Writer’s Blocks are handmade odes to history’s greatest writers. Each solid wood block features the portrait, signature, and famous works of a particular author.

The portrait is a famous image of Houdini in The Grim Game.

And, the following Houdini works are featured:

• The Right Way To Do Wrong (1906)
• The Unmasking of Robert Houdini (1908)
• A Magician Among the Spirits (1924)
• Houdini exposed the tricks used by the Boston Medium “Margery”

They make perfect decorations for any literary bookshelf, desk, dresser, or table.

And come in two sizes: REGULAR – 8 cubic inches (2in x 2in x 2in) and JUMBO – 27 cubic inches (3in x 3in x 3in).

I highly recommend the JUMBO, the REGULAR is a bit small.

You can order while supplies last on Etsy:

Writer’s Block: Harry Houdini – Etsy

Los Angeles Herald, 30 September 1919

Today, I share the complete text from an August 30, 1921 newspaper clipping that appeared in The Oklahoma City Times:

That Houdini is partial to the letter of the alphabet, “H,” is evident, for in writing “The Man from Beyond,” his first special feature for his own producing organization, the author-star gave the leading character the name of Howard Hillary. It is also noticed in the second picture, Houdini in writing the story of “Haldane of the Secret Service,” again used a name beginning with the eighth letter. Those who have watched the screen career of Houdini will recall that in his two pictures , “The Grim Game” and “Terror Island,” Houdini used the letter “H.” The name of the central figure in the first was Harvey Hanford, and in the second, the name of the hero was Harry Harper. Houdini furnished the plots for these two pictures , giving the characters their names. Houdini says that the selection of names for his characters is a psychic process and that when he writes his material it is as if his hand is guided in writing the letter “H” for his principal character.

I love that all 4 special features with HH characters are highlighted, as well as the fact that Houdini wrote and furnished plots for them. The Grim Game and Terror Island were written in collaboration with Arthur B. Reeve and John W. Grey. That said, not sure I buy his psychic process for writing the letter “H” for his principal character, lol.

Back in 2021, I shared a couple French Cinema cards. Today, I share another one from my collection:

Below is the French to English Translation:

HARRY HOUDINI

Biographical Notice

Real name Erich Weiss, nicknamed The Perpetual Escapee or “The King of Escape, Harry Houdini (1874-1926) was one of the greatest American magicians and one of the leaders who knew how to raise, during his lifetime, his character at the level of myth. He had adopted hid pseudonym in homage, he said, to Robert Houdin, for whom he felt great admiration, and because he would was told that if one added an “i” to the name of his idol, that would mean in French like Houdin.

His fame was worldwide during the first quarter of the 20th century. He escaped from everything: handcuffs, straitjackets, and cells of prison. He gained fame by throwing challenges to police around the world: he was determined to free himself, in record time, from the cell where he would be locked up. To announce his arrival in a city, he freed himself from a straitjacket by force, hoisted, head down, in front of the facade of a building, or was locked in a nailed box which was then thrown into a river. On stage, he was immersed in a milk jug filled with water and padlocked. He was also an expert in traditional magic: a great manipulator of cards, he invented famous illusions such as the disappearance of an elephant or the walking thru a brick wall.

In 1915, on the death of his mother, whom he adored, he tried to make contact with her by attending countless spiritualist sessions but, discovering that he was still deceived, he undertook to lead a crusade against the charlatans of occultism by revealing in broad daylight the tricks they used to dupe their clients.

He approached cinema in 1919 with a fifteen-episode serial, THE MASTER OF MYSTERY, in which, the advertising boasted, each episode included an escape carried out without tricks or stopping the camera. The success of the film allowed him to sign a contract with Paramount which produced his next two films, THE GRIM GAME (1919), where we could see the first collision between two planes filmed in a sequence which was not planned and which was included in the montage because, fortunately, the accident did not cause any casualties. Then it was THE TERROR ISLAND (1920) which received only a small audience, which prompted Paramount to terminate its contract. Two years later, Houdini had set up his own production company and made his most famous film, THE MAN FROM BEYOND (1922), based on a story he authored, and the production of which he entrusted to Burton King, the filmmaker who had directed him in his first steps in cinema. The film enchanted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the father of Sherlock Holmes, with whom he was a friend. Although the work did not achieve the expected success, Houdini himself wrote, produced and directed one last film, HALDANE OF THE SECRET SERVICE (1923) which, this time, was a resounding financial failure, ruining his hopes to continue doing cinema. Houdini died prematurely, at age 52, in a stupid accident in Montreal. While he was suffering from chronic appendicitis and was willing to withstand the most violent punches to the stomach, a student, who was visiting him in his theater dressing room, delivered an uppercut which caused peritonitis, and septicemia took his life ten days later, on October 31, 1926.

He has been played numerous times on the small and big screen. In the cinema, by Tony Curtis in HOUDINI, THE GREAT MAGICIAN (Houdini, George Marshall, 1953), by Jeffrey DeMunn in RAGTIME (id., Milos Forman, 1981), by Harvey Keitel in THE MYSTERY OF THE FAIRIES (Fairy Tale: A True Story, Charles Sturridge, 1997) and by Guy Pearce in BEYOND ILLUSION (Death Defying Acts, Gillian Armstrong, 2007). On television, by Paul Michael Glaser in “The Great Houdini”, Melville Shavelson, 1976, by Jeffrey DeMunn again in “The Magician of the Strange” (“Young Houdini”, James Orr, 1987 ) and by Johnathon Schaech in “Houdini” (id., Pen Densham, 1998). (*) Titles preceded by an asterisk were distributed in France on video only.

FILMOGRAPHY

1919 (The Master Mystery, Burton King) – (The Grim Game, Irving Willat)

1920 (Terror Island, James Cruz)

1922 (The Man from Beyond, Burton King)

1923 HALDANE OF THE SECRET SERVICE (Harry Houdini)

I am the proud owner of a very special Collecting Magic Workbook, along with the original articles and photographs used to assembly it.

That’s right, I own the original Master manuscript that was compiled for an SAM Assembly 206 evening (December 13, 2004) of collecting magic in Austin Texas

As you can see by the table of contents, there is lots to like here.

Ron Cartlidge (author of Houdini’s Texas Tours 1916 & 1923; and Houdini’s Final Tour to Texas, 1924) was the President of Assembly 206 at the time.

George Ford and Joseph Lauher had contributions from their web sites (Houdiana.com and Handcuffs.org) on Houdini.

Stephen Sparks, Houdini Collector, was asked to do nine or ten pages for this workbook, which resulted in an illustrated 45-page manuscript on Harry Houdini in the movies, theater, opera, and television.

Today, I share a link to Joseph Lauher’s Article on our friend Fred Pittella:

• A visit with Fred Pittella by Joseph Lauher

With the anniversary of Houdini’s Death approaching, thought I would share a a 1926 Billboard newspaper page [from my W.W. Durbin archive] that includes tributes to Houdini.

It also includes the pallbearers, magicians in attendance, and tributes from Chas. J.Carter, Sevis LeRoy, Nicola, B.M.L. Ernst, Howard Thurston, and others.

“H. was buried like a king.”

Double-click image for better readability

“Long live the King!”

The Halloween Edition features over 100 pieces. And Houdini makes his debut. The base set features 92 cards with 3 Houdini cards.  Below are examples of the Houdini Cards:

There are 5 parallet sets (1982, Bloody Nightmares, Ghoul, Monochrome and Grimly Golds) that are limited and numbered.

Below is an example of a Houdini 1982 parallel card:

Below is an example of a Houdini Ghoul paralled card:

Below are examples of the Houdini Grimly Golds:

There are also 7 Houdini Stickers of remastered Houdini posters. Below are examples:

Many of the above cards can be found on eBay.

In honor of Haldane of the Secret Service being released 100 years ago by the Film Bookers Office (F.B.O), thought I would share the following FBO ads:

Motion Picture News (Sep-Oct 1923)

What I love about the ad above, is that it mentions getting a copy of the big press book for Haldane of the Secret Service.

Moving Picture Workd (Nov-Dec 1923)

The above ad shows a few random pages from F.B.O press sheets. I particularly like the one in the lower left corner.

H A P P Y  1 0 0 TH  A N N I V E R S A R Y ! !

Addendum:

Back in 2018, I had the rare opportunity to see this big press book during a trip to the east coast. Below is a snippet from the blog post about the trip.

Kevin [Connolly] had me sit at the dining room table, where he brought out the pressbook of all pressbooks. It was the Haldane of the Secret Service pressbook, which may be the only one in existence. It was about three times the size of any other Houdini Pressbook.

Besides my autographed book, “Houdini’s Schooldays” with limited edition bonus card, I hightly recommend “Magic Babylon, 1,001 Strange Conjuring Facts, Fallacies, and Tales” by Joe Hernandez.  There is lots of Houdini in this book.

The author is currently offering these on eBay or you can pick up a copy on Amazon.

Below is the description:

CONJURING EVENTS THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED

Everything you need to know about odd, amusing, and little-known incidents of conjuring trivia but have yet to learn is within these pages. Here you will find 1,001 genuinely unpredictable collections of stories, history, and bizarre events that have taken place since the beginning of magic, demonstrating that reality can be stranger than anything we can imagine in a work of fiction. These short, thought provoking and anecdotal stories will pique your interest and have you reconsider much of what you thought was true or false about conjuring.

You will amaze your friends and become known as an undisputed master of conjuring trivia:

· — Bess Houdini falsely claimed in a newspaper interview to have had a daughter.

· — President Abraham Lincoln was an amateur magician.

· — The town of Faucett in Buchanan County, Missouri, is named after magician Faucett Ross’s grandfather.

· — Houdini authored articles for the magic publication, Mahatma, posing as a European correspondent using the pen name of Herr N. Osey.

· — Jimmy Grippo once managed the career of Mario Bettina, the light-heavyweight boxer. Under Grippo’s management, Bettina won the world championship and held the title for five months.

· — The 1908 Famous Tin Pan Alley song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was written by an amateur magician.

Joe Hernandez is the author of Conjurer’s Wisdom Vol 1 & 2 and Phonetastic. He frequently contributed to the magic journal Apocalypse and produced magic shows at the State Theatre in New Jersey. He was a consultant to the yearly NBC show “The World’s Greatest Magic.” Joe has collaborated in producing many magic videos, including DVDs from Rene Lavand, Harry Lorayne, Gene Maze, Mike Gallo, Sol Stone, and Herb Zarrow. He has appeared on numerous public television shows performing close-up magic, including a solo show on WABC. Joe is a member of the Society of American Magicians and the International Brotherhood of Magicians and a monthly columnist for M-U-M and The Linking Ring magazines.

Today, I share 3 of 4 Trade Press Notices mentioned in the February 20th Kinematograph & Lantern Weekly ad below:

The Kinematogragph Weekly Feb 13th, page 81:

The Bioscope February 13, 1919 pages 65 and 77:

The Era, February 12th, page 19: