1924 ORIGINAL HARRY HOUDINI OTIS LITHOGRAPH CO. LOBBY DISPLAY ​​

1924 original Houdini Otis Lithograph Co. Lobby Display. Houdini Buried Alive! Egyptian Fakirs Outdone. Master Mystifier Houdini. The Greatest Necromanger Of The Age - Perhaps Of All Times. The Literary Digest. Otis Lithograph Co. was a major lithographer for film studios located in Cleveland, OH. Otis did work for a variety of studios. They produced plates for several studios Argus Enterprises, the US Government war films and Film Booking Office, who was the distributor for Walt Disney at the time. Houdini performed at three different variations of the buried alive stunt during his career. The first was near Santa Ana, California in 1915, and it almost cost Houdini his life. Houdini was buried, without a casket, in a pit of earth six feet deep. He became exhausted and panicked while trying to dig his way to the surface and called for help. When his hand finally broke the surface, he fell unconscious and had to be pulled from the grave by his assistants. Houdini wrote in his diary that the escape was "very dangerous" and that "the weight of the earth is killing". Houdini's second variation on buried alive was an endurance test designed to expose mystical Egyptian performer Rahman Bey, who had claimed to use supernatural powers to remain in a sealed casket for an hour. Houdini bettered Bey on August 5, 1926, by remaining in a sealed casket, or coffin, submerged in the swimming pool of New York's Hotel Shelton for one and a half hours. Houdini claimed he did not use any trickery or supernatural powers to accomplish this feat, just controlled breathing. Houdini's final buried alive was an elaborate stage escape that featured in his full evening show. Houdini would escape after being strapped in a straitjacket, sealed in a casket, and then buried in a large tank filled with sand. While posters advertising the escape exist (playing off the Bey challenge by boasting "Egyptian Fakirs Outdone!"), it is unclear whether Houdini ever performed buried alive on stage. The stunt was to be the feature escape of his 1927 season, but Houdini died on October 31, 1926. The bronze casket Houdini created for the buried alive escape was used to transport Houdini's body from Detroit to New York following his death on Halloween. This is the lobby display for that such feat. Oversized eight sheet (112" X 89") and professionally framed and mounted. Another startling, striking and unique Houdini artifact. Rare!  

HOUDINI HANDWRITTEN AND SIGNED LETTER ON SAVOY HOTEL LETTERHEAD​

Houdini handwritten and signed letter, circa 1920. Houdini writes on Savoy Hotel, London letterhead to a Mr. Seaford, “Please send on approval the 3…articles to London Palladium.” Boldly penned and signed in green ink, “Houdini. Houdini played the Palladium – London’s most prestigious theatre in 1920, at a reported fee of $3750 per week, reported to be the highest salary paid to any performer at the venue at that time. The Savoy is known as called "London's most famous hotel" and is located in Central London, England. It opened on August 6, 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by Carte's family for over a century. The Savoy was the first luxury hotel in Britain, introducing electric lights throughout the building, electric lifts, bathrooms in most of the lavishly furnished rooms, constant hot and cold running water and many other innovations. It has 267 guest rooms and panoramic views of the River Thames and the Thames Embankment. The hotel is a Grade II historical listed building. ​

1925 HOUDINI THEATre PLAYBILL

Original Houdini Theatre Handbill. Circa 1925. Detailed playbill describing Houdini’s world-famous multi-part show. Houdini acts including the celebrated Chinese Water Torture Cell, East India Needle Mystery, and Paligenesia, Houdini explains The Margery Test, and much more. A fantastic and interesting Houdini relic. 

1925 HOUDINI SPIRITUALISM TOUR BROCHURE.

Houdini spiritualism themed tour brochure. Circa 1925. Eight-page brochure includes a biography of Houdini and notice of his $10,000 challenge to spirit mediums. An awesome piece of Houdini history. ​

1904 wizard in goal - daily express

February 3, 1904. Daily Express. "WIZARD IN GAOL. OPENS CELL AND IS TAKEN FOR THE DEVIL. HIS 61ST ESCAPE."  Certified and signed by Leonard Dunning, Head Constable in Liverpool, England. "I certify today that Mr. Harry Houdini showed his abilities in releasing himself from restraint. He had three pairs of handcuffs, one a very close fitting pair, placed round his wrists, and he was placed in a nude state in a cell which had been previously searched. Within six minutes he was free from the handcuffs, had opened the cell door, and had opened the doors of all the other cells in the corridor, had changed a prisoner from one cell to another, and had so securely locked him in that he had to be asked to unlock the door." An incredible article detailing the unbelievable events that occurred that day inside the jail in Liverpool, England by the Head Constable and associates from the Daily Express. The Daily Express was founded in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson, with the first issue appearing on April 24, 1900. It was one of the first papers to place news instead of advertisements on its front page, and carried gossip, sport, and women's features. A superb informational read and a superb Houdini antiquity!

1908 the unmasking of robert-houdin: HARRY HOUDINI 

Houdini, Harry. The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin. New York: The Publisher’s Printing Co., 1908. Because of reading The Memories of Robert-Houdin, the well-known French magician. In part tribute to Robert-Houdin, and because he apparently believed that adding an "i" on the end of a name meant "like" in French, Harry Weiss decided to rename himself Harry Houdini and become a professional magician. Soon after sadly, Houdini found out that a number of the effects that Robert-Houdin claimed to have invented were not invented by him at all. A disillusioned Houdini who was now so well-known under his chosen stage name that he could not change it. In a personal campaign he researched and wrote his book The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin. Houdini dedicated the book to his father and contains many photographs, playbills and illustrations from his own collection. Brown pictorial cloth. With a typed note to Dr. Albo tipped to the front pastedown, and the rubber stamps of Helmut Schreiber (Kalanag) on the title page, as well as the inscription of German Illusionist Chevalier Ernest Thorn.

1922 THE MAGIC WORLD - HARRY HOUDINI ISSUE​

Rare Harry Houdini cover issue of The Magic World periodical. The issue is dated April, 1922, volume 6, number 1, and contains 20 pages. The Magic World was a popular monthly magic magazine published  by Dr. J. E. Pierce in Philadelphia, PA. The Magic World contained great articles, original illustrated wraps, several magic tricks described and explained, advertisements for magic shows, and magic trick supplies. The Magic World had a long and successful history of association with the Society Of American Magicians and magicians around the globe.

HOUDINI MAGICIANS CLUB ARTIFACTS

Rare Houdini treasures, Three Magicians’ Club Programs. Including a welcome program to George W. Heller, picturing Houdini at the center of the interior spread; a vest pocket-size program for the first annual ball of the club in 1914, listing Houdini as the president on the rear cover; and a handbill printed on stiff cardstock for the Continuous Cabaret on October 10, 1926, listing Houdini as the club president. 

Magic Made Easy by Harry Houdini - King of Cards and handcuffs

Magic Made Easy by Harry Houdini. King of Cards and Handcuffs. Van Fleet Printer, New York. Rare illustrated 16 page merchandise catalog, listing 62 props and apparatus, magic tricks, preceded by “Hints for Amateurs” and an ad for Prof. Harry Houdini’s “School of Magic” in New York. Scarce! ​

 1912 HOUDINI WATER TORTURE CELL PHOTOGRAPH

​​1912 photograph of the famed Chinese Water Torture Cell. The Chinese Water Torture Cell was an escape made famous by Houdini. The illusion consists of three parts: first, the magician's feet are locked in stocks; next, he is suspended in mid-air from his ankles with a restraint brace; finally, he is lowered into a glass tank overflowing with water and the restraint is locked to the top of the cell, The original Chinese Water Torture Cell was built in England in 1911. Houdini first performed the escape for an audience of one person as part of a one-act play he called Houdini Upside Down!. This was so he could copyright the new escape (having learned with his Milk Can escape that patents failed to stop imitators). The first public performance was at the Circus Busch in Berlin, Germany, on September 21, 1912. Houdini continued to perform the escape until his death in 1926. Despite two Hollywood movies depicting Houdini dying in the Torture Cell, the escape had nothing to do with his demise. 8" X 10".