Growing Up with Houdini

Chapter Four: Opening Ceremonies

The purchase of the Houdiniana and the opening of the museum was the beginning of a multi-decade path of fun and excitement for the Muller family. Many of the great magicians of the era came to visit over the years.

The opening ceremonies took place on June 6, 1968. The event was well advertised and attracted Houdini aficionados from around the continent as well as a plethora of television crews as well as newspaper reporters.

Dunninger came back to Niagara Falls (again, by train) for the opening ceremonies.

James Randi, known as The Amazing Randi, but whose real name is Randall Zwinge, participated in the grand opening of the museum. As the first part of the festivities, Randi, while blindfolded, drove each of the visiting dignitaries from the local City Hall to the museum. Randi then escaped from a strait jacket while suspended from a crane in front of the museum. Randi became a frequent visitor and good friend of the family.

This was also the beginning of a life-long friendship between my parents and Sidney and Helen Radner. They lived in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and owned a retail carpet company called American Rug. Sid had been a friend of Hardeen and was active in assisting my father with publicizing the museum. Sid also had memorabilia which he loaned to the museum.

Walter Gibson, the prolific author of The Shadow mystery series under the name Maxwell Grant, also attended and became a close friend of my father and of our family. He wrote literally dozens of books about magic and magic history and he also ghost-wrote dozens of other books.

For the ribbon-cutting ceremony, a large heavy chain was used instead of a ribbon. Reporters were invited to come up and inspect the chain and to try to break it or cut it. None could. Then, a small pair of cuticle scissors were handed to The Honourable Joe Greene, the Member of Parliament for Niagara Falls. To his own utter amazement, and with Mayor Franklin Miller standing next to him as a witness, Mr. Greene cut the chain with the small pair of scissors! It was a delightful, black-tie affair the likes of which the town does not often see.

David Hagerty managed the museum for three years. He was followed by Jim Middleton and then by Nada Mandic.

Over the years, the museum became a central point for grade-school class trips, and an educational center for magic.

Henry hired tour guides to guide the visitors through the museum. For several summers, even though I was only a kid, I gave guided tours of the museum. To this day, I am able to recite the entire tour by heart.

There are still nights when I drift off to sleep and hear, “I AM HOUDINI! THIS MUSEUM, WHICH WAS CREATED AS A SHRINE TO MY MEMORY…”