John and Gordon go to New York

In the tradition of that great movie "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle", we have another great tale. "John and Gordon go to New York."

Here are some of the highlights.


John, Fred and Gordon visiting Tannen's Magic Shop


With Roger Dryer at Fantasma Magic in NYC


Part of Roger's Houdini exhibit


The gang visits Houdini's house.


Paying respect at Houdini's grave


John looks to see if Fred has any good pitchbooks


Visiting the home of Handcuffs.Org

Joe

Great shots! Have not seen you guys since last October with the Cannons.

Thanks for the post.

Ron

In the tradition of that great movie "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle", we have another great tale. "John and Gordon go to New York."

Here are some of the highlights.


John, Fred and Gordon visiting Tannen's Magic Shop


With Roger Dryer at Fantasma Magic in NYC


Part of Roger's Houdini exhibit


The gang visits Houdini's house.


Paying respect at Houdini's grave


John looks to see if Fred has any good pitchbooks


Visiting the home of Handcuffs.Org

Joe

Click to expand...

Hey guys, looks like a fun trip.....wish I was there!!!! I have never been to Houdini's grave, I hope to visit it someday. Be sure to have some world famous NY style pizza while you are there.

Cheers, Mike

In the tradition of that great movie "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle", we have another great tale. "John and Gordon go to New York."

Here are some of the highlights.


John, Fred and Gordon visiting Tannen's Magic Shop


With Roger Dryer at Fantasma Magic in NYC


Part of Roger's Houdini exhibit


The gang visits Houdini's house.


Paying respect at Houdini's grave


John looks to see if Fred has any good pitchbooks


Visiting the home of Handcuffs.Org

Joe

Click to expand...

John & Gordon,

Until now I had no idea what "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" was about. Since there was nothing to bid for on eBay, and still recovering from back surgery, I turned on the TV and with nothing worth watching on the major channels, I spotted Harold and Kumar on the Comedy channel.

You guys must have had a great trip. But, my all time Harold movie is the 1971 classic "Harold and Maude" which is worth seeing.

I'm still trying to decide which one of you was Harold and which one was Kumar. Take care,

Ron

In the tradition of that great movie "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle", we have another great tale. "John and Gordon go to New York."

Here are some of the highlights.


John, Fred and Gordon visiting Tannen's Magic Shop


With Roger Dryer at Fantasma Magic in NYC


Part of Roger's Houdini exhibit


The gang visits Houdini's house.


Paying respect at Houdini's grave


John looks to see if Fred has any good pitchbooks


Visiting the home of Handcuffs.Org

Joe

Click to expand...

Thanks to my friends Fred Pittella, Joe Lauer, and Mark Mitton for showing
me a GREAT time in NY, MA, and CT. We saw several more collections after
Gordon returned to Chicago. Mark Mitton, his wife Susanna, Fred, and I had
dinner with Stanley Palm and Charles & Regina Reynolds, whose collection is
quite incredible. Then, we headed to CT and saw one of the greatest collections, that of Nelson Nicholson. Hundreds of magic posters, apparatus,
a full library of magic, and so much more. Off to Charlie Cambra's we went.
Charlie Cambra is a magician and is about 84 years old. He entertained us until all hours. The next morning we headed into MA and spent much of the day with Sid Radner, who told and entertained us with stories of his life,
Houdini, Hardeen, and escapes. Then, off to a mini-collectors gathering
in Boston, where we saw the museum of Ray Goulet, and then heard Stanley Palm speak on Sears, the magician (and it turns out escape artist). All in all I saw two 8 sheet Houdini posters, 3 King of Cards posters, well over 1000 handcuffs, visited the seance cuff, talked, ate, and didn't sleep for
nearly a week. It's 3:00AM and my plane leaves at 9:00AM for St. Louis, then home to Duluth. I'll post pictures later this week when I wake up.
Thanks again to magician Mark Mitton for setting up the visits with Stanley,
Charles, Nelson, Ray, and Charlie. Thanks to Fred for setting up the Roger
Dreyer, Tannens, Joe Lauers, and Sid Radners. Thanks for all who let us visit, to our old friends and new, and it was an incredible time.
Until later, John

In the tradition of that great movie "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle", we have another great tale. "John and Gordon go to New York."

Here are some of the highlights.


John, Fred and Gordon visiting Tannen's Magic Shop


With Roger Dryer at Fantasma Magic in NYC


Part of Roger's Houdini exhibit


The gang visits Houdini's house.


Paying respect at Houdini's grave


John looks to see if Fred has any good pitchbooks


Visiting the home of Handcuffs.Org

Joe

Click to expand...

Great to see the pictures John....did you manage to get a good close up picture of the Seance Cuffs? Also, did you get any information about them, as there seems to be hardly any details of when,why and by who they were made.

I am trying to establish some kind of connection between the Seance and the Mirror Cuffs.

Any help from anyone would be appreciated.

Thanks

Mick

In the tradition of that great movie "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle", we have another great tale. "John and Gordon go to New York."

Here are some of the highlights.


John, Fred and Gordon visiting Tannen's Magic Shop


With Roger Dryer at Fantasma Magic in NYC


Part of Roger's Houdini exhibit


The gang visits Houdini's house.


Paying respect at Houdini's grave


John looks to see if Fred has any good pitchbooks


Visiting the home of Handcuffs.Org

Joe

Click to expand...

HI MIck,
I did get a close enough look to determine it is a real Bramah lock in it, and it appears to me to be the bows of a standard HIatt or Frogatt Figure 8, but the lock tube is definitely custom made from scratch, probably to install the Bramah lock. The key rotates the lock bolt back out from the bow; in otherwords you must unscrew it by turning the key 10-15 times.

In speaking to a collector in Minnesota, one thought might be
that the seance cuff might be an earlier attempt at a challenge cuff which ended up being the Mirror. First, put a bramah in a regular handcuff, then once it worked, put it in a custom cuff like the mirror, and make it more complicated by being a bramah in a bramah, although I don't believe both bramah's function in the Mirror???.

I'll email more to you, but I did get a close look. Sid was Very gracious, generous, and we sat for 3-4 hours listening to fascinating stories of his life, collecting, etc...
Others have more info on the seance cuff, and I would imagine you have that already. GREAT trip, great cuffs, and LOTS of Houdini memorabilia. Saw three original King of Cards, two 8 sheet Buried Alives, a Martinka trunk, the Brindamour Boiler escape , a Stull barrell, etc.... TONS of escape artist paper, unique Houdini items, Houdini broadsides, challenges, photos, Too much to name.

Best, John

In the tradition of that great movie "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle", we have another great tale. "John and Gordon go to New York."

Here are some of the highlights.


John, Fred and Gordon visiting Tannen's Magic Shop


With Roger Dryer at Fantasma Magic in NYC


Part of Roger's Houdini exhibit


The gang visits Houdini's house.


Paying respect at Houdini's grave


John looks to see if Fred has any good pitchbooks


Visiting the home of Handcuffs.Org

Joe

Click to expand...

Here are a few more photos of my trip to NY, MA, & CT. John

<img src=http://www.cpinternet.com/~jbushey/lauer.jpg>
One display at a collection we saw in CT.

<img src=http://www.cpinternet.com/~jbushey/lauer2.jpg>
A second display at the same collection.

<img src=http://www.cpinternet.com/~jbushey/lauer3.jpg>
Myself and Charlie Cambra with a Houdini display and the Brooks trunk in Boston. The museum acquired the trunk from Charlie.