I recently went through a Houdini scrapbook compiled by Houdini’s personal friend, Quincy Kilby, and thought I would share items related to his movies in chronological order.
Today, I share a June 14th Letter:
This is where we find out that he has “signed with B.A. Rolfe for a ten-reel serial” to be written by Arthur B. Reeve, and Charles A. Logue.
He signed the contract on June 5, 1918 and was guaranteed a salary of $1500 per week during production and promised half the net profit (a codicil over which he would later sue). The proposed serial’s length was contractually specified at 10 chapters but later increased to 15.
Alright Joe–where did you see Kilby’s scrapbook? Isn’t it housed at the Boston Public Library? Thanks for the share!
I saw a digitized copy of it, and yes, it is housed at the BPL.
Houdini highly regarded Kilby like a brother. Didn’t he give the Sara Bernhardt statuette to Kilby? And then he gifted it to Harvard?
Believe he got the statue after Houdini’s death, then he donated to Harvard.
After HH passed? Understood. Bess must have gifted it to him. Thanks!
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