Houdini Tonight!

Far be it from me to turn this blog into TV Guide, but sometimes I just gotta alert the public to developments of vaudevillian interest! Tonight at 10pm (EST) TCM is showing one of my favorite childhood movies, the George Pal produced 1953 Houdini bio-pic starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.

Like most Hollywood bio-pics this one is light on facts, and is often downright misleading, but somehow captures both the soul of its subject and his milieu. As the poster implies, the heart of the picture is the love story between Houdini and his beloved Bess, nicely playing off of Curtis and Leigh’s real life off screen marriage. I was about to call it a magical picture, but just stopped myself. But you know what? It is, so never mind! Directed by George Marshall, with Dunninger as technical adviser, the film has many memorable scenes — some that have stuck with me since childhood, such as the one where the Houdinis perform their “Metamorphosis” illusion in Coney Island, and where they attend a gaffed seance. And of course his horrible and dramatic death after performing the Chinese Water Tank Escape. Spoiler? Surely you knew the man was DEAD! (Though every Halloween, folks do try to get him to walk the earth again. He passed on October 31, 1926. I absolutely plan a seance of my own on the centennial anniversary. I’ll let you know how it turns out).

ALERT! This movie is NOT, repeat NOT currently Netflixable. So seize this rare opportunity to see it!