The Houdini Museum of New York is a museum exhibiting memorabilia related to the escape artist,

Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...

. It is located at Fantasma Magic, a retail magic manufacturer.

History

Opened in October 2012, the Houdini Museum of New York contains several hundred pieces of

ephemera Ephemera are transitory creations which are not meant to be retained or preserved. Its etymological origins extends to Ancient Greece, with the common definition of the word being: "the minor transient documents of everyday life". Ambiguous in ...

, most of which belonged to magician and escape artist

. 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. The Houdini memorabilia is said to be worth more than $1 million. and has been variously estimated to have cost "several million." It is in an unassuming and almost unheralded location, and as such is easily missed. The museum has also been featured as both a point of interest and a background location on several television shows including ''

ABC World News ''ABC World News Tonight'' (titled ''ABC World News Tonight with David Muir'' for its weeknight broadcasts since September 2014) is the flagship daily evening television news program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting ...

'', '' Fox & Friends'', NY1,

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

and ''

Good Day New York ''Good Day New York'' is a morning show airing on WNYW Fox 5 (channel 5), hosted by Rosanna Scotto and Bianca Peters. It is a Fox owned-and-operated television station in New York City, owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Cor ...

''. 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. It features over 1,500 pieces of "Houdiniana," which portends an "ever changing display." Dreyer's Houdini collection is the second-largest in the world; the first being the collection of Las Vegas illusionist David Copperfield.

Other Houdini museums

*278 West 113th Street. * Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania * American Museum of Magic * David Copperfield's

International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts David Seth Kotkin (born September 16, 1956), known professionally as David Copperfield, is an American magician, described by ''Forbes'' as the most commercially successful magician in history.

, which is closed to the public *

The History Museum at the Castle The History Museum at the Castle is a local history museum located in downtown Appleton, Wisconsin across College Avenue from Lawrence University. Owned and operated by the Outagamie County Historical Society (OCHS), the museum has previously o ...

( Appleton, Wisconsin) *

The House of Houdini The House of Houdini is a museum and performance venue located at 11, Dísz Square, within the walls of the Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. The museum houses the only collection of original Houdini artifacts in Europe. History The museum's col ...

. Likewise, in 1919 he rented the cottage at 2435

Laurel Canyon Boulevard Laurel Canyon Boulevard is a major street in the city of Los Angeles. It starts off at Polk Street in Sylmar in the northern San Fernando Valley near the junction of the San Diego ( Interstate 405) and the Golden State (I-5)) freeways. Laurel Ca ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, 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. 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 The Mansion or The Mansions may refer to: Books * ''The Interior Castle'', also known as ''The Mansions'' (1577), a spiritual guide written by Teresa of Ávila * ''The Mansion'' (novel), a 1959 book written by novelist William Faulkner Buildings ...

. While Houdini did not likely live at the "mansion," there is some probability that his widow did. *

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Library houses Houdini ephemera and a large collection of Houdini letters and manuscripts.

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External links