In 2007, the above photo was listed on eBay with a starting price of $1,250 and ended with no bids. The auction described the photo as taken in a “University area in Canada” shortly before Houdini gave a lecture there.  But we know the photo is actually Houdini posing outside the White House in Washington D.C. [Source: WAH]

I recently saw this photo during my trip to the McCord Museum. So, technically, the photo is in the “University area in Canada”, lol.

In addition to its location, I can also add that this International Newsreel photo was used 10-25-26 with the caption, HOUDINI: NEAR DEATH:

So, one can see how you could be misled that this was his last photo.

In honor of Houdini’s Birthday, thought I would light some candles and share a beautiful photo of Houdini doing a card manipulation late in his career, courtesy of the McCord Museum.

Houdini would feature card flourishes in his 3 Shows In 1.

While I wish we could say this photo is from the Princess Theatre, Montreal October 1926, it appears to be a non-cropped still from a movie short Houdini made earlier (1925/26). See below for comparison.

For more info on the Card Flourishes movie, please see the following post:

• The Houdini card manipulation movie mystery deepens, by John Cox at WAH

In the future, I plan to share some new info on a couple more 1926 photos

• Houdini Near Death Photo
• Houdini Checkered Flag Photo

Pages 12 to 14 cover Houdini’s crusade against Fake Mediums.

Related:

• Houdini Souvenir Program Variants – 1925-26 season
• Houdini Souvenir Program Variants – 1926-27 season
• Houdini Souvenir Program Season 1926-27 p 9-11

On March 3^rd, I watched The Travel Channel’s Mysteries At The Museum Episode, Scared to Death and More, that featured Dorothy Dietrich discussing how Houdini died. The segment was a little over 8 minutes.

The gist of the clip was that Houdini was getting better from the surgery to remove his ruptured appendix until injected with an experimental serum (possibly poison) by a mysterious Dr. Levevre (with possible ties to spiritualism).

This theme (serum may have been poison) was chosen by the show, which meant most of the other things Dorothy touched on did not make the cut.

FWIW: Kalush’s book, Secret Life of Houdini, calls Dr Lefevre “…a post-operative specialist…” and also states that he “…was a homeopathist who had devised an experimental serum to combat the poisons circulating through Houdini’s G.I. tract.”  And according to Kalush, Le Roi Crandon, had a confederate inject Houdini with that serum in Detroit, and it was meant to kill him, not cure him.

All of this said, I am not aware of any link between Crandon and Dr. Lefevre, but the Travel Channel suggests Lefevre had ties to Spiritualism.

You can read the NY times articles (10/26, 10/27, 10/28) that cover George L. Lefevre of Muskegon, Michigan and Houdini’s condition that final week (10/25 – 11/1) at Tom Interval’s excellent website:

• http://www.houdinimuseum.org/articles/25-26.html

Pages 9 to 11 cover Houdini’s crusade against Rahman Bey, the fakir.

Next week, I will share Pages 12 to 14 which cover Houdini’s crusade against fake mediums.

Related:

• Houdini Souvenir Program Variants – 1925-26 season
• Houdini Souvenir Program Variants – 1926-27 season

Last week, I shared the Houdini Souvenir Program variants from the 1925-26 season. Reproductions can be found on eBay or from Geno Munari’s Houdini’s Magic shop.

But The 1926-27 Houdini Souvenir Program is a different story. AFAIK, a reproduction has not been published and originals are rare. That said, I am fortunate enough to have an original in my collection.

So what changed in the 1926-27 Houdini Souvenir Program from the 1925-26 program? Well before we get to that, let’s look at what is similar.

They both include a Houdini Biography, but the section Some of the Wonderful Feats Accomplished by Houdini has been rearranged in a different order with some additional sub-headings (i.e., ADDITIONAL EXPLOITS, WIDE RANGE OF HOUDINI’S MYSTERIES) but the content is essentially the same.  That said, the photos from his movies have been removed.  The section HOUDINI’S GREATEST THRILL has also been rearranged in a different order with some additional sub-headings (i.e., HOUDINI’S PERSONAL EXERTIONS PUZZLE MANY, LECTURER AND MEMBER OF SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEES) but the content is basically the same. That said, the photo of Mrs. Harry Houdini is different.

The section Houdini Reveals He “Reads” Minds is similar.

The June 18, 1925 NYC Police Academy Letter and photo is the same.

The section Magical Tricks and Illusions How to Perform Them by Houdini [15 tricks] has been condensed in a section now called Houdini Magic for Your Spare Moments [11 tricks].

The full-page CHALLENGE TO ANY MEDIUM IN THE WORLD and A Few Personal Facts Section is not found in the 1926-27 program.

So what new material is in the 16-page 1926-27 program? Pages 9 thru 14 is where the new material (1926 Newspaper Editorials on Crusades of Houdini) appears.

Page 9 has an editorial, titled Panic and Poison from the San Diego Union, August 7, 1926.

Page 10 has two editorials. One titled Houdini At It Again from New York, World, Aug 7, 1926 and one titled A Dispeller of Humbug from New York Herald-Tribune, Aug 9, 1926.

Page 11 also has two editorials, plus a letter from the clergy.  One editorial titled, The Indispensable Houdini By Arthur Capper (U.S. Senator from Kansas) from The Topeka Daily Capital August 13, 1926 and the other titled A Valuable Citizen from The News Scimatar, Memphis, Tenn Tuesday August 10, 1926.  The letter is from the Second Congregational Church (Unitarian) Organized 1715 Marblehead, Mass.

Page 12 has an article titled Houdini A Modern Crusader, Does Not Combat Religion, But Fights the Charlatans Who Prey Upon the Gullible.

Page 13 has two articles.  One article titled Houdini Seeks Genuine Medium, Discovery Will Amply Repay Him for Years Spent in Search and the other titled National Spiritualistic Association Ordained Minister Confesses Trickery After Thirty Years of Mediumship.

Page 14 has the continuation of an article from page 13 and an article from The Philiadelphia Record, June 24, 1926 titled SLATERS BLUFF CALLED BY HOUDINI, “Millionaire Medium” Ducks When Magician Dares Him to Undergo Test.  $10,000 Offer is Scorned. Houdini’s appearance Flusters Spiritists; Near-Riot Follows Meeting.

Next week, I will share Pages 9 to 11 which cover Houdini’s crusade against Rahman Bey, the fakir.

And the week after that, I will share Pages 12 to 14 which cover Houdini’s crusade against Fraudulent Mediums.

Houdini had souvenir programs made to be sold during the 1925-26 season and 1926-27 season. This post will focus on the 1925-26 program variants and contents.

In 1979, Lee Jacobs first sold an actual reproduction of the souvenir program sold at Houdini’s shows in the lobby of the theaters during the 1925-26 season where he was presenting his performances on a coast-to-coast tour of North America.

It also included a protective cover/tissue sheet, plus How Houdini Really Died and an Introduction by Lee Jacobs, plus a Houdini 1914 Broadside Challenge.

Later, Geno Munari (copyright 2006) sold a reproduction of just the Houdini Souvenir Program for the 1925-26 tour.

The 1925-26 Houdini Souvenir Program was 16 pages, not including the front and back inside covers.

The 16 pages included a Houdini Biography, Some of the Wonderful Feats Accomplished by Houdini, Houdini’s Greatest Thrill, Magical Tricks and Illusions How to Perform Them by Houdini, Challenge to Any Medium in the World, A Few Personal Facts, NYC Police Department Lecture June 18, 1925, Houdini Reveals He “Reads” Minds.

At the McCord Museum, I found a Houdini Bibliography References compiled by Stephen Forrester that included the following,

which implies the 1925-26 season actually had 2 variants, 1925 season – no cover price, 1926 season – “25 cents” cover price and the Lee Jacobs Production had both 1925 (outside) & 1926 (inside) covers.   Does a 1925 original with no cover price exist?

Next week, I will share parts of the rare 1926-27 program from my personal collection and discuss what changed from the 1925-26 program.

• Houdini Souvenir Program Variants – 1926-27 season

From time to time, the following program appears on eBay as a 1925 original, but it was produced in the late 1960s or early 1970s:

The one produced above had a sticker on the back that said, Original Magic Memorabilia from the TEMPLE COLLECTION.

However, the original 1925 Program (snippets below) was printed on thinner stock and had some subtle formatting and spacing differences. Most noticeable are:

the top of the original program,

the end of Act I in the original lists The Miracles of Mahatma and The Whirlwind of Colors vs showing up after the Ten Minute Intermission,

And the bottom of THE RIBBON CURTAIN section in Act III.

Snippets courtesy of McCord Museum.

I previous shared with you all of my adventures from 2018, except my last one.

In December of 2018, I returned to the East Coast, but instead of going to Maryland (Day 1, Day 2, Day 4, Day 5) or New York/New Jersey (Day 3), I went to Montreal this time, where I got to spend two days doing Houdini research in the McGill Union Ballroom, where Houdini delivered a lecture on October 19, 1926, three days before the fateful dressing room encounter with a McGill student.

The McGill Union Ballroom is now part of the McCord Museum, which houses one of the largest collections of Houdini Material held in a public institution.

Much of the collection is view-able online, so I spent my two days going through everything (with the help of the Reference Archivist, Heather McNabb, PhD) that is not available online, which included scrapbooks/binders of challenges, news, letters, programs, magazines, and other memorabilia. It is going to take me some time to digest all of the information I gathered, but it will be worth it.

In the meantime, thought I would do a series of posts (beginning January 6th) that share many of the details (with some new info) about Houdini’s lecture that I found in newspapers (made available by the museum’s curator, Christian Vachon) like the McGill Daily, Montreal Gazette, and Montreal Daily Star.

H A P P Y  N E W  Y E A R ! ! !

Special Thanks to the McCord Museum, Christian Vachon and Heather McNabb. It was a very productive two days and will help out my research greatly.

The Last Original Magic Castle Houdini Séance “as we know it” was held on December 1, 2018 at Midnight.  And I was there to experience it, along with other Houdini Nuts, John Cox, Patrick Culliton, Adam&Mia Glass, Joe Fox, Neil McNally, Arthur Moses, Brian Verkuylen and Mark Willoughby.

In July, Lisa Cousins booked the Final Houdini Séance “as we know it” for the Houdini Nuts. However, since booking the Séance, Lisa moved out of the state and unfortunately couldn’t join us, but she was definitely there in spirit.  Thank You Lisa!

When I arrived at the Magic Castle, I received my Houdini Seance Experience ticket and went straight to the Magic Castle Library, where I was greeted by Joe Fox and Brian Verkuylen. In honor of the last Houdini Séance “as we know it”, Brian gave me an envelope that contained a strange reality card where an image of Houdini magically appears. Thank You Brian!

Joe Fox then demonstrated a thumb tie routine using zip-ties, a prediction with astrology cards, a leather strap escape, and a nice rope and blocks puzzle that had Brian and I scratching our heads. Thank You Joe!

I then went and caught Handsome Jack’s show in the Parlor before meeting up with John Cox, Patrick Culliton, Arthur Moses and Mark Willoughby for our 9:45 dinner reservations arranged by our host John Cox. Thank You John!

After listening to our friend Pat talk, it was time for the Last Original Magic Castle Houdini Séance, where we were joined by the resident medium Leo Kostka, his wife Dawn and their daughter Tabitha. It was truly a Houdini family affair and special night for all in attendance.

Our medium Leo Kostka has hosted for more than 30 years. He brought considerable polish and presence to the proceedings. Alas, Houdini showed up for his last time in 2018 and I can say I was there. Thank You Leo!

After the Séance, Arthur Moses, the CEO of Houdini Nuts, handed out a beautifully made booklet of Houdini Tattoos (that included famous poses, escapes and posters) to honor this special occasion and gathering of Houdini Nuts. Thank You Arthur!

We then took a group picture.

And last but not least, Leo signed my séance ticket, which along with the Strange Reality Card from Brian has been added to the keepsake from Arthur Moses.

Truly a night with special people, that I will always remember.

Note: The Houdini Séance “as we know it”, will be taking a vacation and return as a totally new experience in the second half of 2019.