Houdini's right hand man, Franz Kukol

[houdini's ghost]

Franz Kukol and Jim Vickery on YouTube.
Kukol and Antonio Brassac are in this 1910 Australia footage. Vickery, who is not in this clip was a vital member of Houdini's aircrew. He was a machinist and a carpenter. Only Brassac knew the plane better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsT1y7lvD6w
Vickery and Kukol are tying Houdini up in this clip from "Merveilleux Exploits du Clbre Houdini Paris - Path (1909)."
Vickery is in the bowler hat. The third man looks a bit like Collins, but, if it were, this would have Jim Collins working with Houdini before the Australian tour, and Collins wasn't on that tour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_avYnAT-cU
Then there is terrific footage of Franz in this 1907 bridge jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrnCPoTky9s
I don't know who we can see in the footage of the pallbearers carrying the coffin. I believe I see Vickery and possibly Frank Williamson (Franz Kukol).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUAyEylXhqQ
Collins and Vickery show up in some of the outdoor strait-jacket footage that is on the KINO dvds. Kukol might be there, but, this was after Houdini made him disappear so he is hard to spot.

[terry love]

On the subject of Houdini's assistants, would anyone know when Vickery died and what he did later in life??

[houdini's ghost]

Harold James Vickery was born Feb 14 (St. Valentine's Day), 1885 and died Nov 5(Guy Fawkes Day), 1954.
I don't know what his job was later in his life, but, he worked in the same warehouse on 19th St. in Union City, New Jersey, where he, Jimmy Collins and two others built the Elephant Vanish, Hello Summer, Radio 1950 and other Houdini props. Houdini rented the building under a false company name and it was kept top secret when Houdini was alive.
Houdini would tell people he had those props made in San Francisco.
His widow Pauline Rey Vickery loaned some family treasures to Milbourne Christopher when he was writing Houdini, the Untold Story and was still expecting them to be returned when she died. The family would still like to have them returned. They were a loan, not a gift.
Vickery was a metal worker, a machinist, and a carpenter. He helped to keep the Voison flying.
Whether or not he was still employing those skills later in life, I don't know.
In the outdoor strait-jacket footage, Collins is in charge of Houdini's ankles, Vickery is in charge of the shoulders and head.

[JohnCox]

Vickery also worked as an assistant to Hardeen after Houdini died. A photo just sold on eBay of Dash, Vickery, and Douglas Geoffrey with the Milk Can in 1943.

[houdini's ghost]

Here are 3 interesting links, parts 1, 2, and 3 of a Hogan's Heroes titled "Color the Luftwaffe Red." James Mitchell Vickery has a guest-star role as a Luftwaffe colonel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA5lZ_Lp8lU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0fz9hv8xR0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg5N1f1AvcA
Jim Vickery's son was an actor. He starred on the soap opera "the Secret Storm" in the 60s. He was married to Colleen Dewhurst and later Diana Muldaur. He died in 1969.
Jim Vickery and I acted on different episodes of Eischied (he was in the pilot) and McCloud (on which Diana Muldaur co-starred with Dennis Weaver).
I met Diana a couple of times while she was staying in Laurel Canyon while shooting McCloud. Jim Vickery was at their home in Pacific Palisades (too far to commute to Universal Studios). She mentioned her husband but never by his full name. I think I might have said something if I'd known her husband Jim's last name was Vickery.
I feel as if I just missed him.
Jim Vickery was with Hardeen from Houdini's death (starting in 1927) through the Million Dollar Pier period (1933-), then, things got slow. Hardeen didn't make the kind of money Houdini did and couldn't pay the assistants as well as Houdini had. Things got pretty rough for Hardeen in the late thirties then came Hellzapoppin which rescued him. Jimmy Collins worked on Hellzapoppin. Apparently, Jim Vickery did not.
Vickery did help Hardeen on Parent Assembly and Magicians' Guild shows and special performances until Hardeen died in 1945.

[terry love]

Thank you...extremely interesting. Does any one know much about Houdini"s house in recent years. Is it the same as when he lived there or has it been remodeled? Are there films or photos of the inside? It was interesting to look at it on Google earth.

[houdini's ghost]

I've been in Houdini's house twice, in 1976 and 1994. In the first visit, I really only saw a front sitting room. The brownstone was divided up into apartments and I would have been intruding on people if I saw more of the house. In 1994, a man named Fred who told me he was the contractor, but, I think, was actually the owner, let me and my son walk around the downstairs. With all the draperies removed, you could look from the front room to the back of the house. Big, beautiful place, but, very much changed since Houdini's time. The oversized bathtub with "HH" spelled on the black and white tiles, Fred told me, was long gone.
I didn't get to look for secret panels or 1920s style "bugs."
Fred said they were gone. I'll bet there are still secrets in that house.
Then, Of course, there is that farmhouse in Connecticut that was later owned by Robert Vaughn and 2435 Laurel Canyon where the Houdinis lived 1n 1919 and Bessie and Ed Saint lived in 1934-5.

[terry love]

I'm sure there are still secrets in the house left by Houdini, just waiting for a group of magicians and psychics to discover them (now that's a reality show I would watch)...Do you think that any of Houdini's movies may have had scenes shot in the house? It was recently brought to my attention that a trunk packed full of Houdini items including letters, keys, and handcuffs sold at a flea market outside of New York a couple years ago for $1,000.00...Has anyone heard about this and what the contents were...

[Leonard Hevia]

My brother visited L.A. about six months ago and bought a copy of Borislav Stanic's Los Angeles Attractions. It's one of those pocket tour guide books, but nicely produced with color photos and descriptions of every noteworthy place to visit in Southern California. The Magic Castle is listed with a photo, and so is Houdini.

Stanic wrote this about Houdini's house in Laurel Canyon:

"The northwest corner of Laurel Canyon Blvd and Lookout Mountain Rd was once occupied by a log cabin owned in the 1920s by legendary cowboy star Tom Mix. Frank Zappa, the bandleader of the Mothers of Invention, lived in the house from 1966 to 1968. Across the street, at 2398 (now 2400) Laurel Canyon Blvd, once stood a 1920s Italianate, 40-room mansion where the magician Harry Houdini is believed to have lived at one time. Today, only the steps and the servant quarters remain on the grounds, which are reportedly haunted. Both the Mix and Houdini houses burned down".

I don't know how accurate that is, because Stanic also writes in the Palace Theater entry that Houdini "caused a sensation" there with the sawing in half illusion, complete with an ambulance waiting outside. I don't think Houdini ever performed this.

[Leonard Hevia]

If you log on to www.houdini-lives.com and click on galleries, you'll see a slide section on Houdini's New York. The photos were taken in August 2005. There are lots of photos of the brownstone house from the front and rear. The front porch displays a small red plaque honoring Houdini. The house is currently a kind of apartment building. The Shelton Hotel, the cemetary plot, Mrs. Leffler's boarding house and the east side apartment building Houdini lived in during his hard times are also in the slide section.

The Shelton Hotel, the site of the famous coffin pool miracle has now become a Marriot. No photos of the pool--if it's still there.

[Kevin Connolly]

The pool was filled in a few years ago as I remember it.

[houdini's ghost]

Houdini didn't live at 2398 Laurel Canyon, but, he did live on the estate.
The mansion at 2398 (now 2400) was owned by Ralf M. Walker, a department store magnate. Houdini rented the guesthouse. Now get this, the guesthouse was a four bedroom perched on top of a kind of bluff and it was on the other side of Laurel Canyon. That was 2435. It had an elevator that went down through the solid rock to a tunnel that went under Laurel Canyon and came up in the gatehouse of 2398.
There was an indoor pool and gardens on the 2398 side. In 1935, Bessie hosted a cocktail party for 500 magicians and their wives who were in Hollywood for the P.C.A.M. convention in the garden of the big house and that's when the press started calling 2398 the Houdini mansion while all the old timers knew where Houdini and Bessie had lived was 2435. In fact, Ralf M. Walker had named 2435 "Houdini House."
http://www.houdinisghost.com/laurelcanyon.html
This is the real story.
http://www.houdinisghost.com/wrongruins.html

[Leonard Hevia]

Thanks for the clarification on the Shelton pool, Kevin.

Houdini's Ghost does another outstanding job of setting the record straight. Lots of great information on the Houdini's Ghost website. So Houdini rented that bungalow (2435) across the street from the Walker mansion (2398). Is that bungalow gone? Did the Tom Mix fire claim that as well?

I read in the Sloman/Kalush biography that Houdini was planning on moving to the west coast permanently. What's the skinny on that?

Any word yet on the release of the upcoming Houdini book? Wasn't it supposed to be out in October?

[houdini's ghost]

Just a quick note about "Houdini--the Key." it's not ready to go to print for several reasons, the biggest one being that I have been having some vision problems that have been pesky and have limited my work time to an hour or two a day. On Monday (Jan 4), I'm going in for a cataract operation on my right eye, and that should solve half the problem. Then Feb 1, I get the left eye done, and if all goes well, I'll be able to see again. The opthalmologist who is doing the work, Dr. Steven Chang, is a regular member of the Magic Castle--a sleight of hand man.
So the book is still a couple of months away.
It is getting to be what I want it to be. It will open a thousand doors to new research.
Just to keep this post on Franz Kukol, I will give two additional links clips on youtube. In the first, Houdini is being tied to a chair in the 1909 Pathe film "Merveilleux Exploits du Clbre Houdini Paris" and Kukol and Vickery are tying him with a third man who looks like Jimmy Collins, who wasn't supposed to be with the troupe yet.
The second clip is an outtake from Haldane. Vickery isn't in this one but Franz/Frank, who wasn't supposed to be with Houdini at that point, is; and so is Collins who doesn't show up in the final cut of Haldane.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_avYnAT-cU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLBdknhSyNg

[houdini's ghost]

When the Walker mansion burned in the 1959 Laurel Canyon fire, the guest house, 2435, which belonged then to a man named Al Sulpresio (I don't like my spelling of that name), burned at the same time. I saw them burn. The next day, the papers all carried the story that the "old Houdini mansion" had burned down. I lived less than a block from that mansion, Houdini was my hero, and I'd had no idea he had lived in Laurel Canyon.
The tom Mix cabin burned about 20 years later.
It took me thirty-five years to learn where Houdini really lived: A house on a knoll that I had looked at every day from 1953 to 1959. After that, I looked at the ruins for another ten years or so and then road crews cut that knoll out of Laurel Canyon, eliminating a hairpin curve and obliterating every trace of the house where Houdini really lived.
Incidentally, when Houdini lived in Laurel Canyon, the canyon was still considered part of Beverly Hills. Now, it is part of West Hollywood.

[JohnCox]

If you log on to www.houdini-lives.com and click on galleries, you'll see a slide section on Houdini's New York. The photos were taken in August 2005. There are lots of photos of the brownstone house from the front and rear. The front porch displays a small red plaque honoring Houdini. The house is currently a kind of apartment building.

Thanks. You can link directly to that galley here:
http://www.houdini-lives.com/Houdini_Li ... _York.html

When I took those photos I did try to get into the house. I spotted the UPS man approaching and I walked up to the door with him. A woman, who I assumed was the landlady, answered and signed for the packages. I explained I ran a Houdini website and asked if I could just look in the entryway. I could see behind her dark wood panelling. But she wouldn't let me in. I kick myself now for not offering her $50. Just didn't occur to me on the spot.

[houdini's ghost]

I just posted an excellent photo of the assistants carrying the coffin at the cemetery on handcuffs.org. Vickery, Collins and Kukol can be recognized. I know the names of the others but I don't know who is who.
the link to the thread is:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/261154/t ... 81/funeral

[houdini's ghost]

I have just started a page on Harold James (Jim) Vickery.
http://www.houdinisghost.com/frankwilliamson.html
Take a look to see a wonderful photo of Jim Vickery late in his life, and two stunningly beautiful photos of Vickery with the Voisin aeroplane he helped to get into the air.
I'm going to keep at this page until I somehow make it as good as the subject. The photos came from Janice Sauer, Vickery's granddaughter, and her husband, Jerry.
More photos of this talented actor/carpenter/metal worker/machinest will be added soon.

[Kevin Connolly]

Those are some great photos of the boy from NJ. ;) I never saw them until you found them. Thanks!

[houdini's ghost]

I just added a photo Of Jim Vickery and his wife Pauline and I have created a link so that anyone who wishes to buy my Notes on Houdini's Vanishing Elephant can get them from the houdinihimself.com website. More to come.
Giving credit where credit is due, Jim Vickery was a vital member of the ground crew that enabled Houdini to make history 100 years ago in Australia.

[houdini's ghost]

I have just put up some interesting pages about Houdini's assistants.
http://www.houdinisghost.com/frankwilliamson.html
http://www.houdinisghost.com/franzkukol.html
Also a page of the WW1 draft registrations of Houdini, Hardeen, Collins, Kukol, and Vickery.
http://www.houdinisghost.com/draftregistrations.html

[houdini's ghost]

I have just put up 3 very interesting photos of Franz. They are actually freeze frames and it's really two of Franz and One of Frank. Franz, Kaiser Wilhelm mustache and all, can be seen attending to Houdini at a 1907 bridge jump and the 1910 aeroplane flight in Australia. Frank is to Houdini's right (Collins to the left) in the Haldane Out take. Being a photographer, he has a tendency to spot the camera as he appears to be doing in all three shots.
http://www.houdinisghost.com/franzfrank.html

[houdini's ghost]

Here is some info about Franz at the the Hotel Shelton pool and in Haldane.
http://www.houdinisghost.com/frankmore.html
Also about Houdini's underwater coffin test at the Worcester YMCA.
http://www.houdinisghost.com/worcesterymca.html

[Kevin Connolly]

Great Find! I never seen it or heard of it. A winner.

[houdini's ghost]

Jerry Sauer, the husband of Janice Woitovich Sauer, Jim Vickery's granddaughter, sent me a scan of that clipping.
In the 1976 BBC documentary, Kukol and Vickery can be seen sprinting alongside Houdini's plane keeping the wingtips level until the plane takes off and they and the two guys on the tail are thrown by their own momentum face first onto the ground.
You know, 100 years ago at Digger's Rest, these guys made history.

[JohnCox]

Here is some info about Franz at the the Hotel Shelton pool and in Haldane.
http://www.houdinisghost.com/frankmore.html
Also about Houdini's underwater coffin test at the Worcester YMCA.
http://www.houdinisghost.com/worcesterymca.html

Fantastic stuff. Thanks.

[JohnCox]

You know, I've never seen a photo of the Y test. Surprised to see so many onlookers and press coverage. I always assumed it was private test/rehearsal for the Shelton test.

[houdini's ghost]

The Worcester YMCA was not a private test. It was a public demonstration, given during the run of Houdini's show there.
I think it was Sept 28, '26. Kalush has it.
Houdini's appendix didn't seem to be bothering him there!
The "Buried Alive" poster was to publicize this stunt.
It was this "coffin" that they shipped him home in, he wasn't buried in it.

[JohnCox]

Oh, so it was AFTER Shelton? I had it turned around in my head. Interesting. Thanks.

[terry love]

Is there any word on what became of the coffin after it was used to ship Houdini home...Seems to me that historically it should be considered one of his most important props...By the way, in reference to an earlier mention of Houdini being embalmed, I saw one of Teller's Christmas cards on ebay a few months ago with a photo of Teller in the preparation room of the Hamilton Funeral Home in Detroit where Houdini was embalmed...I
Interesting that the funeral home's web page gives more mention to it's handling of Houdini than any of the Fords, Dodges, or Strohs.

[JohnCox]

Good question, terry love. What happened to the coffin?

I seem to recall some story of when Houdini's friends and whatnot descended on 278 after his death, one of them filled the casket with artifacts and carted it away. Something like this.

I'm going to put an article about this second underwater test up on my website today. I realize this is a major discovery.

[Leonard Hevia]

Hi Zencat--if you read the thread on Houdini's Last Photograph, you'll see that I brought up the subject of the Worcester Pool Test. It was Mr. Culliton who got around to seeing it and posted that newspaper clipping.

I saw it by accident in the Sloman/Kalush companion volume to the Houdini bio. They published a small invitation card advertising this event. I don't think Houdini was suffering from appendicitis until around October.

[JohnCox]

Hi Zencat--if you read the thread on Houdini's Last Photograph, you'll see that I brought up the subject of the Worcester Pool Test. It was Mr. Culliton who got around to seeing it and posted that newspaper clipping.

I saw it by accident in the Sloman/Kalush companion volume to the Houdini bio. They published a small invitation card advertising this event. I don't think Houdini was suffering from appendicitis until around October.

Thanks Leonard. I did see that, in fact. Interesting that the Secret Life Notes book has that pic, but there is nothing about it in the book itself. They must have come across this image after that fact. Greshman does allude to it in The Man Who Walked Through Walls, but not details. Couldn't find anything in any of the other major bios. Really, this article from Patrick is the first report I think we have on this second test. Houdini history has been made here!

Here's the article:
http://www.houdini-lives.com/Houdini_Li ... _test.html

[houdini's ghost]

The letter Houdini wrote about his first three tests in the coffin is at:
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/11/ho ... trick.html
The Worcester YMCA test, I think, was the fourth and last.
Joe Holland showed me the original of the invitation that was reproduced in the Kalush/Sloman notes.

[houdini's ghost]

I was recently contacted by a nephew of a woman named Shirley Leigh. Her father was Eric Delderfield and his father was Houdini's assistant, Harold James Vickery.
Shirley Leigh's grandmother was Jim Vickery's sweetheart, Edith Delderfield.
Eric Delderfield was born in a Salvation Army hospital and put up for adoption.
Shirley Leigh's nephew, Dean Hollisey did a terrific bit of detective work in discovering the true identity of Eric Delderfield's father.
The only information he had to start with was a family story that Eric's dad worked for Houdini. This story was viewed with skepticism by some but turns out to be the truth.
Eric was born in 1910. Edith Delderfield understood that Jim would return from Australia and marry her, but, he never returned to her.

[houdini's ghost]

I have just made a post about Houdini's assistant Lewis Goldstein AKA Larry Lewis. Unfortunately, I didn't put Houdini in the title so some people who might be interested may not tune in. He was an interesting guy. It appears to me he had alzheimer's back when nobody knew what it was
Also, after two years, I have finished my book Houdini-the Key and I am preparing to go to print.

[JohnCox]

Congrats on finishing the book! Looking forward to it.

[houdini's ghost]

Something new has come to light about "Frank Kukol." I have been checking the 1920 census for Frank/Franz for the last two years. He has just shown up on the 1920 census on West 180th St., Manhattan.
Name: Frank Kukol
[Frank Kupol] Home in 1920: Manhattan Assembly District 23, New York, New York
Age: 43
Estimated birth year: abt 1877
Birthplace: Moravia [Mhren]
Relation to Head of House: Roomer
Father's Birth Place: Austria
Mother's Birth Place: Germany
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Sex: Male
Year of Immigration: 1914

[houdini's ghost]

AND!
Speaks English? Yes!
He lists his occupation as manager, motion picture theatre.

[Rick Ruhl]

Pat,

If you ever tried to write a book on all the knowlege you had on Houdini, it wouldnt be a book, it would be a library.

Looking forward to this one and I want an authographed copy, old friend :)

Rick