Last year, I attended my first NEMCA magic history conference which featured five Houdini-centric presentations by five fascinating gentlemen, Kevin Connolly, Jim Hagy, Ken Trombly, Arthur Moses and David Ben:

• Houdini-centric Presentations at NEMCA

While this year did not feature any Houdini centric presentations, he was still indirectly represented in some of the lectures, tour collections, auction conducted by NEMCA Sponsor Haversat & Ewing Galleries and the Broadside Breakout Session:

Lecture #1 Dai Vernon Remembered by Gary Plants

Gary shared Dai Vernon ephemera from his personal collection.

[Dai Vernon is known as the magician that fooled Houdini. Dai Vernon also did a scissor-cut silhouette portrait of Houdini from 1920.]

Lecture #3 – Pinetti – Traces of HIs Success by Pietro Micheli

Pietro mentions that [Like Houdini], Pinetti had an incredible skill in promoting his persona and his show; Pinetti had the capability to promote himself with his publicity material and media response.

[Pinetti was one of Houdini’s heroes.]

Lecture #4 – The Great Raymond Collection by Joe Quitoni

Joe shared a large collection of material related to The Great Raymond, including items related to his Handcuff Act.

[Houdini and Raymond had a rift; Raymond crossed Houdini by doing a Milk Can escape without his permission but made amends later.]

Tour #2- A Brief Walk Through Early Magic Literature at the Conjuring Arts Research Center by Bill Kalush

Kalush mentions another Pinetti and Houdini connection:

Pinetti of course, like so many other magicians had magicians steal their secrets, so his combat for that was writing a book of his own secrets and selling under his name which is quite a clever idea and worked very well and went through a number of important editions and is quite a great book [which a copy is displayed]. Now if we fast-forward another 100 or so years, we come to Harry Houdini, …, who had the same problem and so many other people imitated him that he thought one of his best methods of defense would be to reveal his own handcuff secrets … and he put out Handcuff Secrets [book which is displayed along-side what Houdini referred to as the Guiteau Cuffs].

Haversat & Ewing Auction

The auction consisted of 52 lots [with 8 lots related to Houdini]

Lecture #6 – The Screening Room: Preserving a Window into the Past by David Ben and Julie Eng

David Ben and Julie Eng walked us through Magicana’s digital journey in bringing Magicana’s archives and exhibitions online. Starting with early media acquisitions from the Sid Lorraine, P. Howard Lyons and Allan Slaight collections, we learn how the team at Magicana converted analog media into a free, searchable online video database, now housing over six hundred and fifty video clips. We also discover how Magicana procures, preserves, and shares digital media while offering curated insight as to why this media is of such importance to magic and its history.

[Magicana also acquired the McIlhany film archive, which may have some hidden Houdini gems on the vast amounts of unscreened tapes now in their possession]

Tour #3 – by Dr. Tim Moore

Dr. Timothy Moore shared his magic collection that includes some very rare Houdini and Hardeen material:

• Circus Busch Poster
  • Only a few Circus Busch posters survived and the one in Dr. Moore’s collection hung on the wall of Houdini’s Brownstone House in Harlem NY.
• Cabinet of Houdini owned Material
  • Bessie’s Hat, Houdini’s Lapel Pin Cuff Links, and numerous signed photos. Along with Rankin Leg Irons, a  Collar, Stotz Handcuffs, Irish Eights, Adam’s Handcuffs, and Marlin Daily Handcuffs
• Cabinet of Hardeen Material
• Hardeen Milk Can
• Milk Can Poster
  • Despite being a super well-known image, only 2 of the Milk Can posters survive; the other is at the Harry Ransom center.  Dr. Moore mentioned that the Milk can poster used creative deception to foil the audience. In the poster, the locks and the straps are down below the rivot-line, but in the actual can, they are located in a totally different location.

Zoom Session – Broadsides and Other Older Paper Ephemera moderated by Ken Trombly and Mike Caveney

I shared my one of a kind “The Master of Mystery Broadside” of Newspaper Reviews and got some great advice from Ken Trombly and Mike Caveney on how to protect and restore these type of items.

Thank You to the NEMCA Conference Committee, Sponsors, Presenters, Moderators and all the attendees that made my second NEMCA magic history conference a wonderful experience.  Hope to see some of you at the Magic Collectors Expo April 13-15th in Austin Texas, which will include a tour of Harry Ransom Center.