Last week, I teased the above photograph of me in front of Korby’s, which I can now reveal is the front for the entrance to David Copperfield’s private museum in Las Vegas.  Well, a museum tour was included in the price for the 2021 Magic Collectors Expo, August 19-21, 2021 at The Orleans Hotel, Las Vegas, NV.

So what a perfect time for me to attend my first Magic Collector’s Expo. But, before we get to the tour of a lifetime, which was on day 2 of the expo, let’s start with Day 1 and go from there.

Thursday, August 19 2021

At the registration table, Stan Alan greeted me and made me feel very welcome.

I then entered the dealer room and saw my buddy, Arthur Moses, who had a couple of tables filled with Houdini related items.  I picked up some Houdini movie images, magazines, and his latest Houdini and Sherlock Holmes books.

Next stop was Roger Dreyer’s table where I picked up an original Houdini photo of “Hollywood Harry”.  I first met Roger in 2018 at his Houdini Museum of New York.

After chatting with Roger about a recent post and Houdini movie items in his collection, made by way over to Tom Ewing’s table where I picked up a copy of his book on Frederick Eugene Powell: Master of Magic & Mystery.  Powell has quite the connection with Houdini and Man From Beyond movie.

So within an hour, my wallet was quite a bit lighter, but I was thrilled with my latest additions to my collection.

Spent the next hour, visiting the other dealer tables (which included a nice chat with Gabe Fajuri about Potter & Potter Salon De Magic auction October 30^th) before the introductory session began.

Unfortunately, fellow Houdini collector, Ken Trombly, didn’t make the trip.  Hopefully will get to catch up with him in the near future.

The first session of Day 1 kicked off at 4pm with Paul Stone and Mike Caveney.

Paul welcomed everyone to Las Vegas and did a tribute to Siegfried & Roy, Norm Nielson, and Johnny Thompson.

And Mike shared how the David Copperfield Collection came to be with an off the cuff comment for David to buy the Mullholland (Houdini) Collection.  Apparently, David wasn’t a collector at first, but Mike mentioned to David that it would be nice to keep the Mullholland collection together in America and it could be a tax deduction. The rest is history; the purchase of the Mulholland collection led to many more purchases and the collection of all collections.

The evening session of Day 1 started at 7pm and included David Charvet, Charles Greene III, David Sandy, and Mike Caveney.

David C presentation was on Alexander.  It was based on his latest book, Alexander, Before He Knew.

Charles presentation was on Iona. It was based on his latest book, Iona (Clementine de Vere).

David S magical presentation was on the Helicopter Cups.

And, last but not least, Mike’s presentation was on the corrected history of sawing a lady in half. It was based on his latest book, Sawing: The Astonishing History of Magic’s Most Iconic Illusion.

After the killer presentations, spent some time hanging out at Arthur’s table in the dealer room, where he introduced me to some folks, which included Ben Winn, Lupe Nielsen and Charles Greene III.

Talked to Lupe about the idea I had for adding one of her beautiful reproductions of the 3 sheet Grim Game poster to my collection in the future, and using it as one of two secret ways in and out of a new Houdini room I plan to have built; the other secret way would be book shelves.   She loved the idea and said to let her know when I’m ready.

Charles and I had a nice chat about researching Iona, my Houdini research, and him taking a trip to Los Angeles in the future.

Friday, August 20, 2021 (David Copperfield Tour)

I was on tour 11 with some great people, including Les Arnold.

We entered through the Korby’s store front and watched a short video.  David Copperfield himself opened up a door and peaked in on the group before disappearing.  I may have been the only one that saw him, he gave me a thumbs up and I gave him a thumbs up back.  After the video, we were escorted into a large warehouse area that had some of David’s larger props like the Death Saw.  We then moved to what appeared to be a very small room, where David stood behind the original Macy’s Department Store Magic counter where he bought his first trick (which he performed).

David then turned, lights&music magically came on, and the next thing you know we were all transformed back in time to Tannen’s Magic Shop.  It was simply breathtaking and a moment of wonder and amazement that I will never forget.  And this was only the start of the tour.  Oh, baby!

Jim Rawlins then took us through the Magic Props room housing the Albo collection. There was areas devoted to Thayer, Abbots, P&L, Owen, Marshall, Okito and German manufacturers.  This was followed by Stan Allan’s tour of contemporaries like Mr. Electric (Marvin Roy), Richiardi, Chanin Pollack, Walter Blaney and Doug Henning.

Next, Mike Caveney led the tour of The Golden Age of Magic, which included Blackstone, Carter, Chung Ling Soo, Dante, Thurston and others.

We then went upstairs, where Gabe Fajuri pointed out items belonging to Houdini like the bath tub from 278, Double Fold Death Defying Mystery Chest, a Milk Can, Original Wax cylinders and Edison player, Baby shoe, Mirror Cuff, Silver Replica Cuff, Straijacket, Iron Maiden, and Water Torture Cell (WTC).  I did my best from a distance to get a good look at the Mirror Cuff and the Silver Replica that were in separate display cases from each other.  Would love to see them close up, side-by-side and over-layed on one another for comparison, someday.  I did get a close-up look at what I believe was De Kolta’s Cube, which I found quite interesting.  I also found it interesting as to how small the WTC looked on display; I knew it was small, but it looked even smaller in person.

Also, got to see Houdini’s bookcase from 278 and some amazing posters which included: two different WTC posters, a 1911 Buried Alive Poster, Overboard Box Escape Poster, French poster for Master Mystery, 3 Sheet Grim Game Poster, and a giant Straitjacket poster, among others.

Next, Chris Kenner took us through Robert Houdin Autoomata Heaven, followed by Charles Green III overview of magic posters, and then Will Bradshaw from Copperfield’s staff showed us the research center. After that, we made our way pass the Houdini bookcase and posters along the back wall, where we were overlooking the Golden Age of Magic below, where they allowed us to snap a couple quick photos on our way to the library, which was the end of tour.

Tour of a lifetime!  Thank you to all the tour guides and people behind the scenes; and thank you David for opening up your house and sharing your treasures. Truly amazing!

Footnote: Apparently, two Merry and Bright books with different publication dates than the one I own, were seen on a private tour after one of David’s shows many years ago. Would love to know the publication dates, contents, and story behind the one’s in David’s collection. On the tour, I looked for them in the Houdini bookcase, research center and library but didn’t see them.  My copy was owned and signed by Harry Houdini and contains all 30 publications (Sept 1920 to April 1921) of “Houdini’s School Days” ghostwritten by Herbert Allingham.

Returned to Orleans Hotel and had dinner with Arthur Moses, Gary Hunt (handcuffqueens.com), and Michelle Ainsworth.

After dinner, beer, and great conversation, Stan Alan hosted the evening session on the Blackstone Show which included Magic Starring Harry Blackstone 1995 PBS Television Special with commentary from Gay Blackstone, Bill Smith and Allen Bracken. Wish Adele Rhindess could have made the trip! Lot’s of fun was shared by all.

Saturday, August 21, 2021

Joe Hanosek and I helped Arthur Moses pack up his stuff for his long drive home.

The morning session was hosted by David Sandy, which included Richard Hughes sharing with us the little known history of feather flowers, Gabe Fajuri sharing excerpts from John Fisher’s Heroes of Magic book, and Les Arnold sharing about the career of his grandfather and the great lengths he went to in order to perfect his original illusions (Fire and Water, the Miniature Haunted House, Ribbon Shot Through a Woman and others)

Had lunch with Gary Hunt and Michelle Ainsworth.

The afternoon session was hosted by Lance Rich.

Phil Schwartz kicked it off with a light-hearted look at some notable magicians’ demise. Phil started his presentation with a quote from Houdini:

“The easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and a given place someone is going to attempt something that in the event of failure will mean sudden death.” Harry Houdini

Retonio Breitenmoser shared the History of Quick-Change

And Lance Rich closed the afternoon session with a trip down the strip of Las Vegas history of magicians (Greats, Dates, and Firsts) that received a standing ovation.

Returned for Cocktail Hour at 6pm, where I shared with Roger Dreyer the story of how I came to own the extremely rare Grim Game “Message From The Clouds” advertising card that was dropped from a plane, found by a road workman and later used as a bookmark in his journal.

The Expo closed with a fabulous Las Vegas Dinner & Show with performances by Mac King, Retonio & Natalie, Les Arnold, David Sandy & Lance Rich (Leon Pillary Escape) and David Goldrake.

After the show, got a chance to catch up with Hatari (Joe Patire) and his wife Lisa, who I met during my trip to Scranton Houdini Musuem in 2015.

Hatari and I talked about David’s Houdini milk can (left) that we saw on the tour compared to the Houdini milk can (right) Hatari escaped from at the 2015 Magic History weekend.

Special thank you to Bill Smith and all his helpers for putting on an amazing Expo.

And a shout out to Arthur Moses for making my first Magic Collector’s Expo extra special.

I plan to attend the next Magic Collectors Expo  April 13^th-15^th in Austin, TX which will include a tour of Harry Ransom Center, which is on my Houdini bucket list.  Hope to see some more Houdini Nuts there.

 

Credits:

• David Copperfield Tour images courtesy of Magic Collector’s Corner Facebook Group page