There scattered reports earlier this year that Summit Entertainment purchased the film rights to William Kalush and Larry Sloman’s biography, The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero, to make “an action thriller featuring a character who is part Indiana Jones and part Sherlock Holmes.”
Entertainment web site IGN opined Summit’s decision to stray from the bio-pic format was to build a franchise on Houdini’s fame; not necessarily his life.
The studio announced in March 2009, it was looking for a writer to craft the story and build the super-hero character.
They apparently found their writer and his credits fit the need for a super-hero take on Houdini.
Jeff Nathanson, writer of Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will write the script. Mr. Nathanson worked with Steven Spielberg on Catch Me if You Can and the horrible waste of celluloid The Terminal. His action credits also include Rush Hour 2 and Speed 2: Cruise Control.
IGN was not able to receive confirmation of the writing assignment from Mr. Nathanson’s Hollywood agents, CAA.
Summit was apparently excited by the book’s suggestion that Houdini was a spy for Britain, and possibly murdered by spiritualists in retribution for his very effective debunking of their craft. The book certainly made the suggestions but offered very little support for either the spy or murder claim.
News of this potential deal brings up a sore subject for us here at Inside Magic.
Yesterday was Ed Alonzo Day at the Magic Double-Wide we call home here in Mystic Hollow, Michigan.
We were cruising the web and getting up to date on all things magic when we read Inside Magic Favorite, Ed Alonzo will create the magic for Michael Jackson’s 50-date run in London.
Wow, that says a lot for both Ed Alonzo and Michael Jackson.
Ed Alonzo is famous within the world of magic, but is not yet a household name like David Copperfield, Li’l Tom Hardy, or Criss Angel.
Plus, he seems profoundly normal and decent. There were no rumors of his dating or not dating Britney Spears either before or during his current employment with the bombshell that is Ms. Spears.
The postman came by and made some comments about our need to cut back on the magic magazines if we ever hoped to get out of debt. He held three of our magic journals in one hand and a stack of bills in the other.
We thanked him for his unsolicited advice, slightly whistling through our broken incisor at just the right pitch to summon our playful pit bull – Doberman mix, Big Tom.
One of our heroes, United States Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo said, “Life in all its fullness must provide the answer to the riddle.” Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111 (1933).
The Welch case considered whether a taxpayer could deduct as an expense debts he paid on behalf of his bankrupt former employer. Mr. Welch claimed by paying the debts, he would improve his reputation among his customers.
Reputation is important to individual magicians and to our art as a whole. Events on Britain’s Got Talent caused magicians and lay commentators concern about our craft’s reputation.
Given that tease, let’s dive into the whirlwind that is the United Kingdom live television series, Britain’s Got Talent.
We understand from the often interesting and occasionally accurate London tabloid, The Sun, that at least one of our ilk remains in the running for the big money and fame.
Merlin Cadogan was photographed betting a cool 50 pounds on himself as the likely winner of the ITV series. He stands to win a whole bunch of money if he is right. Ladbrooke’s pegged his odds at 50-to-1.
So, let’s see: that is 50 times 50 pounds plus the original 50, for a total of something like, approximately, 25 million pounds or 250 or 25,000. We are never sure where the decimal goes when multiplying two or three digit numbers. Plus, with the conversion from British Pounds Sterling to U.S. moolah, that is approximately a wad and a half or roughly six standard fistfuls.
Richard Abowitz has a remarkable take on the Criss Angel – Perez Hilton skirmish in the Los Angeles Times. We use Mr. Abowitz’ column to revisit the whole frakis and consider Norm Clarke’s perspective.
Criss Angel’s $100 million magic show has been running, or according to critics, stumbling at the Luxor Hotel and Casino for the past few months.
Initial reviews were almost universally bad. Undaunted, Criss Angel and the Cirque du Soleil geniuses have worked to improve the show but according to Mr. Abowitz and Perez Hilton, the work has been in vain.
Inside Magic receives about 200 solicited and unsolicited emails with images, stories, leads, and even full press releases. We don’t always have time to read each attachment and worry that we will be missing a great story or important feature.
We also worry that the Mystic Hollow Librarian will get wise and have us ejected for running this web site and sending our incredibly successful spam campaign for herbal cures on the same computer the kids use to play Oregon Trail.
Because the chairs in the Kid’s Section are so small, we would welcome a good booting out the door. But until the authorities crack down, we’ll continue to review all submissions with a careful eye.
J C Sum and ‘Magic Babe’ Ning’s Press Release was titled, “Singapore Illusionist and Sexy Female Magician Make a Magical Appearance for Asia Uncut Talk Show on Star World.”
We have long conceded we are no more mature than a slightly post-pubescent 12 year-old. We were intrigued.
Perhaps a more mature editor would not have been hooked by such a headline. Chances are we wouldn’t read the type of publication that editor produces, so we will never know.
There scattered reports earlier this year that Summit Entertainment purchased the film rights to William Kalush and Larry Sloman’s biography, The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero, to make “an action thriller featuring a character who is part Indiana Jones and part Sherlock Holmes.”
Yesterday was 
One of our heroes, United States Supreme Court Justice 
Richard Abowitz has a remarkable take on the 
Inside Magic receives about 200 solicited and unsolicited emails with images, stories, leads, and even full press releases. We don’t always have time to read each attachment and worry that we will be missing a great story or important feature.
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