James Randi, RIP -- October 28, 2020

 

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Magician, escape artist and investigator James Randi has died, unless he is pulling our legs. I loved his book Conjuring. 

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Open Challenge to Hardeen -- February 5, 2013

This ad, from the 05-November-1908 San Francisco Call, describes a challenge to Escape artist Theo Hardeen, younger brother of Harry Houdini, from Sam and Nat Berger, San Francisco haberdashers. Their carpenters would assemble a case on stage and Hardeen would escape.  The ad also mentions the Milk Can Mystery, which he had borrowed from his brother Houdini.  The challenge to/from local institutions was a popular feature of both men's acts.  It was good advertising for stores.  Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version. Other acts at the Pantages-Empire near Sutter and Steiner in the Western Addition include "Leon Morris and the Wrestling Ponies" and "Musical Huehn, Comedy Musician." 

The Master Mystery -- December 4, 2012

Escapologist Harry Houdini wanted to expand his exposure to the public, so he began to appear in movies starting in 1918 with the serial The Master Mystery.  I recently got to see it on a DVD set from Kino.  It doesn't make much sense, but this is typical of serial plots.  I liked the robot, Q the Automaton.  Its gang was called the Emissaries of the Automaton. Great name. William Desmond, star of the accompanying feature, was an early cowboy actor.

The ad is from the 21-October-1919 Bemidji Daily Pioneer.

The Undefeated King of Handcuffs -- November 3, 2011

This ad, from the 20-September-1911 Washington Times, describes a challenge to Escape artist Theo Hardeen, younger brother of Harry Houdini, from "the shipping forces of Goldenberg's Department Stores."  They would assemble a specially designed shipping box on stage and Hardeen would escape.  At the second show, he would substitute the "Great Milk Can Mystery," borrowed from his brother Houdini.  The challenge to local institutions was a popular feature of both men's acts.  It was good advertising for stores.  Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.  Due to public demand, 100 seats would be sold on stage.  This must have been hard on the other vaudeville acts.

I was sad to learn that Matty Alou, brother of Felipe and Jesus, has died.

Magic #4 -- April 2, 2011

Harry Houdini was a pioneer in escapology. He went to cities and invited challenges from jailers and sailors and employees of various businesses. In this ad "HOUDINI ACCEPS" a challenge from the employees of the Bon Marche Store, who will build a packing case. I'd like to see "Fred's Monkey Actors."

The ad is from the 18-September-1907 Los Angeles Herald. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Playing Tourist #3 -- December 11, 2010

Today we played tourist. Yesterday I bought three one-day Muni passports. We parked at Fifth and Mission and caught Milano car 1818 decorated for Christmas. We got off at Drumm and caught California Street cable car 60, decorated for Christmas by my friend Val Lupiz. We got off at Taylor, intending to look around Grace Cathedral, but there was some kind of event going on. We walked over to the Fairmont to see the giant gingerbread house.

We went down the hill to the cable car barn. I had heard they were remodeling the recreation center, but actually it had been torn down. I got some photos of a different angle of the barn. We found that the Powell Street cable was stopped. We walked down to Powell and Jackson to catch a car. 21 was stopped inbound just patch Washington. We later learned that there had been a hairball, an unstranded cable.

We caught an almost empty blue and gold car 16 on the Powell-Mason. I pointed out John Street, where my family had once lived, and looked for apartments where other relatives had lived while I was alive. We got off at Bay and Taylor and walked over to the IHOP for lunch. Since we flew to Southern California, we had not made our traditional stop in the summer at the IHOP in San Luis Obispo.

We walked out to Hyde and Beach and found a short line, so we joined it. We watched Escape Man do his act. He had an assistant chain him to a lamppost, then struggled free of the chains and a strait jacket. Not bad. We saw car 11 which had been decorated and we got on 13, which had been decorated by the Buena Vista Cafe. We had a nice ride back to Powell and Washington. The substitution bus was jammed.

We also saw 6, which had just gotten out of the paint shop. It had no dings except in the bell.

The Union Square area was jammed, but we stopped to see the sugar castle at the Saint Francis and the animals at Macys.

Sutro Baths #2 -- January 13, 2010

An ad for Sutro Baths from the 17-April-1897 San Francisco Call. I would like to see "Mr. Charles Cavill in his Wonderful Monte Cristo Drowning Act." I suppose he got sewn into a sack and thrown into the pool, so it was an escape act.

My grandfather took to Sutro Baths a few times before it burned in 1966. I remember playing in the back yard and watching ashes blow overhead.

It rained lightly while I took my lunchtime walk, but I didn't get very wet.

DVD: Houdini the Movie Star #2 -- June 21, 2008

I had the opportunity to watch another movie on Kino's set Houdini the Movie Star. The Man From Beyond was another title that I have always admired. The plot is less admirable. The movie starts with a brief, confusing statement about reincarnation. Then it shows two survivors of an Artic expedition trying to reach civilization. François Duval, "a half breed", is about to abandon Doctor Gilbert Trent when he spots a sailing ship trapped in the ice.

The scenes where they explore the long-trapped ship has a good spooky atmosphere. Duval discovers a man frozen in ice and starts to chip away. I was afraid Duval was looking for food.

The movie uses a fairly complex set of flashbacks, switching between the Artic and civilization or upstate New York. The ice man, Houdini, is shown from about the shoulders up. The doctor tells Duval "Get those wet things off his legs." He hands Duval a scarf and says "Wrap this around him." Duval bends down for a moment and drops a pile of wet clothes. At that moment, the ice man, Houdini, awakens and runs up on deck. He is wearing a bulky breechclout.

The doctor, for some reason, decides not to tell Houdini that he has been frozen for 100 years and brings him back to civilization or upstate New York. A subtitle seems to suggest that he has amnesia. He doesn't seem to be confused about riding in an automobile. He does remember the leading lady, who seems to be the reincarnation of his 1820 love. I feel ungentlemanly to mention it, but the leading lady is not attractive.

There is only one escape. Houdini is thrown into an insane asylum. The keepers wrap him in sheets and put him under a cold shower. One keeper remarks that this was a dark ages trick that the authorities would not allow any more. I wonder what group insisted on that. They make a good use of a flashback: the keepers look in the room and Houdini is gone. He later explains to the leading lady how he escaped from the sheets, used them to climb the wall and kick out the window, then let himself down the outside wall.

Bits of the movie are obviously missing. Nita Naldi hardly has anything to do. There are some shots that appear to be out of place. I enjoyed the piano score by Jon Mirsalis.

The remote for the dvd player needs new batteries, so I couldn't watch any of the extras.

It has been very hot.

DVD: Houdini the Movie Star #1 -- May 27, 2008

While I was home sick, I took advantage of the opportunity to watch the first film on Kino's set Houdini the Movie Star. I have wanted to see The Master Mystery, a serial, for many years. I probably first read about it in a biography of Harry Houdini. At some point I realized that I didn't have the manual dexterity for sleight of hand, so I became interested in escapology. That led me to read everything I could find about Houdini. Since I was also interested in silent movies, I paid attention to the many references to his film career.

I thought The Master Mystery sounded particularly interesting because of the robot which it featured. The movie was made in 1919, before Čapek coined the term robot. It was called Q, the Automaton. Its gang was called the Emissaries of the Automaton. Great name.

The plot makes no more sense than that of any other movie serial. It may have been a little harder to follow because about one hour of the footage is missing. A few observations:

-- I like the image. The automation looks like a Muppet automaton. My daughter thought the acutal robot was cheesy looking. I liked the way he walked, especially the way he moved his arms. If the movie had been release in the 1980s, someone would have created a dance called "The Automaton".

-- In two different episodes, the people with Houdini used him as a battering ram to break down a door. I've never seen that done outside of a cartoon. They did not use his head.

-- The subtitles used a wonderful font. Whenever a lowercase "g" appeared on the bottom line, it had a huge, curling tail.

-- The images on some of the art titles were funny. I liked the view of the cave with eyes looking out from the dark.

-- One of the titles which explains a missing part of the movie says that Houdini used his "escapist" skills to get out of a trap. Wrong word, I think.

-- The tinting was appropriate.

-- The books always said Houdini was stiff. I think he was restrained, but not stiff. Some of the actors were considerably less restrained, especially Doctor Q.

-- It was unusual to see a serial where no cliffhanger involved an automobile or an airplane. The cliffhangers focused on Houdini getting restrained (ropes, chains, barbed wire, a strangling machine) and getting loose.

-- I don't think I have ever seen another fiction movie that mentioned Madagascar so many times.

Sydney Pollack died. I enjoyed Three Days of the Condor. I was surprised to discover that I haven't seen very many of his other movies.