Edwin Brush The Mystic

I'm so happy to be able to include Edwin Brush in my podcast roster. I knew very little of his life before I started and he has turned out to be a fascinating individual. He was born Edward M. Brush on March 21st 1873 in Garden Prairie Illinois. He grew up on a farm so unlike many kids who were in the city, he had no way of seeing magicians. His first exposure to magic came from a neighbor kid who showed him some small pocket magic tricks. Brush was amazed and began to learn some pocket magic himself.

When he was 16, Alexander Herrmann came to town. Herrmann was really King of the Magicians at the time. Not only was he famous in the U.S. but he was famous all over the globe. Herrmann had a wonderful personality, was known to be quite funny, and an excellent sleight of hand artist. Brush took in all that he saw and decided on that day that he would one day become a full time magician.

Brush was smart, first he went to college to learn business and then he came out and got a real job working for a clothing manufacturer. He used magic as a sales tool to loosen people up, break the ice as it where. But the pocket tricks also had another effect, people saw that Brush was a fine magician and began to request if he could work at their events. Brush was well on his way to becoming a full time magician.

I cover the life of Brush quite well in podcast 17 of the Magic Detective Podcast, but I wanted to share one more thing with you and that is a photo of Brush's iconic mustache. It is clearly NOT growing that way on it's own. He must have had a ton of wax on that thing to keep it down

What possessed him to think that mustache looked good is beyond me? But then again, it was a great marketing too because once people saw it, they could not UNSEE it, lol.

Strangely, Brush continued to sport the crazy mustache through out his entire life. Even in his 80s and 90s he still have the wild mustache, though he did cut it back slightly.

Besides his mustache, Brush has a very positive career in the world of magic. After looking at some of the comments by his fellow magicians, I see that Brush was very well respected by his peers.

If you'd like to learn more about the magical life of Edwin Brush, please check out my latest podcast at  https://magicdetectivepodcast.com/e/ep-17-the-magical-life-of-brush-the-great/

Review of the book: Powell Master of Magic and Mystery

Alright, I'm just going to come out and say it. I gave this book a standing ovation! Seriously! I love this book, Powell, Frederick Eugene Powell Master of Magic & Mystery by Thomas Ewing.

I will be honest, before reading the book, I didn't know a lot about Powell. I had written a couple paragraphs about him on this blog, but nothing very extensive. Then along comes this book, and not a minute too soon.

Who was Frederick Eugene Powell?" Really! Well, Tom Ewing answers the question and many more.

Powell was a gentlemen, he respected magic. He cared for his audiences. He wanted to deliver a great show now matter where he was playing, no matter if it was before a crowd for 4000, or a small group at a school. Powell had a high opinion of magic. He didn't care for the exposure of magic. Yet, Tom Ewing points out, one of his first exposures to magic were tricks taught in a magazine for children.

Powell was a big believer in knowing your magic history. He spoke of Robert Heller and finding Heller's grave in disrepair. Sadly, many years later, so did I. Frederick Eugene Powell was a big hit with Mexican audiences because he spoke Spanish and had knowledge of the culture. He was actually performing in Mexico when the Mexican Revolution broke out. He was also in Mexico when they got hit with some pretty fierce earthquakes.

Powell continued to perform in his 60s and 70s. After all, a showman is born to perform, and Powell was clearly a magnificent showman.

The author uses a combination of newspaper articles, magic magazine articles and correspondence that Powell shared with various magicians, as his source material. And I must say, it is a rich history that is delivered. I also love the fact that Tom Ewing occasionally adds some historical perspective in regards to events happening in the world, while the activities of Powells' life are playing out.

The reader also gets to see quite a few of Powell's props that are today in private collections. In fact, one that is pictured is the umbrella for Powell's Cone and Flower production. In fact, the box of Powell's Spring Flowers is also in the book. Well, below I'm going to post a video of Powell performing his Cone and Flower mystery!

But before I do, I want to encourage you to pick up this excellent book on one of magics most beloved artists and one who has been mostly forgotten to time. You can purchase the book from 1878press.com , although truthfully many magic dealers are carrying the book, so find it somewhere and get a copy. You'll be glad you did!

The Three Early Pioneers of Mind Reading

John Randall Brown

I must reluctantly admit that I do not know as much about mind readers as I do other areas of magical entertainment. I know of some of the bigger names: The Zancigs, Dunninger, Alexander, Annemann, and others, but as far as it's origins, I am not as knowledgeable. This brings me to the subject of my latest podcast, Episode 15, The Early Pioneers of Mind Reading.

Stuart Cumberland

It appears that things center on three people: John Randall Brown, Stuart Cumberland, and Washington Irving Bishop. The only name of the bunch I was aware of was Bishop and I didn't fully grasp his contribution. It turns out though that things begin with John Randall Brown and a technique he developed which would become known by a number of different names: Contact Mind Reading, Hellstromism, Psycho Physiological Thought Reading are just a few names it was given. For my podcast, I used the word CMR technique to simplify the name.

The technique in it's simplest form involves holding the wrist of a spectator and apparently having the vibrations of their thoughts pass from touch into your brain. (Magicians will understand what I'm saying). What I didn't know was this was once considered very close to the real thing in regards to reading someone's thoughts, because it used no props or gimmicks of any kind. On top of that, this technique could be used to reproduce many different types of effects in mentalism. And it turns out, this was the technique used by all three of the pioneers of Mind Reading mentioned above.

John Randall Brown's initial test with the technique was to have someone hide a pin, and then he

Washington Irving Bishop

would locate the hidden pin by holding the wrist of the person who hid it. Moments later he would walk right to the object that was very well secreted away. A simple test and effective. It reminded me of modern day mentalists who have a spectator hide a coin in one of their hands and they are able to devine which hand contains the coin with 100% accuracy. It's also the same as the stunt Kreskin has done for years where someone hides his check and he finds it.

All three of these early mentalists used the Pin Test. They were each tied to one another in some way and they all did the same basic act. What made them different was their individual personalities.

I did find researching this podcast to be more difficult than others due to the lack of information on mind readers. Granted, there may be some excellent books on the history of mind reading that I do not own, but I have a pretty extensive library so I don't know if I'm missing much.

They also are all connected to spiritualism. These three all presented Spiritualist exposures in their programs. But other performers who would become iconic in mentalism were more closely tied to spiritualism, like Anna Eva Fay and Samri Baldwin. It's as if the earliest mentalism had to deal with the spirits telling the secrets of members of the audience and then that changing to the mentalist telling the secrets of members of the audience, aka mind reading. In a similar way, escapology has it's origins in spiritualism as well. The Davenport Brothers being examples of very early escape artists, and other performers following suit.

Of the three early pioneers, Stuart Cumberland seems to be the most prolific having written a biography of his exploits. Washington Irving Bishop was likely the most famous and suffered the most tragic death. To find out more, please check out episode 15 of The Magic Detective Podcast.

Remembering Doug Henning 19 years later

Doug Henning passed away 19th years ago on Feb 7th, 2000. It doesn't seem like that long has passed. I decided that I would put up some of my own recollections of Doug in the latest episode of the Magic Detective Podcast. I didn't want to do a biographical piece, at least not this time around. Rather, I just wanted to share some of my own thoughts. 

Doug was influential in my interest in magic. Over the course of my own career and development it seems I have done around 40 Henning tricks in my own shows. Now, I didn't always do them like he did, but they were material that I first saw Henning do. They range from close-up magic to stage magic to grand illusion. Doug was the first person I ever saw do many tricks. For example, Card Warp, I first was exposed to this on one of his specials. The Mental Photography Deck is another that I saw Doug do for the first time. Granted a lot of this stuff was already out there in the magic world, but because I was a kid at the time, Doug Henning was the first I saw present them.

He was the first I saw do The Needle through Balloon, the Al Wheatly One Cup routine, and he was the first to do Rubics Cube magic on TV! Talk about a trailblazer! Illusions, let's see, Shadow Box, Zig Zag, Mismade Lady, Microphone Suspension, Sword Suspension and more. All of these things I've listed are things I have since done. And of course, so have thousands of other performers as well. 

One of my favorite routines came from the 4th TV Special. It was a Monte Effect that boggled my mind when I first saw it on TV. Then later I saw Doug Henning perform it live several times. Years later, my friend Denny Haney would tell me where I could find that routine, it was locked away in a booklet, and thankfully I obtained it and learned it. I then wrote a script that was original to me and it became a signature trick in my own show.  In my show I tell the story of Houdini meeting a very young Charlie Chaplin for the first time, and the routine takes off from there. 

My podcast on Doug is the longest one I've done so far, almost an hour long. And I realized something after I finished the podcast. Doug's TV specials were great, but some were hit or miss. And it's hard to judge him from just the TV specials. However, in LIVE performances he was fantastic. He was charismatic and likable and he won over everyone with his joyful exuberance. He was a breath of fresh air and there has never been another like him since and there certainly wasn't anyone like him prior.  

Let's all remember Doug Henning on his day. What effect did he have on your magic? He paved the way for so many magical artists.  We were lucky to have him in our world.

Episode 12 Podcast Wyman the Wizard Notes

Episode 12 of the podcast is up and already getting downloads, thanks everyone! I don't have a lot of notes on this episode because most of it was covered in previous blog articles. However. I do have an image for you of Professor Pugh, the friend who Wyman met during his retirement. He gave or sold some of his props to Prof. Pugh and here is a photo of the good professor with them.

By the #s, there is #5 Little Bobbie, you can barely make out the carved head on this thing. # 6 is hard to see but it's in the back, the Spirit Clock/Dial. #7 is the rifle, or as it's listed, Gun and Target. #8 is that odd looking thing that the rifle is leaning against, it's a Pearl Inlaid Chair Back. #9 is pretty obvious, it's a Card Sword. #11 is the Money belt, though I don't see the number in the photo, but I do see the belt. And #13 is also not marked but it's the Canister and Bird Cage. You can see the cage right behind Little Bobbie. The man in the image is Prof. Pugh, not Wyman.

This is the link for the various articles on Wyman that can be found here on the blog...
https://www.themagicdetective.com/search?q=wyman

The Grave of Olive Dot Robinson, Wife of Chung Ling Soo

Dot Robinson being floated by Harry Kellar

When it comes to one of the greatest magician's assistants in history, surely one of the early ones was also one of the best. Olive Robinson was the wife of William E. Robinson. She was born Olive Path and had been with William Robinson since the very beginning of his career. For a time she worked as Harry Kellar's chief assistant in his show. Her husband was stage manager, illusion designer, and even performed his Black Art Act in the show. Olive, or Dot as she was known because of her small size, presented The Cocoon Illusion in Harry Kellar's show. She also was featured in an amazing levitation that was co-created by her husband and several other magicians, the effect was known as Astarte.

Later, when the Robinson's were wooed away by Alexander Herrmann, she became an assistant in his show. Astarte was performed in Herrmann's show also, but it was retitled The Maid of the Moon, and again featured Dot Robinson.

Finally, when William Robinson decided to go out on his own, he presented a show as an Asian character named Chung Ling Soo. His wife Dot was renamed, Suee Seen, and became the chief assistant in her husband's show. So Dot Robinson got to perform with three of the most iconic magicians of their era.

After the tragic death of her husband, who was shot on stage at the Wood Green Empire Theatre in 1918, Dot Robinson quietly fades into the background. The book The Glorious Deception by Jim Steinmeyer, suggests that Dot had become embarrassed by the scandal and controversy involving her husbands death. In 1921, she leaves London without informing her friends there and relocates to New York. She moves not far from many well known magicians, including Houdini. But she never let anyone in America know of her move either. She remained in seclusion throughout the rest of her life. In 1933, Dot Robinson was diagnosed with cancer. She died the following year at the age of 71. Olive 'Dot' Robinson was buried in the Bronx in Woodlawn Cemetery in an unmarked grave. But that's not the end of the story.

In 2016, magic historian, Diego Domingo, started raising money to put a stone marketer on her grave. The dedication for the stone marker was Oct 24th, 2017. Olive Robinson is buried in the Robinson Family plot not far from Williams' brother, and apparently just down the path from one of her former employers Alexander Herrmann. And today she has a proper gravestone.

Photo courtesy Diego Domingo

Minerva Queen of Handcuffs - Guest Post

I first heard of this project from my friend Ron Pearson at a marketing conference we both attended in the fall of 2017. It sounded like a great idea, a play about Minerva, and I think it is! Rather than me talk about it, I'll let Ron tell you about it!

Minerva-Queen of the Handcuffs

The inspiration for the play came from Jim Steinmeyer's book on Jarrett. Jarrett was married to Minerva and tells a harrowing story about her and Houdini. I don't want to give it away here as it is very important to the plot of the play, but if you have the book it's worth taking a look. 

I very much liked the idea of portraying Houdini as the bad guy, as he is traditionally seen as the archetypal hero. It gave me the opportunity to cast him as the symbol for all of the barriers and inequality that women had to endure at the turn of the twentieth century, particularly female performers. 

The play follows Minerva from the beginning of her career, learning the act from her first husband William Vano. I then touch upon certain real life career points, such as the development of her Water Barrel escape, her suing Merryland Amusement Park in Maryland for breech of contract and her European tour.

Being that there is limited information about Minerva's history, I have had to take some liberties here and there. For example, there were three events in her life that I have connected for the narrative of the play. One was her sudden and unexplained cancellation of two weeks of performances. Another was her visitations from a Hypnotist (who later became her second husband and manager). The third was her promotion of an anti-anxiety pill in a newspaper advertisement. 

So, in the play Minerva has consulted a Hypnotist to help her overcome anxiety attacks that have made her cancel her performances. The play is then told through flashbacks that come out of her hypnotic trances.

I am very fortunate that the lead actress in the play, Miranda Allen (yes, while I was writing the names Miranda and Minerva were continuously mixed up!). Miranda is a real life escape artist and street performer, as well as a trained actress. We had performed together at a number of Canadian festivals and she became the.catalyst for me to finally write this play that had been rattling around in my brain for many years. Her partner, Richard Lee Hsi, is also a trained actor and dancer and plays all of the male characters in the show, including Houdini. 

I want to take this opportunity to thank Dean Carnegie and Gary Hunt, who were so kind and giving with their information on Minerva. I absolutely could not have written the play without their help. Thank you gentlemen! 

I hope you will be able to see our show one day. My intention is to tour it, and I will certainly keep Dean in the loop as to where we will be performing. If you are in the Edmonton, Canada area January 15 to 27, please come see us! And please follow Minerva's future exploits on her facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/queenofhandcuffs/

And if you're interested you can check out my previous article on Minerva called The American Queen of Mystery

Playwright Ron Pearson

Coming Later This Week, A Very Special Guest Post

Later this week, I'll have my first guest post of the year. I can't tell you how thrilled I am about this. It's by a friend of mine who has written a play about MINERVA The Queen of Handcuffs. Keep watching, as it should be up in a few days!

Notes on Episode 11 The Great Maro

Here is the cartoon that appeared in the Sphinx Magazine on Maro. I believe the reason he left the 'devilish imps' off his posters was due to his Christian faith. Maro was no evangelist, nor did he include Christian references in his show, but like many people of the time, he was being respectful of his faith by leaving off that particular imagery.

If you look closer at this particular poster, you'll see in place of the 'imps' Maro has garden gnomes. 

If you're curious about the Houdini-Maro Illusion I mentioned during the podcast, you can read about it and see the picture here. 

In regards to the Astarte Levitation. Below is the video of Doug Henning presenting Astarte on one of his specials. It was an unusual and very different illusion when I saw Doug do it, but not particularly a big mystery. The version that was presented at the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History is a much longer piece and the costuming and choreography are much better. That version you can see if you are a Genii Magazine subscriber. It's in the January 2014 issue on page 72. It's called The Maid of the Moon, which is the name that Herrmann used when he presented the illusion.

And now you can listen to the entire Episode 11 below, IF you haven't already done so. And please remember to LIKE-SHARE-and Subscribe to the podcast, PLEASE :)

Magic Detective Podcast Ep10 Notes on Harry Kellar in Retirement

Most people kind of fade out of the limelight when they retire. But this was not the case for Harry Kellar. Sure, he didn't spend all of his time on the road going from theatre to theatre but he still traveled a fair amount. He also visited his old friends quite a bit. And he kept up with magic.

Kellar retired in 1908 when he handed his Mantle of Magic over to Howard Thurston. But Thurston got a lot more than the Mantle. He also received Kellar's Manager, Keller's Touring Routes, Kellar's two chief assistants Frizt and Carl Bucha, as well as all the props and paraphernalia that went with the Kellar show. And to the surprise of many, Thurston only kept two of Kellar's illusions, the rest he sold.

The first thing he did after he retired was take a very long vacation in Atlantic City. Above is a photo of Kellar and Houdini in Atlantic City. According to the Ken Silverman bio on Houdini, this is where their friendship really began to take off. Over time they developed a father/son type of relationship and it's proven in the various letters they shared back and forth.

I mentioned on the podcast about a photo I had of an improved Kellar prop. His name was cast into the iron, and below is a photo of that prop. I'm only showing the part that has Kellar's name due to secrecy issues. The piece is now owned by David Haversat.

Here is a video of Kellar and Houdini. I'm not sure of the location, but I did learn that Houdini had some film footage taken of Kellar and himself while he was in Los Angeles, so that is possibly where this was taken.

One quick minor correction to the podcast also has to do with Kellar giving Psycho to Houdini in 1919. He didn't ship it to Houdini but rather gave it to him while Houdini was in California making movies. 

Finally, I wanted to give you the link to an article I wrote a few years back called 'Kellar's Last Mystery'.


I used the book, Kellar's Wonders by Mike Caveney and Bill Miesel, The Sphinx Magazine, Ken Silverman's Bio on Houdini, AskAlexander.org and several other sources during my research for the entire three part series on Harry Kellar. I also used Geneologybank.com, Newspapers.com to research newspaper articles on Harry Kellar.

Magic Detective Podcast Ep 9 -Notes

Episode 9 is up and ready to listen to. This is part 2 of the Amazing Life of Harry Kellar. It covers his years right after the tragic shipwreck, right up to his retirement in 1908.

Along the way I mentioned a few things and I wanted to share them below. First up was the Automaton Psycho that Harry Kellar ripped off from John Nevil Maskelyne. Below is a video of Kellar's Psycho in action.

Next I mentioned the Blue Room and also The Spectre Cabinet. After reading through the book Kellar's Wonders by Mike Caveney and Bill Miesel, it appears that the video below is actually The Spectre Cabinet and not the Blue Room, IF I understood this correctly. It is referred to as The Blue Room, and I'm assuming the two effects are similar in operation. At least you get an idea of how magnificent this effect really was.

This next video has a clip of The Mascot Moth, but you have to wait till the very end of the video. It's in the last few seconds.

Finally, here is an image of the beautiful Golden Butterfly Poster.

Episode 10 will conclude the series on Kellar and will cover his retirement years.

Carnegie On French Houdini Documentary

Back in May of 2018, I took part in a documentary segment about the time Houdini testified before Congress. This segment was for the French TV Channel ARTE. The segment finally aired TODAY, November 21st, 2018. It's all in French, so if you don't speak French, you won't understand a word, lol. But it's a pretty good segment and I hope you enjoy it. Below is the french version. 

By the way, during the actual event in 1926, Houdini presented the Spirit Slates to the Congressman, and then exposed it to them. He said, "My oath prevents me from exposing magic secrets, but I have no problem exposing the secrets of mediums". I did a quick demonstration of the Spirit Slates during my segment, though unlike Houdini, I did not expose it!

Episode 8 Magic Detective Podcast Additional Notes

Episode 8 of The Magic Detective Podcast is about the Life of Harry Kellar. As I was recording the episode today I quickly realized that this would be a multi-part episode. So this first part only cover 1849-1875. I've covered this period of time on this blog before, so I'm going to give you links that you can check out about the various topics.

1. The Fakir of Ava http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/01/fakir-of-ava.html

2. The Davenport Brothers & The Spirit Cabinet http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/03/spirit-cabinet-history.html

3. William Fay http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/02/who-was-william-fay.html

4. The Shipwreck http://www.themagicdetective.com/2012/06/kellars-sunken-treasure.html
Please note there is a small error on the podcast. I mentioned that following the shipwreck, Kellar wired for money from his father. In truth, Harry Kellar borrowed money, approx $1000 from Junius Spenser Morgan, a banker, and the father to J.P. Morgan. 

5. The Vanishing Birdcage http://www.themagicdetective.com/2011/02/vanishing-bird-cage-history.html

And if you'd like to listen to the podcast before you check out the above links. Here you go!!!

Houdini the Patriot

Today, Nov 11, 2018, marks the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War 1. The war which began in 1914. Coincidentally, the United States did not get into WWI until the day that Houdini celebrated as his birthday, April 6th, 1917.  And, despite the fact that the land in which Houdini was really born, Hungary, was involved on the opposing side in the war, Houdini stayed true to The United States.  He was a true blue American. Though Houdini appears to be mostly apolitical, he was certainly quite patriotic. And he was a big supporter of the War effort in WWI. Houdini actually 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.

The S.S. Antilles, was a US Troop-Transport Ship that was sailing out of France on it's way to the United Stated on October 15, 1917. A German u-boat fired a torpedo at the Antilles the morning of Oct 17th sinking the ship. Sixty Seven sailors lost their lives.

Now Houdini steps into the picture. As a way to raise money for the families of the service members who died, Houdini put together a benefit show. His idea was to bring together theatrical artists and put on a huge show at the Hippodrome Theatre in NYC. The program was dubbed, 'Remember The Antilles' and was presented on November 11th, 1917. Among the artists in the 'Carnival of Wonders' portion of the show were: Charles Carter, Frederick E. Powell, Julius Zancig, Howard Thurston, Theo Hardeen, Adelaide Herrmann, Houdini, the biggest name of them all Harry Kellar.

Kellar's name was important, as he was coaxed out of retirement for the singular event. His appearance was billed as 'positively farewell performance by Harry Kellar, The Dean of Magicians.' He had retired from the stage in 1908, having handed his 'Mantle of Magic' over to Howard Thurston at Ford's Theatre in Baltimore MD. For his portion of the show he presented 'table lifting' and then his version of the Davenport Spirit Cabinet. An account in the Dec 1917 issue of The Sphinx magazine says that Kellar far outshined all the earlier performers. And they added this, "He is just as good as ever and works with the same rare skill that made him not only the dean of magicians, but one of the most finished performers we have ever known."

Houdini followed with his Metamorphosis routine and then the Water Torture Cell. I should also note, to promote the entire event he did his upside down strait jacket escape from a crane on Broadway.

When the event was over Houdini's benefits show raised $10,000.00. This would be a little over $212,000.00 in todays money. I'd say it was a huge success.  Speaking of money raised, The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman says that Houdini sold more than $1,000,000.00 in war bonds and gave away at least $7000 of his own money to soldiers during shows at military bases.

There is more to the Carnival of Magic Show at the Hippodrome, but I'd prefer to include that in an upcoming podcast. For now, I hope you enjoyed Houdini the Patriot!

The Forgotten Houdini Student

Poster by Alfred Choubrac

Looking through old magic magazines often reveal little gems of information. I was going through an old issue of Mahatma Magazine, the July 1902 issue, I came across a sentence about Houdini.

"Eugene Fougere has been taking magic lessons from Harry Houdini, according to an account in a German Newspaper. I think that magic is in demand as everyone wants to become a magician."

There is little chance of me finding the German newspaper, but I was curious who this 'Eugene Fougere' was. It turns out that Eugene Fougere is actually Eugenie Fougere and was a French Vaudeville and music hall star.  Her act was extremely suggestive & seductive for the time. She was called a soubrette-a flirtatious or frivolous woman. In 1891, she came to the United States to tour the Vaudeville theaters here. Her tour was met with scandalous reviews. She was really before her time. One article I read likened her to the way America looked at Elvis when he appeared on the scene. Many loved him, others were shocked by his gyrations. I'd say that Eugenie's gyrations were even more daring than anything Elvis was doing, at least for the period of time, but tame for the 21st century of course.

In 1902 she was back in Paris. Houdini, in January & half of  February of 1902, was performing at The Olympia Theatre in Paris. He started at the Olympia on November 29th, 1901. The Olympia is a 2000 seat theatre that has since hosted stars like Josephine Baker, Marlene Dietrich, Liza Minelli, The Jackson Five, The Rolling Stones, even the Beatles. But in 1901-02, the Olympia was featuring Houdini & Eugenie Fougere on their bill. It was his King of Cards Act that made him a hit in Paris, rather than his handcuff act. I would imagine it was card magic that he was teaching to Eugenie Fougere. And I've seen nothing in regards to her adding magic to her act. It is likely her sex appeal outshined any tricks she might have included.

By the way, one of Houdini's more famous non-escape promotions took place in Paris. He hired 7 bald headed men to paint the letters H-O-U-D-I-N-I on top of their heads. They would then wear a bowler hat and sit at a cafe. Then at numerous times per day, they would lean over and remove their hats, showing the name HOUDINI to passers by.

And now, for the curious, here is Eugenie Fougere presenting her 'ragtime -cake-walk' dance.

Magic Detective Podcast Ep 7-Houdini & Congress 1926

Seeing as we are on the eve of a big congressional election, I thought I'd share a podcast about the time Houdini testified before Congress on behalf of an Anti-Fortune Telling Bill. It was quite a wild affair, with Houdini bringing in some of his top notch investigators like Remegius Weiss and Rose Mackenburg. It's clear from the transcripts that some of the congressmen were not taking this seriously. Still others were dead serious about the testimony.

My guess is that Houdini must have had a hand in crafting the bill, which was another reason he was brought in. There are a number of surprises that come up over the several days of testimony. Much of this episode comes directly from the Congressional Record. And it also comes from several articles that appeared right here, in TheMagicDetective blog!

A side note, earlier this year (2018) I actually was involved in a video documentary about Houdini's time before Congress. The video was made for a French Language TV Show, so despite my excitement, it will all get dubbed over. I don't think it's aired yet, but when it does, I'll let you know. I'm curious how some of the magic turned out as the humidity that day was wreaking havoc on some of my sleights and flourishes, including a coin roll (the coin kept sticking to my fingers)

This episode runs almost 40 minutes and will be the last FULL Houdini Episode for a while. At least, that is the plan at the moment. Because it's my podcast, I could easily go back on that, lol. But I'm hoping to make the next podcast about Harry Kellar. For now, please enjoy Episode 7!

Magic Detective Podcast Episode 6- Houdini's Final Days and Beyond

Episode 6 of The Magic Detective Podcast is about Houdini's Final Days and Beyond. All of this comes from previous articles here on the site, and I'm going to include the links below to the various articles. You'll be able to see a number of photos that help to illustrate the various stories.

But first, I'd like to include the names of the books that I mention in the podcast. These are all biographies of Houdini.

The Secret Life of Houdini -William Kalush and Larry Sloman
Houdini The Man Who Walked Through Walls by William Lindsey Gresham
Houdini His Life and Art by James Randi and Burt Sugar
Houdini His Legend and Magic by Doug Henning
HOUDINI!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss by Kennth Silverman
Houdini The Untold Story by Melbourne Christopher

Articles

Tracking the Body of Houdini
The Day Houdini was Buried
Last Days of Houdini
More of the Last Days of Houdini
The Manifestations of Houdini

Episode 7 should be up next Monday. It too will be about Houdini and then when I get to Episode 8, I'll explore some magicians you might not be familiar with.

And anytime you want to check out the podcast, you can always just click the link on the far right of the page. Or just go to MagicDetectivePodcast.com. You can also find the podcast in iTunes!

The Original Houdini Seance Coming

If you want a cool experience and you are in NYC Oct 31st, then you'll want to attend The Original Houdini Seance. This one will be in the afternoon, and at the site of Houdini's childhood home. Here is a link for more information. https://form.jotform.com/toddspr/-houdini-seance-event-registration

Episode 5 Magic Detective Podcast The Early Years of Houdini

EhrichWeiss the Champion Runner

Episode 5 of The Magic Detective Podcast is up and ready to download. I had recently been searching through various podcasts for ones about Houdini. And my search sadly ended with none I could recommend. Actually, there was one, by The Bowery Boys, that wasn't too bad. But I felt that overall there was not a good solid podcast that covered Houdini properly. So I decided to go ahead and begin a series of podcasts about Houdini's life.

This first episode is more a Starter Guide to Houdini and covers his early years up until his marriage to Bess. I rather enjoyed the research on this because there were things I wasn't sure about that I was able to put into perspective. The research into his birthdate, or should I say 2 birthdates was amazing. One thing I left off, was an opinion I have regarding births during those times. I have done a LOT of ancestry work and after having scoured hundreds of Census records, I can tell you that dates of birth change often, as do the year someone was born. This was the case at least in the times before 1940. Usually the year is the thing that changes the most, it may change by a year or two. But the one thing that doesn't change are the places people are born. In that, Houdini is unique. Before 1900 he claimed to be Austrian, after 1900 he claimed to be from Appleton Wisconsin. And he even put this information on legal documents.

While doing the research I read an interesting piece about Houdini's days training as a boxer in Milwaukee. I included that in the blog, and I found that information in the Houdinifile.com

The main part of the podcast stops at the arrival of Bess Houdini, who in essence ends the run of the Houdini Brothers. I had a chuckle as it's often a love interest of some kind that breaks up a group. But in the case of Bess, she was extremely important to Houdini's future and I will cover that in a future podcast. And Houdini's brother Theo, was not totally at a loss, as Houdini put him to work as Hardeen, and later working for his Film Development Corporation.

The podcast finishes with a CRAZY piece of information I found in an old Linking Ring Magazine from October 1971. The article was titled 'Somewhere West of Budapest, Somewhere East of Appleton' and was penned by magic historian and collector Robert Lund, who was also the curator and owner of The American Museum of Magic. The article deals with Houdini's claim he was born on April 6th. Among the various things discussed in the article are a letter from Gladys Weiss to Bess Houdini, and a statement made my Leopold Weiss about his brother. It's definitely worth listening too.

There will be another Houdini Episode following this one. I don't intend to cover his entire life in this fashion, but I'd like to have a couple episodes that give a good overview of his life. I hope to have the next episode up in a couple days, as I have something important I'd like to promote. Here is the link again for Episode 5.

The Rostrum Mystery

(This article is the first part of Episode 4 of the Magic Detective Podcast. It's the first time I've written an article for the podcast. There is MORE to Episode 4 than just this, so I encourage you to listen by going to http://magicdetectivepodcast.com/e/magic-detective-podcast-ep-4-servais-leroy/

Recently, I was staring at a poster a friend had put  up in his theater. It's the beautiful poster above, by Servais LeRoy featuring an effect called ROSTRUM-The Last Word in Magic. What an amazing image. But I was curious as to this 'Rostrum' illusion. I was not family with it. So I figured, I'd go right to the source, Servais LeRoy Monarch of Magic book by Mike Caveney & William Rauscher. A cursory look showed no sign of a Rostrum illusion, even though the poster itself was featured in the full color section of the book.

I looked up online to see if anyone had a clue as to what Rostrum was, some speculated it was the Asrah illusion, others were unsure exactly what illusion it might be.  The Asrah Illusion was a levitation that began with a woman laying down on a table; she would be covered with a cloth, and then float into the air. The magician would pass a hoop over her, and then she would raise higher above stage. At the height of the illusion, the magician would step towards the floating figure, grab the cloth and whisk it away, the girl having vanished instantly while floating.  I found A french website, that even used the term 'Rostrum' to describe the Asrah, but again, why?   Time to dig deeper...

In regards to Asrah, I was surprised to see that it began with a different name. Originally it was called, The Mystery of L'hasa. It appears to have been invented in 1902, though there are conflicting reports. LeRoy indicated that it may have been the 1890s. The poster to the right depicts a levitation, and the poster dates to 1905, but it is not the Asrah that is being used. Apparently, Le Roy was not confident in his illusion and scrapped it for a number of years before trying it again.

The Rostrum poster, at the top of the page, dates to 1920, and it was in 1920 that LeRoy was doing a show called The Unseen World. From the book Servais Le Roy Monarch of Magic by Mike Caveney and William Rauscher, comes this statement, "First the audience was apprised that it was impossible to guarantee a real ghost at every performance but they would do their very best. Then, claiming no spiritual abilities, they proceeded with a full blown seance." The they, in this instance, was Servais Le Roy and Julius Zancig.

There is a review of the show in the Sphinx Feb 1921 edition, where they mention an illusion called,
The Transmission of Souls. This sparked my interest as the poster could depict that very effect! So what on earth was this illusion. The Servais LeRoy book gives zero details. scouring through AskAlexander turned up little other than the fact that George LaFollette also presented the routine. I was not about to give up the search. Finally, I discovered a description of the routine from the May 1904 edition of Stanyon's Magic!

"Curtained cabinet on turntable in center of stage, front curtain drawn to show empty; Le Roy holds up black sheet in front of cabinet and produces black draped figure (a) who is stood at front of stage, another black sheet and another figure (b) produced; Talma then enters cabinet with a black sheet and produces another draped figure (c); Le Roy then ran through cabinet front to back and out again (?) holds up sheet in front of cabinet and produces fourth draped figure (d); Le Roy and Talma then enter cabinet which is turned to show all sides, cabinet shown empty, sheets cast off draped figures, showing Le Roy and Talma (c & d) between two assistants."

So, The Transmission of Souls, or as it was called in this article, 'The Transmorgrification Of Souls',  is an adaptation of The Three Graces, an early routine of LeRoys. For those interested, there is a version of the routine included in the Tarbell Course Volume 8, under the title The Mystery of The Three Ghosts. For the modern performer, you will recognize this by it's popular name, Things That Go Bump In The Night, though using different methodology. And also a different method from what Le Roy used in The Three Graces routine.

A Strange Disappearance from Magical Monthly by LeRoy

I did come across an intriguing image in my search to uncover the answer to this mystery, and it involves an illusion called A Strange Disappearance. This clearly has similarities to The Asrah. A person lays down on a lo table. They're covered with a cloth, and the magicians picks them up off the table while still wrapped in the cloth, and then whisks the cloth away as the person vanishes into thin air. Many thoughts came to mind here, and this led me on another tangent. In the book, Conjuror's Mechanical Secrets, S.H. Sharpe mentions that this trick was used by Devant and called Beau Brocade. That didn't sound exactly right to me, and I remembered an article by Jim Steinmeyer in MAGIC Magazine, December 2002,  about Devant and Beau Brocade. Sure enough, Mr. Steinmeyer discovered that this was a mistake on the part of Sharpe, and Devant's illusion was quite different. He pointed out that Le Roy's illusion came after Beau Brocade. Thankfully, Mr. Steinmeyer discovered this 16 years before I began my trek, so I didn't have to spend a lot of time trying to decide whether Sharpe was wrong or not.

Diving further into the review from the Sphinx Feb 1921, there is no mention of The Asrah being performed, though they do mention The Hindu Rope, The Bird Cage, and Transmission of Souls as being classic LeRoy illusions that were presented. And no mention of A Strange Disappearance either.

Going back to the Servais Le Roy Monarch of Magic book, on page 208, I find this line, "The Unseen World opened with Le Roy presenting a number of original effects with included his now familiar family of ducks." I think this line, and the one above about the ghost, may tip off what this Rostrum Illusion was, it may have been an original piece designed specifically for this show. Again, though it also could have been an adaptation of The Asrah or Le Roy's A Strange Disappearance. But I think it's supposed to be some sort of ghostly effect used during their Seance.

I was hoping to come up with a letter or something that mentions what Rostrum refers to, but I've not seen anything yet. I did, however,  see something that could potentially reveal ALL.  Lot 209 from the Summer 2018 Auction by Potter & Potter contained something called Servias Le Roy & Company Illusion Instruction Archive. It's possible ROSTRUM is mentioned in there. It's possible it's not, lol. I don't know who purchased it, but if you were the happy winner and are willing to let me know if ROSTRUM is listed and whether it's a unique illusion, an adaptation of Asrah, or IS the Asrah, that would be so much appreciated. Imagine, if Rostrum is actually just referring to a raised platform, a stage, and the words, "Rostrum- The Last Word In Magic" are actually just referring to theatrical stage magic, lol. We may never know. If I hear back from the owner of the Le Roy archive we might get a clue or even the answer, but it's a long shot. We are still left with a mystery, but one that I've enjoyed looking in to.

HOUDINI & LEROY
During the podcast I mentioned the book The Houdini Code by William Rauscher. I mentioned the short blurb in the book which describes LeRoy's thoughts on Houdini. I think they're accurate, after all, LeRoy did say them. But they're not complete. LeRoy said much more about Houdini. There was a time when LeRoy was even quite angry with Houdini over a court case, but in the end, that was all water under the bridge for friends. Listen to the podcast to see what else, LeRoy said about Houdini. 

Pictures for Episode 3 of The Magic Detective Podcast

Henry Ridgely Evans Grave

Episode 3 is up and already has gotten a lot of downloads. In the episode I mention two graves that I visited, one belonging to Margery the Medium, and the other to magic author Henry Ridgely Evans. Below is an image of Margery's grave, above is the Evan's grave. If you click the links it will take you to my blog that lists the actual locations of the graves.

Margery the Medium's Grave

I also talk about my old buddy Steve Baker who was known as Mr. Escape, here is a picture of Steve. If you'd like to read more about Steve you can visit his website at MrEscape.com

On the HOUDINI RADIO segment, I shared a piece about Queen Victoria's Dress and how Houdini obtained it. And where it is today. Below is an image of Houdini's mother wearing Queen Victoria's
dress.

If you'd like to listen to the podcast on iTunes you can use this link, or if you have an iPhone, go to the podcast app on your phone and type in Magic Detective Podcast and it should come up.

Episode 2 of The Magic Detective Podcast is UP!

I'm really having a fun time with these podcasts. I just uploaded episode 2, and episode 3 is finished and will go this weekend. Episode 4 however is one that I'm REALLY excited about. This one has the first feature that was written specifically for the podcast and will also be a blog article. That is what I had hoped to do all along, use both mediums to complement each other.

In Episode 2, I share some Washington D.C. connections to Magic History. The 15 item list can be seen here. During the HOUDINI RADIO Segment, I share the story of where Houdini got the dog that he gave to The Great Lafayette. Of course, that dog, whom he called Beauty, would be Lafayette's companion for the rest of his life. If you'd like to read more about Lafayette & his dog Beauty, follow this link.

I'll be experimenting with the Interview feature next week, so hopefully by the time I get to episode 5 or 6, I'll be ready to conduct some awesome interviews. And WOW, do I ever have a list of people!!!! You probably know some of them, and you might even BE one of them, lol. And I expect to have quite a few people that maybe you've not heard of but have so much to share!

Personally, I have gathered a great deal of information that I have never used for the blog. Now, I'll finally get a chance to use it for the podcast. I have a couple of interviews I did with people who have since passed on, so those might be fun to include. In addition, I've got some wild ideas that I just can't reveal, yet.

There is one thing I'm very careful NOT to do, and that is reveal secrets. I'm very old school in that regard, so I won't be tipping any big secrets. I know there will be non-magicians listening to the podcast and I don't want to give away the farm, so to speak. I've done a pretty decent job of keeping secrets out of the blog all these years, with the exception of two incidents which are among the 700+ blog articles, so I guess they're safe.

PLEASE DO ME A FAVOR, if you like the podcast, please leave me a review, or comment, or a LIKE, depending upon where you listen to it. 5 star reviews are appreciated. Trust me, I'll be working hard to earn them! And if you're listening via iTunes, please subscribe to the podcast! Or go to, MagicDetectivePodcast.com

The Magic Detective PODCAST Has Arrived!!!

I've been sitting on this news for some time, but I can now let the cat out of the bag and tell you that The Magic Detective has been turned into a podcast! (For the few who may not know what a podcast is, it's basically like a special radio show that you can listen to on your computer or smart phone) Truth be told, I have shared the info on several social media sites previously, I just haven't gone into much detail.

Episode 1 is an Intro podcast. I give you a little taste of what to expect. The first segment of The Magic History Minute is on there, as is the Feature segment, which deals with Houdini in Germany. I've decided to refer to all the future Houdini sessions as HOUDINI RADIO. There are a couple plugs and even a mention of two of my favorite websites that are NOT mine. Episode 1 has a run time of 24 minutes, so it's just shy of my 30 minute mark, but that's ok. Episode 2 is also done, but it hasn't been uploaded yet. It will appear on Oct 15th. Basically, every Monday there will be a new podcast....aka Magic Mondays!  I plan to move The Magic Detective History Contest over to the podcast, so that means I'll be giving away the occasional prize as well!

You may be wondering what will happen to The Magic Detective Blog? Well, it's staying right here, and I'll continue to write articles for the blog as well. I fully expect to point listeners of the podcast over here often so they can see the photos, and read more about the various artists and performers. The two mediums should compliment each other really well. Then there is the third medium, that is video. I intend to bring back The Magic Detective Youtube Show, though that is a bit further down the road. I expect to post the occasional short videos over there however, videos that are supplements to the blog articles or podcast episodes. So eventually, you'll have The Magic Detective Blog, The Magic Detective Podcast, and The Magic Detective Online Show.


So now that I've let you know about this new project, you may be wondering what you can do? I NEED You to do is subscribe to the podcast and then listen to the episodes as they debut. There are many ways to listen to the podcast, if you're on a computer you can listen through the podcast site http://magicdetectivepodcast.com    But if you want to subscribe, you can do that through the podcast section of iTunes. Simply go to iTunes, or click your podcast button on your iPhone, type in Magic Detective in the search area and look for the logo below. Then hit the subscribe button! Episode 1 was released a couple days early because I wanted to be sure that iTunes approved my podcast before Monday. With that done,  I'm very excited about all of this, I know you'll really enjoy this unique Magic history podcast!

The 2nd episode will air Monday Oct 15th!

The Doug Henning Documentary - Fundraiser

In the 1970's there was no bigger name in the world of magic than Doug Henning. With his incredible yearly specials and touring shows he was responsible for the resurgence of interest in magic. He inspired so many future magicians, myself included. Doug was so different from every other magician out there. Doug was just Doug. He didn't try to be Blackstone, or Kellar, or even Houdini. He had his own way of doing things and his way was simply, magical. Sadly, Doug Henning is often forgotten today. 

But there is someone out there who wants to change all that, his name is Neil McNally. In May 2017, Neil created The Doug Henning Project, which is a blog devoted to the life of Doug Henning. Due to the popularity of the site, Neil decided to take the next step and create a documentary about Doug. Neil is the writer and director of the documentary, while Michelle Opitz, a veteran documentary filmmaker, is the projects producer.

From the website: This feature length documentary is made with the cooperation of the Henning family, and features such magic luminaries as Penn and Teller, Lance Burton, Max Maven, Johnny Thompson, Milt Larsen, and many more. It follows Doug’s complete life starting as a youth in Canada, his first breakthrough on Broadway with “The Magic Show,” his eight television specials, his devotion to Transcendental Meditation, and his ultimate reasons for leaving it all behind. The framework of which is told by Doug himself through a comprehensive and unreleased video interview recorded six months before his passing.

Like the Beatles before him, Doug Henning was attuned to his time. It was a time of hippie sensibilities, positivity, rainbow spandex, and love. We could sure use a lot of that today.

The documentary can use your help. Neil and Michelle have put up a website DougHenningFilm.com which tells you all about the documentary. And they've also put up an Indigogo Fundraising page which can be found here https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/doug-henning-s-magical-world#/You can contribute as little as $5 or as much as $10,000. Please go check out the sites and if you are able, contribute to the project. But before you go, watch the video below which tells more about the film! And THEN go donate to this very worthy project.