One Hundred and Four years ago, The Grim Game was released in the United Kingdom on Monday, October 11, 1920,

To celebrate, I am sharing from my personal collection, the extremely rare insert from The Film Renter Moving Pictures News Magazine advertising the release date.

One Hundred and Five years ago, The Grim Game made its debut at the B.S. Moss Broadway on August 25^th, 1919.

To celebrate, I am publishing the Houdini Movie Book we’ve been waiting for in hardback:

• Houdini Adaptations, plus Playwriting and Film Treatments: The Grim Game and Terror Island Stories is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

And sharing from my personal collection, the extremely rare program from the opening:

The campaign book [in my personal collection] was sent to theater owners to encourage them to show Paramount movies. The book includes two utra-rare Harry Houdini Grim Game posters:

There is a 3 sheet version of the Aeroplane poster and 6 sheet variation of the jail poster, that appears in the Grim Game Press book:

And also many variant 8×10 stills of the jail poster image:

But, none of the stills exactly match the French Grim Game jail poster. The last still does match the Grim Game poster in the press book. One wonders if the artist took some liberties on the French Grim Game Poster.

According to Hollywood When Silents Were Golden:

…some years after the movie was released, Houdini used the final sequence [AKA “Desperate Chances”] in a vaudeville act. One night Tommy [aka David Thompson] took his wife to see the act and found that after running the clip in which the stunt man faltered and the planes locked, Houdini referred to this as his narrowest escape. He then invited members of the audience on stage.  Wondering what Houdini’s reaction to him would be, Tommy joined the group.  The great escapist recognized him at once and, without the flicker of a lash, identified him to the audience as “the hero who saved my life in The Grim Game.”

Of course it was really Christopher V. Pickup in the upper plane who saved Robert E. Kennedy (Houdini’s stunt double) as he hung from the rope. Tommy actually flew the lower plane.

It appears Houdini first used it as part of his act at the Keith’s Theatre in Boston MA:

Harry Houdini, a mystifier, has returned to the B.F. Keith circuit after an absence of two years in pictures. Houdini , who is a favorite headliner, has selected the water torture cell mystery for his act. He is heavily manacled and in full view of the audience placed upside down in a huge bottle like receptacle filled with water, from which he must escape quickly or drown. Previous to this act a picture showing Houdini’s miraculous escape from death in their remarkable act at the Palace picture, “The Grim Game”.

[Indiana Daily Times December 24, 1921]

Another example of Houdini using it as part of his act was at Columbia Theatre [Orpheum Circuit] in Davenport IA:

Refurbished, redecorated and claimed a stop higher in the standing of its programs offered a much improved class of entertainment. With Houdini as headliner and Flo Lewis as supporting feature, the bill had variety, balance and plenty of intrinsic interest. Houdini “goaled” the local audiences with his tricks…He carries with him a piece of film from “The Grim Game” the motion picture showing a real collision between two airplanes 4,400 feet from the ground. He shows audiences the Hindu needle trick in which he fills his mouth with four packages of needles and a handful of silk thread. Upon pulling the string out, the, needles are all threaded. He concludes with the Chinese water torture cell…

[Daily Times August 27, 1923]

And thanks to a John Cox post, we know that he showed it [March 4, 1924] at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville, Virginia as part of his Spiritualism Lecture Tour:

• Houdini chases spooks in Charlottesville

Image from Kellock book

The above photo is part of a series of extreme publicity photos that Houdini took in Hollywood while making his first feature film, The Grim Game.

HHCE Collection

Today I share from my personal collection, an article titled, “Houdini Sucessfully Monkeys With the Buzz Saw”, that appeared in the Sunday Motion-Play Magazine Rotogravure Section (May 25^th 1919)

HHCE Collection

Related:

• Houdini Arrives at Lasky Studio

A Grim Game Title Card and Lobby Card Set that once belonged to the director, Irvin V. Willat, sells at auction

Yesterday’s Potter and Potter Auction had some great Houdini Movie Lots (27, 28, 32, 36, 39, 40, 75-82), with the highlight being Lot 75 which was advertised as a complete Grim Game Lobby Card Set (8) w/business card (Price Realized: $8,500) that a previously owner sold in 2007 (with a asking price of $2000.00 for each lobby card).

Below is Lot 75 description:

The Grim Game Complete Lobby Card Set. Paramount, 1919. Eight cards; title card and seven monochrome photographic images cards for the silent film starring Houdini. Story by Arthur Reeve and John Gray, directed by Irvin Willat. Together with an Irvin V. Willat business card SIGNED by Willat (possibly being the set owned by the director). All seven pictorial lobby cards depict Houdini, and three include scenes with handcuffs or policemen; two show Houdini on the Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” (the film featured an unscripted mid-air collision between two Jenny planes). 11 x 14” each. Dampstains and chipping to title card, tape repair on verso; slight creases and pinholes to pictorial cards. The first complete set we have offered or found in the marketplace.

Min. Bid: $4,000.00 Estimate: $8,000.00 – $12,000.00

Note: The Grim Press Book Lobby Card Set (above) had a different Title Card and 8 Cards versus 7 cards.

(0) TITLE CARD

(1) “THWARTED – BUT ONLY FOR A MOMENT.”

(2) “GET ABOVE HIM! I’LL DROP TO HIS PLANE.”

(3) AT A HEIGHT OF 4000 FEET, HOUDINI CLIMBS FROM ONE PLANE TO ANOTHER

(4) FALSELY ARRESTED AS A MANIAC, HOUDINI BATTLES FOR FREEDOM

(5) SAVED AFTER A FALL HEAD DOWNWARD FROM A SEVEN STORY BUILDING

(6) THEY COULDN’T EVEN DROWN HOUDINI!

(7) “LOCK HIM IN THE STRONGEST CELL”

(8) OVER THE EDGE – WITH DEATH BELOW AND IMPRISONMENT ABOVE!

Below is an example of the title card and additional lobby card (8) shown in the pressbook:

These are 11×14 inch lobby cards, however, there is another set of 9 different lobby stills that are even rarer that were 8×10 inches with captions like CAUGHT; RUN TO SAFETY! I’LL FOLLOW IN A MINUTE!; PLANNING THEIR GRIM GAME; DEATH AWAITS HIM IN THE BEAR-TRAP; HOUDINI AGAIN RISKS HIS LIFE TO ESCAPE; I AM NOT GUILTY, AND I’M GOING TO GET OUT AND PROVE IT!; RACING FROM AN AEROPLANE 4000 FEET IN THE AIR, HOUDINI DODGE THE BLADES OF HIS ENEMIES PROPELLER; WITH A MIGHTY CRASH, THE AEROPLANE STRUCK THE EARTH; and a different Title Card.

original workbook photo in my collection

A previously owner sold this extremely rare set as well in 2007 (with a asking price of $14,000 for the entire set), Potter and Potter had it up for auction in 2023 (Estimate $15,000–$20,000 Lot passed).