HOLLYWOOD -- Houdini Museum Directors Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz to Tour Hollywood’s Houdini Sites on Houdini’s 141st Birthday March 24.
Celebrity magicians Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz recently uncovered Houdini’s long lost film “The Grim Game” are in Hollywood as special guests of Turner Classic Movies to introduce the world premier of Houdini’s best film of the five he made. “The Grim Game” will be featured as part of the finale of the TCM Film Festival, March 29. It has not been seen by the general public for over 96 years. Shortly after it will be shown at The Directors Guild in New York; in Scranton PA home of The Houdini Museum; and later on The Turner Classic Movies Network.
Their Hollywood tour will begin at 10 AM in front of the Hollywood Heritage Museum at 2100 Highland Ave, LA which was once part of the Famous Players-Lasky Studio where Houdini made “The Grim Game”. Dietrich will perform some magic from her bag of tricks for passers by. The team will then be escorted on a private tour conducted by Houdini historian John Cox, host of the internet’s Wild About Houdini. It's the internet’s most popular Houdini web site, started in 2010 and boasts an amazing 3,025,853 page views and rising.
Houdini’s “The Grim Game” was the find of a lifetime. Only ten percent of old silent films exist due to their inflammatory nature. A year ago film historian Rick Schmidlin, who’s mother lived in Scranton, PA, dropped in on his long time friends at the Museum on one of his visits. The Museum, was founded 26 years ago in Scranton, PA, and is the only building in the world dedicated to Houdini. The only copy of the film “The Grim Game” was hidden in the collection of entertainer Larry Weeks in Brooklyn, NY who had shown the magicians the movie over the years on two occasions. They let Schmidlin in on the whereabouts of the rare film. He was bowled over and elated. The magicians took several weeks to convince the collector to meet with Schmidlin, who had contacted Turner Classic Movies. TCM backed the project. Weeks agreed to part with the movie and have it restored. Weeks was 95 and died just 4 months later.
About Us:
The Houdini Museum a not for profit organization has taken on the responsibility of taking care of the abandoned Houdini Grave site and recently replaced Houdini's missing bust that was destroyed 40 years ago by vandals. http://houdini.org
Dorothy Dietrich, one of the leading female magicians and escape artists in the world, has been called "the First Lady of Magic," and "The Female Houdini." She's appeared in countless Television specials including You Asked For It, a Bill Cosby Special, Montel Williams, The Tomorrow Show, Atlantic City Alive, Just For The Record, the Best Of Everything, Evening Magazine. etc. She was Special Guest Star in HBO's The World's Greatest Escapes, costarring movie legend Tony Curtis. She escaped hanging from the bottom of a parachute ride hundreds of feet in the air hanging from a single piece of rope that was set on fire. She's also the only women to accomplish The Jinxed Bullet Catch in the mouth, the one stunt Houdini backed out of. The stunt has killed over 13 men and injured many others. This was done at Resorts International Casino in Atlantic City. Both stand as world records. When not doing crazy stunts she travels with a magic show that features doves, a duck, a rabbit and two poodles. When home in Scranton she appears on stage atThe Houdini Museum.
http://dorothydietrich.com
John Cox is a Houdini Historian who runs the popular blog WILD ABOUT HARRY (wildabouthoudini.com). John creates original content, links to the works of others, and exploits the power of social media to spread the word of Houdini far and wide. As a teen, John dabbled in escape and performance magic and wrote articles about Houdini for his school newspapers. After graduating from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, he became a professional screenwriter, penning projects for MGM, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, ABC, USA, and the WB networks. John appeared in the 1998 documentary, Houdini Exposed, and gives a lecture called "Houdini in Hollywood", which has been featured the Hollywood Heritage Museum and the World Famous Magic Castle in Hollywood. His personal collection of Houdini memorabilia includes books, photos, letters, and publicity material, topping out at over 5000 individual items.
Dick Brookz (http://dickbrookz.com) has been a professional magician his entire life. He has fronted for Bobby Darin, Jack Jones, Neil Sedaka at performed at such venues as #1 Fifth Ave, The Rainbow Grill, The Americana Hotel and Casino in Puerto Rico, Aruba Hotel and Casino, etc.
Places on the Houdini history tour (A story in itself)
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, CA, which is the resting place of Walt Disney, Mary Pickford, Clark Gable, Michael Jackson, and other notables. As a teenager in 1889 Houdini’s first show business partner Jacob Hyman suggested Ehrich Weiss change his name to Houdini in honor of famous French magician Robert Houdin. Also buried there is Jacob's brother Joe another early Houdini partner. Joe went on to become a famous vaudeville comedian who had the first comedy record to sell a million copies.
Los Angeles Examiner Building where Houdini performed an outdoor suspended straitjacket escape April 5, 1923.
The old Orpheum Theater now called the Palace Theater where Houdini had his famous verbal joust with heavyweight boxing champ Jess Willard in 1915. This was Orpheum's home during the Golden Age of Vaudeville. It not only saw performances by Houdini (in 1915 and 1923) but also Jolson, Sarah Bernhardt, the Marx Brothers, W.C Fields and Will Rogers. It's the oldest Orpheum theater in the US.
Laurel Canyon; Houdini lived there when he made The Grim Game.
“First Spiritualist Church of Los Angeles." Houdini took a photo that had a strange streak of light that he couldn't explain, the only spirit-related phenomena that stumped Houdini.
Knickerbocker Hotel where Bess Houdini held the famous 1936 “Final Houdini Seance” ten years after Houdini’s death.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery which holds Valentino, DeMille, Fairbanks Sr. & Jr, and many other stars from the early days, and Edward Saint. Saint was business manager and companion of Bess Houdini in her later years. He tirelessly promoted Houdini's legacy.
Other
The Houdini Museum has the largest and only continuing traveling exhibit on Houdini, "Houdini Road Show", that was recently on exhibit at the Seminole Coconut Creek Casino in West Palm Beach. HoudiniDisplays.com
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