S.A.M. collection in Whittier

The SAM Hall of Fame collection will go on display at the Whittier Historical Society & Museum in Whittier, CA, starting September 16, 2012. This is the collection that was closed away for so many years in Hollywood. I know it had some nice Houdini handcuff display boards. I'm hoping these will be a part of the Whittier exhibition.

I've posted details on my blog. I'm planning on going to the Sunday opening event.
http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/09 ... ng-on.html

Went to the opening of the SAM Magic/Houdini display today and found it very interesting.
Lots and lots of old and antique magic tricks and apparatus to see.
Joe Fox, Jay Leslie, the Cannons, John Cox and many magicians made it for the event.
About an hour of mystifying magic was performed.
Of course, the highlight was the Houdini display in the corner.
In the below picture, Bess's gown was acquired and was a very rare sight to see.
The display board was also nice to look at.
A nice pair of Romer leg irons, Darby LI, Towers and Harvard leg irons.....wait a minute...did I say Harvard?
These darn Harvard's find their way into Houdini displays, don't they?
The bottom piece is strange.




This 1/2 Pinkerton and 1/2 Hiatt(?) seems to be one of a kind. Obviously done post factory, but by who?



The Lily Iron has the same "H" key and lends credence to my thought that this is an original key.
The Berliners are nice too.
The highlight of the day and the reason I drove an hour and a half, was to see the Russian Manacle.


I think there will be more postings of the event here or links to John Cox's site.

Thanks to John for posting this event here.

Mark
O--O
Sorry these pictures are not the greatest. I had to take them fast and from behind glass.
The museum staff as well as the staff photographer made it clear that picture taking is forbidden.
Glad I snapped a few before I was warned.

Close up

The SAM Hall of Fame collection will go on display at the Whittier Historical Society & Museum in Whittier, CA, starting September 16, 2012. This is the collection that was closed away for so many years in Hollywood. I know it had some nice Houdini handcuff display boards. I'm hoping these will be a part of the Whittier exhibition.

I've posted details on my blog. I'm planning on going to the Sunday opening event.
http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/09 ... ng-on.html

I have my doubts this is the famed "Russian Manacle" we see Houdini actually wearing in numerous photographs.

My reasons for thinking this are as follows:

1) On this model there is no sliding keyhole cover. While there do seem from the photograph to be scoring marks indicating a keyhole cover may have once slid up and down it is not present.

2) On the Russian Manacle Houdini is often see wearing there is a small hole present beneath the keyhole for a screw down peg on the sliding keyhole cover to fit into. On this model we see no such hole.

3) It may be the grainy quality of the photo Mark took but I cannot see any place on the bow parts of the cuffs where they could have hinged open to allow the insertion of the wrists. On this model they look like two solid bent round bar sections riveted to the padlock body.

My conclusion? I think this may be a non fuctioning replica Houdini had made just for mounting to the display boards he often had on exhibit in theatre lobbies.

Steve Santini

The SAM Hall of Fame collection will go on display at the Whittier Historical Society & Museum in Whittier, CA, starting September 16, 2012. This is the collection that was closed away for so many years in Hollywood. I know it had some nice Houdini handcuff display boards. I'm hoping these will be a part of the Whittier exhibition.

I've posted details on my blog. I'm planning on going to the Sunday opening event.
http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/09 ... ng-on.html

the subject of the "H' marked key comes up again, could it be Horace or Houdini?

how many people have this H marked key?

LK D~D

The SAM Hall of Fame collection will go on display at the Whittier Historical Society & Museum in Whittier, CA, starting September 16, 2012. This is the collection that was closed away for so many years in Hollywood. I know it had some nice Houdini handcuff display boards. I'm hoping these will be a part of the Whittier exhibition.

I've posted details on my blog. I'm planning on going to the Sunday opening event.
http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/09 ... ng-on.html

Thanks for posting these shots, Mark. Great to see you there. I snuck a few shots myself, but I'm going to hold off posting them to my blog. Don't want to make the SAMers mad at me.

They did a very nice job with the exhibit. Exciting to see these boards and Bessie's dress. Looking forward to be educated a bit more here about the Russian Manacle and the other cuffs on display.

The SAM Hall of Fame collection will go on display at the Whittier Historical Society & Museum in Whittier, CA, starting September 16, 2012. This is the collection that was closed away for so many years in Hollywood. I know it had some nice Houdini handcuff display boards. I'm hoping these will be a part of the Whittier exhibition.

I've posted details on my blog. I'm planning on going to the Sunday opening event.
http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/09 ... ng-on.html

Great pictures Mark. As far as the Lilly "H" key is concerned, I still think it is a radiator or gas valve key that just had the correct size to fit the cuffs. They would have been in easy supply and the "H" stands for the name of the company that made the radiator. If the Lilly's were made by or for the government, I don't think they would have used this type of key.

At some point someone thought it would be neat key to use and the "H" stood for Houdini.

Ron

The SAM Hall of Fame collection will go on display at the Whittier Historical Society & Museum in Whittier, CA, starting September 16, 2012. This is the collection that was closed away for so many years in Hollywood. I know it had some nice Houdini handcuff display boards. I'm hoping these will be a part of the Whittier exhibition.

I've posted details on my blog. I'm planning on going to the Sunday opening event.
http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/09 ... ng-on.html

HI,
I have very nice close-ups of the Russian Manacle from the previous location. The keyhole cover, as Steve pointed out, is gone.
But, the tracks where it once was are present. As for the screw down, perhaps the screw didn't thread into the bottom portion, but just
screwed down against it?? Or, perhaps it wasn't a screw at all but just a knob to slide the cover up??
The bows do hinge and are clearly visible on the photos I have. I believe it is THE Russian Manacle,
and probably in working condition. Too bad the keyhole cover is gone! Behind the backing material the board is
lined with newspapers, dated 1936. I believe Bess re did this board when she presented it to the SAM at the 1936 seance.
Great to see it back up and on display. Thanks for posting photos of it. Very nice piece!
John

The SAM Hall of Fame collection will go on display at the Whittier Historical Society & Museum in Whittier, CA, starting September 16, 2012. This is the collection that was closed away for so many years in Hollywood. I know it had some nice Houdini handcuff display boards. I'm hoping these will be a part of the Whittier exhibition.

I've posted details on my blog. I'm planning on going to the Sunday opening event.
http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/09 ... ng-on.html

Hi John,

Luckilly you have better photos showing the manacle on display but I still think the lack of that screw down post hole is an issue that speaks to authenticity.

Look at the pics of Houdini wearing the cuffs and on the ones where we can actually see the keyhole we see that hole.

Heck, it even appears in the Europe's Eclipsing Sensation poster.

Check it out. And check out the Gibson Houdini Scrapbook book. It is there as well.

Maybe Houdini owned this cuff but this particular variation is missing something that appears in photos published back in the day when he was actually using The Russian Manacle.

To me at least that missing bit means it is not the same cuff.

Steve Santini

The SAM Hall of Fame collection will go on display at the Whittier Historical Society & Museum in Whittier, CA, starting September 16, 2012. This is the collection that was closed away for so many years in Hollywood. I know it had some nice Houdini handcuff display boards. I'm hoping these will be a part of the Whittier exhibition.

I've posted details on my blog. I'm planning on going to the Sunday opening event.
http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/09 ... ng-on.html

My report on the display.

http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/09 ... udini.html