Category Archives: Houdini (1953)

Houdini 1953 – American Lobby Cards

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I started the year off, sharing the 1953 pressbook from the Tony Curtis Houdini movie. Thought I would continue sharing other related Houdini related movie items throughout the year, like: Posters, Lobby cards, stills, magazine covers/advertisements and programs from around the world.

Today I share (the original workbook photo in my collection) of the American 11×14 Set of Lobby Cards:

  1. Publicity shot of Curtis and Leigh
  2. Houdini being placed in a canvas bag, standing inside the Sub Trunk
  3. Front cover of the Pressbook
  4. Houdini being lowered into the Chinese Water Torture Chamber
  5. The packing crate being lowered into the cut hole of the iced over river
  6. Houdini in his cell, trying to pick the door lock with his feet
  7. A close up of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh
  8. Houdini’s legs being shackled, just before being placed in the packing crate
  9. Back stage after Houdini’s stooge just got him challenged to escape from Scotland Yards jail

BTW, I have original pressbook and originals of all of these Lobby cards with one signed by Janet Leigh.

 

Houdini 1953 – Mexican Lobby Cards

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I started the year off, sharing the 1953 pressbook from the Tony Curtis Houdini movie. Thought I would continue sharing other related Houdini related movie items throughout the year, like: Posters, Lobby cards, stills, magazine covers/advertisements and programs from around the world.

Today I share (the original workbook photo in my collection) of the Mexican 11×14 Set of Lobby Cards:

BTW, I have originals of all of these Mexican Lobby Cards in my personal collection.

Houdini 1953 – Posters plus

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I started the year off, sharing the 1953 pressbook from the Tony Curtis Houdini movie. Thought I would continue sharing other related Houdini related movie items throughout the year, like: Posters, Lobby cards, stills, magazine covers/advertisements and programs from around the world.

Here is sample (from original workbook photo in my collection) to wet your appetite:

  1. 1 sheet poster from Argentia
  2. 1-sheet poster from France
  3. 1-sheet poster from Italy
  4. 1-sheet poster from Belgium
  5. 1-sheet poster from Italy
  6. Handcuff display used for movie
  7. Curtis/Leigh on the Cover of a French film magazine
  8. Curtis/Leigh on the Cover of Genii magazine
  9. Scene from movie

What happened to the missing Terror Island Reels?

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Disclaimer at the start of the Kino edition of Terror Island

Terror Island was released by Famous Players Lasky’s Paramount Artcraft Production Unit in 1920 and then re-released in 1922 under their Realart Picture Production Unit, where the title cards changed to reflect that it was a Realart Picture.

The exisiting version of “Terror Island” found in the Library of Congress (LoC) is from the Realart print and is approximately 55 minutes, but it is missing its reels (Parts) Three and Four:

Documentation at the Margaret Herrick Library gave the original length of each of the seven reels, which added up to 5939 feet:

Reel One:  975 feet, Reel Two: 848 feet, Reel Three: 958 feet, Reel Four: 917 feet, Reel Five: 889 feet., Reel Six: 784 feet and Reel Seven: 568 feet.

If you compare the running time of the five existing reels (1, 2, 5, 6 and 7) at 55 minutes (54.19) to the footage per reel, the LoC print is missing about 25 minutes (Reel 3 and 4) played at 20 fps (75 feet a minute).

So, what happened to these missing reels?  My colleagues (John Cox, Leo Hevia) and I feel that it was around the time of the Tony Curtis “Houdini” movie, when Parts 3 and 4 got separated from the rest.

Let’s look at the evidence.

In July of 1952, Tony Curtis was preparing for his role in Houdini (released 1953), by surveying Silent Houdini Films at Paramount, which included Terror Island.

July 29, 1952 Los Angeles Times

On July 6th 1953 originally and then on August 27th of 1953, George Pal’s appearance as a guest on the Art Baker’s “You Asked For It” show aired, where they ran a part of the original Houdini serial Terror Island showing the under water escape of Houdini from a packing case.  Then a strip was shown from George Pal’s new picture showing Tony Curtis duplicating the same feat, escaping from the packing case after being tossed into the ice covered Detroit River.

It sounds like Reel 4 was taken out of the metal canister that contained the reels of Terror Island and was used for the “You Asked For It” show and never returned back to the canister.  According to Leo Hevia:

It’s the only thing I can think of that would explain the missing reel. The completed picture was divided into half a dozen or so reels. Those reels went into metal canisters that looked kinda like clam shells. Since the underwater packing box escape scene was the only part needed for that TV show, it appears the techs removed that particular reel from the canister and never bothered to put it back after it was used.

So that explains one reel, but two reels are missing.  John Cox has an explanation:

In TI’s day, film reels couldn’t be longer than 1000 ft. That became the standard reel length for post production work right up to the end. However, theaters projectors could eventually handle 2000 ft. reels, so when a release print is made, those 1000 ft reels are combined into one “A/B” reel (two 1000 ft loads). By the 1950s, there was an awareness of the hazards of nitrate stock, so Paramount’s archival print of TI was probably new and therefore what was in the canister were A/B reels. So what would have been plucked out of the can for this promotion would have been Reel 2 A/B, and on this would be TI’s original Reels 3 & 4. Hence, when this reel was lost, two reels of TI were lost.

In 1970, Paramount donates “Terror Island” to the American Film Institute collection at the Library of Congress:

So thanks to the Tony Curtis “Houdini” movie, George Pal, and the “You Asked For It” show, the print donated by Paramount to the LoC is missing Reels 3 and 4 or Reel 2 A/B, depending on how you look at it.

Special Thanks to John Cox and Leo Hevia for their contributions on this subject.

1953 Screening of Houdini on Terror Island

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Friday, June 1, I returned to Avalon Catalina for the First Fridays at the Museum screening of the 1953 film Houdini starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh in their outdoor amphitheater.

I was met at the docks by Jessica Zumberge from the Catalina Island Museum, who gave me a golf cart ride to the Museum, which is featuring the first ever exhibition about the making of Terror Island.  The exhibition is on view May 5 through October 7, 2018.

After checking out the museum gift shop which has some very nice Houdini items for sale,

Spent some time with some of Julie Perlin Lee’s amazing staff (Gail Fornasiere, Jessica Zumberge and Patty Salazar) who were all hard at work, looking up information for me.

Julie then joined the work party, and we discussed plans for the day.

I borrowed a golf cart (after Jason Clay made a key magically appear) with plans of having lunch and spending some time on Descanso beach where Houdini attempted a rescue of a wayward boat in the bay.

Plans quickly changed after the guy at the beach club told me the patio food bar was closed due to a water leak.

So I decided to go back into town to get something to eat, and that’s when I realized that there was an island wide water outage that closed restaurants and bathrooms all over Avalon.

I was about to give up and just go to Vons to get something to eat, when I noticed an outdoor bar was serving food, Yes!

After a quick lunch, went to beach (where no one was allowed in the water due the sewage pipe leak) and listened to some music before going back to museum to get Julie and her kids.

We all hopped in the golf cart to go pickup the mighty Arthur Moses and John Cox.

First stop, Strand Theatre building, where Terror Island screened on Friday September 10 in 1920.

Next stop, Joe’s RENT-A-BOAT.

Captain Julie gave us a VIP tour of Terror Island shooting locations which are only reachable by boat.

We then returned to the museum so Arthur could play the Houdini pinball machine and see the Houdini exhibit (which featured many items from his collection) for the first time.

I then took John and Arthur for a golf cart ride to check out the old pool from the Hotel St. Catherine, where Houdini stayed and also the Hotel Catalina where some of the Terror Island Cast members stayed.

We then decided, that the three of us would get dinner before the Friday night festivities started.

We quickly realized, that there wasn’t one place open for dinner; the couple bars that were serving food at lunch were now shutdown as well.

Julie graciously offered to make us a meal at her place, but we knew she had an event to prepare for, so we decided to grab some bread, lunch meat, fixings, fruit, and chips from Vons.

After our picnic dinner, we headed to the museum for the Friday Night Festivities.

Everyone mingled and enjoyed a beverage prior to the Tony Curtis Houdini movie being shown.

Our amazing bartender, Kellie Costello, made her signature cocktail, the “Hairy” Houdini, that was a big hit.

Once, the sun set, it was time to take our seats for the show.

Houdini Nut Julie Perlin Lee introduced the other Houdini Nuts in attendance which included myself, Arthur Moses, and John Cox.

After a brief introduction on the movie by John Cox, the movie started, which everyone seemed to really enjoy based on the reactions throughout the movie.

About, 9:30 realized that movie was going to end about 10pm, which was the same time we needed to catch the last boat back to Long Beach, so quickly said my good-byes to Jessica, Patty and Gail.

Julie then took John, Arthur and I to the boat dock.  We said our good-byes and as the Catalina Express pulled out from the dock, you could hear Tony Curtis at the outdoor amphitheater saying:

“that he will come back to her, he will find away somehow”

I will definitely find away back to Catalina for another adventure, Julie and her staff are the best.

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