Houdini on Ice

Today is Flying Saucer Day, but I'm still writing about the Great Houdini. Flying saucers can always come for a visit on another day.

As I have been reading and writing about Harry Houdini, I came across the following lobby card or poster and stills from The Man From Beyond, a science fiction/mystery/adventure film released in 1922 and starring Houdini as a man frozen in ice for a century before he is found and revived:

The pictures are from Houdini: His Life and Art by The Amazing Randi and Bert Randolph Sugar (Grosset & Dunlap, 1976, p. 120).

The man (or monster) frozen in ice and then revived is a common element in science fiction and horror movies. Think of Frankenstein's Monster in Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943) or the Giant Carrot from Outer Space in The Thing from Another World (1951). (So flying saucers have come for a visit today after all.)

The panoramic image above reminded me of this one from the history of Weird Tales magazine:

The cover of the October 1923 issue of the magazine, illustrating "The Amazing Adventure of Joe Scranton" by Effie W. Fifield. The cover art was by R.M. Mally. I don't know what happens in this story, for I haven't read it. I doubt that there's any close connection between the two. But these things are always worth looking at and considering.

Text copyright 2024 Terence E. Hanley