Search for Convict Ship footage of Houdini in New York

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According to Joseph F Rinn in “Sixty Years of Psychical Research”:

…Oscar Hammerstein, in June 1913, made him [Houdini] a great offer to come over to New York City to fill a two weeks’ engagement at his theatre with a new act Houdini had originated in  Europe which he called “The Chinese Water  Torture Cell”.

…

Hammerstein saw a chance for a publicity stunt for Houdini before his opening at the theatre, as a short time before, a convict ship of the days long ago had just arrived in New York Harbor. In this ship, prisoners used to be manacled to iron bars riveted to beams in the hold and nobody had ever escaped from the ship.  Hammerstein advertised:

ON WEDNESDAY JUNE 4, 1913, AT 1:30 P.M., HOUDINI WILL PUBLICLY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM ONE OF THE CELLS OF THE CONVICT SHIP AT 79th STREET AND RIVERSIDE DRIVE.  THE PUBLIC ARE INVITED TO ATTEND.

The report of Houdini’s escape from the convict ship was given in the New York Tribune of June 5, 1913:

Houdini made good his boast to break out of the convict ship Success after being locked and shackled in one of the cells more than an hour  before he finally appeared and swam ashore.

Search for Convict Ship Footage of Houdini

Earlier this year, I searched for and found the missing underwater box escape from Terror Island.

And a couple years ago, I searched for and found the missing footage (episodes) from the Master Mystery at the UCLA Film & Television Archive (FTVA).

John Cox, who has been meaning to view the Master Mystery footage at the UCLA FTVA, but has not had time, noticed a brief mention of the Convict Ship and Houdini, when he was looking at the UCLA Library Catalog holdings online.  We agreed that I would see what this was all about.

So, I reserved [The Mutual weekly, Unidentified issues–excerpts] [ca 1913], a compilation of excerpts from silent newsreels, for the Summer Session.

Below is what I found.  It is my chronological description of “what you see” on one of the excerpts.

See the following text appear:

New York City. The British convict ship Success, on board of which more than 150,000 people were transported from Great Britain to Australia in the last century.

See the ship docked

See the bow of the ship and then the stern of the ship

See five men (4 in uniform) standing on the bow of the ship.

See restraints:

See more restraints and torture devices

See the Iron Maiden on deck of ship

See civilian people walking around the deck wearing suits and hats

See the following text:

 Convicts coming back from work” [reenacted]

See 7 convicts followed by a guard with a rifle on his shoulder on the dock.

See 7 convicts walking up gang plank followed by guard with rifle on his shoulder

See shot of 7 convicts on the deck of the bow each holding in their left hand, a ball with a chain fastened to their left ankle

See the following text:

Betting a 1,000 [dollar bill] Houdini can release himself from the Success cell

See a shot of Houdini looking sharp (cool hat, black bow-tie, white collar shirt, and black suit) with a crowd of people in front of the ship.

See Houdini tip his hat to the officer standing next to him, as they both laugh

See Houdini surface in the water with a dummy from the cell he just escaped from

See Houdini pulling himself up out of the water and adjusting his pants and shirt.  And then Hardeen is seen motioning to Houdini that they need to go.

See Houdini standing in a convertible car with a group of people that witnessed the escape and taking a couple bows.  Leo Weiss is sitting in the drivers seat, you also see Hardeen and Collins.

The End

Related

Notes:

UCLA FTVA does not allow you to duplicate or record footage, so the majority of the images are from souvenir postcards and photos found in The History of the Ancient Australian Convict Ship “Success” And Its Most Notorious Prisoners

Although the postcards say 1790, the ship was builit in 1840.

THE GREAT HOUDINI Sequence G

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Continued from Sequence FAs Beck walks out of the door.  Mrs. Gordon appears in the doorway.  Beck passes her in the hallway.

Mrs. Gordon tells Houdini that she too has suffered a great loss and with the help of some mediums has seen and spoken with her daughter.

She invites Houdini on Tuesday night to let these men help him.

After two sessions, Houdini tells Bess he has seen and heard some amazing things and for the first time feels this has helped him; he has been given a certain faith and a certain belief.

Bess tells hims that its the other way around, he has helped them with money.

Houdini tells Bess that he has reason to believe that eventually they will be able to do what he hopes they can do.

At the third session, Professor Harvey tells Houdini that he believes tonight will the night we cross the border.

The room is black. The organ is playing very very softly.  Harvey’s foot with the ghost-like face painted on the sole, is moving around the room.

Then suddenly, a very hollow voice is heard, as if from the distance. “Tonight there is someone who want’s to talk with Houdini

A phonograph is being played through a big horn.  The figure of an attendant stands near the phonograph.  The hollow voice is coming from the record on the phonograph.

Then suddenly Harvey brings his foot down and the head apparently disappears into thin air.

Suddenly four or five heads with long, gossamer and phosphoric tails appear and start floating up into the air.

Harvey asks if Houdini will be able to hear the message now and the Hollow Voice replies, Yes, Yes

Then suddenly from apparently right out of the wall appears the spirit of Houdini’s mother (This is of course, Mrs. Gordon dressed in a ectoplasm costume). She shines luminously in the dark and begins to speak, Erich, Erich, my son

Suddenly one of the heads that floated up, starts going down and hits Houdini’s shoulder.  There is a little hissing sound.

Houdini looks up and grabs the tail of a balloon and pulls it to him.

The spirit of Houdini’s mother (Mrs. Gordon) tells Houdini that she is happy and his son is happy.

Suddenly, Houdini takes the balloon and forces his hand into it and it explodes with a loud pop.  He gets out of his chair.

There is the sound of a little scuffle and then suddenly the lights go up and Houdini is standing at the switch.

Houdini then dashes over and rips the gown from Mrs. Gordon.

He turns over the table, rips down the drapes exposing wires, tears open the closet and exposes the phonograph, and smashes the records.

Harvey tells Houdini that will be enough.

Houdini tells him he hasn’t even begun, that he will put all of them out of business.

Houdini knocks Harvey to the floor, takes another chair and crashes it through the front window and then walks out of the room.

Next, Houdini is on the phone with Beck telling him he is ready to go back to work, and to arrange anything, to make it the biggest stunt he has ever tried.  He also tells Beck that he has another angle that will pack them in, he is going to crusade against fakirs who claim they’re spiritualists.

Beck asks Houdini what has spiritualism got to do with your set?

Houdini tells him it’s got a lot to do from now on, that he has been bilked, cheated, fooled, like millions of others and he is going to tell the world that here is no hereafter, there is no God, there is nothing.

With that he hangs up and tells Bess to think that he fell for it, to think that he believed even for one minute.

Bess tells Houdini that those men were fakirs, but that doesn’t mean that

And before Bess could finish her sentence, Houdini tells her it means that they’re all fakirs and he is not going to let others be fooled like he was anymore.

He is going to tell the world.

To be continued…Sequence H

What happened to the missing Terror Island Reels?

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Disclaimer at the start of the Kino edition of Terror Island

Terror Island was released by Famous Players Lasky’s Paramount Artcraft Production Unit in 1920 and then re-released in 1922 under their Realart Picture Production Unit, where the title cards changed to reflect that it was a Realart Picture.

The exisiting version of “Terror Island” found in the Library of Congress (LoC) is from the Realart print and is approximately 55 minutes, but it is missing its reels (Parts) Three and Four:

Documentation at the Margaret Herrick Library gave the original length of each of the seven reels, which added up to 5939 feet:

Reel One:  975 feet, Reel Two: 848 feet, Reel Three: 958 feet, Reel Four: 917 feet, Reel Five: 889 feet., Reel Six: 784 feet and Reel Seven: 568 feet.

If you compare the running time of the five existing reels (1, 2, 5, 6 and 7) at 55 minutes (54.19) to the footage per reel, the LoC print is missing about 25 minutes (Reel 3 and 4) played at 20 fps (75 feet a minute).

So, what happened to these missing reels?  My colleagues (John Cox, Leo Hevia) and I feel that it was around the time of the Tony Curtis “Houdini” movie, when Parts 3 and 4 got separated from the rest.

Let’s look at the evidence.

In July of 1952, Tony Curtis was preparing for his role in Houdini (released 1953), by surveying Silent Houdini Films at Paramount, which included Terror Island.

July 29, 1952 Los Angeles Times

On July 6th 1953 originally and then on August 27th of 1953, George Pal’s appearance as a guest on the Art Baker’s “You Asked For It” show aired, where they ran a part of the original Houdini serial Terror Island showing the under water escape of Houdini from a packing case.  Then a strip was shown from George Pal’s new picture showing Tony Curtis duplicating the same feat, escaping from the packing case after being tossed into the ice covered Detroit River.

It sounds like Reel 4 was taken out of the metal canister that contained the reels of Terror Island and was used for the “You Asked For It” show and never returned back to the canister.  According to Leo Hevia:

It’s the only thing I can think of that would explain the missing reel. The completed picture was divided into half a dozen or so reels. Those reels went into metal canisters that looked kinda like clam shells. Since the underwater packing box escape scene was the only part needed for that TV show, it appears the techs removed that particular reel from the canister and never bothered to put it back after it was used.

So that explains one reel, but two reels are missing.  John Cox has an explanation:

In TI’s day, film reels couldn’t be longer than 1000 ft. That became the standard reel length for post production work right up to the end. However, theaters projectors could eventually handle 2000 ft. reels, so when a release print is made, those 1000 ft reels are combined into one “A/B” reel (two 1000 ft loads). By the 1950s, there was an awareness of the hazards of nitrate stock, so Paramount’s archival print of TI was probably new and therefore what was in the canister were A/B reels. So what would have been plucked out of the can for this promotion would have been Reel 2 A/B, and on this would be TI’s original Reels 3 & 4. Hence, when this reel was lost, two reels of TI were lost.

In 1970, Paramount donates “Terror Island” to the American Film Institute collection at the Library of Congress:

So thanks to the Tony Curtis “Houdini” movie, George Pal, and the “You Asked For It” show, the print donated by Paramount to the LoC is missing Reels 3 and 4 or Reel 2 A/B, depending on how you look at it.

Special Thanks to John Cox and Leo Hevia for their contributions on this subject.

Terror Island Underwater Box Escape Footage Found

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Last week, I did a post on searching for the Terror Island Underwater Box Escape Footage that by all accounts appeared on the “You Asked For It” show in 1953.

So now all I had to do is find that footage. I was hopeful that it would appear on the “You Asked For It” Rare TV Magic Acts (McIIhany) (4 DVD Set) and I was not disappointed.  George Pal Houdini Films appears on Volume One:

Below is part of the transcript:

George Pal: Hi Art!

Art Baker: Howdy!

Pal: We are just about to air.

Baker: Fine, we appreciate you taking time to answer…Here is a young magician and he wanted to see a film of the great Houdini himself.  Have anything for him?

Pal: Well Art in doing the research for Paramount’s new technicolor picture “Houdini” I ran across an old movie called “Terror Island”.  It has been made in 1920 [1919].

Baker: 20!

Pal: And it stars the real Houdini in person.

Baker: Huh!

Pal: So if you are ready, we can show one of his famous underwater escapes.

Baker:  Fine!

Pal: Okay Terry put on the first one.

And below are snippets of the underwater box escape footage from “Terror Island”:

Credits: William McIIhany (whm)

 

Dorothy Dietrich is an Inspiration

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My friend, Dorothy Dietrich, is the inspiration for the new novel “The Art of Escaping” by Erin Callahan:

Seventeen-year-old Mattie is hiding her obsession with Harry Houdini and Dorothy Dietrich from everyone, including her best friend.  Mattie has a hidden obsession: escapology. Told through the perspectives of the witty main characters, this funny and fresh debut explores the power of stage personas and secret spaces, and speaks to the uncanny ways in which friendships transform us.

Dorothy Dietrich’s probably the best-known female escapologist of all time. Enjoying a long career that began with New York television shows, she later founded The Magic Townehouse, a popular NYC magic venue. Regarded as the “First Lady of Magic,” she’s been an inspiration to female and  male performers alike.

She was famously the first woman to escape from a strait-jacket while hanging from a burning rope 15 stories up and without a net:

She’s known for being the first woman to catch a bullet in her mouth:

Her desire to perform magic and escapes started after reading a biography of Houdini in her childhood. She has a large number of television appearances including the following where she is referred to as “the world’s leading female escape artist“:

Related HHCE posts:

Search for Terror Island Underwater Box Escape Footage

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Parts 3 and 4 of the current version of Terror Island are considered missing. I previously did posts that described the missing scenes in chronological order for each part:

The Catalina Island Museum Houdini exhibit (Houdini: Terror on the Magic Isle) which runs May 5th to Oct 7th, 2018 has a audio-visual presentation that reconstructs these missing parts based on my work above that is a must see.

The museum also currently pieces together other must see Houdini footage (courtesy of John Cox) of how the underwater box escape likely looked in Terror Island.

This post is about my search for the actual missing Underwater Box Escape footage from Part 4 of Terror Island..

According to The Motion Picture Herald, August 8, 1953:

…the same show [“You Asked for It”]  is contrasting classic escapes: the one in “Terror Island,” in which the real Houdini escapes from an underwater sealed box, and the one in “Houdini”, in which Tony Curtis does the same. Paramount gets the credit, all along.

According to Linking Ring Vol 33 No. 7 Sep 1953:

The Baker Show ran a part of the original Houdini serial Terror Island showing the under water escape of Houdini from a packing case. Then a strip was shown from the new picture showing Tony Curtis duplicating the same feat, escaping from the packing case after being tossed into the ice covered Detroit River.

According to Linking Ring Vol 33. No. 6 August 1953:

There also was a showing of the real Houdini making one of his famous trunk escapes underwater and a scene from the Houdini picture showing Tony making the same escape. Very much the same.

According to Hugard’s MAGIC Monthly August 1953:

Recently Mrs. Bob Parrish asked for and got clips from an old Houdini picture and the latest Paramount film “Houdini”

According to Long Beach Independent, July 6, 1953:

YOU ASKED – One of Houdini’s most spectacular underwater escapes will be seen again when George Pal, producer of short movies guest with Art Baker on “You Asked For It” over KECA (7) at 8 p.m. Pal will show an old featurette of the great magician and casually introduce some film clips from his new movie, “Houdini”.

According to The Honolulu Advertiser, August 22, 1953 and [August 27, 1953]:

Houdini Appears [Houdini On TV]

One of Houdini’s most spectacular underwater escapes will be seen again when Producer George Pal guests on “You Asked For It” Thursday, Aug 27 at 7:30 p.m. over KGMB-TV.  Pal brings with him 35 mm film of an old Harry Houdini featurette i which he demonstrates his famous underwater escape.  Pal will show portions of his new Paramount film, “Houdini,” starring Tony Curtis as the great master of legerdemain.

According to Los Angeles Times, July  29, 1952 recently shared by John Cox at WildAboutHoudini:

Anthony Curtis, of the films is meanwhile busy at Paramount surveying old Harry Houdini silent films made about 1919 and 1920. Of particular interest, he finds, is “Terror Island,” directed by James Cruze…

So based on all the evidence above, it appears a more complete print of Terror Island existed at Paramount in 1952 and the footage of the missing underwater box escape was shown on “You Asked For It” in 1953.

Next week, I will share some screen shots and part of the transcript from when George Pal appeared on You Asked For It in 1953.  So tune in next week to find out if this underwater box escape footage was found.

“Houdini Nuts” Magic Castle and One Man Show Gathering

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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!

 

 

 

 

 

1953 Screening of Houdini on Terror Island

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Friday, June 1, I returned to Avalon Catalina for the First Fridays at the Museum screening of the 1953 film Houdini starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh in their outdoor amphitheater.

I was met at the docks by Jessica Zumberge from the Catalina Island Museum, who gave me a golf cart ride to the Museum, which is featuring the first ever exhibition about the making of Terror Island.  The exhibition is on view May 5 through October 7, 2018.

After checking out the museum gift shop which has some very nice Houdini items for sale,

Spent some time with some of Julie Perlin Lee’s amazing staff (Gail Fornasiere, Jessica Zumberge and Patty Salazar) who were all hard at work, looking up information for me.

Julie then joined the work party, and we discussed plans for the day.

I borrowed a golf cart (after Jason Clay made a key magically appear) with plans of having lunch and spending some time on Descanso beach where Houdini attempted a rescue of a wayward boat in the bay.

Plans quickly changed after the guy at the beach club told me the patio food bar was closed due to a water leak.

So I decided to go back into town to get something to eat, and that’s when I realized that there was an island wide water outage that closed restaurants and bathrooms all over Avalon.

I was about to give up and just go to Vons to get something to eat, when I noticed an outdoor bar was serving food, Yes!

After a quick lunch, went to beach (where no one was allowed in the water due the sewage pipe leak) and listened to some music before going back to museum to get Julie and her kids.

We all hopped in the golf cart to go pickup the mighty Arthur Moses and John Cox.

First stop, Strand Theatre building, where Terror Island screened on Friday September 10 in 1920.

Next stop, Joe’s RENT-A-BOAT.

Captain Julie gave us a VIP tour of Terror Island shooting locations which are only reachable by boat.

We then returned to the museum so Arthur could play the Houdini pinball machine and see the Houdini exhibit (which featured many items from his collection) for the first time.

I then took John and Arthur for a golf cart ride to check out the old pool from the Hotel St. Catherine, where Houdini stayed and also the Hotel Catalina where some of the Terror Island Cast members stayed.

We then decided, that the three of us would get dinner before the Friday night festivities started.

We quickly realized, that there wasn’t one place open for dinner; the couple bars that were serving food at lunch were now shutdown as well.

Julie graciously offered to make us a meal at her place, but we knew she had an event to prepare for, so we decided to grab some bread, lunch meat, fixings, fruit, and chips from Vons.

After our picnic dinner, we headed to the museum for the Friday Night Festivities.

Everyone mingled and enjoyed a beverage prior to the Tony Curtis Houdini movie being shown.

Our amazing bartender, Kellie Costello, made her signature cocktail, the “Hairy” Houdini, that was a big hit.

Once, the sun set, it was time to take our seats for the show.

Houdini Nut Julie Perlin Lee introduced the other Houdini Nuts in attendance which included myself, Arthur Moses, and John Cox.

After a brief introduction on the movie by John Cox, the movie started, which everyone seemed to really enjoy based on the reactions throughout the movie.

About, 9:30 realized that movie was going to end about 10pm, which was the same time we needed to catch the last boat back to Long Beach, so quickly said my good-byes to Jessica, Patty and Gail.

Julie then took John, Arthur and I to the boat dock.  We said our good-byes and as the Catalina Express pulled out from the dock, you could hear Tony Curtis at the outdoor amphitheater saying:

“that he will come back to her, he will find away somehow”

I will definitely find away back to Catalina for another adventure, Julie and her staff are the best.

Related HHCE 1953 Houdini Movie posts:

 

 

Terror Island “Crew Hotels” and “Strand Theatre” back in Houdini’s day

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Previously I did a post on what these locations look like today:

  • Strand Theatre, 122-124 Sumner
  • Hotel Central, 106 Metropole
  • Hotel Catalina, 129 Whittley

So in this post thought I’d share what these locations looked like back in Houdini’s day.

Strand Theatre:

Hotel Central:

Hotel Catalina:

And as a added bonus, here are images of the Hotel St. Catherine where Houdini stayed back in the day:

1918

1919

1919

1920

1921

Special thanks to Jessica Zumberge (curator at Catalina Island Museum) for going above and beyond to locate and scan these items from their archives for me to use in this post.

Credits:

  • All photos are courtesy of Catalina Island Museum and published with their permission

Houdini-Opoly has arrived!

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Houdini-Opoly has arrived and was definitely worth the wait.  It is available exclusively from the Official Houdini-Opoly Site, where you can purchase additional pawn pieces.
I was one of the first if not the first to invest in Houdini-Opoly when I made a trip to visit Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz (D&D) at their Scranton Museum for a screening of the Grim Game; and I loved the prototype from the start. So excited to see this dream come to fruition. Congratulations D&D!
Below are some of the early reviews of Houdini-Opoly:
  • John Cox, Wild About Houdini
    A lot of hard work and care went into the creation of this game, and it’s spectacular!
  • Bruce Kalver Past National President, Society of American Magicians
    Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brooks did an incredible job on this project. After a few years of promoting and fundraising online, Houdini-opoly is finally here. It is beautiful. So glad I purchased two. One to keep and one to frame. A ton of effort went into this. Each card and space on the board has wonderful Houdini history. Also not bad having my name between Dal Sanders and Bill Malone on the back of the box! Bravo to Dick, Dorothy and the Houdini Museum. Contact them before it’s too late. Limited run!
  • Bill Irwin
    Just a note to say thank you!
    You made our day, opening the box it was exciting so see you dream come true.
    When my son saw the game he was speechless, he loves Monopoly, he loved ‘The Grim Game’ and this is just what he needed to get him started on his new act. Congratulations!
  • Jeff & Debbie Blood
    Grand Nephew of Houdini
    WOW!   What a fantastic job you did on the Houdini-Opoly game. It’s gorgeous.  We love it. The research and effort you put into this project is much appreciated by the entire Houdini family.  In looking at all the details you included make it a collector’s treasure.  The box itself resembling a chained box is awesome.  The play money, deeds, King of Cards, Pick any Card, properties on the board with the questions and answers about Houdini are all amazing.  The unique player pieces you sent us previously are a nice addition to the game as well.  Everything you included in the game is top notch and high quality.  The photos are all clear, detailed and beautiful.  Houdini-Opoly players will learn a lot of information about Houdini’s life just by playing the game. You produced a great tribute to the life of Houdini.  I am sure Houdini and Bess would be pleased and proud of your efforts. Much appreciation and thanks!