Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times, had a nice article on the infamous Cahuenga alley used by Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Houdini and others.
You may recall that our friend John Bengtson who runs the excellent blog Silent Locations, discovered Houdini used the Cahuenga alley in The Grim Game and launched a campaign to change the name of the alley to Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd alley.
Thanks to Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz of the Houdini Museum in Scranton for the Los Angeles Times link.
In October 2016 and February 2021, this very nice publicity illustration above sold at the Potter & Potter Auction for $1920 and $2040 respectively. Congratulations to the new owner!
Below is the auction description:
LOT 63 DETAILS
[Houdini, Harry (Ehrich Weiss)] Ogle, R.B. Original Publicity Illustration of Houdini. Circa 1919. Pen and ink on paper, possibly depicting a scene from The Master Mystery (1920), in which Houdini is shown climbing through an open window into a bedroom at night and bearing down on a man wielding a dagger. “Kinema Comic” annotated in pencil in lower margin, with scattered printer’s annotations and stamps. Artist’s name identified on verso. 10 x 13″. Old central vertical fold.
The description mentions that it is “Possibly Depicting a Scene from The Master Mystery”.
Well, I have seen all of Houdini’s Movie, The Master Mystery, plus studied the script, synopsis, and book, and can tell you that is not a scene from The Master Mystery.
So what is it a scene from. Well, I have also have read a number of “The Amazing Exploits of Houdini” found in The Kinema Comic and that illustration was made for the story “In The Dead of Night” found in the May 29 1920 v1 n6 issue that I did a post on.
That said, the February 2021 Potter & Potter Auction did feature some nice items from his movie, “The Grim Game”, Lot 61 Lobby Card ($1,680) and Lot 62 Pressbook ($2,040).
Next Week:
Thanks to our good friend Arthur Moses, I get to share the Portuguese version of an article titled, How Does Houdini Do It? By William Eastman. The English version of this article first appeared in the May 1921 Physical Culture Magazine. The photos are the highlight of the article.
Bonus:
Below is a snippet from the May 1921 Physical Culture Magazine article that covers his movies.
Potter & Potter have posted their February 27 magic auction which includes a listing for a Houdini Grim Game Press Book.
Lot 62 Description
Houdini, Harry (Ehrich Weisz). Houdini Grim Game Press Book. New York: Famous Players-Lasky, 1919. Oversize booklet filled with stories and data related to the stunt-filled film, and reproducing dozens of photographs and posters used to advertise it. Front wrapper detached, lacking rear wrapper. 15 ½ x 10 ½”.
Any Grim Game Pressbook is an extremely rare item. This one is almost complete, only missing pages 23 and 24 (rear wrapper). In fact, I only know of one complete Pressbook with all 24 pages.
Original 24 page pressbook
I happen to have a 24 page reproduction from Stephen A Sparks, who once owned the original.
As well as a 24 page reproduction that Arthur Moses included in the limited Grim Game Souvenir Folder given to Houdini Nuts in celebration of the 2015 TCM screening of the movie:
Besides the reproductions, the original 22 page pressbook being auctioned off on February 27th and the one 24 page original, I am only aware of two others:
The 20 page original Pressbook I own.
And an original Houdini signed wrapper in the collection of Ken Trombly.
Credit: Ken Trombly Collection
Advertising for Houdini’s four “feature” movies told audiences what they could expect to SEE:
Last week (Oct 11) marked the 100th anniversary of the release of Houdini’s “The Grim Game” in the United Kingdom. Prior to the release, Trade Shows occurred earlier in the year.
To celebrate, I share a couple Bioscope Ads:
The Bioscope Feb 19, 1920; BTW: Aeroplane accident occured May 31st, 1919 and Houdini broke his wrist June 28th, 1919.
The Bioscope Feb 26, 1920
Related:
Boys Cinema ran every week from Dec 1919 (n1) to May 1940 (n1063). Houdini appeared in 1920, 1921, 1922, and 1923 issues:
This week I share Houdini’s appearance on the cover of Boys Cinema March 25, 1922. v5 n120 from the mighty Arthur Moses collection.
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. The Harry Houdini card (No. 4) came out in Boys Cinema issue No. 120, Vol 5 March 25, 1922.
And the card is available on eBay from time to time, but the magazine is extremely hard to find. So it appears more cards have survived than the magazine the card was inserted in. Thank You Arthur!
Boys Cinema ran every week from Dec 1919 (n1) to May 1940 (n1063). Houdini appeared in 1920, 1921, 1922, and 1923 issues:
This week I share Houdini’s appearance in Boys Cinema March 4, 1922. v5 n117 from my personal collection.
Boys Cinema ran every week from Dec 1919 (n1) to May 1940 (n1063). Houdini appeared in 1920, 1921, 1922, and 1923 issues:
This week I share Houdini’s appearance in Boys Cinema July 30, 1921. v4 n86 from my personal collection.
Boys Cinema ran every week from Dec 1919 (n1) to May 1940 (n1063). Houdini appeared in 1920, 1921, 1922, and 1923 issues:
This week I share Houdini’s appearance in Boys Cinema June 25, 1921. v4 n81 from my personal collection.
