UPDATE: Scranton Screening of The Grim Game – Same date, New Venue

Visiting the Houdini Museum and Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz in Scranton, PA has been on my To-Do list for quite a while.  Well, with the latest announcement that The Grim Game will screen at the historic Leonard Theater in Scranton, PA on June 13^th, there are no more excuses.  I plan to be there to support Dorothy and Dick and be a part of this exclusive showing at The Leonard Theatre, “Scranton’s Oldest Theater”.

Below is the schedule for this special event:

6:00 PM – VIP Admission

6:00 to 7:00 PM – VIP Cocktail Party, includes hors d’ourves & OPEN bar.

7:00 PM – Reserved & General Admission

7:00 to 8:00 PM – Houdini displays, pre-movie discussion & cash bar.

8:00 PM – The Grim Game movie screening

9:30 to 10:30 PM – Houdini displays, post-movie discussion & cash bar.

For advance tickets, go to: www.theleonardtheater.com

Hope to see you, there.

Related Posts:

• Best Things to do in Scranton
• Review of The Grim Game and the festivities in Hollywood

My friend, John Cox, over at Wild About Harry, knocked it out of the park with a two part interview with Rick Schmidlin, the man who produced the restoration of Houdini’s “The Grim Game”.  Check it out.

• Rick Schmidlin (Part I): Finding The Grim Game
• Rick Schmidlin (Part II): Saving The Grim Game

BONUS INTERVIEW is coming.

In Part II of the interview, we discover that it was in 1959 when a 16mm negative and print was made from a 35mm nitrate original [that Larry Weeks acquired in 1947 from Houdini heirs according to the opening title card in the restored movie]. What we don’t find out is the specifics of how and where Larry might have gotten his original 35mm nitrate print.  But not to worry, John is going to do a BONUS INTERVIEW in which he and Rick speculate on where Larry might have gotten his original 35mm print.  It should be interesting indeed. Stay tuned!

UPDATE:

BONUS INTERVIEW is here.

• Rick Schmidlin (Bonus): Where did Larry Weeks get The Grim Game?

Credit: Cecil B. Demille Trust

Word of the plane-changing job passed around local aviation circles as the Lasky Company searched for a stunt man to double for Houdini.  No one responded because several stunt men had already been killed at air shows while trying to duplicate Locklear’s famous stunt. Robert E. Kennedy, a former lieutenant and flying instructor in the Air Service, applied for the dangerous job and immediately received a contract.

The logical choice would have been Locklear.  After all, Houdini knew him and Locklear was the only pilot in America at the time, indeed in the world making plane transfers.  But the man Willat hired for the stunt was Robert E Kennedy, fresh out of the Air Service where he had been an instructor at March Field.  It was first time that Kennedy had ever attempted a plane change.  But like so many other pilots at the time, he had heard of Locklear’s exploits and thought it worth an attempt.

Future related posts will include:

• What happened to Robert E Kennedy after the plane incident?
• What happened to David Thompson, whose plane flipped over in the plane incident?

Sources:

• The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood Classic Aviation Movies by H.Hugh Wynne
• Locklear: The Man Who Walked on Wings by Art Ronnie

Brane Zivlovic was recently in Los Angeles for the TCM Classic Film Festival.  He conducted a live performance of his score for Harry Houdini’s silent film The Grim Game (1919) at the closing of the festival…

Click here to read the rest of the article posted at The Office of Special Programs at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

The Grim Game will next screen at the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 16.

Bonus: See below for the Grim Game musical ensemble and runtime”:

The Society of American Magicians (S.A.M.) is going to host the Screening of “The Grim Game” at the 2015 Convention in Philadelphia.

Click here for the official news and press.

Larry Weeks, back in the 60s 70s and 80s would occasionally screen the film at magic conventions, S.A.M. assemblies and after S.A.M. broken wand ceremonies.

I believe the first magic convention he screened it at was in April 1964 at The Wizard’s Conclave in Plainfield NJ.  It was also shown publicly on March 1974 at The New School in New York.  In the 80’s the S.A.M. parent assembly in New York would screen it as part of “Houdini Night” produced by Larry Weeks.  And the last time that the Grim Game screened at a Magic Convention was at a September 1986 Magicians Convention in Allentown PA.  Also in 1986, after an S.A.M. broken wand ceremony conducted at Houdini’s grave at Machpelah Cemetery in New York, on October 31^st, Larry Weeks gave a lecture on Houdini and showed “The Grim Game at the Glendale Public Library in New York.

Dorothy Dietrich, Rick Schmidlin and Dick Brookz with the Original Title Card for The Grim Game

In my review of the Grim Game, I mentioned that I finally was able to find out which set of original sub-title and spoken title cards were actually used; that is the restored movie followed the stand-alone set that contained 111 titles as opposed to the 94 titles embedded with the 422 scenes of the script that I read at the Margaret Herrick Library.

TCM Film Festival Photo by Edward M. PioRoda

The 111 original title cards included a Main Title (seen above), Producer Title and Credit Title, that appeared when the film started.

In addition to the original title cards, the restored version added an intro card before the film starts, which included Larry Week’s story.  It also included three other title cards that I have been given permission to share.

This included a Producer Credit Title card with restoration producer Rick Schmidlin, a Consultant Credit Title card with consultants Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz, and a Special Thanks Credit Title card that included a number of resources.

I think these Title cards speak for themselves.

Thank You to all who contributed.