Theodore Weiss - The Boxer

While working on my podcast episode 119 on Theo Dash Hardeen, I stumbled upon an article that appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader on June 28, 1928. The article mentions how Hardeen had boxed in that very city 30 years earlier. I had never heard of that. I knew Houdini had a little bit to do with boxing, amateur as it was. Here now was an example of Theo boxing. This would have been the time period between when he stopped working in the Brothers Houdini and before he went to Europe to tour as Hardeen, 1895-1899 time frame.

He would not have gone by the name Hardeen, because it hadn't even been created yet. What he went by I am not sure. But clearly the reporter knew exactly who he was, remembering him vividly. 

The photo at the top of the page, also got me thinking. We see a number of people in this imagine, among them on the far lower left is Leonard Hicks, a protege of Houdini. And the upper right is Hardeen. But standing next to Hicks is Willie Ritchie, a light weight prize fighter. This is not the first example of Hardeen or Houdini for that matter in the company of a boxing champ. 

Below is the article from the newspaper!

An interesting side note, a relative of Hardeen's, his great grandnephew is also a boxer. https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2016/08/chris-hardeen-in-ring.html

Houdini's Library by Eric Colleary Featured This Week

 

Dr Eric Colleary, curator of Performing Arts at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin Texas was my guest on episode 118 of the Magic Detective Podcast. Eric spoke about his upcoming book and the exhibit of the same name, Houdini's Library which is running until Jan 24, 2027. 

It was a very informative talk. He gave us the history of Houdini's collections, where they went to, who ended up with them, how some items ended up in places that maybe they shouldn't have. There was more here than I expected. Eric even recalled some names I didn't immediately  remember, one in particular Henry Evans who went by the stage name Evanion. You can read more about Evanion here, or on Episode 33 of my podcast. Which is not to be confused with Henry Ridgely Evans, who we also spoke about but who is an entirely different individual. 

Houdini loved his library. It was massive. One thing I love about this talk was Eric said Houdini didnt just collect these books and things, but he also went through them, looked at the items, read the books. His library was extremely valuable to him and highly cherished. This is documented in various letters that Houdini wrote.

During this episode you will also hear about a mysterious Houdini Bookcase, which is different from the one that was in the Houdini home on 278 and is now in the Copperfield collection. 

You can hear the podcast episode by clicking this link.

Now, on September 17th at 6pm central, Eric Colleary will be speaking at the Harry Ransom Center on his book and doing a reading from the book as well. This is being live streamed on youtube for anyone interested in viewing it.  Click below for the link on September 17th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGOl5Q_TjBY

The Magic Detective Podcast CHANGES!

 

If you've noticed, I have just done three episodes in a row on Houdini, two of them within a week of each other. I completely abandoned my original order of shows that I had planned. I will eventually do them all, but for the next two months at least, you'll be getting Houdini, Houdini, Houdini. 

First was Bess Houdini which came out earlier this year. Second was last weeks Houdini in Salem which also featured an interview with George Schwartz, curator of the Peabody Essex Museum. Today, I added an interview with magic author, historian, and collector, Charles Greene, on his book Exposing Houdini.

Charles does an amazing job of promoting his books. Anyone in the magic world should study how he promotes his books. I knew he had done several other podcast interviews, so I wanted to ask him questions that he might not normally hear. The results were fantastic. That is episode 117.

Im currently lining up other interviews, which is odd for me. The podcast has never been an interview show. But Im altering the format for the moment. I will still do the long form, highly researched episodes, but the interviews will allow me to get you MORE content.

I have a guy coming up who has a Houdini prop that hasn't been seen for at least 100 years. What is it? You'll just have to wait and see! What? See?  Yes, I will post some images of this item when I do the transcripts. And Im toying with a membership side where I will offer VIDEOS on occasion.

Suffice to say, a lot is in the works. Also, there will be some major changes to the blog, but those will come in the form of additions, nothing really changing from the regular readers perspective. But a new bonus section or two with specialized content. 

The eagle-eyed observer may have noticed that the Bess Houdini episode above is shown as Episode 120, when in reality, it already came out and was episode 115. This is because I have been switching the episodes around that I wanted to do. I always intended when I got to September to move to Houdini only as we reach the 100th Centennial Day, Oct 31, 2026. But I didn't anticipate having no episodes from mid April to late August. These things happen.

OH, and contests. Remember those??? I haven't had a Magic Detective Contest in a long long time. I think the last one was a couple years ago when I gave away a Magic Detective T-shirt. Watch for a new contest in the coming weeks!!!!