When the two magicians aren't operating the museum, they tour and perform at schools and corporate events. They moved their collection to Scranton in 1993 after crime in New York hit too close to home. Bravo and Dietrich have collected Houdini memorabilia for years, originally displaying it in their Magic Townehouse at 61st Street and Third Avenue in New York City. They also tried to compete with him by calling him a fraud but he continually proved them wrong. His own work had developed beyond such simple tricks. When other magicians started copying some of his tricks, he published a book outlining ways to escape handcuffs, taking the mystery out of their work. He testified before House and Senate subcommittees considering a bill to prosecute fortune-tellers. Houdini was famous for exposing spiritualists as frauds. A large milk can-a staple of one of Houdini's escape acts-reminds visitors of his promise that "Failure Means a Drowning Death." The straitjacket on display was used by Houdini's brother, Theodore Hardeen, who continued as a magician after his brother's death. The original pictures of his parents that hung on the wall of his home now hang in the museum. The Prop Room contains some actual items from Houdini's life, both personal and professional, such as padlocks and handcuffs. He accepted challenges regularly from people inviting him to try to escape from contraptions they had devised. The ultimate showman, he added aspects of danger and thrill by such acts as leaping off a bridge while manacled and freeing himself underwater. The "King of Handcuffs" gradually moved to escaping from larger items. At the turn of the century, having become successful in the United States, they moved to Europe and became international stars.
#HARRY HOUDINI MUSEUM MOVIE#
By the time he was 20 he was married to his life-long partner, Bess (Janet Leigh to you movie fans). Houdini started his magic act at the age of 17. (Appleton has a museum, too, but it only has one section on Houdini.)
His family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, where his father was a rabbi, before moving to New York City. Erik Weisz, the man who would rename himself Harry Houdini, was born in Hungary in 1874. In the History Room Houdini's life is displayed in pictures and text. Silent films Houdini made with his own production company fill video screens when the magic show isn't on. The walls in every room are filled with framed posters from shows and collections of padlocks Houdini used. (Which you see first-magic show or tour-depends on when you arrive.)Įvery piece in the museum is a tribute to Harry Houdini. The patrons-with more than one Houdini fan-loved it.Īfter the show we saw a short film of magician Doug Henning doing Houdini's Metamorphosis trick (two people exchanging places in a locked box) and then were given some time to wander around the front room, adjusting our eyes to the light while the children bought magic wands and other tricks.įinally we were taken on a tour of the History Room and the Prop Room in the back of the house. Before our eyes, magicians Dorothy Dietrich and Bravo the Great (a/k/a John Bravo or Dick Brooks) did sleight of hand and other magic tricks, as well as some standup comedy, pulling audience members on stage to participate as needed. I slipped into a seat in a crowd of about twenty people.
Loud music was playing as I stepped into the dark front room and paid my admission. Once I located the neighborhood, I couldn't miss the building, painted light blue, with sideshow-style paintings of rabbits and Houdini on the street-level walls, and dressed Houdini-like mannequins standing on the second-floor balcony with a large advertising banner. One hot Saturday afternoon I found the museum, across the river from most of Scranton. In our minds he will forever be as handsome as Tony Curtis, who played him in the movies.īut why is "the only museum in the world devoted totally to Houdini" located in that city? What was the connection? Had Houdini once escaped from a mine? Was he an Irish miner in a previous life? I know he didn't live long enough to risk his life driving among the tractor-trailers dominating I-81. He was a magician and showman who died tragically and-some say-by someone else's hand.
#HARRY HOUDINI MUSEUM FULL#
His life and death were full of mystery and secrets.
More than seventy-five years after his death, many people still regard Harry Houdini with respect and fascination.
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