WILD ABOUT HARRY: Ken Silverman at the CJM: "Houdini was the first m...

LINK: WILD ABOUT HARRY: Ken Silverman at the CJM: "Houdini was the first m...:

John Cox from WildAboutHarry, drove up to San Francisco this week to listen to a lecture on Houdini by author Kenneth Silverman. Ken wrote the book, HOUDINI!!! The Career of Erich Weiss back in 1996 and it was great then and it's still great. His book is usually the very first resource book I go to when researching Houdini facts.

I knew John was going up there and have been waiting anxiously to hear the report of his trip. It was worth the wait for sure. Click the link above and read about his adventures to the Contemporary Jewish Museum and his visit with Kenneth Silverman!

Happy Holidays from Houdini

Here is a wonderful image, courtesy of the Boston Public Library. It is from the Houdini scrapbook compiled by Quincy Kilby. The scrapbook covered the years from 1904-1926. I've seen this image before in books, but didn't realize there was a slight colorization to it, though that might have been added by Kilby.

Houdini was Jewish, but he obviously celebrated Christmas or at least had no problem sharing the greetings. He had a number of images like this over the years. I'm not sure if they were actual cards or postcards. The one above has a crease down the center, which makes me think it may have indeed been a card. Kevin Connelly has a another image by the same artist on his blog, check it out.

It appears that Bess Houdini kept up the tradition after Harry had died. The above is an image from 1935 and came out of the Library of Congress Collection. The image has a crease in it, so I'm wondering if it was actually a card and we are seeing the inside of the card. If that is the case, then I've got no idea what the outside of the card looked like. However, it could just be a nice holiday greetings on Bess's stationary which is more likely the case.

One thing I found interesting on it were the three addresses for Bess. The Payson Avenue NY address is where the Rev. A. Ford Seance was held. I'm not familiar with the address on the far right and the lower one is obviously her California address.

I can't help but wonder if there are more unseen, Houdini Christmas cards out there? At the rate things have been showing up this year, I'm sure a new one will turn up soon.

Adelaide Herrmann Memoirs

(Library of Congress photo)

I decided to rewrite the earlier blog about the new 'Adelaide Herrmann Queen of Magic Memoirs' book, edited by Margaret Steele. The book can be purchased at  http://www.adelaideherrmann.com/#!the-book After reading an article about Margaret Steele that appeared in the October 2011 MUM magazine, I found some helpful information that I'm going to share with you.

Margaret Steele, is a musician, magician and magic historian among a host of other things. From what I've read, her approach to magic is quite artistic and she actually presents an act which is an homage to Adelaide Herrmann.

Who was Adelaide Herrmann? She was born Adelaide Scarcez in 1853 in Surrey England. She would meet and marry a man who later become the most famous magician of his time, The Great Herrmann (Alexander Herrmann). They worked together presenting magic all over the Globe until Alexanders sudden death aboard a train in 1896. It was up to Adelaide to pick up the show and carry on the tradition, which she did and became known as the Queen of Magic.

The book is just as much about Alexander as it is Adelaide. The final five chapters are those strictly about Adelaide and her life/work. It's exciting to know that such a book exists as there is just not enough information out there on the Herrmann family.

If you are wondering how this all came about, it turns out that that while Margaret was doing her own research on Adelaide Herrmann, a Herrmann family relative discovered the book. Apparently, it had been passed down through the family and now it was in the hands of someone who wanted to pass it on to a proper home. The relative contacted the SAM Parent Assembly, who in turn contacted Margaret Steele, because they knew of the work she was doing researching Adelaide's life. Long story short, Margaret purchased the book with an agreement to one day pass it on to the Parent Assembly.

How exciting is that? This happened LAST year, in 2010! It gives me such hope that other wonderful magic treasures are still out there waiting to be uncovered. I can't wait to order this book, hopefully they don't run out before that time. I thought I'd share with you a video of Ms. Steele presenting her act 'Cornucopia' An Homage to Adelaide Herrmann. It's a beautiful piece of magic set to an equally amazing piece of music. Enjoy.

You might also be interested in a previous blog article which mentions Compars Herrmann and his daughter, Alexander and Adelaide Herrmann, as well as Houdini, who it turns out was a relative! http://deancarnegie.blogspot.com/2011/09/houdini-herrmann-connection.html