A week before the seance, Ed and Bess checked into a suite at the Knickerbocker. He even petitioned (unsuccessfully) to have the lights of New York's Broadway dimmed and one minute of silence observed on Halloween as a tribute to Houdini. Golden invitations were sent to some 300 guests and reporters, and Saint worked tirelessly to promote the seance. There was also talk of a national radio hookup to broadcast the seance live, but it's unclear if this happened. The location also shifted from the proposed mountaintop to the roof of the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel on Ivar Street off Hollywood Blvd. Said Bess, 'Now that Houdini, Carter and Thurston have joined forces on the other side of the grave, I am going to make, here in Hollywood, the one supreme effort to contact these great magicians and maybe together one of them may 'come through'.'Įventually the idea of a 3-ring seance was abandoned and the focus narrowed to Houdini. (Thurston had died that month.) The widows of both famous magicians would participate. Bess and Edward Saint (her business manager and partner) announced that the seance was to be held on a mountaintop - 'as near the heavens as possible' - and the idea was to not only contact Houdini, but Howard Thurston and Charles Carter as well. Plans for The Final Houdini Seance were first revealed in April of 1936, and the original conception was quite different. So instead of a post today about Houdini, I thought I'd look back at this first public Houdini seance and the first posthumous Houdini mega event. This was Bess Houdini's tenth and final attempt to contact her husband from beyond the grave, and it was held with great fanfare in Hollywood 78 years ago tonight. Today also marks the anniversary of The Final Houdini Seance on October 31, 1936. Today is the 88th anniversary of the death of Houdini. 'This is a Houdini night, with the spotlight of the public on Houdini with the whole world paused to see or hear Houdini step on this side of the curtain.' - Edward Saintīess Houdini at the Final Houdini Seance.

Beatrice houdini