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.

Related HHCE 1953 Houdini Movie posts:

• 1953 Houdini: In Search of the Lost Plane to Plane Transfer
• What are some things Harry Houdini and Tony Curtis have in common?
• In Search of Original Houdini Material for 1953 Houdini Movie, Part I of 2
• In Search of Original Houdini Material for 1953 Houdini Movie, Part 2 of 2
• Part 1: Is this really how it went down?
• Part 2: Is this really how it went down?
• Another Ending to the Tony Curtis Houdini Movie