Last week, I shared Day 1 (Official Houdini Séance Experience) of my incredible Houdini Adventure on the East Coast, made possible by my friend and tour guide, Fred Pittella. Today, I share Day 2 (11/1), where Fred had made arrangements to visit George Goebel and his lovely wife, Carole.

First off let me just say, it is not that easy finding their place, nor is it easy for them to have visitors, but they welcomed Fred, Linda and I with open arms.

For those that don’t know who George Goebel is, let me share a little bit about this extraordinary gentleman.

From Magicpedia:

George Goebel (b. 1932), was a costumier in Baltimore and semi-professional illusionist with large full-evening show starting in the late 1960s to the early 1980s.

His interest in magic began at the age of 10 when he received a Gilbert Mysto Magic Set one Christmas.

Two years after high school, Goebel enlisted in the Army Security Agency and was stationed in Japan. As owner of A.T. Jones Co. in Baltimore he has outfitted many shows and operas.

He married Carole Busby, a social worker, in 1957, who worked onstage as his assistant.

Goebel assembled the “George Goebel Magic Show” in 1968, with a cast of 30 and 60 crates of illusions, travelling aboard a 22-foot truck.

He came to national attention when his friend Milbourne Christopher invited him to appear with him on Jackie Gleason’s 1962 Christmas special. He also appeared again with Christopher on a subsequent Gleason show, on “The Garry Moore Show” and in a Houdini documentary.

George and Carole touched our hearts from the moment we first met. This visit was as special to them as it what to us. Carole welcomed us to their charming home with champagne and orange juice as we got comfortable in the living room. And George got dressed up for the occasion and had so much he wanted us to experience.

George kept saying, I think you might find something you might like in that box, notebook, or cabinet.  It seemed to bring as much joy to George as it did to Fred and I, seeing us experience these Houdini treasures. George even had me break the seals (in fact he insisted) on some items (e.g., envelope with billets folded by Houdini), just so I could hold something that Houdini Himself did. It was all so surreal.

While I can’t share the details of everything, we got to see and experience, I can share that we got to see and read postcards from Houdini to his Sister Carry (sometimes spelled Carrie).

We then went to the dining room, where Houdini Himself greeted us.

Carole brought in a platter of delicious sandwiches to enjoy, along with a variety of cheesecakes to choose from.

George then had us continue to go thru his treasures, including rare posters (like the Wintergarten poster he purchased for $25 in the 1950’s), playbills and books (some annotated and signed by “Harry Handcuff Houdini”).

Fred also got his fix of cuffs while he was there, including a wooden pair with the “HH” stamp on it.

I also got to read ‘Challenged’ or ‘Houdini upside down’, a play in 1 act and 2 scenes by Harry Houdini.

I was like a kid in a candy shop, although, I think George was the biggest kid of all. I will never forget the joy on his face or the time we had together; it was truly something very special we all shared.

Although we didn’t want our time with George and Carole to end, we needed to get on the road to head back to Fred and Linda’s place (aka Fred Pittella’s Houdini & Escapes Museum) in New York.

After a nice drive and great conversation, we arrived at their place in New York.

This was to be my second visit here, where every wall, display cabinet and trunk were 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.

To read about my first visit, please click on the link below”

• Trip to New York is Extra Special

The second visit was just as special and would allow me additional time to go through Fred’s albums of rare photos, letters, playbills, and programs, but not before Fred, Linda and I went out and enjoyed an incredible Italian dinner.

After gnocchi & meatballs for appetizers, cheese raviolis as an entrée and the restaurants signature dessert, we returned to Fred Pittella’s Houdini & Escapes Museum, where Fred shared a book, he recently acquired that had handwritten notes in it that provided more evidence of Houdini possibly having an affair with Charmian London. Wow!

Well as you can imagine, it was getting quite late (lost track of time) and Fred had quite the agenda planned for the next part (Day 3) of our adventure.  To be continued…

So far, I have only posted teaser photos from each day (10/31-11/3 and 11/4) of my extra special trip to the East Coast.

Today, I plan to share the 10/31 Official Houdini Experience, which will be the first of a number reports describing my incredible Houdini Adventure on the East Coast, made possible by my friend and tour guide, Fred Pittella, as well as others that I will mention as we take a ride on this journey.

This year, The Official Houdini Seance was in Baltimore Maryland at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, where the exhibition, Inescapable: The Life and Legacy of Harry Houdini, is currently on display through January 19, 2019.

I flew in on the day of the Séance, checked in to my hotel, and then walked to the museum, where I met fellow Houdini Nuts, Fred Pittella, Arthur Moses and their significant others sitting in the front row, just prior to the PROGRAM OF EVENTS starting:

WELCOME by Marvin Pinkert, Executive Director, Jewish Museum of Maryland

INTRODUCTION TO THE EVENING by Thomas Boldt

COLLECTING HOUDINI by Ken Trombly

Ken shared a treasure from his collection that documented the fact that one of Houdini’s spiritualist enemies, slate-writer Pierre Keeler, was proven to be charlatan with the help of Bess Houdini’s niece Julia Sawyer. She showed up in Lily Dale NY, a hot-bed of spiritualists, and had Keeler communicate with dead relatives that didn’t exist, exposing him as a fraud.

HOUDINI AMONG THE SPIRITS by Arthur Moses

Arthur brought two programs for the séance table.  One titled: HOUDINI, “Can the Dead Speak to the Living” and the other, Spooks! Spooks! “Can the Dead Speak?”.

The question was asked, instead of the dead speaking to the living, can the living speak to the dead? Houdini wanted to believe you could make contact with the other side but he knew these Spiritualist Mediums were all charlatans and frauds. So now that Houdini is on the other side, can he come back to our side and be with us.

After Ken and Arthur spoke, the audience was given the chance to ask a couple questions.  These included a debate about whether Houdini was a spy. Arthur was ambivalent, but said if you were really going to put him on the spot, he would say No. Ken commented that there is circumstantial evidence that Ehrich Weiss (aka Houdini) maybe had access to certain things and shared certain things, but could say no more, otherwise he would have to kill us, everybody laughed.

There was also a question about the difference between Spiritualism and Spiritism. Arthur suggested looking at it as the same thing.  And David London commented that the two words are used interchangeably.

HOUDINI LOCKS by Fred Pittella

Fred has been fascinated with Houdini and Handcuffs since he was 12 years old. And has been part the séance for over 20 years.  He is a handcuff expert.

He shared a brief history of Houdini and the handcuff act.

He mentioned the 5 special handcuffs, the Russian Manacle (SAM collection), Letter Cuff (private collection in Michigan), Bell Cuff (location unknown since it was traded for plumbing work done in their home), Hungarian Handcuff (owned by Bill Radner), Mirror Handcuff (David Copperfield Collection).

Also talked about the Bean Giant, “Jumpers”, “King breakers”, Houdini’s 1907 Handcuffs Secrets book, and the Defiance Handcuff Act.

And last but not least he shared the pair of cuffs that Houdini taught his fox terrier dog, “Bobby” how to escape from.

Houdini was the man that nothing on earth could hold.

INTERLUDE

Fred Pittella showed me the cuffs that Houdini’s dog, Bobby, used to escape from; in fact, he let me hold them, which was quite an honor.

I was able to take Fred Pittella’s vacated seat in the front row, since Fred was going to be on stage sitting at the Séance table as an Inner Circle member.

PRESENTATION OF THE SÉANCE HANDCUFFS by Bill Radner

Bill shared that Houdini died on October 31^st, 1926 and they didn’t expect him to make it that long. They expected him to pass away two or three days sooner, but he wanted to die on Halloween.

Bill then introduced three special items for the séance table: The Séance Cuff, which Houdini said he would open after he died; The Bean Giant Cuff that Houdini challenged imitators with; and an adjustable key from Houdini’s personal collection.

THE OFFICIAL HOUDINI SÉANCE conducted by Medium Maggie Salter

Nine members (Bill Radner, Tom Boldt, Arthur Moses, Ken Trombly, Bruce Averbook, Fred Pittella, Robert Somerdin, Midge Markey, and David London) of The Inner Circle took their seats at the table, followed by special guest, Debbie Hardeen (Houdini’s grand-niece) and then Medium Maggie Salter.

Maggie alternately reported feeling very hot and very cold, having a dry throat and the feeling that she was being contacted.

Maggie noted the image of a hollowed-out book; later Bruce seated at the table asked Maggie for more info about the book, which led to discovering that a number of collectors at the table have unpublished Houdini manuscripts in their collection.

Someone kicked over a plastic cup. Maggie confirmed that was not Houdini.

Midge seated at the table noted that the pages of one of the programs fluttered three different times. Could have been the A/C or someone at the table breathing heavy?

Maggie made references to a Rose Garden. Might this refer to Bess and Harry’s song, Rosie Sweet Rosabel?

After about 45 minutes, the séance concluded with Bill thanking the medium for trying, but concluded that Houdini did not make an appearance this evening.  Maybe next year.

FINALE by Harley Newman, Escape Artist (Allentown, PA)

Harley produced three tennis balls from his mouth (my personal favorite), swallowed a sword that I pulled out of his mouth, escaped from chains, and after a couple tries, successfully balanced atop a single metal spike.  Fantastic!!!

After the program was over, Fred Pittella, took my program and got it signed by all the members of the inner circle, which I greatly appreciated.

After posing for pictures in the Houdini exhibit, we then went to a near-by hotel, had drinks, appetizers and great conversation. Everyone made me feel welcome.  I especially enjoyed meeting Debbie Hardeen, as well as the conversation I had with Tom Boldt about Houdini’s movies.

What an incredible Halloween and this was only day 1 of my East Coast adventure. Fred Pittella had lots more planned for us.

Last week, I posted some teaser photos during my HHCE East Coast Trip that covered, 10/31, 11/1, 11/2 and 11/3.

Today, I was hoping to have a report on my 10/31 Official Houdini experience, but just had too many other things to attend to when I returned to the West Coast.

So for today, I am going to share some teaser photos from the last day (11/4) of my HHCE East  Coast Trip.

Hopefully, next week, I can share the 10/31 Official Houdini Experience, which will be the first of a number reports describing my incredible Houdini Adventure on the East Coast, made possible by my friend and tour guide, Fred Pittella, as well as others that I will mention as we take a ride on this journey.

On November 1st, 2018, Dorothy Dietrich, possibly the first woman to perform the Houdini broken wand ceremony, discovered that his historical monument is developing cracks.

Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz (D&D) best guess is that water got in, froze and created cracks.

The Society of American Magicians has been notified and they are proceeding with plans to address the issue.

The following are some teaser photos of my East Coast Trip so far:

10/31

11/1

11/2

11/3

Detailed report(s) to follow starting next week after I return to the West Coast.