One Hundred Years ago, Houdini gave a private showing in NYC.
The following passage is excerpted verbatim, even to the punctuation from a private letter WRT to a private showing of The Grim Game on August 18th, 1919:
Monday night 8 o’clock shapr [sic] there will be a private show of my latest picture The Grim Game which will be shown only to a few chosen magic friends before the regular trade showing and if you have desire to see same would like to have pleasure of having you attend. Takes place at the production room of Lasky Famous Players offices, 400 [485] Fifth Ave near 42nd St. Monday August 17th [Note: Monday was really August 18th] Tried to get you twice on phone and no answer. Regards sincerely yours Houdini. [The Houdini Code Mystery by William V. Rauscher, page 106]
Note: Koval places the private showing at 485 Fifth Avenue, which was the address of the corporate main office right across from the New York Public Library.
Aug 18 – A private showing of “The Grim Game” is given to Houdini’s chosen friends at the Lasky Famous Players Offices at 485 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
The Society of American Magicians officially endorsed The Grim Game at this private showing:
The endorsement was given at a private showing of the picture for the members of the society in New York, which was attended by Messrs. Houdini, Howard Thurston, Francis E. Werner, G.G. Laurenz, Hardeen, William J. Hilliar and about forty others.
…
After the showing, Mr. Howard Thurston said: “I have always thought Houdini was a great showman, but I expected nothing like this. It leaves nothing undone. Houdini may now retire, confident that he has done his greatest work. It is one of the most wonderful things I have ever seen”. At the conclusion of Mr. Thurston’s speech, Oscar S. Teale, Secretary of the S.A.M. said:
“Gentlemen, I move that the Society of American Magicians pronounce the picture a glowing success, worthy of highest commendation, and that it go forth as officially endorsed by this society.”
[The Sphinx, September 1919]
Bonus:
According to a 17 September 1919 New York Clipper article, the Famous Players also had New York City offices at 428 Fifth avenue, 729 Seventh avenue and at 469 Fifth avenue, but at the termination of the leases, the company will use the entire front of the Putman Building [at Forty-Third street and Broadway] for its offices:
Next week:
- 100 Year Anniversary – B.S. Moss Broadway Theatre Screening
It’s funny that Houdini gave the wrong date and the wrong address in his invite. It’s a wonder anyone showed up! :p
Lol, well we know how Houdini is with dates.
According to Silverman, around this time HH purchased a film projector for 278. I wonder if there were any private showings of his films, and where in 278 would he watch films.
Really? I don’t recall this in Silverman. (Might be time for a re-read.) Yes, now I’m going to go crazy wondering exactly where in the house they set it up for screenings!
The Silverman reference is very intriguing. Do we have a page number?
All right gentlemen, go to Silverman page 288:
“Despite legal and financial grief over his Film Development Corportation, Houdini invested in a projector that could show motion pictures at home–a novelty at the time–and decided to produce a new movie of his own.”
Harry then purchased an Italian film from a U.S. Customs Service auction of unclaimed films. He published the story of this film in a pamphlet and tried to pass it off as his own. Oh boy.
Thanks Leo. According to Silverman Notes, the “projector” reference comes from an unidentified Sphinx column by Bernard M. L. Ernst, given to him by Tom Rozoff.
I checked AskAlexander to see if I could find the Sphinx column, but no luck.
My pleasure Joe Interesting you couldn’t find that Ernst column in Sphinx. Also strange that Silverman didn’t note the month and year of that article. He just went on what Rozoff told him? I don’t think Rozoff lied to Silverman, but the Ernst article may have been published somewhere else like MUM.
Okay, I did a little more research and found out that Bernard Ernst starting writing the news column “Among the Magicians” in the Sphinx in the 1930s. So, I started reading his column and found the reference: The Sphinx Vol. 35 No. 8 Oct 10, 1936, page 210, An Evening with Houdini By. Bernard M. L. Ernst:
On May 24, 1921 Houdini rushed into my office in great excitement. He wanted me immediately to draw a contract between him and the inventor of a projecting machine which would show moving pictures in private homes…
Great catch Joe!
Great find Joe! But what is Ernst saying here exactly? That this contract was for the purchase of a projector for 278 (as Silverman suggests). Or was this some kind of a contract agreement between HH and the inventor to market these projectors? Perhaps via the Film Developing Corp?
The details of the contract are not explained. It does mention: “At that time, the exhibition of a motion picture in a parlor was a novelty”. But other than that, most of the article is about Houdini picking Ernst safe and office building doors, where the contract was drawn up. Check your email for a copy of the article.
It seems Silverman may have jumped the gun and concluded Harry bought a projector for 278. From the Sphinx article we can gather that home projectors were still in the development stage in 1921. Perhaps Rozoff understood the Ernst article to mean that Houdini bought a projector when in actuality he was interested in marketing the invention thru the FDC as John suggested.
A 35 mm film home projector is just too big and clunky for most homes. Charlton Heston owned one for film viewing, but his house was large enough. He didn’t like watching films on television. Whoever this inventor was in 1921, he must have known that the projector had to be scaled down for 16 or 8 mm film in order to fit comfortably in household rooms.
Check out this 1921 photoplay magazine ad link
That’s amazing Joe! It appears the prototype projector was ready to go. The manufacturer was looking for investors to mass produce these, if I read this right.
Notice the small size of the reel housing on top of that suitcase projector. It looks about the size of one reel. No way that half the film could be put on a large reel on top of that small projector. Half the film is roughly 3 reels spliced together.
With this smaller projector, you would have to keep changing the reel to the next one every 20 minutes for long films. Not good, but it was a good portable device for short films.