A Look Back at 2016, Part 2 – The Year of Lovecraft, Eddy and The Cancer of Superstition

2016 was an amazing year for Harry Houdini Circumstantial Evidence (HHCE) because it was the year of the Master Mystery which we covered in Part 1, but also for other highlights which we will cover in Part 2.

It was also the year of Lovecraft, Eddy and The Cancer of Superstition, where HHCE shared letters, evidence of articles (Astrology handwritten manuscript, Witchcraft typescript manuscript), and a Cancer of Superstition handwritten manuscript divided into 3 chapters (by Eddy that included revisions with Lovecraft’s penmanship) that was used to make the typescript that sold at Potter & Potter this year for $33,600.

Note: HHCE was referenced in Massimo Polidoro’s article on “Houdini and the Cancer of Superstition” that appeared in the November/December 2016 issue of the Skeptical Inquirer magazine.

OTHER HHCE HIGHLIGHTS

Shared some thoughts and answers to the following questions:

S.A.M.:

Shared some magic related posts:

Honored Sweethearts, Mom’s, Dad’s, Independence, Police, Veteran’s and Family:

Shared some promotional material that included Straitjacket Escapes to promote the 1953 Houdini Movie and the historic 90th Séance at the site of Houdini’s first New York home:

Last but not least, shared some articles and information related to Houdini’s Death that very few people were aware of until HHCE shared them:

A Look Back at 2016, Part 1 – The Year of The Master Mystery

2016 was an amazing year for Harry Houdini Circumstantial Evidence (HHCE) because it was the year of the Master Mystery (MM).

master mystery episodes 1 to 9master mystery episodes 10 to 15

Part I will cover movie highlights from HHCE and Part II will cover the other highlights from HHCE.

The year started out with a post about the Master Mystery opening in the State of New York the week of January 6, 1919 and that today footage is missing

TMM Kino

Well, it became my mission to find the missing footage and as much information as I could about the movie. 

So what did HHCE find?

Found out that the Master Mystery, opened in other states (e.g., Massachusetts, Pennsylvania) before New York, although it was shown at a special trade show on November 7, 1918 at the Strand Theatre in New York City, before it officially premiered in Boston on November 18, 1918

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Found a DVD that contained a movie short from the Master Mystery.

HH Seances Sonoma Documentary Special Features DVD back

Found evidence of four films based on The Master Mystery.  Reviewed them all and launched a series of posts that took a close look at each one and end with a post that summed up the mystery of all of these movies.

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Found that several versions of the 1918 serial exist on DVD, VHS, and in film archives. Reviewed them all and launched a series of posts that took a close look at each version, clarifying exactly what is missing and what is included.

TheMiracleFactoryMasterMysteryDVDTMM Kino imageMaster Mystery 1918 VHS McIlhany 1998 001

Although all versions by themselves are incomplete, we can now piece together a complete 15-episode Master Mystery serial as it first appeared in 1918, and I can now say that I have seen all of the Master Mystery.

In addition to the Master Mystery, HHCE undertook the task of sharing/restoring what is missing from Houdini’s Terror Island.

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While Terror Island is missing two full reels (3 & 4), HHCE (in 2016) just tackled restoring the missing Reel 3 scenes by using photos and script excerpts.

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Hopefully one day, we will get to see the complete Terror Island

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2015 was the year of The Grim Game and 2016 the year of The Master Mystery.

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Is 2017, the year of Terror Island?

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OTHER 2016 HHCE MOVIE RELATED POSTS:

Terror Island:

TI Lobby Card of 318-24 StillTI Posters 001Catalina Rescue from Tao p153 Top

Terror Island/Grim Game:

GG FDCTI FDC

The Grim Game:

GG 24 sheet Moving Picture World p 1327 June 5 1920Lot 120 PP June 25

Master Mystery:

MotionPictureNewsJul-Aug1918Reversemm-e3-postermotionpicturenew18moti_7_0678

Which city did Martin Beck first meet Houdini?

martin_beckWhich city did Martin Beck first meet Houdini?

  • [A] Woodstock, Illinois
  • [B] St Paul, Minnesota
  • [C] Kansas City, Kansas
  • [D] None of the above

Let’s explore each of the possible answers.

[A] At one point, the Wikipedia article on Harry Houdini included the following claim:

“Houdini’s big break came in 1899, when he met manager Martin Beck in rural Woodstock, Illinois.”

However no source was cited.

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FWIW:   The Postcard above sent by twelve-year old Ehrich Weiss to his parents after he ran away from his Milwaulkee home in 1886, directs his family to write in care of “Mead Bros Woodstock Ill.”

[B] The Wikipedia article on Houdini now claims:

“Houdini’s big break came in 1899 when he met manager Martin Beck in St. Paul, Minnesota.”

And every major Houdini biographer recounts the story of Houdini and Beck meeting in St. Paul;

So what is their source? It is from an article by Harry Houdini in The Magician Annual, No. 3 (1909-10) page 17:

When working at a small hall in St. Paul, a party of managers, while sight-seeing, happened to come in.  They saw my performance, became impressed with the manner in which I presented it, and one of them, Mr. Martin Beck, perhaps more in a joke than sincerity, challenged me to escape from one of his handcuffs.  He had none with him, but the next day purchased a few pairs and sent them on stage. I escaped! He then booked me for one week, and it was the first chance I ever had, and my act in a first-class theatre created a sensation.

[C] According to Hardeen, Martin Beck finally caught Harry’s act in a beer garden in Kansas City, became his manager and booked him to the Coast.  FWIW:  Houdini performed at the Orpheum Theatre, Kansas City, KA after he performed at the Palm Garden, St. Paul, MN and Creighton-Orpheum Theatre, Omaha Nebraska.

Or is it [D] none of the above. That is, Is the story of Beck challenging Houdini in a Beer Hall/Garden fiction?

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John Cox, in a well-researched post on Houdini in 1899, mentions this possibility:

But on March 14, Houdini received a telegram from Beck that changed his life:

Beck’s statement that he would “see his act” in Omaha makes me wonder if the story of Beck challenging Houdini with cuffs at the Palm Garden might be mythology. It always struck him a little odd that a man like Beck would be trolling beer halls for acts.  Perhaps it was a scout who saw Houdini and alerted Beck.  Or maybe Beck had learned of Houdini via the “strolling magician” article a few months earlier.

According to Houdini’s account, a party of managers (which included Martin Beck) was sight-seeing and just happened to stop in the beer hall and catch his act.

My vote is none of the above, and that their first meeting was in Beck’s Omaha, NE theatre.  Do you agree?