For Harry Houdini Circumstantial Evidence (HHCE), 2015 was the Year of The Grim Game, 2016 was the year of The Master Mystery and 2018 was the year of Terror Island (TI), where I got to consult on a special exhibition at the Catalina Island Museum called Houdini: Terror on Magic Isle.
Having read my blog and extensive research on “Terror Island”, Julie Perlin Lee, the Executive director of the Catalina Island Museum and creator of the first ever Houdini exhibit devoted to his movies first contacted me about helping with this project back in November of 2016. We then got John Cox on board and between the three of us recruited others like Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Mark Willoughby, Arthur Moses, and Fred Pittella to loan artifacts for the exhibition.
The exhibition came to fruition in 2018 and was on view from May 5th to October 7th. I was lucky enough to visit the Museum on multiple occasions:
- February 17th-18th (Search for Terror Island Filming locations)
- April 27th-28th (Escape to Party to Celebrate Exhibit)
- May 4th-5th (First Friday “Magic at the Museum” and Grand Opening)
- May 19th-20th (Special Screening at Art Deco Avalon Casino Theater)
- June 1st (1953 Screening of Houdini on Terror Island)
- September 16th and September 30 (Share exhibit with Family)
Reels (Parts) 3 and 4 of the existing (Library of Congress Realart) version of Terror Island are considered missing.
The exhibit showcased my work that reconstructs and describes the missing Terror Island scenes in chronological order for each part via an audio-visual presentation.
- Terror Island Part 3 (1 of 4)
- Terror Island Part 3 (2 of 4)
- Terror Island Part 3 (3 of 4)
- Terror Island Part 3 (4 of 4)
- Terror Island Part 4 (1 of 2)
- Terror Island Part 4 (2 of 2) Underwater Box Escape
The exhibit also showcased the missing Terror Island Underwater Box Escape Footage that I located on an out of print magic video,
- Search for Terror Island Underwater Box Escape Footage
- Terror Island Underwater Box Escape Footage Found
the research on locations on Catalina Island where Terror Island was filmed (Banning’s beach, Pebble Beach), and shown (Strand Theatre),
- Discovering Terror Island
- Search for Strand Theatre building and Hotel locations where Lasky Film Company Players Stayed
- Terror Island Crew Hotels and Strand Theatre back in Houdini’s day
as well as Tobacco Cards, Stills, and Programs from my personal collection.
On my HHCE blog, I also uncovered and shared the TI Story that was adapted from the film script,
- A Prisoner Among Salvages
- A Wonderful Submarine
- An Offer Refused and One accepted
- The Sham Fire
- A Life in the Balance
- Sent to a Watery Grave
- The Rescue
- On the Cannibal Island
working titles for TI, Japanese Actors in TI, a theory of how Terror Island’s lost reels become lost, and exactly when the Library of Congress received their print.
- What was the working title(s) for Terror Island?
- Japanese Actors in Terror Island?
- Answer: Japanese Actors in Terror Island
- What happened to the missing Terror Island Reels?
In 2018, I also got to update my UCLA research from 2016 on puzzling together the Master Mystery with where the print came from, as well as reveal that footage exists of Houdini’s escape from the convict ship Success on June 4, 1913.
- An Hour With Houdini in His Thrilling Serial of Breath-catching Stunts
- Master Mystery Update
- Search for Convict Ship footage of Houdini in New York
Shared some items from my personal collection:
- The only known Tatler Magazine page that shows what could very well be the original Mirror Cuff he escaped from. The Tatler Cuff matches the solid silver replica to a tee. If this is truly the original mirror cuff, then got to believe that Houdini didn’t want the Tatler Cuff photo around or an actual photo of the Solid Silver manacle, since they both didn’t match the David Copperfield Mirror Cuff that I believe was shown to locksmiths and used for the reward.
- Newspaper Article “He Made Elephants Disappear” from Rose Mackenberg’s 1929 Series
- Sunday 28th of January is Ladies Night
- Houdini caught in his Birthday Suit
- The Great Houdini Original Story and Screen Play by Frank O’Connor and Dore Schary (Sequences A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H)
- Milwaukee History
Shared news from Houdini Museum – Scranton
- Links to Houdini Opoly News Since December
- Houdini-Opoly has arrived!
- Rare Letter(s) Revealing an Essential Element of Houdini’s Philosophy
- Houdini’s escape from jail cell(s) in Amsterdam, January 1903?
- Dorothy Dietrich is an Inspiration
- Discovered cracks at Historical Monument
- Dorothy Dietrich upcoming Travel Channel appearance on “How Houdini died!”
And last but not least, shared my Houdini Adventures:
- Ticket to the Twenties – Houdini Among the Spirits Plus
- Inmate 103126 makes surprise appearance at Scot Nery’s Booby Trap
- Houdini Nuts Magic Castle and One Man Show Gathering
- Houdini Nuts – Last Original Magic Castle Houdini Séance
- Extra Special Trip to the East Coast where I attended the Official Houdini Seance, explored Houdini sites, and got to visit some the world’s finest Houdini and magic collections:
2018 was truly an amazing year!
Funny, I was just sitting down to sift through all my Catalina stuff to put into scrapbooks and files.
What an amazing year this was! So happy to have enjoyed so many of these adventures with you, Joe. Happy New Year, and here’s to another big Houdini year in 2019!
“Hear, hear!”
So what’s your opinion as to which was HH’s best film?
Well, I have a blogsite named after the movie that obsessed me for so long and an entire room devoted to the movie, so I may be a tad bit biased. That said, I agree with John Cox that the Grim Game is his best movie:
Apart from being just a better made movie overall, I believe one of the key reasons is The Grim Game is the only one of Houdini’s films in which he plays an ordinary man and, basically, himself. In his other films, he is some version of a cliche movie hero: a millionaire inventor, a secret agent, or a man from beyond. Here he is just Harvey Hanford, a working reporter in a realistic urban setting. He’s an underdog and an outsider, banned from his wealthy uncle’s estate and teased by his office co-workers. But he is an optimist with an infectious grin, who just happens to possess an extraordinary ability to escape from any restraint the modern world throws on him. He is the man who cannot be held back. Harvey is the essence of Houdini, and Houdini is in his element playing the part.