Houdini Museum of New York

The Houdini Museum of New York

Houdini Exhibition at The Jewish Museum New York
Established	2012
Location	Wayne, NJ
Coordinates	40.7520447°N 73.9907061°W / 40.7520447; -73.9907061
Type	Magic museum
Owner	Roger Dreyer
Website	www.houdinirevealed.com

The Houdini Museum of New York is a museum exhibiting memorabilia related to the escape artist, Harry Houdini. It is located at Fantasma Magic, a retail magic manufacturer.^[1][2]

History

Opened in October 2012,^[3] the Houdini Museum of New York contains several hundred pieces of ephemera, most of which belonged to magician and escape artist Harry Houdini. Of the museum's many pieces, Houdini's 1907 escape coffin (in which Houdini was sealed with six-inch nails and subsequently escaped), the "robot" from Houdini's 1919 silent film The Master Mystery, and Houdini's Metamorphosis Trunk are the largest. Other notable pieces include the original bust from Houdini's grave (on loan to the museum from S.A.M. Parent Assembly Number One), Bess Houdini's stage outfit and a large selection of smaller pieces such as Houdini's personal magic and escape props. There are also many items related to Houdini's interest in the debunking of spiritualists.^[4][5] The Houdini memorabilia is said to be worth more than $1 million.^[6] and has been variously estimated to have cost "several million".^[3]

It is in an unassuming and almost unheralded location, and as such is easily missed.^[7] The museum has also been featured as both a point of interest and a background location on several television shows including ABC World News,^[8] Fox & Friends,^[9] NY1,^[10] MTV and Good Day New York.^[6]

The museum is owned by Houdini collector Roger Dreyer (also the owner and CEO of Fantasma Magic) and was designed by architect and designer David Rockwell.^[3][11] It features over 1,500 pieces of "Houdiniana," which portends an "ever changing display."^[3][12][13] Dreyer's Houdini collection is the second-largest in the world; the first being the collection of Las Vegas illusionist David Copperfield.^[3][13]

Other Houdini museums

• 278 West 113th Street.^[A]
• Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania
• American Museum of Magic
• David Copperfield's International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts, which is closed to the public
• The History Museum at the Castle (Appleton, Wisconsin)
• The House of Houdini. Likewise, in 1919 he rented the cottage^[B] at 2435 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Los Angeles, while making movies for Lasky Pictures. His wife occupied it for a time after his death. As of 2011 the site of the cottage was a vacant lot and up for sale.^[18] The main mansion building itself was rebuilt after it was destroyed in the 1959 Laurel Canyon fire, and is now a historic venue and called The Mansion.^[19][20] While Houdini did not likely live at the "mansion," there is some probability that his widow did.^[21]
• University of Texas Library houses Houdini ephemera and a large collection of Houdini letters and manuscripts.^[22]

See also

• List of magic museums

Notes

1. Not per se a "museum", but it is a private residence with a documented Houdini connection and a lot of his artifacts. It has occasionally been open for guided tours. Not to be confused with the "House of Houdini", this is a former Houdini home, purchased in 1908, at 278 West 113th Street in modern-day Morningside Heights, Manhattan, that also displays Houdini artifacts.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}
2. "Not the home, which was sensationally dubbed "the Houdini mansion" when it burned in 1959, and has been rebuilt using the name "Houdini Estate."^[18]

References

1. Stratman, Mike (June 2003). "Dreyer And Setteducati, Fantasma Founders". The Linking Ring. Vol. 83, no. 6. p. 47. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
2. Hull, Sarah; Keeling, Stephen; Rosenberg, Andrew; Rough Guides (February 2016). The Rough Guide to New York City (ebook). London, United Kingdom: Apa Publications. p. 170. ISBN 9780241258439. ISBN 024125843X.
3. Osterhout, Jacob E.; Bachner, Jeff (October 23, 2012). "New York gets first museum on famed magician Harry Houdini". New York Daily News. Retrieved January 7, 2018. Curator Roger Dreyer, head of Fantasma Toys Inc., spent two decades and millions of dollars amassing the second-largest Houdini collection in the world, behind only magician David Copperfield's. But Dreyer had nowhere to display his prized items.
4. Katz, Ruth J. "Fantasma Magic: Now You See It, Now You Don't". City Guide. Davler Media Group, LLC. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
5. "The Hidden Magic of New York's Houdini Museum". Atlas Obscura. March 24, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
6. "Houdini Museum of NY @ Fantasma on Good Day New York" (video). Good Day New York. Retrieved January 7, 2018 – via YouTube.
7. "Reviews, Houdini Museum of New York at Fantasma Magic". TripAdvisor. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
8. Mitchell, Barry. "Houdini Museum" (Video). ABC News. Retrieved January 7, 2018 – via Houdini Museum.
9. "Houdini Museum". Fox News. Retrieved January 7, 2018 – via Houdini Museum.
10. "Houdini Museum" (Video). NY1. Retrieved January 7, 2018 – via Houdini Museum.
11. "Reasons to Visit Midown: The Houdini Museum and Keens Steakhouse". The New York Times. October 25, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
12. "Houdini Museum of New York". NYC arts. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
13. "About Us". Houdini Museum of New York. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
14. Cox, John (January 17, 2011). "Discovering 278: the home of Houdini". Wild About Harry. Retrieved January 22, 2017. ... I certainly knew the famous address -- "278" which is how Houdini always referred to his Harlem home.
15. Cox, John (June 25, 2017). "Inside Houdini's 278". wildabouthoudini.com. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
16. Cox, John (July 14, 2017). "The Owners and Occupants of Houdini's 278". wildabouthoudini.com. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
17. Gordon, Lisa Kaplan (June 21, 2017). "Check Out Harry Houdini's House Before it Disappears The magician's New York City townhouse recently the market for $4.6 million". Town and Country Magazine. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
18. "Houdini's Homes: Houdini owned homes in New York and California". magictricks.com. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
19. "Welcome to the Houdini Estate". The Houdini Estate. Archived from the original on February 6, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
20. "Houdini Mansion". Weird California. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
21. Cox, John (March 30, 2012). "Inside the Laurel Canyon Houdini Estate". Wild About Harry. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
22. Compeer (December 13, 2016). "House of Houdini Opens in Hungary". The Magic Compass. Society of American Magicians. Retrieved January 23, 2017.

External links

• Houdini Museum of New York
• Roger Dreyer. "Houdini Museum of New York @ Fantasma" (Video). Houdini Museum of New York @ Fantasma – via YouTube.