Saturday, June 2nd, the day after the 1953 Screening of Houdini on Terror Island, the “Houdini Nuts” gathered at the Magic Castle in the Houdini Seance Room for brunch.

“…a gathering of devotees that enjoy laughter, silliness, folly, merriment, & friendship. But mostly, we gathered to share our passion for Harry Houdini”  Arthur Moses

In attendance for the “Houdini Nuts” 2018 gathering was Arthur Moses, Patrick Culliton, Gene Franklin Smith, Mark Willoughby, Lisa Cousins, Joe Fox, Neil McNally, Ron Mondz, John Cox and myself.

The last “Houdini Nuts” gathering was in 2015 for the Grim Game premiere and festivities in Hollywood, where Arthur Moses surprised us with a “Houdini Nuts” Grim Game Souvenir Folder.

For the 2018 gathering, Arthur Moses surprised us with a Terror Island puzzle.  Thank You Arthur!

After brunch, Joe Fox and Arthur Moses each played something special just for the “Houdini Nuts” and then Arthur shared some incredible goodies with us, which included items he had for sale; I picked up a 1937 Adventure Comic book insert (The Thrill Book of Escapes) from England that had an interesting article on the Mirror Cuff challenge, titled “When Houdini Nearly Failed”. Thank You Joe and Arthur!

We then made our way to the Castle Library, where we got to see some incredibly clear film footage of Houdini. Thank You Lisa Cousins and Bill Goodwin!

I then picked up a Academy of Magical Arts, Inc 55 years Houdini Seance Coin from the gift shop.

It was now time to go home and take a nap before the “Houdini Nuts” gathered again to catch Duffy Hudson’s One Man Houdini Show at the Generation DCD Studio in Burbank.

I had the honor to sit to the left of Magic Castle’s Librarian, Lisa Cousins, at the premiere of the Grim Game in Hollywood, the showing of Terror Island on Catalina, and now Duffy Hudson’s One Man Houdini Show.

All the “Nuts”, referred to as “non-believers” and the “scary front row” by Duffy were treated to a very special performance of magic/escapes (strait-jacket, cards, handcuffs, needles) and Houdini’s life-story (which was well-researched).

After the show, Duffy hung out with the “Nuts” for a bit, signed some autographs and took some photos. Duffy gets my vote for Best One Man Show.

The “Nuts” then decided to end the evening at a near-by coffee shop.

Can’t wait for the next “Houdini Nuts” Gathering!