The Official Houdini Séance 2015 – A day of science, history, escapes, and magic on Halloween

And I was there for it all at the Brava Theatre in San Francisco.

In September, Robert Strong who was producing The Official Houdini Séance with William Radner and Tom Boldt contacted me to see if I was interested in attending this event and if so he would provide me a VIP ticket.  I appreciated the offer, but I had already backed the Houdini Séance for 3 VIP tickets via Kickstarter and the proceeds were going to a good cause, Wonderfest, a non-profit that usually produces free science education events and online content.

Robert Strong also contacted me 5 days before the event to see if I was available for dinner Friday night (10/30) if he got a group together.  I appreciated this offer as well, but I wasn’t going to be in San Francisco until Saturday (10/31).

I also got a nice text from Fred Pittella (who I met in person in March at the Premier of The Grim Game in Hollywood and also at his Houdini and Escapes Museum in New York) asking me when I got in on Friday so we could spend some time which I also appreciated. I told him I would see him on Saturday.

On Friday (10/30), I worked and then drove up to San Jose from Los Angeles to visit my son and daughter-in-law who were going to attend the Official Séance with me on Saturday evening.

After spending quality time with my son, I took the bullet train Saturday morning from San Jose to San Francisco.  The hotel I was staying at in SF was only a mile away so I walked to it, checked in, got ready for the day of shows, and then took a cab to the Brava Theater in San Francisco.

I arrived just in time for The Greatest Halloween Magic Show of All Time featuring Robert Strong, Paul Draper, & Justin Willman.  I sat with Fred Pittella (New York resident) and Tom Boldt (Appleton resident).

Robert Strong kicked off the show with some great comedy magic routines (Bowling Ball from sketch pad, disappearing ketchup bottle, pom-pom stick and needle thru balloon).

Paul Draper then performed some great comedy mentalism which included 5 pieces of candy (1 white, 4 gold) and 5 members of the audience; a soap bubble that became solid; mind blowing revelations of two volunteer’s drawings that matched while his eyes were covered with coins and duct tape, and a beautiful Linking Rings routine he performed while singing.

MC Robert Strong then took the stage again where he did a plastic cup gag, a twisting arm illusion, and a time travel routine where two one hundred dollar bills are placed in one of three envelopes and then one by one shredded until the bills are finally revealed inside of a twinkie.

Justin Willman then closed the show with some amazing magic with a lighter, a light appears and then disappears LoL; 2 cups filled with coke (one on top of Justin’s head and one on his protégé head) get turned over with some funny results; the empty dented coke can then magically seals itself and becomes full again right before our eyes; Siri from the iPhone teaches a magic trick with a cloth napkin and a bandana (banana) that was hilarious; a bar stool from Houdini’s dressing room floats; and then a borrowed iPhone and the calculator app along with a number of members from the audience is used in an amazing prediction, where you had to be there to “Live in the moment” on 31 October 2015 at exactly 3:15pm.

After the show, Fred Pittella asked if I saw the Grim Game Ad’s on the table for the San Francisco Film Festival on December 5, 2015.  It is another opportunity for people to see The Grim Game on a big screen with live music.

Tom Boldt then asked if I wanted to join Fred and him for some ice cream.  We walked down the street where they got ice cream and I got a bite to eat. What a privilege and honor to talk to two Houdini experts and major collectors. We sat at the counter and talked about the Potter & Potter auction, Haversat auction, Houdini’s father in Appleton, Larry Weeks, The Grim Game, and missing footage of Terror Island and The Master Mystery.  It is a conversation that I will cherish.  Fred graciously picked up the check.

Well, it was time to head back to the theater for the discussion of “Skepticism and the Supernatural” with Jamy Ian Swiss and Michael Shermer.  It was here we met up with John Cox of WildAboutHoudini and the Great David Saltman of HoudiniFile.com.   Earlier that morning John Cox led an expedition to find a few San Francisco Houdini sites.  See his report for full details on this.

The Skepticism and Supernatural talk which I found very interesting was broken up into four parts: Part 1 – Shermer; Part 2 -Jamy Ian Swiss; Part 3 – Shermer and Swiss and Part 4 – Q&A

After the talk, I got a chance to talk with David Saltman before my son and daughter-in-law arrived to experience the Houdini Séance VIP treatment.  We shared our stories of how we got interested in Houdini and magic and the paths that led us to each have our own Houdini blogs.  I am only sorry I didn’t get to spend more time talking with David.

My son and daughter-in-law arrived and I introduced them to John Cox. We then went upstairs where they were having appetizers and wine for the VIP ticket holders.  As it turns out, my son knew the gentleman that was walking around doing magic and looked like Merlin; his name is Kim Silverman and he is the president of the Society of American Magicians in Palo Alto.

After some appetizers, we headed downstairs to the lobby to get a beer and experience the scientific experiments going on.  My son got to lie on a bed of nails.

It was now time to take our VIP seats for the show.

Robert Strong kicked off the show with some introductions and great comedy magic routines (Bowling Ball from sketch pad, vanishing hanky, and shackle handcuff escape).

Escape Artist Brian Brushwood of Austin was to perform next, but the Austin airport was closed due to flooding from a Hurricane.  Apparently Austin is the only thing Brian cannot escape.

John Cox was up next and he did not disappoint. His entertaining talk on Houdini’s background and history was well received by all. To John’s credit, he was able to share a lot of great information on Houdini (from early years to final years) in the short amount of time he was allotted. This also included information on Houdini’s four appearances (June 1899, September 1907, November 1915, and March 1923) in San Francisco. He left quite the impression with my son.

Next up was the Earnest Séance.  While they were setting up the table on the stage for that, Robert Strong entertained the audience with a card prediction that had everyone in the audience think of a card, and then change their mind to another card.  He then randomly had a member of the audience (my son) selected to come up on stage and his thought of card was the only one reversed in the deck.

Robert then introduced the members of the inner circle: William Radner, Tom Boldt, Bruce Averbook, John Cox, Midge Markey, Fred Pittella, Robert Somerdin, and two guest attendees (John Michael Zorko and Sophia Liu’s 11 year old son) from San Francisco.

Medium Terri Huberman then tried her best to summon Houdini and the spirits which included references to a mother and a brother that appeared to resonate with one of the members of the inner circle, but ultimately this spirit was not Houdini and the medium had to end the Earnest Séance because her time was up.

Next up was the Psychology part of the show with Melina Uncapher, a UCSF Neuroscientist.

This was followed by Magician/Skeptic Jamy Ian Swiss who made a strong psychic connection (LoL) with the audience by asking for a show of hands how many people in the audience have a mother and then asked how many of them had a brother.  He also played a recording of Harry Houdini’s voice introducing the water torture cell; talked about Houdini’s connection with Conan Doyle and Margery, discussed Randi’s million dollar challenge; and played a recording of Bess Houdini at the Final Houdini Séance.

Next up was Justin Willman who I met at a Houdini Historical Roast in Los Angeles earlier this year where he played Houdini.

He stole the show IMHO.  He performed some mind-blowing routines with a lighter, soup ladle, wireless printer, and borrowed iPhones.  He closed his part of the show with an amazing prediction where you had to be there to “Live in the moment” on 31 October 2015 at exactly 9:48 pm.

This was followed by Skeptic Michael Shermer who spoke on skepticism, science and doubt.

Next up was the Magical Séance part of the show with Mentalist Paul Draper, who was born on Halloween and sang “Asleep in the Deep” which the orchestra used to play when Harry Houdini was performing the Water Torture Cell.   The solo was a big hit.  He followed his solo with some spoon bending, ESP cards and slate writing.  The lights were then turned off.  When the lights were turned back on, the randomly selected audience members sitting around the séance table holding hands said they felt the table rise.

Robert Strong then thanked everyone for attending the 2015 Official Houdini Séance and hoped everyone had a great time.  We did!

The next day, my daughter-in-law planned a surprise Birthday and Sunday Football Watching Party for my son and all his friends at the Firehouse Gastropub in San Jose.  It was nice to see everyone before I had to drive back to Los Angeles.

All in all, it was a great trip.