Silverman, Kenneth: Houdinii!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss ©1996 Kenneth Silverman; HarperCollins Publishers, NY Hardcover, w/dj, 447 pages

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Comments: Biography

Contents (from book):

3 METAMORPHOSES

3 One 1874-1898: Mayer Samuel Weiss and His Son, Ehrich Weiss; The Houdinis - Metamorphosis; The American Gaiety Girls - the Marco Company; the California
Concert Company; the Welsh Brothers Circus; The School of Magic

22 Two 1899: Martin Beck; Needle Swallowing; the Straitjacket Escape; the Jail Escape; Success; At Odds with Beck

36 Historical Note: The Matrix of Performance

47 HANDCUFF KING

47 Three 1900-1905: The Alhambra Debut; The Packing Case Escape; the Hodgson Escape; the Mirror Cuffs; Imitators, Rivals. Managers; Social, Domestic, and Literary Life

79 Four 1900-1904: Germany - The Berlin Polizeipräsidium; The Cologne Slander Trial; Around Germany; Houdini on Germany - Heinberger and Frikell; Paris, Blois, Merveilleux Exploits du Célèbre Houdini; Russia

107 Five 1905-1909: Return to the United States; 278; The Milk-Can Escape; the Manacled Bridge Jump; Houdini vs. Hardeen; The Open Challenges; Conjurers
Monthly; The Unmasking

137 Six January - June 1919: The Malwa; Diggers Rest; Rosehill

156 Seven 1910-1913: The Underwater Box Escape; The Crazy-Crib and Wet Sheet Escapes; New Challenges; Torture Escapes and Chinese Water Torture Cell; The Magician's Club; The Weiss Family; Ira Davenport; Aviation in America; More Strain, New Assistants

178 Eight 1913-1915: Death of Cecilia Weiss; The Grand Magical Rview; Theodore Rooselvelt; Walking Through a Brick Wall; The Suspended Straightjacket Escape; Jack and Charmian London; Jess Willard

202 Nine 1916-1917: Houdini in 1916; The FDC; Drama Collecting; Good Works; The SAM; The exedra; The Weiss Family in 1916; Houdini and Bess; War; Harry Kellar; the Vanishing Elephant

226 Ten: 1918-1919: Cheer Up; Charmain London; The Master Mystery; Young Abe; More on the FDC; Los Angeles; The Grime Game; Martinka's; Terror Island

249 A MAGICIAN AMONG THE SPIRITS

249 Eleven 1920-1922: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Spiritualism in the 1920's; Meeting With Doyle; Eva C.; Performances in England; The Man From Beyond; The Weehawken Street Corporation; Death of Kellar; 278; Alfred Becks; Sawing Through a Woman

272 Twelve Spring 1992 - Spring 1923: Doyle's Carnegie Hall Lectures; Spirit Photography; The Atlantic City Séance; The Talking Tea Kettle; Thurston and Blackstone; Haldane of the Secret Service; Doyle-Houdini Correspondence; Bert Reese; Doyle's Western Tour

298 Thirteen January 1923 - Spring 1924: Houdini's Spiritualism Lecture; Argamasilla; the Lippmann Reading; A Magician Among the Spirits; H. R Lovecraft; the Burgess Affair. The Scientific American Committee; Carrington, Bird. Prince; the Valentine and Pecoraro Séances

322 Fourteen Summer 1924: The Crandons; the July Sittings; Walter Franklin Prince; the August Sittings

341 Fifteen August 1924 — February 1925: The Committee Deliberations; The Symphony Hall Exposé; The Margery Verdict

359 Sixteen Fall 1924 - Spring 1926: The Anti-Spiritualist Crusade; Rose Mackenberg; Offstage and at Home; Margery Again and at Last

387 PALIGENESIA

387 Seventeen January - August 1926: HOUDINI; Chicago Raids and Lawsuits; the Congressional Hearings; The Shelton Pool Miracle

404 Eighteen August - November 1926: The Summer of 1926; Albany and Montreal; Grace Hospital; Reaction; Houdini's Funeral

421 APPENDIX AND SOURCE GUIDE

421 Appendix: Recollections of Harry and Bess Houdini by their niece Marie H. Blood; Recollection of Hardeen by the Houdini collector Sidney H. Radner
435 Source Guide
445 Index