Monday May 11, 2026
6a-4p
Left LAX and arrived DoubleTree by Hilton Newark Airport
4p-9p
At 4p met Fred Pittella, Arthur Moses and Mark Horowitz in lobby and Freddie drove us to the lake front home of Roger & Ava Dryer and Grizzly (dog the size of a bear), where we got there early enough to park in the drive-way. The three of them were such gracious hosts. I got to enjoy the incredible collection and Houdini items on display. This included: Eight Large Punch and Judy Figure Heads that Houdini used in the early days and flipping thru a notebook of unpublished stills (many from his Houdini’s movie days).
Got to meet some old friends (e.g., Dorothy Dietrich & Dick Brookz) who I hadn’t seen in person for many years and a new friend (i.e.,Barry Spector), who I previously exchanged emails with but never met in person until now. Barry gifted me a piece of wood from Houdini’s house at 278 W 113th Street, which was very kind of him.
10a-11p Cocktails at the Double Tree Hotel Bar with Fred Pittella, Arthur Moses, Charles Greene and Mark Horowitz.
Tuesday May 12, 2026
7:30a-1p
Met Arthur Moses and Fred Pittella for breakfast buffet.
Fred Pittella suggested rearranging my plans to include checking out on Thursday instead of Saturday, so I could stay near his place, see his incredible collection, and then see the screening of The Grim Game at the NYPL before flying home out of Laguardia the next day. My original plan was to uber to and from NYPL on Friday after Magic Collectors Conference was over and then fly out of Newark at 6a. Not sure what I was thinking, but the new change of plans suggested by Fred would made my east coast trip extra special.
Attempted to change flight on my phone at the breakfast table and book a hotel near Fred’s place, but was having a heck of a time. Decided just to enjoy breakfast and deal with after which I did. Expedia customer service was very helpful.
Now that my travel plans and accommodations was set, I met Arthur Moses in the Dealer’s room and we set up our booth that we were sharing, which included our latest Kinema Comic books on Houdini Exploits. From Arthur, I picked up a Houdini Unbound paperback book and French magazine ad that included the Master Mystery.
Other dealers with Houdini items included:
- Charles Greene (where I picked up a copy of his “Exposing Houdini” book, view master, and swag)
- Roger Dryer of Fantasma Magic (where I picked up a Q repro poster and Houdini Coasters)
- Haversat & Ewing (where I picked up Houdini Scrapbook Challenges book by Bruce Averbook and David Haversat)
- Ken Trombly (where I picked a 1995 Official Houdini Séance program that was missing from my collection that spans from 1986-2025)
1p-4p Dealer room was open
Michael Tallon was my first customer. Michael picked up a numbered copy of Houdini Schooldays, which included the bonus card of Houdini as a schoolboy (unpublished). Thank You Michael!
Jim Hagy stopped by our table and gave me my copy of the latest Perennial Mystics, Squared publication and also let me know the latest status on my article, My Official Séance Program Collection, I had recently submitted for a future publication.
4p-5p Session 1
- Bill Smith welcomed everyone.
- Jery Ryder gave a presentation on Magical Automations
- David Sandy emceed a fun Magic Collectors Game based off of The Price Is Right Game. Contestants had to buzz in, when they identified what was wrong with a vintage magic poster.
5p-7p Dinner Break
Hopped in Jim Zoldac’s car with Charles Greene, Peter Dusche and we went to Elm Street BBQ, which is highly recommend.
7p-8:30p Session 2
- David Charvet gave a presentation on Charles Reynolds
- Lance Rich gave a presentation on Tales of Magic on the Broadway Stage which included Houdini
8:30p-11:30p Dealer room was open
Hung out at my dealers table. That’s Fred Pittella and I with the Bean Giant Handcuffs in one and Michelle Ainsworth and I in the other.
11:30p Picked up an IPA at the bar and called it a night.
Wednesday May 13, 2026
8:30a-9a Picked up coffee, banana, and cinnamon roll from coffee bar.
9a-1:30p Mystery & Wonder Tour
Fred Pittella and I took first bus to NYPL/Lincoln Center as we waved to Arthur Moses who was running to catch the second bus which thankfully he did.
Walked thru exhibit on A Legacy of Golden Age Magicians In New York City.
Houdini items on display included 6 posters (Europe’s Eclipsing Sensation, America’s Sensation, Prison Cell and Barrel Mystery, Death Defying Mystery, Upside Down in Water Torture Cell and Double Fold Death Defying Water Mystery), a display case with handcuffs, (courtesy of Fred Pittella), Police Affidavits, letters, programs, books, photos (autographed portrait, Houdini with: Ching Ling Foo; Howard Thurston; Frank Ducrot, Frederick Eugene Powell, and T. Nelson Downs; elephant, straitjacket suspended); movie items (The Grim Game still, Terror Island Ad, White Studio promotional stills for Master Mystery, The Grim Game, Terror Island, The Man From Beyond, and Haldane); Dr. Daneil E. Cohen medical notes for treatment of Harry Houdini, Letter from Theo Hardeen to Dr. Daniel Cohn.
Met in auditorium for a presentations by Annemarie van Roessel and Margaret Steele. Annemarie (Assistant Curator at NYPL) talked about the collection on display which covered the Golden Age of Magic (1880s to 1940s). Margaret talked about Adalaide Hermann’s New York.
Rode back with Arthur Moses on bus.
1:30p-2:30p Walked over to Holiday Inn and had lunch with Arthur Moses and Fred Pittella.
2:30p-5p Hung out in Dealer’s Room. Besides selling the books by Arthur Moses and I, we had a Fred Pittella special for $60, which included a collectors pin of Houdini from his image on the Europe’s Eclipsing Sensation Poster; a beautiful Houdini & Key Book mark that included a card with a stunning image on the front of Houdini, a bean giant handcuff & key, and on the back of the card, an early $100 challenge (from Fred’s collection) to any human being living that can escape from all the cuffs like he does, which includes the bean giants locked behind his back. Or you could just get the pin for $25 or just the Houdini & Key Bookmark and collector’s card for $40.
5p-7p was a break.
Session 3
Mike Caveney presented Dante In Hollywood
Mark Holstein led a panel discussion on Kreskin The Magician with his wife Sue Holstein, Bill Schmeelk & Meir Yedid. We got an inside look at the magical side of him through the eyes of some of his friends.
8:30-11:30 Dealer’s Room and late night pizza with Arthur Moses
Rick Strange, Mega Magic Book Collector, with 1922 Kinema Comic books on Houdini Exploits compiled by Arthur Moses and I. Thank you Rick!
Thursday May 14, 2026
9a-11a Dealer Room Open
Session 4
Jim Hagy presented Animal Wizards: A Critical History of Magician’s Most Trusting Assistants
Richard Cohn & Adam Blumenthal presented Old New York Magic Shops with Adam focusing on Tannen’s and Richard focusing on the others.
12:30-2p Dealer’s Room Open (last chance)
Adam of Tannen’s bought all of my remaining books at a very fair price to sell at Tannen’s, which made my day. Thank you Adam!
Session 5
2p-3:30p
Don Greenberg gave a presentation that featured finding a Houdini poster in the basement of his father’s house. And he unrolled it for all in attendance to see. What a find. Prior to this find, there was only 3 known, now there is 4.
Lance Rich interviewed Stan Allan about the stories behind the stories of Magic Magazine.
Bill Smith revealed next years expo will be held in Chicago April 29 thru May 1, 2027.
Gabe Fajuri conducted a Potter & Potter auction with no buyer’s premium. There was one Houdini item, Lot 10 which went to Sal Perotta.
6p-7p Cocktails & Close Up
Folks got a drink and found a table for dinner and then were treated to some amazing closeup magic by Alexander Boyce, Rachel Was & Adam Levine. Each performed in their own personal styles in a different corner of the room. We rotated from one magician to another after a set amount of time.
7p-9p Dinner & Show
At my table were Fred Pittella, Arthur Moses, Michelle Ainsworth, Rob Kirkpatrick and Mike Strong and his wife. Great conversation and food was had by all.
And the magic stage show with Alexander Boyce, Rachel Wax & Adam Levine was incredible.
Thank you to Bill Smith and all his helpers for putting on an amazing Expo.
And thanks to all the people highlighted in bold above that truly made this a wonderful experience.
10p-11p
Fred Pittella and I drove back to Queens Village New York and I checked into my Hotel near his place.
Friday May 15, 2026 (Encore)
Fred picked me up for an amazing breakfast at the Floral Food Tavern, where we were treated like family.
After breakfast, Fred took me to his storage locker, where he had a couple Houdini treasures buried deep amongst a lot of odds and ends. After some doing, we were able to get to these treasures. The first being a bookcase owned by Houdini depicted in this photo on the right.
I thought I took pics of the bookcase at the storage unit, but apparently not.
I did get pics of his other treasure which was a sidewalk sign depicting buried alive.
We also found an empty film canister labeled Larry Weeks Houdini – Nitrate Neg 4-22-76.
Next stop was Fred’s place which is wall to wall Houdini, Hardeen, and imitators on the walls. And chests and display cases filled with handcuffs, leg irons, escape devices, books, and ephemera. After getting the tour, I sat at a table and Fred would bring me album after album of Houdini material (e.g., photos, programs, adverts, etc) where I went through each page trying not to drool on them. The only photos I took were of original images that had the Mirror Handcuffs.
You can see images of Fred’s other amazing stuff on his web-page: https://www.houdiniandescapemuseum.com/
After spending the afternoon in Fred’s Houdini & Escapes Museum, it was time to head out and get a bite to eat before going to the NYPL for a screening of The Grim Game on the Big Screen.
I had been craving Italian the whole trip, so we went to Luigi’s Restaurant & Bar in Queens, where parking is hard to find, but we got lucky and got a spot right next to the place. The food and service was incredible! Highly recommend it!
After dinner, we drove to the NYPL, where parking is even harder to find, but after a few laps around the blocks near by, we got about as close as one could hope for, right across the street from the NYPL.
Since we were a little early, we got to go thru the Mystery & Wonder exhibit again before they closed and had folks with Grim Game reservations go down to a holding area. Since, I was with Fred Pittella and Charles Greene, we got let in to the theater early, so we had perfect seats.
Annemarie van Roessel (Assistant Curator at NYPL) introduced the film and New York City-based silent film accompanist, Makia Matsumura.
Although, I have watched The Grim Game many times on my computer and combo TV/VHS player, seeing The Grim Game on a big screen again was a thrill for me. I first saw it on the big screen when TCM debuted it in Hollywood, followed by Houdini Museum in Scranton (2015), Jewish Museum of Maryland that had a large Houdini exhibition on display, called Inescapable: The Life and Legacy of Harry Houdini Sierra Madre Playhouse (2018), and lastly on Catalina Island (2019).
Makia Matsumura improvised score was breath-taking.
After the movie, Annemarie moderated a short discussion of the film with Dorothy Dietrich, magician and co-founder of the Houdini Museum, and magician and historian Richard Cohn.
Before they kicked us out of the NYPL, Fred handed me a rolled up poster with a rubber-band around it, that I would later find out was a reproduction of the Double-Fold Poster on display. Note: There is only one known original of the Double-Fold Poster and the NYPL owns it.
After taking photos, some folks went out for cocktails, while Fred and I drove back to his place hoping to listen to tape cassette recordings he made as a student in The New School course on The Incredible Houdini in the Fall of 1977.
Fred has cassettes that include each of the special guests, like Milbourne Christopher, The Amazing Randi, Walter B. Gibson, Dr. Bernard C. Meyer, M.D., Sidney Radner, and Louis A. Rachow. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the tape cassette player to work; But the good news is that he has these and at a later date will have someone copy to another media and filter out some of the background noise. His CD/DVD player was working so we listened to Society of American Magicians Houdini Night Oct 02, 1981 that had Larry Weeks, Milbourne Christopher and Walter B. Gibson talking about Houdini before showing The Grim Game.
What a nice end to an incredible day. Thanks to my pal, Fred Pittella.
Saturday May 16, 2026
Fred picked me up at the hotel, handed me a beautifully designed Houdini & Key Bookmark and Pin, and we went to breakfast at the Floral Food Tavern where we had another incredible breakfast. He then took me to airport for the long flight home, where we said our good-byes until the next Houdini Adventure. Thank you Fred for everything! You are the man!!
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