Continuation of HOUDINI THE GREAT Story Treatment by Frank O’Connor and Dore Schary, dated January 3, 1936:
That night at the show, thousands of people have crowded into the theatre to listen to the startling expose that Houdini has promised.
Houdini is back stage making preparations for his Chinese torture cell trick.
Houdini tells his assistants that he will perform the trick after his talk and expose.
Houdini goes to his dressing room to prepare himself for his appearance. When he gets to his dressing room, a figure of a man clothed in black hat and coat approaches him. He tells Houdini that he is here to convince him, that he, Houdini, must not give his message tonight.
The man takes a gun from his pocket; Houdini rushes him and the man fires and Houdini staggers under the impact of the bullet which hits him in the stomach. There is a sound of another shot and the black garbed man falls into the shadows of the curtained corner.
The door is opened by a group of excited people who want to know what has happened. Houdini doesn’t say that he has been wounded. He merely, says – I’ve seen a man kill himself – for his God.
Houdini, still not telling anyone that he has been wounded, goes out on the stage and gives his message to the audience.
He tells them that the subject of the message has been slightly altered due to something he has suddenly learned.
He tells them that there is a God, that they must believe that. He tells them that there is a hereafter and they must believe that too. And he says that they must not believe those crooked and ruthless charlatans who bleed them in the misled hope that they can establish contact with the spiritual world.
He tells them that someday they will all learn the secret but that they will not learn it from fakers who produce phony hands and spooky voices form wired chambers.
And after his speech, he prepares for his trick, a dangerous ordeal which he accomplishes successfully.
After he gets out of the cell at the conclusion of his act, he staggers and falls to the floor. The curtain is rung down as the audience applauds and cheers wildly. Bess and Powers and some others rush to Houdini. He tells them that he has been hurt – that he is dying.
Bess holds him in her arms. He tells her not to be frightened – that someday, somewhere, they will see each other again. He tells her that someday she, too, will learn the secret he is learning now but she will never learn until her time has come.
He tells them all that they must believe in God and that he is happy that he has found out the truth before he died.
THE END!
Amazing! Found some background at http://www.houdini.org/TheLifeOfHoudiniMovieHardeenDoreSchary.html
I agree. Thanks for the additional background; it is much appreciated.
On March 18, 1944 Showmen’s Trade Review reported:
“Houdini,” an original screen story of the greatest of magicians, written by Dore Schary and Frank O’Connor has been purchased [from Paramount] by Vanguard Films, Inc. No casting has been done as yet, but production has been scheduled to start in May.
From http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2009/02/evidence-of-1936-houdini-movie.html
“Interestingly, the story ends with Houdini being assassinated by a spiritualist gunman in a crowd. As Bessie was involved in this version, it’s maybe telling that she was okay with pinning the direct cause of Houdini’s death on the spiritualist community. Did she consider J. Gordon Whitehead an “assassin”?
It would take more than a decade for Paramount to finally make the Houdini movie, and when they did both Bessie and Edward Saint were dead and Dore Schary had moved onto MGM. That film was, of course, the classic HOUDINI starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.”
Fantastic find.
We have quite a bit of background on our web page ( http://www.houdini.org/TheLifeOfHoudiniMovieHardeenDoreSchary.html ) mentioned above by David Saltman. David, thanks for noticing.
Seems there were two different endings. I guess that is how these things are worked out. Glad this was never done with the very serious religious ending. It would probably have been edited out, but who knows? Curious to know if you can say, where did you find this script? Is this all of it? Can the full treatment be accessed online?
Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz
The Houdini Museum Tour and Magic Show
The Only Building in the World Dedicated to Houdini
More can be found here by searching the page for the name Houdini, but as I recall it may already all be covered on our above mentioned Houdini Museum page on Schary.
http://archive.org/stream/filmdailyvolume669newy/filmdailyvolume669newy_djvu.txt
Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz
The Houdini Museum Tour and Magic Show
The Only Building in the World Dedicated to Houdini
All of the Schary files went to The University of Wisconsin. They are located here in their archives on Schary
Houdini
Box 42 Folder 5 Correspondence, 1944-1948
Box 42 Folder 6 Treatment, April 18, 1945
Box 42 Folder 7 Notes
Box 42 Folder 8 Script by Frank O’Conner and DS, February 1, 1936
This has a different date for the Script, about a month later, so it may have changed. Possibly it is available from the library. If someone lives near they could check it out, if it is not available any other way.
Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz
The Houdini Museum Tour and Magic Show
The Only Building in the World Dedicated to Houdini
This is from my notes of the original story treatment, dated January 3, 1936 which I reviewed in 2012 at the Margaret Herrick Library. It is 43 pages. According to The Film Daily on January 13, 1936, they started writing the screenplay for Paramount shortly thereafter.
This is great stuff, Joe!
Yeah, John Canon had an original copy of this script for sale several years back and I got to look it over at his bookstore in Fullerton. I remember this shooting death ending.
The whole heavy handed “believe in God” thing…weird.
BTW, is this the last part? I want to link to these when you’re done. This is gold.
It is indeed the last part. Thanks!