Houdini's Lost Diaries

[Tom Frame]

Last night, Houdini's Lost Diaries appeared on Histories Greatest Mysteries on the History Channel. Hosted by Laurence Fishburn, the episode features Bill Kalush, Penn & Teller, John Cox, Mike Caveny, Patrick Culliton and others.

I, and even my wife, enjoyed it.

Did anyone else watch it? What did you think of it?

[Richard Kaufman]

Any particularly interesting news come out?

[Roger M.]

No mention of John Ernst.
It's not really clear that they're the Ernst diaries being referenced, except that Bill Kalush is speaking, and we know he's seen them.

What is a bit odd, and possibly "new" is that the narrator describes Bill Kalush as the "custodian of the diaries" ... which may imply that they're actually not the Ernst diaries being referenced in the show (unless of course John Ernst has transferred that duty to Kalush?).

Also, there is a strong implication towards the end of the show that the diaries are substantially comprised of fabrications on the part of Houdini. Those fabrications are described as Houdini's fantasies related to how famous and revered he was ... transcribed into his diaries as if it was fact.
I found this aside a bit odd, and lacking in any real evidence to support it.

It's the History Channel after all, so the show was focused on the general public who are largely uninterested in the same kinds of things researchers might be interested in ... so (once again) we are informed how Houdini was ... in his time (and quite rightly) ... the most famous performer in the world.

[Tarotist]

I am not sure if I mentioned this before but when I was much younger I met John Mulholland at the Magic Circle. Of course he knew Houdini personally and was rather rude about him. I remember him saying, "Houdini was mishandling the funds of the SAM and I was the only one who had the guts to speak up about it"

There. A tidbit of historical information. I have no idea what Mulholland was referring to but there it is for what it is worth.

[hugmagic]

I had not heard that about Houdini mishandling funds. I do know (printed in the Sphinx) that until Houdini's death Martinka (his shop) was the exclusive agent for the Sphinx magazine. The next month they were no longer the agent but R. S. Schlosser was. No one has been able to answer what happened. My educated guess is Houdini's shop (Martinka) owned advertising revenue but they were too afraid to take him on. After he was gone, they simply severed the ties. Interesting situation that I wish a definitive answer could be found on it.