the first one to feature HOUDINI. The feedback from the two previous editions has been very positive, so thank you everyone who has contacted me about the show. The number of views is actually pretty decent at the moment too. I know it's mostly magic folk viewing the show and that's fine, as they are the target audience right now.

By the way, I found out more information on who the real George Waldo Heller was and added that to the end of the article from yesterday

See you all on Friday!

Don't forget to enter the Magic Detective History Contest going on this month! The contest ends on Oct 30th, 2012, and the answers will be revealed on a Special Edition of The Magic Detective Show!

http://www.themagicdetective.com/2012/10/magic-detective-magic-history-contest.html