Recently, the news came out that The Grim Game was being restored and would soon appear again. This is possibly Houdini's best movie and also one that hasn't been seen by the masses since it came out in 1919. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of Dick Brookz and Dorothy Dietrich from the Houdini Museum, we have the story. And a BIG THANK YOU to both of them for once again making the impossible possible!
Houdini Museum in Scranton PA Reveals the Secrets of
Uncovering Houdini's 1919 Lost Silent Film The Grim Game
Magicians
Dorothy Dietrich and Dick
Brookz, from the
Houdini Museum in Scranton, PA, tell the story of the finding and restoration of the
long lost Houdini silent movie from 1919,
"The Grim Game\u001D". Dorothy Dietrich and Dick
Brookz from The Houdini Museum in Scranton, PA revealed, "The film has
not been shown to the general public for 96 years.
This was one of the most sought after items in Houdini History."
Houdini's movie Grim Game made in 1919, has been unavailable
until now and considered lost. Brookz commented, "The only complete copy
of the film was hidden in the collection of juggler Larry Weeks who got
it from Houdini's wife after Houdini died. I have known Larry since I
was in my early teens. Larry trusted us and knew we would never do any
thing that was not in his best interest. He knew with us involved it
would be done in a proper way to protect his legacy. We even put
together and host his web site"
http://larryweeks.info
Dorothy and Dick had kept a friendly relationship with Larry
Weeks and that is what helped to make this happen. Juggler Larry Weeks
called himself "Houdini's biggest fan" and amassed one of the best
Houdini collections in the world, specializing in films of Houdini. He
had the only print of Houdini's lost film, "The Grim Game hidden away in
his collection." He was known to show it at various occasions in his
life time.
It is reputed to be the best of Houdini's five films.
Dick Brookz commented "Over the years Larry invited us to see the film
on two occasions. He found it odd and incomprehensible when I, Dick
Brookz, told him that some magicians berated him for hoarding the movie
that he preserved over the years at great personal cost." Dietrich added
"Our show business contact for negotiations, film producer and friend
for over 20 years, Rick Schmidlin, was the right person to bring this
project to fruition. Rick Schmidlin's mother, who we also knew, lived
nearby The Houdini Museum. In April of 2014 Rick Schmidlin made another
one of his occasional visits to The Houdini Museum in Scranton. At that
meeting we decided to tell him about the whereabouts of The Grim Game
and our long time friendship with Larry Weeks We called Larry Weeks on
his private number and told him about Rick and our desire to have the
film restored. It took several calls to convince Larry to meet with
Rick. Larry finally agreed and gave us permission to pass along Larry's
number. Rick set up a meeting and arranged to acquire the film for
Turner Classic Movies. Rick had to jump through a lot of hoops and clear
several hurdles with tough negotiations. In the end, Rick put the
pieces together to get the film, have it restored and added an original
movie score. The wonderful thing is that the film content is complete.,
although it required a lot of restoration. Just prior to this time we
had spoken with Larry several times and he informed us of his rapidly
diminishing health so time was of the essence. The deal was made!" Larry
Weeks died October 13, 2014, before the public would get news of the
acquisition on January 23, 2015.
The restored film will have an musical score composed by Brane
Zivkovic an award winning film, television, and theatre composer. This
was all done with financial help from Turner Classic Movies, who will
premiere it at the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival held Thursday, March
26 - Sunday, March 29, 2015, in Hollywood.
Dietrich continued, "We are so proud to have accomplished this.
To know that essentially every magician in the world big and small, will
get the thrill of viewing this wonderful Houdini movie because of us.
This includes future magicians for all time, as well as millions of non
magicians. It was our goal to get this to someone who would release it
to the public and not hoard in their cellar or a back room
somewhere. Background information.
The Houdini Museum located in Scranton, PA is the only building in the world dedicated to Houdini.
It has been put together by well known professional magicians Dorothy
Dietrich and Dick Brookz. The Houdini Museum has also taken on the
responsibility of taking care of the abandoned Houdini Grave site, and
recently replaced Houdini's missing bust that was destroyed 40 years ago
by vandals.
http://houdini.org
Dorothy Dietrich is considered the leading female
magician and escape artist in the world having been called "the First
Lady of Magic," and "The Female Houdini." She has appeared in countless
Television specials including
"You Asked For It", a
Bill Cosby Special, "
The Tomorrow Show",
"Atlantic City Alive", "
Evening Magazine", "Just For The Record, the Best Of Everything", Montel Williams, etc. She was
Special Guest Star in HBO's "The World's Greatest Escapes," costarring movie legend
Tony Curtis, in which she escaped hanging from the
bottom of a parachute ride hundreds of feet in the air while hanging
from a singe piece of rope that was set on fire and she is the
only women in history to accomplish The Jinxed Bullet Catch
in the mouth, the one stunt Houdini backed out of. The stunt has killed
over 13 men and injured many others. This stunt was done at
Resorts International in Atlantic City. Both stand as world records to this day.
When not doing crazy stunts such as these she travels with a magic show
that features doves, a duck, a rabbit and two pet poodles. When in her
home town of Scranton she appears on a regular basis on stage of The
Houdini Museum.
http://dorothydietrich.com
Dick Brookz has been a professional magician his entire life. He has fronted for
Bobby Darin, Jack Jones, Neil Sedaka at performed at such venues as
#1 Fifth Ave, The Rainbow Grill, The Americana Hotel and Casino in Puerto Rico, Aruba Hotel and Casino, etc.
For a while in his spare time he wrote songs, one that became a "bubble
gum" hit in the mid-west, "Powerhouse" that ended up being the theme
song for the candy bar of the same name. Dick Brooks owned The Magic
Towne House on the affluent Upper East Side of Manhattan. He pulled
Brother Theodore out of retirement in the last
1970's for special weekend midnight performances. This resulted in a
resurgence of interest in Brother Theodore that brought Brother Theodore
success in his later years. The show was a success and ran for several
seasons.
http://dickbrookz.com
Rick Schmidlin is a film preservationist, silent
film scholar, and a producer-director whose work has focused on
restorations, reconstructions and documentaries. Rick is the only
filmmaker to ever receive awards for two consecutive years from The
National Society of Film Critics and The Los Angeles Film Critics
Association.
To see this release with pictures go to
http://houdini.org/houdinigrimgameuncoveredbyhoudinimuseum.html