Thursday, January 9, 2025

MAGIC CASTLE SAVED

 


JAN 8, 2025. It was a harrowing night, but firefighters and staff at Hollywood's Magic Castle were apparently able to save the building as fires raged a mile away. In one video I saw, you could see the fires burning the hillside and they sure looked a lot closer than a mile. 

Staff and firefighters took extra precaution by soaking the buildings roof and surrounding shrubbery with water. It's never a guaranteed fix given the ferocious nature of these wild fires, but thankfully it worked. Frankly it falls more into the miracle category.

It was only a few years ago that a fire broke out at the Castle, not related to a wild fire. Thankfully, the Castle was saved then too because of some smart thinking members and staff who took action when needed. 

This California WildFire is an unimaginable tragedy. I have friends who are waiting to evacuate. There are people in the magic world we have yet to hear from.

UPDATE: Just heard from John Cox. He is safe. Mike Caveney and Tina Lenert are safe. The Houdini Estate made it through so it's safe. I will post more as I hear.


Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Doyle Trumps Houdini in New Documentary

 


The relationship between Houdini and Doyle has been talked about over and over and over. It is generally talked about from Houdini's side. Doyle appears as a character in Houdini's life story. But now there is a documentary that is about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and this time Houdini is the character in Doyle's life. And there is a bonus. This documentary has film footage that most believed to have been lost.

We learn about this from our friend John Cox, from his blog WildAboutHoudini.com The documentary called, "Lucy Worsley's Holmes vs Doyle" on PBS, has footage from the 1922 SAM Banquet in NYC in which Doyle was Houdini's invited guest. Much has been written about this particular moment in their lives, but here is the first time you get to view the actual film footage. https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2025/01/houdini-doyle-sam-banquet-footage.html

I also want to address a bit more about the documentary. I really enjoyed it, though I wasn't thrilled with the magician they chose to be the 'authority'. No offense, but I don't think he had anything more than a passing knowledge of Houdini and Doyle's relationship. The question that Lucy puts to the guest magician is why Doyle wanted to convert Houdini to his belief system. The question is never properly answered. But the truth was, Doyle believed that Houdini himself had mediumistic powers. He saw Houdini's feats of escape to be supernatural in nature and despite all of Houdini's claims otherwise, Doyle believed Houdini had these powers. Of course their relationship sours after the Atlantic City Seance, and they exchange negative words in the press. But I think Doyle had real affection for Houdini, despite their differences. HOWEVER, I could be wrong about his affection for Houdini. In his book, The History of Spiritualism, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he mentions Houdini only twice and both times refers to him as "Houdini the conjurer." No mention of their friendship. In fact, he rather insults Houdini when he is speaking of Margery, and how He (Doyle) was instrumental in getting her before the Scientific American, but also inadvertently putting them in the firing line of Houdini's "preposterous and ignorant theories of fraud".

Ironically, it would be Bess who would have the last word and heal the wounds of this relationship. After, Houdini's passing, Doyle wrote to Bess to share his condolences for her loss. She in turn, sent Doyle a package. It was a portfolio of artwork by Doyle's own father, that Houdini had purchased at an auction. 

One more thing I want to point out and that is the documentary, Holmes vs Doyle, does feature one excellent guest and that is Daniel Stashower. Mr. Stashower is an award winning author, and he has written a number of fictional books about Houdini. These include: The Houdini Specter, The Dime Museum Murders, The Adventures of The Ectoplasmic Man. It also appears that Mr. Stashower has written a couple non-fiction books about Doyle including: Teller of Tales, and A Life In Letters. 


And finally, though this has nothing to do with Doyle, I just learned that Daniel Stashower wrote a book called AMERICAN DEMON. This is about Eliot Ness and his case involving the Cleveland Torso Killer. I mention this because Episode 88 of my podcast dealt with this very topic and one of the people who was considered a possible suspect, and this guy was also a magician. https://magicdetectivepodcast.com/e/ep-88-tales-from-the-dark-side-of-magic/  I need to get Daniel's book to read his account!


Thursday, December 19, 2024

2024 Magic Detective Year In Review

 


I haven't done one of these in a while. Seems time has slipped past me these last few years. Too many family deaths and deaths of close friends. But let's take a look at 2024.


The Magic Detective Podcast hit 50,000 downloads in 2024. Actually, the podcast will be inching closer to 58,000. It's currently at 57,801 and there are still two weeks left this month. Plus, if I get another episode out, that will shoot it up pretty fast. 

These are not Joe Rogan numbers by any stretch. But I can say my listeners are devoted! And they are kind enough to contact me about the various episodes. It's always GREAT to hear from listeners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Yours truly, the Magic Detective spoke at two different magic history conferences this year. The first was the Florida Magic Collectors Conference. This was a smaller conference but sure was a lot of fun. It was my first time attending. I spoke on the Life of Edward Maro, also known as Walter Truman Best. He was a remarkable turn of the Century performer who died far too young. Unlike a lot of magicians of his time, Maro amassed quite a bit of wealth and purchased lake front property in Michigan. He built an enormous house there. Later after he died, his wife built a Women's Community Center there and dedicated it to the memory of her husband. 

This was the third time I presented this particular lecture.


I continue to have a magic history column in the MAGIC TIMES periodical. This is for the Manchester Circle of Magicians in England. I've been providing them with articles for several years now. They have been choosing articles from my blog, with my permission, to use in their online magazine. 

I recently wrote my first current article for them, but I don't think that will appear until January. That article is a book review of the new book by Robert Hutton called The Illusionist, all about the REAL Man who Deceived Hitler and the German Army with Illusions.




In November 2024, I appeared at The Yankee Gathering in Nashua NH. This time I spoke about the Life of Robert Heller in a lecture titled Go To HELLers. Which, was one of his advertising slogans many years earlier. I've been fascinated by Heller for years and covered him right here on the blog for a while. I've actually removed most of that content, because I used it and some updated information in order to create the lecture notes for this lecture. I've decided after giving this lecture that I'm going to write a book about Heller. His story is just too fascinating to pass by. 



Every year on the Podcast, I try to do a special episode, usually some sort of Radio Drama, with ME doing all the voices and or narration. But this year I opted to give it into the hands of the professionals, so on Episode 105 of the Magic Detective Podcast, my audience got to hear an actual Joseph Dunninger Radio Show recording. Something different for sure. 

Coming in 2025

Well, I don't want to give too much away, but I will be adding more interviews to the podcast. In addition, my articles will start appearing in issues of DISCOVERIES Magazine from The New England Magic Collectors Association. And I'm working on a new Radio drama for next year which is actually from a very famous magicians show.