Last week, I shared my adventures in Scranton, PA with my friends Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz (D&D). Well the adventure didn’t stop there.  After three incredible days of being treated like a celebrity in Scranton, D&D took me to NYC for one more extra special day.

June 15th, Monday morning, I picked up D&D at the Houdini Museum and between the three of us we had a lot of fun navigating our way to Queens, NYC.  Once we got to Queens, we made a pit stop (which I highly recommend, LoL) and had lunch before proceeding to Machpelah Cemetery.  It was a beautiful day when we arrived.

What an incredible feeling came over me, when I turned right into the cemetery and saw Harry’s bust sitting atop the monument in all its grandeur for the first time in person.

Thanks to the efforts of D&D, this bust returned permanently in September 27, 2011 after going headless since 1993.

Visiting Houdini’s gravesite had been on my to-do list for years and now I could check that box.  It was definitely a surreal feeling.

That said, I was surprised, as was D&D, about a few things we observed at the site.

• The grass looked like it hadn’t been cut in quite a while – Dorothy made a phone call and was told had they knew she coming for a visit, they would have cut it
• Houdini’s grave stone was covered with tasteless cards, rust deposits from various items left, and graffiti (i.e., someone had actually drew a heart on it).
• There was no sign of any work being done on the SAM Mosaic emblem, other than the fact that there were some additional stones missing since D&D last visit.

While, we couldn’t do anything about the missing stones on the SAM Mosaic emblem, we could do our best to clean up the gravestone, tasteless playing cards, and weeds.

And speaking of missing stones, D&D have made arrangements to have Leopold’s and Gladys’s (Houdini’s brother and sister) markers that got vandalized in the early 1990’s restored permanently later this year.  The Gladys and Leopold headstones were damaged when they were used as batterers to destroy the benches (which have since been replaced). So I was able to see the benches that got replaced in 1996 by S.A.M. with help from David Copperfield and James Randi, the bust that got replaced in 2011 by D&D, and in the near future, Gladys and Leopold headstones being replaced by D&D.  Plus the SAM Mosaic tile will be getting a face lift hopefully soon, courtesy of the S.A.M.

While we were at the cemetery, we wanted to also pay our respects to Larry Weeks who passed away on October 13, 2014.  He called himself “Houdini’s Biggest Fan” and was the previous owner of the only known complete print of The Grim Game before he sold it to TCM in 2014 just before he passed away.  After a number of phone calls, we were finally able to locate where he is buried; which is just on the other side of the hill from Houdini.

After a nice afternoon at the cemetery, it was time to go to our next special destination, which wasn’t too far away. Oddly enough, it started to rain as soon as we made preparations to leave the cemetery.  Thank goodness, we had nice weather during our visit with Harry and company.

By the time we arrived at our next stop, the brief rain had stopped.

Our next stop was at Fred Pittella’s apartment which was like a Houdini and Escapes Museum.  This was not only a first for me, but also D&D. Our jaws dropped as we entered this shrine where every wall, display cabinet and trunk was filled with Houdini, Hardeen, and Competitors memorabilia. Fred by far has the largest and best collection of escape king memorabilia that I have ever seen.

This included an incredible handcuff collection which included extremely rare pairs of Bean Giants.

One of my favorite items was the original box and keys for Houdini’s Defiance Handcuff Act.

Credit: Fred Pittella Collection

Note: The Defiance Handcuff Act did not provide keys for at least two of the handcuffs in this ad: the Houdini Bell-lock Cuff and the Russian Manacle.

He definitely needs to publish a book on Escape Kings. Fred was an amazing host and allowed us full access to his entire collection. It was amazing to see the originals of so many items that have been published, along with items that have never been published. I wish I could have spent another day just going through his albums of rare photos, letters, playbills, and programs.  If I am ever in the area again, I will definitely take Fred up on his open invitation to come back anytime.

It was getting late and we had 8 pm tickets to Monday Night Magic, New York’s Longest Running Magic Show.  So off we went. The theatre was located in Greenwich Village at the famous landmark, the Café Wha?

There is a reason, this is New York’s Longest Running Magic Show; it was “that good”.

The MC and performers were all first-rate professionals and each one in their own unique way contributed to a fantastic evening of magic and entertainment.  And the management there was great as well. I highly, highly, recommend seeing Monday Night Magic.

After the show, we walked around the block to a diner, had some ice cream and hung out with all of the performers and people that made the show happen.  D&D shared their thoughts and expertise with the performers. We were having so much fun, we lost track of the time. It was now early in the morning the next day and we still had to drive back to Scranton, PA.

After hearing some more amazing stories from D&D, we pulled into the parking lot of the Houdini Museum in Scranton,PA  about 4:30 am and said our emotional good-byes.  This was an extra special trip and experience that I will never forget.

Special Thanks to Fred Pittella for sharing his amazing collection and to Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz for a trip of a lifetime.

For the first time since 1993, a bust of Harry Houdini ornaments his family grave site in Queens. David W. Dunlap of New York Times

According to a New York Times City Room Blog, “Houdini Returns (Of Course.)”, published on October 24, 2011 by David W. Dunlap:

A bust of Houdini atop the central pedestal of his family plot at Machpelah Cemetary in Queens was smashed or stolen four times between 1975 and 1993.  The Society of American Magicians, of which Houdini was president at the time of his death in 1926, then gave up trying to replace it.

The above quote implies that the bust was replaced three times between 1975 and 1993.

According to a New York Daily News Sunday Magazine, New York Live article, “The Trouble with Harry” on October 25, 1992 by John Bohannon:

Due to vandalism and theft, the bust has been replaced three times.

According to one of the Houdini New York Times article, “Houdini Returns (Of Course.)”, published on October 24, 2011 by David W. Dunlap:

Harry Houdini’s grave in Queens had gone headless since 1993, when the last of the four busts was wrecked.  In September, however, the Houdini Commandos struck.

That is, we know that the last (fourth?) bust was replaced with a replica in September 2011 by Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz of the HOUDINI MUSEUM IN SCRANTON, PA.

According to Benjilini on Houdini (1994); Below are the dates and some information pertaining to the busts:

• Original Mounted Bust Destroyed with a crowbar – April 1975
• 2^nd Bust (1^st copy (shell) Stolen – August 1983
• 3^rd Bust (2^nd copy (shell) Stolen – Nov 1988
• Two Benches Destroyed – May 1994

According to a John Cox at WILD ABOUT HARRY blog, below is the Grave timeline:

• 1916: Houdini erects plot and exedra in memory of his parents.
• November 4, 1926: Houdini is buried in plot.
• 1927: S.A.M. holds memorial service and unveils Houdini bust by John Cassidy (and exedra S.A.M. emblem?).
• April 1975: Original Houdini bust is smashed by vandals.
• Spring 1976: SAM replaces Houdini bust with replica.
• August 1983: Second Houdini bust is stolen. Replaced by S.A.M. with replica.
• 1987: Machpelah Cemetery goes into bankruptcy. State takes ownership.
• November 1990: Third Houdini bust is stolen. (Replaced?)
• 1993: Benches smashed and Gladys/Leopold headstones damaged.
• 1996: Grave is restored with funds raised by the S.A.M. with help from David Copperfield and James Randi. Houdini bust and Gladys/Leopold headstones are not replaced.
• March 2002: Police recover bust stolen in 1983 (returned to S.A.M. in 2011).
• September 2011: Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz replace Houdini bust with replica.
• January 2013: Anonymous owner shares photos of original smashed bust on WILD ABOUT HARRY.

If we compare Benjilini dates with John’s dates, we notice that the 3^rd bust was either stolen in November of 1988 or November of 1990; and the two benches were either destroyed in May of 1994 or sometime in 1993.

According to Bohannon: One bust was stolen in 1983, and another one was stolen in the late 1980s [1988 perhaps].

Sometime in 1990, John Cox of WILD ABOUT HARRY visited the Grave on just an ordinary day and saw what looked like a permanent bust on it; he has a photo.  Tom Interval of HOUDINI MUSEUM also visited the gravesite around 1990; he wrote an article, The Houdini Grave, documenting his visit that included some photos he took that day; the Houdini bust is missing in Tom’s photos.  According to Benjilini on Houdini (1994), the bust which is a black/gray color is mounted only for the “Broken Wand Ceremony” which takes place on the 31^st of October.  Benjilini had the honor of protecting the bust in October of 1990. The Parent Assembly of the Society of American Magicians keeps this bust in a safe place.

Tom Interval [Houdini Grave Aerial Map] mentioned that someone vandalized Leopold’s and Gladys headstones (Houdini’s brother and sister) in 1994, along with two hand-carved stone benches.  Other articles on the internet, like http://www.johncassidy.org.uk/houdini.html, mention 1993 when the vandalism took place:

More vandalism occurred in 1993, when the whole grave was wrecked. This time, famous modern magicians, including David Copperfield and James Randi contributed to the replacement of two granite benches and for the casting of a copy of the bust that was placed in position on the grave only at observances commemorating Houdini by the Society of American Magicians. The cemetery also contributed to restoring the family plot and prepared concrete bases for the new benches. The new bust was said to be ‘made of a marble-like compound which looks exactly like the original’.

So based on the circumstantial evidence above, do you think the bust stolen in November of 1988 (1990) got replaced and was it there in 1993 (May 1994) on the grave when it was vandalized?