Category Archives: Terror Island

100th Anniversary – Terror Island (Catalina Island Museum)

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Today, August 18th, 2020 marks the 100th Anniversary of Terror Island being widely released.

To celebrate, John Cox is doing a live stream with Catalina Island Museum on their Instagram at 11:30am PST.

John Cox and I got to consult on a special exhibition at the Catalina Island Museum called Houdini: Terror Island on Magic Isle.

Having read my blog and extensive research on “Terror Island”, Julie Perlin Lee, the Executive director of the Catalina Island Museum and creator of the first ever Houdini exhibit devoted to his movies first contacted me about helping with this project back in November of 2016. We then got John Cox on board and between the three of us recruited others like Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Mark Willoughby, Arthur Moses, and Fred Pittella to loan artifacts for the exhibition.

The exhibition came to fruition in 2018 and was on view from May 5th to October 7th. I was lucky enough to visit the Museum on multiple occasions:

Reels (Parts) 3 and 4 of the existing (Library of Congress Realart) version of Terror Island are considered missing.

The exhibit showcased my work that reconstructs and describes the missing Terror Island scenes in chronological order for each part via an audio-visual presentation.

The exhibit also showcased the missing Terror Island Underwater Box Escape Footage that I located on an out of print magic video,

the research on locations on Catalina Island where Terror Island was filmed (Banning’s beach, Pebble Beach), and shown (Strand Theatre),

as well as Trade Cards, Stills, and Programs from my personal collection.

On my HHCE blog, I also uncovered and shared the TI Story that was adapted from the film script,

  1. A Prisoner Among Salvages
  2. A Wonderful Submarine
  3. An Offer Refused and One accepted
  4. The Sham Fire
  5. A Life in the Balance
  6. Sent to a Watery Grave
  7. The Rescue
  8. On the Cannibal Island

working titles for TI, Japanese Actors in TI, a theory of how Terror Island’s lost reels become lost, and exactly when the Library of Congress received their print.

Houdini is now a permanent resident of Catalina Island.

“You’ll note the display features a video screen which plays the overboard box escape from the film. This footage is missing from the existing movie. It was uncovered last year [2018] by our friend Joe Notaro and it is not available to view anywhere else. So Houdini fans who visit the island get a rare treat!”  John Cox

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

Terror Island Trade Cards – No. 72-76

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Today we look at Early Houdini Trading Cards (No. 72-76) from an extremely rare set of 25 Hoyo De Monterrey of Havanna Tobacco Cards (No. 57-81) circa 1920, depicting stills from his Terror Island movie:

No. 72 Still 318-42 HHCE Collection

No. 73 Still 318-41 HHCE Collection

No. 74 Still 318-48 HHCE Collection

No. 76 Still 318-70 HHCE Collection

Note: Card No. 75 is currently unidentified.

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Terror Island Trade Cards – No. 67-71

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Today we look at Early Houdini Trading Cards (No. 67-71) from an extremely rare set of 25 Hoyo De Monterrey of Havanna Tobacco Cards (No. 57-81) circa 1920, depicting stills from his Terror Island movie:

No. 67 Still 318-55 HHCE Collection

No. 68 Still 318-67 Ken Trombly Collection

No. 69 Still 318-23 HHCE Collection

No. 70 Still 318-24 HHCE Collection

No. 71 Still 318-5 HHCE Collection

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Terror Island Trade Cards – No. 62-66

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Today we look at Early Houdini Trading Cards (No. 62-66) from an extremely rare set of 25 Hoyo De Monterrey of Havanna Tobacco Cards (No. 57-81) circa 1920, depicting stills from his Terror Island movie:

No. 64 Still 318-7 HHCE Collection

No. 65 Still 318-3 HHCE Collection

No. 66 Still 318-68 Internet

Note: Cards No. 62 and 63 are currently unidentified.

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Early Houdini Trading Cards

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Today, I thought I would introduce 3 different types of Trading Cards from Houdini’s day:

  1. The Ogden’s Guinea Gold Card from New Series 1 No. B342
  2. Card 4 from the set of Boy’s Cinema Famous Heroes
  3. A set of cards by Hoyo De Monterrey of Havana

Each of these cards was mentioned in a Houdini article found in the Cartophilic Notes & News publication vol 29 no 5:

HHCE Collection

The Ogden’s cigarette card is his rookie card and is identified as 1902 but that date is not correct. That photo used on the card wasn’t taken until 1904. The set first came out in 1902, but the B series with Houdini came out later. Ogden Guinea Gold Cards ran from 1902 to 1907. And thanks to Kevin Connolly, we know there are two variations of this card, the one variation is with a whitish box with “HOUDINI THE HANDCUFF KING” inside the box. The other variation “HOUDINI THE HANDCUFF KING” is in the beige field without the box.”

The set of 24 Famous Heroes cards came out in the Weekly Boys Cinema Magazine, with the first card (No. 1) being inserted in the Boys Cinema Issue No. 117, Vol. 5 March 4, 1922. Each week, they issued another card.

HHCE Collection

The Harry Houdini card (No. 4) came out in Boys Cinema issue No. 120, Vol 5 March 25, 1922.

HHCE Collection

An extremely rare set of 25 Hoyo De Monterrey of Havanna Tobacco Cards (No. 57-81) circa 1920, depicting stills from his Terror Island movie. The card (No. 60) below, sold November 15 2019 on eBay for $247.02.

I have been able to identify 22 of the 25 cards and will be sharing images from my personal collection at later dates:

Latest Paramount Artcraft Feature Ads

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Previously, I had only been able to locate “Latest Paramount Artcraft ads” that included “The Grim Game”:

Finding one that included “Terror Island” as alluded me until now.

I am so glad to be able to add one with “Terror Island” to my collection and share it, along with “The Grim Game” ones from my collection.

So that you may know, The Grim Game is the best show in town, and I’d like to see “Terror Island” right over again.

Arrange for Houdini to Make Own-Story Features (and be directed by Burton King)

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While doing some research on Burton King, who first directed Houdini in The Master Mystery (1918), I came across the following Moving Picture World, March 8, 1919 article that I found very interesting.

But wait a minute, shortly after The Master Mystery was released, Lasky approached Houdini with a contract. So looks like Houdini abandoned (postponed) forming an independent production company and signed a deal with Famous Players Lasky (FPL).

  • Per Variety, in March 1919, Houdini was placed under contract by FPL), for a term beginning in May, (where he did the Grim Game).
  • Then in September 1919, according to Motion Picture News, he signed a new contract to appear in feature films, starting with Terror Island (TI).

TI did $111,000 in the United States and $54,000 abroad. Probably because of those low grosses Lasky and Paramount decided not to invest any more time or money in Houdini. His contract for further films was not picked up.

What makes the Moving Picture World article particularly interesting, is that appears to be the precursor to what would become the Houdini Picture Corporation (HPC), an independent production company formed “to make feature films with the magician as star” where “Houdini will write his own stories, and will be directed by Burton King.” After FPL broke ties with Houdini following TI, he made two features (The Man From Beyond and Haldane of Secret Service) for the HPC with Burton King as the director.

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Under Water Escape Photo(s) connected to Terror Island?

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The photo below is from my personal copy of the January 5th, 1921 issue of Boys Cinema. It shows Houdini about to be thrown into the water bound hand and foot.

Many of you may recall seeing this “Under Water Escape” image in “Houdini on Magic” by Walter B. Gibson:

It also appears in the Strand Magazine “Houdini the Enigma” by A. Conan Doyle:

But it first appeared in “Magical Rope Ties & Escapes” by Houdini in 1920:

Although, the Boys Cinema photo incorrectly identifies it as an incident in the Paramount Film, “Terror Island”, I believe it, along with Houdini’s dyed black hair for the movies helps support that it was taken during the making of Terror Island in 1919 for inclusion in his 1920 book Magical Rope Ties & Escapes.

Could it have been taken in Elliotta Springs while he was doing his underwater stunts for “Terror Island”?

Or was it taken at Lasky Studio, where we know Houdini did a series of photos with actors Thomas Meighan and Jack Pickford for the 1920 book, Magical Rope Ties & Escapes?

Regardless, comparing photo(s) with all of the stills from Houdini’s two Hollywood movies, “The Grim Game” and “Terror Island”, I believe that is Houdini’s Hollywood hair from “Terror Island”.

Thoughts on when and where under water escape was filmed?

White Studio Houdini Movie Photos

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The following two White Studio, NY “Houdini Movie Photos” advertised as “originals”  from an estate of magic and circus collection sold yesterday on eBay.

  • Original Houdini Magic Studio Photo #1 ($371.00 + $8.95 shipping):

Note: This is from Terror Island

  • Original Houdini Magic Studio Photo #2 ($515.09 + $8.95 shipping):

Note: This is from The Grim Game

The following White Studio photo below shows the above two White Studio photos (2 Terror Island, 8 Grim Game) plus other White Studio photographs from his movies (1 The Grim Game, 5 Haldane, 6 The Man From Beyond, 9-11 Master Mystery)

Note: This photo is courtesy of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Billy Rose Theatre collection. It was also part of the Houdini Art and Magic exhibition/book.