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).

HHCE Collection

The following is from an article in my personal collection:

The first stunt Houdini performs is the opening of a barred door by manipulating a piece of wire and a bunch of keys so that he can draw back the bolt and so gain entrance. Then, whilst taking forty winks at this desk, his fellow reporters play a joke upon him and place handcuffs upon his wrists. They are amazed at the ease at which he removes them. Next he causes an automatic pistol to appear miraculously in his hand, which is held high in the air. He also opens a locked gate by manipulating the lock. When the hero is arrested for murder, he puts up a strenuous fight, but is finally overpowered by nearly a dozen men. Then he is chained, handcuffed, and locked so that it seems impossible that a man could get away. But he performs the feat right in front of the camera. Removing the chains he attaches them to a prison bed, and, using leverage, forces the bars over the window. Then he climbs to the ledge, and clinging to the wall makes his way straight up to the roof. He goes out to the end of a horizontal flagpole to secure the rope and climbs downward to earth.

Here comes one of the most interesting actions of the picture, although one of the quickest. Crouching in an alleyway, Houdini hurls himself between the front and rear wheels of a moving motor car, and with what seems like a continuous movement grasps the underhanging portion of the chassis and so escapes. He climbs up a drain pipe to the roof of a house, and by a clever move and by a clever move sends his pursuers on a false scent. But he is captured and is taken to an asylum, where he is placed in a strait-jacket, removes the ropes and falls to an awning many feet below. One of the most difficult of the stunts, however, is when Houdini, pinioned hand and foot to four separate bended trees, which keep him swinging in mid-air, effects an escape.

The greatest scene of all, and one in which was entirely unpremeditated, is when Houdini crawls out of the fuselage of an aeroplane and lands upon the top plant of another. But the machines, running too close together, suddenly strike, and the plane containing Houdini, the heroin and Allison makes a mad spiral dive to the ground and strikes the earth with tremendous force. The machine is broken up, but fortunately no one is injured. It had been intended to land in the ordinary manner.

[February 21, 1920 The Film Renter & Moving Picture News]

Last month, while attending a Houdini Nuts Preview of the New Houdini Seance at the Magic Castle, Joe Fox (Escape Artist, Collector, Magic Castle Assistant Librarian, and friend) mentioned that there was a lock show near me in February:

So, I met Joe Fox (middle), Mark Lyons (left), and Jay Leslie (right) at their table.

They had some nice handcuffs, locks, and keys on display:

And also had some handcuffs for sale:

Joe, Mark and Jay are extremely knowledgeable about handcuffs and graciously shared some of their wisdom with me, which I truly appreciate.

In addition,

Jay provided me with an Illustrated Catalogue of Police Supplies 1887:

Joe shared a one of kind cuff and provided me with a copy of his article, The Tompkins Handcuff…..America’s Top Security Handcuff…..that you never saw, that appeared in the Antique Lock Collector (Vol. 43, No. 1 Jan-Mar 2021):

And Mark gave me a great deal on a pair of Tower Double Lock (D.L.) Cuffs for my Grim Game room:

HHCE Collection

Later that day, I invited the guys over to my place to check out my Houdini room (aka The Grim Game Room); Unfortunately, Jay couldn’t join us:

I shared some one of kind items that included, The Master Mystery Broadside, Houdini’s Schooldays book, and Grim Game “Message From The Clouds” advertising card, but they seemed most impressed by the fact that I was called “The Great Escapini” and made my own cuffs when I was a kid, lol:

Joe and Mark helped me identify the cuffs (Tower D.L. Handcuffs on wrists, Marlin-Daley cuff connects to ball & chain, plus Darby Leg Iron on arms) used in Houdini’s movie, the Grim Game:

HHCE Collection

It was an honor to learn from Joe, Jay & Mark, and share some of my collection.

What a great day!

Related:

• Inmate 103126 makes surprise appearance at Scot Nerys Booby Trap (Joe Fox Escapes)
• German Berliner Handcuffs used during trial? (Mark Lyons owns Berliner Cuffs)

Today, John Cox at WILD ABOUT HARRY is giving me the honor to share and comment on an excerpt from ‘High Lights in the Strenuous Career of Harry Houdini, Edited and Compiled by Houdini’s Brother Hardeen’. This rare footage comes from the collection of escape artist Rick Maisel.

According to Hardeen, we are looking at Houdini changing planes in mid-air and we are also looking at one of the first to accomplish this feat.

Houdini claimed that it was he that was the first to be photographed in a plane transfer, but he always gave credit to Ormer Locklear as the first to actually make the transfer.

• Ormer Locklear (Locke) connection to Houdini and The Grim Game

Well, most Houdini nuts know that is stunt double Robert Kennedy (in the mid-air shots) attempting to accomplish this feat, not Houdini (seen in the close-up shots filmed at Lookout mountain in Laurel Canyon). But you may not know that It was the first time that Kennedy ever attempted a plane change.

• How did Robert E Kennedy get the plane-changing job?

And it was his last time.

• What happened to Robert E Kennedy after the plane incident?

A playlist of these clips from ‘High Lights in the Strenuous Career of Harry Houdini’ can be found on the WILD ABOUT HARRY YouTube Channel.

Related:

• Aeroplane Crash Tidbit
• Aeroplane Crash Tidbit continued
• Houdini Breaks Wrist

101 years ago today, this extremely rare Grim Game “Message From The Clouds” advertising card (nfs) was dropped from a plane, found by a road workman and later used as a bookmark in his journal.

This well may be the only surviving example of this card and I am fortunate enough to now own it.

The previous owner found the card by chance when it fell out of the road workman’s journal (purchased at market in 2019) that was destined to be put in a plastic tub along with other ephemera and into storage.

So, had it not fallen out on its own steam, it could have been years before it came to light again.

Bonus – Pages from Journal

Name of road workman

Related:

• Australian The Grim Game Premiere Advertising Card Found
• Aerial Delivery: “A Message From The Clouds” Dodger (Leaflet)

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times, had a nice article on the infamous Cahuenga alley used by Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Houdini and others.

• Silent-film gold was made in this humble Hollywood alley. But how would you know? There’s no sign

You may recall that our friend John Bengtson who runs the excellent blog Silent Locations, discovered Houdini used the Cahuenga alley in The Grim Game and launched a campaign to change the name of the alley to Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd alley.

Thanks to Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz of the Houdini Museum in Scranton for the Los Angeles Times link.