As promised, I am going to review each incomplete version of the Mastery Mystery (i.e., The Miracle Factory, Kino, McIlhany and UCLA FTVA) that I have seen and go over what pieces they contain and don’t contain.  This post will focus on the Master Mystery Escapes and The Miracle Factory DVD released in 2015.

The back of the DVD case states:

Nearly three hours long, this compilation includes the surviving footage of The Master Mystery, although several gaps in the story remain.

Well, the 1918 original was slightly longer than 5.5 hours and the Kino DVD that was released in 2008 was almost 4 hours.  Let’s take a closer look at The Miracle Factory DVD and compare it to Kino and the 1918 original release.

The DVD starts with a special escapes feature:

“For the viewing convenience of magicians and magic historians, we have compiled all of Houdini’s escape segments from The Master Mystery here.”

It includes:

• Lockpicking, “Call the police! Break down the door!”
• Handcuff release, “As acting head of the Corporation, I demand this man’s arrest!”
• Straitjacket escape – Bound in a straitjacket brought by an ambulance which came to remove Locke to the sanitarium
• Underwater crate [with most of the underwater footage] – Locke goes to an old warehouse dock, where he is abducted by emissaries of the automation, shackled, put in a crate, and thrown off a dock.
• Electric chair – Locke is strapped into the electric chair which means certain death.
• Barbed wire and acid, “In the path of deadly acid.”
• Elevator rope escape, Quentin Locke, at the command of the Automation, is overcome, bound, and thrown beneath a descending elevator, while Eva has been abducted.
• Strangulation torture – Eva and Locke are led into a trap at the Chinese Curio Shop, and are attacked by the automation and its emissaries. Locke is strapped to a wall.
• Fishing net – Quentin Locke while in pursuit of Paul is overpowered by the emissaries of the Automation and entangled in the meshes of a fishing net — while Eva is left helpless before the advance of the Automation.
• Noose – Zita and Locke rush to the hypnotist to save Eva, and Locke finds himself trapped in a noose, suspended over a fire trap.

After the escapes feature, the movie is introduced with the following three Title Cards before it starts:

The Master Mystery

B.A. Rolfe Productions

Octagon Films

1919

 

“Aside from his 1901 Pathe short filmed in Paris, the 1919 15-episode serial The Master Mystery truly introduced Harry Houdini as a prominent film star.  Portions of the series have been lost.  The following include the majority of the remaining footage.  We hope you will ignore the lapses in the storyline and still enjoy this historic series. “

 

B A ROLFE

Presents

HOUDINI

In

THE MASTER MYSTERY

Episode 1 matches Kino and is complete except for a couple of close-up shots (e.g., note written to Locke and a note written to Brent) that appear in the original; Episode 2 is missing footage from Kino including HH tied to wall with rope and shows Baker Dock scene with Packing Case as opposed to Baker Dock scene where he is thrown in the river with chains.  However the Packing Case scene does contain underwater footage which is missing on Kino. The Packing Case scene is not supposed to appear until the end of Episode 4 and the beginning of Episode 5.  So Episodes 3 thru 6 are missing with the exception of some of the packing case escape footage which is followed by some very brief footage of HH being put in electric chair. Episode 7 matches Kino and is complete except for a few missing original title cards throughout the episode. Episode 8 appears complete and matches Kino. Episode 9 is missing a lot of footage and spoken title cards that appears at the beginning of Kino. Episode 10 is almost complete except for the end and Episode 11 is completely missing just like on Kino. Episode 12 starts with the fishing net sequence, and appears to be complete and match Kino.  The DVD ends after episode 12 with the statement: “End of existing footage”.  Episodes 13, 14 and 15 are missing.

So the major contribution of the Miracle Factory was the Special Escapes-Only Feature that gathered the footage of Houdini’s Master Mystery escapes into an introductory section for the viewing convenience of magicians and historians.  However, it is missing two and half hours of the story which include the following escapes:

• Tied to wall escape – While unconscious, emissaries lift his limp body and tie him to nails in the wall then they manacle his hands and ankles.
• Baker’s Dock chain escape – Locke is thrown from the dock by henchmen while bound and shackled in chains.
• Jail escape – Emissary caught and sent to jail. Per Locke’s plan to get to the automation at the acid mills, he occupies the next cell, stares at keyhole and you see an x-ray view of the lock as his mind causes the bolt to open and he switches places and clothes with the emissary who is about to be freed.
• Vat of acid escape- Locke is suspended over a seething vat of acid with Eva unwittingly the key to his demise should she open the door to where Locke has been shackled.
• Diving Suit escape – Locke decides that one of the patents, for a diving suit, must be tested. He knows that if anything happens to his airline, it would mean certain death.  The automation sends one of his emissaries underwater to cut Locke’s airline.
• Water Tower Escape – Deluxe Dora and her henchmen take Locke to the roof, and tie him to the bottom of a water tower. When water begins pouring in, it looks like certain death.
• Sofa escape – Locke bound and placed under the coverings of a sofa

Next week, we take a closer look at the Kino Master Mystery Contents

Related:

• I have finally seen all of The Master Mystery

I have seen many different (incomplete) versions of The Master Mystery including:

• The Miracle Factory version on DVD
• Kino International version on DVD
• William H. McIlhany Special Edition version on VHS
• UCLA FTVA version on VHS

And I am happy to report that among these incomplete versions, we can now piece together a complete 15 episode Master Mystery serial as it first appeared in 1918.

Coming up in separate posts, I will review each version of the Master Mystery (i.e., The Miracle Factory, Kino, McIlhany and UCLA FTVA) and go over what pieces they contain and don’t contain.

Last Sunday, for Valentine’s Day, I posted a 1918 Motion Picture News ad for the Master Mystery.  Today, I thought I would share the reverse side of that ad.

MORE BIG STUFF is coming!

Who are these two master mystery ladies that appear with Houdini in the great romantic novel in chapters?

Click here for the answer.

H A P P Y  V A L E N T I N E ‘ S  D A Y !

Related:

• Happy Valentine’s Day to all the Ladies

I recently acquired a DVD on eBay of The Annual Harry Houdini Seances – Sonoma County, CA.  This is the documentary by Tom Wyrsch that first screened at the Boulevard Cinemas in downtown Petaluma on November 3, 2012 and then premiered October 30, 2014 on the PBS station KRBC in Northern California.

From 1964 to 2002 authentic Harry Houdini Seances were held each Halloween Night in Sonoma County, California.  This documentary film tells the story of how the séances started, the secret locations where they were held, the people who attended, and if contact was made.  It was a 37 year annual Halloween event not to be forgotten.  Interviews, music, photographs, film footage, and narration tell the complete story.

Special Features on the DVD included:

William Alstrand Tribute:

According to the DVD, William Alstrand was a San Francisco area professional stage show magician.  Mrs. Houdini entrusted Bill the secret coded message she and her husband had created in order to prove whether or not Houdini was really breaking through from the afterlife.

Alstrand attended many of the Sonoma County Seances despite his Houdini Séance experience on Halloween of 1954 where he said “never again”:

Houdini Movie Short:

I was curious to see what footage from The Master Mystery made up the Houdini Movie Short and if it included any missing footage.   Although not identified as such, it was obvious to me that this was footage from Episode 15, Bound At Last.   A quick check online confirmed my suspicion, that this was indeed Episode 15 which is not missing any footage as far as I know.

The DVD has a 2012 copyright from Garfield Lane Productions.

The week of January 6, 1919, The Master Mystery, a fifteen-chapter serial began unspooling.

According to Houdini The Movie Star Film Notes by Bret Wood:

Upon its original release, The Master Mystery ran slightly longer than five-and-half hours. Several episodes are lost, or only exist in fragmentary condition.  Thus the Kino International edition runs slightly less than four hours (238.5 min).

The first episode, “The Living Death”, premiered in New York, the week of January 6, 1919.  The Moving Picture World reported, “To say that the opening was auspicious is to use terms which do not adequately describe the facts.  It was a tremendous success.”  The film packed the three thousand-seat Proctor’s Theatre in Yonkers and another estimated three thousand were turned away.

The serial opened in sixteen theaters throughout New York State.

According to Patrick Culliton:

There were two big stunts in each chapter.  Now the twelve surviving chapters don’t contain half of those stunts.  Certain stunts that were in mid-chapter have been shifted to be cliff hangers at the ends of chapters.

According to IMDb Trivia:

13 of the original 15 episodes of this serial survive in the UCLA Film and Television Archives.

The Kino Video version contains chapters 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 and 15 in complete form and fragments from chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 and 11.

 

We definitely have a Master Mystery that needs to be solved.  Let’s get this puzzle back together.

Related:

• LINK: Save the Houdini films before it’s too late!

Last month, this incredible press booklet for The Master Mystery, sold for $4,200.00 (not including buyer’s premium) at a Potter & Potter Auction.  I would love to have added this to my collection.  Congratulations to winner!

Below is the description of Lot 298:

Houdini, Harry. Press Booklet for The Master Mystery. New York: B.A. Rolfe Productions, (1919). Sixteen different folio-sized (12 x 9”) film exchange publicity cards featuring illustrated scenes from the serial, including Houdini and “Q” (the Automaton), beautifully printed in a variety of colors on a mixture of coarse, textured papers; with other enclosures as issued, including two promotional pictorial puzzle booklets featuring Houdini, two unused hold-to-light mystery labels depicting Houdini upside-down in shackles, and several of the studio’s newsprint-style “supplementary press sheets” providing publicity copy for each installment, all laid down; with poster distribution and booking statistics sheets at rear; in a pebbled black cloth Rolfe binder, some cards hole-punched as issued. Five of the publicity cards soiled at bottom right, a few others with small losses and creasing at upper or same.

Hopefully whoever won this treasure of treasures will make it all available for others to see in the future. Meanwhile, enjoy the publicity card images above and the related posts with other images of publicity cards below.

Related Posts:

• Another Spanish-language Master Mystery Ad (HHCE)
• Spanish-language Master Mystery Ad (HHCE)
• The Master Mystery Insert Advertisement (Houdini Himself)
• Master Mystery sell sheets sell on eBay (Wild About Harry)
• Dr. Houdini meets Frankenstein (Wild About Harry)
• The man from the Hippodrome (Wild About Harry)
• Surrender to Houdini (Wild About Harry)

I’d like to watch Houdini do one or two of his stunts in this serial you’re making, I remarked to the representative of the B.A. Rolfe Company.  Maybe I could convince the fans that it’s all on the level, as you say, and not trick photography – if you can convince me.  Seeing is believing, you know.

You’re on! was the reply.

A few days later I was summoned to New Rochelle, where “The Master Mystery” was being produced, and was taken into the yard, where the big tank, shown below had been built.

This said my guide, is where we’re doing the under-water stuff.  Houdini is to go down into this tank in a diving suit.  Another diver, who plays the villain, will also descend.  Under water, the two will meet.  The villain, with a knife which he carries, will cut Houdini’s life line and air pipe.  No other diver ever escaped death under such conditions.  Yet Houdini ——————- Here he comes!

We clankered up onto the platform which had been built around the tank.

On two opposite corners the wizard and the huge villain took seats, like prize fighters, in their respective corners, while assistants, like seconds, helped them into their suits.

Before the large pate glass in the front of the tank, the cameras had been placed, while at the smaller windows, like the one marked “5” in the picture, powerful lights were turned on, illuminating the entire interior of the tank.

At last all was ready.  The two actors descended by means of ladders.  All we could see on top were the seething bubbles which rose from the exhaust valves of the diving suits. Suddenly the director, watching through the glass, fired a revolver.  One tug, and up came Houdini’s air pipe and life line — completely severed!

A few seconds of anxious waiting followed.  Then up popped Houdini, clad only in a bathing suit.  How he got out from that cumbersome suit I do not know.  Perhaps the picture will show, as it was all recorded.  It was from the film itself that the two small cuts showing Houdini under water and the struggle were taken.

Want to go this afternoon and see him thrown into the river, bound hand and foot?  My guide asked.

I’ll take your word for it this time, and use a picture of it, if you’ll send me one.  He did so, and here it is.

Source: Picture Play Magazine March 1919