Paramount-Artcraft Pictures: Classic Houdini Publicity Poses

1920s Harry Houdini Original Paramount Pictures Photo

The above photo of a classic Houdini pose just sold on eBay February 9th for $204.70; congratulations to the winner.

Below are other classic Houdini publicity poses taken when Houdini was working for Paramount-Artcraft Pictures:

TGG PressBook Cover 001

The above image of Houdini appears on the cover of the pressbook for The Grim Game as well as the pressbook for Terror Island. This image of Houdini may have been used more than any other image of Houdini for publicity abroad; See Kevin Connolly’s blog.

Lawsons Auction Sale 7919 -Lot 1813

The signed photo above will be auctioned by Lawsons in New South Wales on Friday, February 22, 2013. See John Cox’s blog for more info on auction.

Note: All of the above images can be found on various cards. Below are some examples from eBay that as of this date are currently for sale:

Topps Hollywood Walk of Fame Card

eBay 1920 Spanish Card

eBay 1920s Card from Cuba

Spanish Trading Card Translated

A rare 1930 Spanish Houdini Trading Card just sold on Ebay for $214.50. Below is the text from the back of the card translated to English by Google translator:

One movie has been enough for this fantastic artist was known universally. Son of a wealthy merchant born in Chicago in 1887, where he studied engineering. From child showed always a strong character and determined that led to the realization of their daring plans. I build armor-plating which was the reason of his only film prinicipal “Houdini and human tank”, which gave him much popularity.

It is of a nervous temperament, and among his numerous feats has made the climb in front of  a “skyscraper” with the sole help of his feet and hands.

Now retired from filmmaking.

So now that it’s somewhat translated, what does this all mean? Your guess is as good as mine.  My real interest in this card is actually the image of Houdini on the front.  You see it is the same image that appears on the cover of The Grim Game Press Book and
The Terror Island Press Book: