Secrets of Magic - Ebay Item of the Week

This week's eBay item is a vintage copy of Walter B. Gibson's "Secrets of Magic," from 1945

From the auction:
"Vintage booklet - Secrets of Magic by Walter B. Gibson, Associate of Blackstone, Houdini and Thurston, published Wm. C. Popper, New York - 5 1/4" x 7 1/4", paper covers, 50 pages, illustrations, 1945, complete."

"Condition is fair - some creases with some wrinkling, few small tears, some wear on the corners and edges, some yellowing, no stains."

Click Here For More Information Or To Bid

Gibson was indeed an associate of Blackstone, Houdini, and Thurston, as well as one of the most prolific pulp novel writers of his time. He created The Shadow under the pen name Maxwell Grant, and ghost wrote books for all three magicians. It's believed that Gibson wrote 282 Shadow novels!

As a magician himself, Gibson introduced the Chinese Linking Rings trick in America and invented the classic "Nickels to Dimes" trick. He died December 6, 1985. Click Here for more information on Walter B. Gibson at Wikipedia.com.


Complete Illustrated Book Of The Psychic Sciences
Houdini's Escapes and Magic
Complete Illustrated Book of Card Magic
Walter Gibson's Big Book of Magic for All Ages : With over 150 Easy-To-Perform Tricks Using Everyday Objects

Happy Birthday, Harry! Google Celebrates Houdini

Today would have been Houdini's 137th birthday, and Google is helping celebrate with a special Google doodle logo created for today. CLICK HERE to see it at Google.com!

How will you celebrate Houdini today?

Dorothy Young, Houdini's Last Surviving Assistant Dies

Dorothy Young has died at the age of 103. She was the last surviving assistant of Harry Houdini, touring with his company from 1925-26. Her death from heart failure was announced today by Drew University, where she was a prominent donor.

Young portrayed the futuristic "Radio Girl of 1950" onstage with Houdini and later went on to become a professional dancer and novelist, as well as a patron of the arts. For more information on Dorothy Young, CLICK HERE. For her obituary in the UK newspaper The Telegraph, CLICK HERE.

The announcement of her death comes the day before the 137th anniversary of Houdini's birth.

CLICK HERE to watch Dorothy talk about her experience onstage with Houdini.

George Pal's HOUDINI

CLICK HERE to watch George Pal's 1953 movie, HOUDINI for free on Youtube. This movie fascinated me as a child and made me want to find out more about Houdini and magic. Though not very accurate, it's terrifically entertaining. If you've never seen it, enjoy - if it's an old favorite, enjoy it again!

Smoke and Mirrors - Professor Morritt Sets The Stage

When Harry Houdini decided that being the world's greatest escape artist was no longer enough and set his sights on becoming the worlds greatest magician, he turned to Charles Morritt. Morritt was a Yorkshire born mentalist and illusionist that began, like many of his contemporaries, by recreating the Davenport Brothers' spirit box onstage when he was only eighteen years old.

Within a few years, "Professor" Morritt had become something of an impresario, managing several theaters in northern England and touring with his partner Lillian performing a very effective mentalist act.

Morritt was a very talented creator of illusions, but had a dark side and was a serious drinker. His problems got so bad that he disappeared for five or six years, and was eventually found by David Devant performing in a makeshift theater in a tiny village in the English countryside. Morritt had created an illusion in which he vanished a donkey onstage in a raised cabinet on wheels which was thrown open and made completely visible on (almost) all sides for the audience's inspection. It was then closed and the donkey was trotted out the same way he went in.

Devant was amazed by the apparatus and the illusion, and bought the trick from Morritt to use at the Egyptian Theater in London. Morritt had trained there himself with John Nevil Maskelyne, Devant's partner. When Houdini began his search for new illusions, he turned to Morritt, who suggested a version of the trick using an elephant instead of a donkey.

Houdini performed the illusion at the famous New York Hippodrome, but it was not a particularly successful trick. Much of the audience could barely see inside cabinet to verify the elephant had indeed disappeared because of the viewing angles and altitude of the seats in relation to the stage. Houdini wasn't bothered by this and most audience members weren't either; they came to see the great Houdini. The elephant was a supporting cast member.

Morritt continued creating illusions and performing, as well as drinking heavily; Eventually he died from tuberculosis in 1936.


Jim Steinmeyer's Art and Artifice has an excellent section on Morritt and how Steinmeyer deduced the secret of the donkey vanishing cabinet and recreated it himself.

Visiting Houdini's Grave

Victor Lana treks back to his childhood and visits Harry Houdini's grave in Queens, NY. Click Here To Read The Story.

Magic Poster Auction Makes Chicago Newscast

Potter and Potter Auctions are preparing to sell an enormous collection of vintage magic posters on Saturday, March 26th in Chicago. After spending the last forty-odd years in a vacuum cleaner box in a basement, the posters were unearthed by the wife of a recently deceased collector. There are quite a few rare pieces, and most are in very fine condition. The Houdini poster on the cover of the auction catalog seems to be the most valuable, estimated in the $20,000.00 range.

For more information or a catalog, CLICK HERE. To view lots available for online bidding, go to www.liveauctioneers.com. Nothing up as of this posting, but I assume they will be posted soon. The local ABC affiliate in Chicago covered the upcoming event, watch it below.

Hat Trick - Three Goals or One Rabbit

A friend asked me who invented the trick of pulling a rabbit from a hat after the Pixar cartoon post. Though it was probably first performed by Louis Comte in the earliest part of the 19th century, it was certainly perfected and popularized by John Henry Anderson, a.k.a. The Great Wizard of the North.

Anderson (1814–1874) was a Scottish magician and a contemporary of Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin and the Great Herrmann. He's credited with being one of the first magicians to move performance conjuring from the streets into theaters early in his career. He was also one of (if not) the first magicians to publicly expose the Spiritualist movement and the Davenport Brothers as a hoax.

Harry Houdini was born the same year that Anderson died, 1874. In 1909, Houdini made arrangements for the upkeep of Anderson's gravesite in Aberdeen, citing him as a major inspiration.

The Two Harrys - Houdini and Kellar

The excellent Carnegie: Magic Detective blog has a post about the friendship of two of the greatest magicians of the 20th Century. Click here to read about Houdini and Kellar.

The story continues on Carnegie's personal blog, here.

Houdini And Doyle - The Game Is Afoot!

Voices From The Dead, writer J. Michael (Babylon 5, The Changeling) Straczynski's spec screenplay, has sold to Dreamworks. The script concerns Harry Houdini and Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle as they team up with a psychic to solve some puzzling murders in 1920's New York.
Straczynski's last feature script was for The Changeling, bought and produced by Clint Eastwood's Malpaso company, and directed by Eastwood as well.
This could be a big budget thriller, and a lot of fun. My casting suggestions for Houdini are illustrated above: either Sean Penn or Mark Feurstein from the USA Network series Royal Pains. Who would make a good Doyle?

Click Here to Read The Whole Story At The Hollywood Reporter Website.

It turns out The Syfy Channel is developing a television series based on exactly the same premise, Houdini and Doyle solving mysteries together. I bet Straczynsky was thrilled to hear that...

Spectral Motion Busts Out!

Mike Elizalde of Spectral Motion is a magician as well as a wizard; he's an amateur prestidigitator, but Mike's work as a special effects makeup artist and animatronics designer has been seen in many major motion pictures including Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army (for which he was nominated for an Academy Award™) Land of the Lost, Men in Black I&II, Lord of Illusions, Species, Bicentennial Man, and many more.
A lifelong fan of magic, Mike's reverence for the classic fathers of the art has led to Spectral Motion's line of Magicians of the Golden Era, a series of limited edition, museum quality bronze busts. Sculpted by Mitch Devane, the busts measure approximately thirteen inches. Currently, Thurston and Kellar are available, with Chung Ling Soo listed for pre-order. Other busts in the works include Houdini and Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (which was sculpted by Mario Torres).

Click Here For Spectral Motion's Magician Busts

UPDATE!: The busts of Kellar, Thurston, Chung Ling Soo, Houdini and Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin are currently in-stock and ready for shipment, with a bust of Alexander Herrmann in the works. For up-to-date- photos and information, drop an email to orders@spectralmotion.com.

Here's a photo of Mike and his wife Mary on the red carpet at the 81st Annual Academy Awards in 2009.

Photos courtesy Spectral Motion and IMDB.com

The Star - Houdini’s Inescapable Influence

Here's a link to an article on the Houdini: Art and Magic exhibit on display at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan, and the inescapable influence he's had on modern entertainment.
Click Here to Read The Star: Houdini’s inescapable influence

The Right Way To Do Wrong

Read Harry Houdini's book from 1906 on con artists and successful criminals, "The Right Way To Do Wrong," for free at Google books. Its pretty short at just 97 pages.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE BOOK

Houdini Speaks!

Here's a vary rare recording of Harry Houdini talking about his Water Torture Cell Escape illusion. Bess also talks briefly about Harry and their pact to prove or disprove life after death. Below are a few seconds of very low-resolution film of Houdini's funeral.

Playing With The King of Cuffs!

Every vintage magic enthusiast needs a Houdini action figure! Accoutrements' figure of the most famous escape artist ever comes with a straight jacket, ropes, cuffs and more accessories to enhance play value (especially if Barbie happens by). Essential!
Mini-dini is available here:
Houdini Action Figure on Amazon.Com