647: John Cox - All Houdini Episode

Because we are in the middle of “National Magic Week” and nearing the 95th anniversary of Houdini’s death on October 31st, it seems only fitting and natural that we should revisit with noted Houdini scholar and blogger, John Cox. He was featured on an episode here in 2017, but much has happened since then, not the least of which has been his visit to the Houdini home at 278 West 113th Street in Harlem, New York. This recounting of his visit is just a small part of what makes this episode special with John talking about collecting, correcting mis-information, and more.

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John Cox was one of the speakers and “hands around the table” at the “Official Houdini Seance” in Ft. Worth, Texas in 2012. This was our first meeting and introduced me to the fascinating mind of John Cox and the world of Houdini. He is often asked how there could still be so much information revealed that would make for a daily reporting (or blogging) about the legendary entertainer. The answer is that things just come to light if you search deep enough.

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619: Eric Colleary PhD - In Front of the Bookcase

This week we travel to Austin, Texas where one of the world’s largest collection of Houdini ephemera resides. Dr. Eric Colleary is our guest who is the Cline Curator of Theatre & Performing Arts at the Harry Ransom Center, an international humanities research library, archive, and museum. He holds a Ph.D. in Theatre Historiography from the University of Minnesota and an all-around great guy. The title “In Front of the Bookcase” for this week’s episode comes from the massive bookcase (and its contents) once owned by Houdini that now is owned by the University.

This week’s podcast episode on YouTube.

In this conversation, Dr. Colleary tells us about how this Houdini collection came to Austin, Texas and what is in the massive collection. There are some interesting stories in this week’s episode told about Houdini and Eric also debunked a few myths around parts of this collection.

611 - Jack Brutus Penny and Shaun Rivera - In The Cards

Why are magicians fascinated by playing cards? This week week have two separate conversations with two diverse people (one a creator and the other a collector) from two sides of the planet. Jack Brutus Penny is from England but lives in Japan where he is a teacher by day and a writer and playing card designer by night. Back in the U.S., Shaun Rivera is a magician in America’s heartland (Kansas City) who has a passion for collecting playing cards. This week the creator collides with the collector in an episode where we explore how cards are developed all the way to the retail buyer/collector.

For more information on Jack Penny’s Kickstarter campaign, please visit: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jackbrutuspenny/sensu

This week’s podcast episode on YouTube.

Jack Brutus Penny starts off our episode this week talking about the development, design and thought that goes into creating a new playing card. He talks about the card stock, printing, design, and marketing of his playing card creations that gives us some real insight into what goes into bringing these beautiful cards to collectors. Next we hear from Shaun Rivera who has amassed a collection of over 5,000 decks of playing cards. Find out this week how he started and why he continues his “obsession.”