Harry Houdini - Legacy

Legacy

• 1936: On October 31, 1936, Houdini's widow held the "Final Houdini Séance" atop The Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood, California. A recording of the séance was made and issued as a record album. She then asked Houdini ghost writer and biographer Walter B. Gibson (writer of "The Shadow" series) to continue the seances. Before Gibson died he passed on the legacy to magician and Houdini expert Dorothy Dietrich of The Houdini Museum in Scranton.
• 1938: Bess Houdini appeared as herself in the film, Religious Racketeer (a.k.a. Mystic Circle Murder), and expressed her belief that communication with those who have died is impossible. The film sparked controversy among spiritualists, but was praised by magicians.
• 1953: A film, Houdini, a fictionalized biopic of Houdini's life, was released. Starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, the film has partially contributed to several misconceptions about Houdini's life. For example, it portrays the cause of Houdini's death to be his failure to escape from the Chinese Water Torture Cell. (Curtis's Houdini agrees to seek medical attention "when the tour is over.") Houdini actually developed the Chinese Torture Cell trick fourteen years before he died and performed it numerous times.
• 1968: The Houdini Magical Hall of Fame was opened on Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. At its opening, the museum contained the majority of Houdini's personal collection of magic paraphernalia. One of Houdini's death wishes was that his entire collection be given to his brother Theodore (also known as the magician Hardeen) and burned upon Theodore's death. Against his wishes, forty years after Houdini's death, the items were taken from storage and sold. Two entrepreneurs purchased the items and renovated a former meat-packing plant on Clifton Hill, Ontario, Canada, to house the museum. The Hall of Fame was moved in 1972 to its final location on the top of Clifton Hill. Séances were held every year at the museum on October 31, the anniversary of Houdini's death. A fire destroyed the museum on April 30, 1995.
• 1968: Stuart Damon played Houdini in a lavishly staged London musical, Man of Magic.
• 1970: Welsh singer-songwriter Meic Stevens song "Y Brawd Houdini" ("The Brother Houdini") was released in his album Outlander.
• 1975: Canadian magician Doug Henning successfully duplicated Houdini's Chinese Water Torture trick for the first time since its original performance, on an ABC TV special.
• 1975: Houdini received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located on the northwest corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Orange Drive, just across from the Grauman's Chinese Theater and down the street from The Magic Castle.
• 1975: Houdini repeatedly appears in E. L. Doctorow's historical novel Ragtime.
• 1976: Houdini was played by Paul Michael Glaser, of Starsky and Hutch fame, in a 1976 TV movie called The Great Houdinis! (a.k.a. The Great Houdini), which was also highly fictionalized. The film focused on Houdini's relationship with his wife and mother, who were portrayed as frequently bickering because his wife was a devout Christian, while his mother was portrayed almost fanatical in her Judaism (although, in reality, they had cordial relations). The film also treated with his fascination with life after death. The cast included Sally Struthers, Vivian Vance, Bill Bixby, and Ruth Gordon. Peter Cushing appeared as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Actor/Houdini authority Patrick Culliton played Houdini's assistant Franz Kukol.
• 1977–1979: An opera about the life of Houdini called, Houdini A Circus Opera, played in The Netherlands and the Aspen Musical Festval. Houdini was played by three different men in the course of the performance.
• 1982: English singer/songwriter Kate Bush included a song about Houdini on her album The Dreaming.
• 1985: The City of Appleton, Wisconsin, constructed the Houdini Plaza on the site of the magician's childhood home.
• 1985: Wil Wheaton played Houdini in Young Harry Houdini, a made-for-TV movie that aired on ABC as a "Disney Sunday Movie." The film also featured Jeffrey DeMunn as the adult Houdini. DeMunn first played Houdini in the film version of Ragtime.
• 1989: Canadian synth pop act Kon Kan released "Harry Houdini," the third single from the Move to Move album. Also, Cutting Crew's sophomore album The Scattering contained track number 5 entitled "Handcuffs for Houdini".
• 1990: In the movie "Night at the Magic Castle" Harry Houdini appears as an imaginary friend in the first movie ever shot at The Magic Castle in California. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466239/
• 1990: Magicians Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz open the Houdini Museum, the only building in the world entirely dedicated to Houdini, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Original Houdini Seances are done there each year on Halloween as well.
• 1994: Boston Magician Marcelo Contento and his "Plaque Committee" place a plaque on the Harvard Bridge in Boston, where Houdini performed one of his escapes.
• 1995: A storyline on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful featuring the popular villainess Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown), had her living at the mansion formerly inhabited by Houdini. When Sheila kidnaps her psychiatrist adversary, Dr James Warwick (Ian Buchanan), she holds him captive in a dungeon below the house, created by Houdini. During Warwick's captivity, Sheila uses various devices she has mastered through Houdini's diaries and engages in a battle of minds with the doctor.
• 1997: Actor Harvey Keitel played Houdini and Peter O'Toole played Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the film FairyTale: A True Story, set during World War I and portraying the alleged photographing of live fairies by two English schoolgirls. Houdini and Doyle are portrayed as collegial, even though they disagree as to the validity of spiritualism. In reality, Conan Doyle's fervent belief and Houdini's avowed skepticism sparked a bitter feud between the two that was never resolved. Keitel hired Patrick Culliton and Stanley Palm as "Houdini advisors."
• 1998: Ragtime, the Broadway musical version of the movie, premiered on January 18, 1998. It featured Houdini as a character and has a song called "Harry Houdini, Master Escapist." The book was written by Terrence McNally, with music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. The play ran on Broadway until January 16, 2000, and won four Tony Awards. Both the movie and the play are based on E.L. Doctorow's 1975 novel of the same title.
• 1998: Johnathon Schaech played Houdini in the TNT original movie Houdini. The film co-starred Stacy Edwards as Bess and Mark Ruffalo as his brother "Dash" (a.k.a. Theo. Hardeen). The TV movie first aired on December 6, 1998.
• 1999: Six Flags Great Adventure opened a Mad House ride named "Houdini's Great Escape", with the ride and pre-show based on bringing Houdini's spirit back into the world.
• 2000: In Michael Chabon's novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay the character Josef "Joe" Kavalier is inspired by Houdini and learns magic and escapology. In 1939 he escapes from Europe to America, where as a cartoonist he draws the adventures of The Escapist, a superhero inspired in part by Houdini.
• 2001: The Houdini Seance was mounted as a theatrical piece in Chicago by Neil Tobin and becomes an annual Halloween event at Excalibur (nightclub).
• 2002: The United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp with a replica of Houdini's favorite publicity poster on July 3, 2002.
• 2003: Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, a show inspired by Houdini's skepticism and hosted by magicians Penn & Teller, premiered.
• 2007: The movie, Death Defying Acts, starring Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta-Jones, was loosely based on Houdini's life.
• 2007: In August, the Independent Investigative Group (IIG) awarded Houdini a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award. This honor has also been awarded to Carl Sagan and James Randi.
• 2008: Australian rock band Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released their album Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! based on Houdini's attempt to discredit spiritualists.
• 2008: Houdini's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was restored and rededicated in a ceremony attended by Neil Patrick Harris, Penn & Teller, Tippi Hedren, Milt Larsen, and other notables from the world of magic and movies.
• 2009: Ragtime (music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and book by Terrence McNally, based on the novel by E. L. Doctorow) was revived on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre. Jonathan Hammond, who played Houdini, wore costumes designed by the legendary Santo Loquasto (Woody Allen's designer of choice). Hammond made a grand entrance hanging upside down on a wire, suspended high above the stage.
• 2009: Summit Entertainment purchased the film rights to The Secret Life of Houdini and announced plans to produce a series of films featuring Houdini as an action hero in the vein of Indiana Jones and Sherlock Holmes.
• 2009: The Perth Mint released a limited supply of dollar coins commemorating Houdini's first flight in Australia on March 18, 1910. A commemorative stamp was also issued.
• 2010: A celebration commemorating the centenary of Houdini's first flight in Australia was held at Diggers Rest near Melbourne. The weekend-long event included the dedication of a new monument, a Houdini-Centenary air-show, magic performances, and the display of a one-third scale model of Houdini's Voisin biplane.
• 2010: The World Premier of Houdini—The Man From Beyond musical opened in Toowoomba, Australia, at the University of Southern Queensland.
• 2010: A major traveling exhibition of Houdini memorabilia, paraphernalia, and art (inspired by him) —titled Houdini: Art and Magic—opened at the Jewish Museum in New York on October 29, 2010. Houdini biographer Kenneth Silverman, the Dean of the Society of American Magicians, George Schindler, and magician, escape artist and founder of The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Dorothy Dietrich, were invited to speak in a panel discussion on Houdini. Dietrich was invited to do a challenge Strait Jacket escape at the event. The show closed on March 27, 2011 and was subsequently displayed in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Madison, Wisconsin. The Art & Antiques Magazine Winter 2010–11 issue reported on this exhibition.
• 2010: Airing November 28, Paris Green (an episode of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire) makes several references to and features an appearance of Houdini's brother Hardeen as performed by actor Remy Auberjonois as an Atlantic City Boardwalk attraction circa 1920/1921.
• 2011: The world's largest, regularly-traveling Houdini exhibit ran for the full month of February at the Seminole Indian Casino in West Palm Beach, Florida. video of Houdini display
• 2011: Google featured a special Houdini "Doodle" logo to commemorate his 137th birthday on March 24. The Harry Houdini "Google doodle" was the first of its kind to appear.
• 2011: Dorothy Young, who assisted Houdini in his full evening roadshow and was the last living person to have worked with Houdini, died on March 20 at the age of 103.
• 2011: Houdini and his Milk Can escape were featured in an episode of The Simpsons (“The Great Simpsina” Season 22 Episode 18).
• 2011: Houdini appears as himself in Eio Books Houdini Heart, a novel of fantasy and horror by Ki Longfellow.
• 2011: On September 27, Houdini's bust, missing for 36 years from his grave site, was replaced at a cost of $10,000 by Scranton's Houdini Museum. A hawk, like the one Houdini had in his last show, watched as escape artist Steve Santini, Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz looked on. The museum is tending to the grave site with the sanction of Houdini's family and the administrators of the cemetery. video of grave
• 2012: The Travel Channel's "Mysteries At The Museum' visited Scranton's Houdini Museum and featured magician and escape artist Dorothy Dietrich discussing Houdini's Mirror Cuff escape.
• 2012: A never before seen photo of Houdini performing his Water Torture Cell in 1920 was unearthed in Scotland and put on display at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall as part of the City of Stars Exhibition.
• 2012: Stephen Schwartz is composing the music and Aaron Sorkin is writing the book for a musical on the life of Houdini. Hugh Jackman is to star in the musical which is expected to debut in the 2013-2014 Broadway season.