I discovered John Cox in 2014 after writing about the late John Bushey's Houdini memorabilia and handcuff collections. It was an informative interview that brought back a lifetime of memories regarding my own personal fascination with magic and magicians.While looking for information on Orson Welles for a potential blog post this week I rediscovered John Cox's Wild About Harry blog. (Harry Houdini, of course)
It was John Bushey who shared with me the notion that Dylan himself was fascinated with Harry Houdini. This is the story John told me:
Bob Dylan was asked once, “If you could go back in history to see any one moment in
time, what would it be?”
He replied, “I would like to go back and see when Harry Houdini was cuffed and chained and chained inside a crate and dropped into the East River.” (New York.)
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Seven years have past and the Wild About Harry blog is still going strong. I caught up with John Cox today and we continued from where we left off.
EN: You have been a lifelong Houdini fan. As a teen you even did some magic shows and performances of your own. What did you do for a career when you finished school?
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Collector and Houdini authority, John Cox
Photo by Athena Stamos |
John Cox: I always wanted to work in the movie business, so after I graduated from USC Film School, I landed a job with Michael Jackson’s film production company. This was in 1990 and this was part of his overall deal with Sony Entertainment. That was a real education in the movie business! But the company didn’t last and in 1995 I got a job doing quality control with Lucasfilm THX . Essentially, I was part of a team of people who got paid to watch movies over and over. It was a dream job for a movie lover! But I had creative ambitions, and in 1996 I sold my first screenplay. So for the next 15 years or so I was a moderately successful and a very busy Hollywood screenwriter. That work began to dry up right around the time I started Wild About Harry, so I went back to doing quality control, now in the digital era. I’m currently the Director of the company (SGI QC), and I’ve struck a nice balance between having a job that pays the bills and working on my Houdini projects, which are my true passions in life.
EN: Have you always been a Houdini collector of sorts?
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| Shackled, to be dropped into the East River |
John Cox: Yes, I’ve always been a collector. I have that gene! And not just Houdini. I’ve also put together a collection of James Bond first editions. I’m lucky to have acquired many of my Houdini items back in the late 70s and 80s when things were still affordable. Nowadays its all so outrageously expensive. But I still allow myself to buy one very nice Houdini item a year, so I have continued to build a small but very select collection that I really enjoy. I also have every book that has ever been written about Houdini, but I treat that as more of a working reference library than a collection.
EN: You started your Wild About Houdini blog in 2010. How often do you post and where do you find all the content that you share?
John Cox: I post almost every day, which is crazy. Believe it or not, I try not to post so much. I would be happy with three posts a week. But there's just always so much Houdini activity to cover that I have to post every day to keep up! My content comes from everywhere really. Things I see in the news, things people send me, and my own discoveries while doing research on future books. It’s Houdini! His continued fame and popularity provides me with all the content I can handle.
EN: I love your Wild About Houdini YouTube channel. When did you start that and how do you gather all this rare footage?
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| Film that lit the spark for young John Cox. |
John Cox: Thanks. I really haven’t developed my YouTube channel. It’s basically just a place where I collect footage so I can embed clips on the blog. I would like to begin to make some specific videos exploring Houdini history. However, that’s a whole new skill set that I haven’t developed. The current footage comes from various sources. The best stuff comes from private collectors who allow me share. There’s a lot of Houdini footage out there, but many collectors don’t really know what they have as far as what footage might be new to people. So I’m always excited to help them discover that and showcase it. There’s some great hidden Houdini history in these old clips.
EN: Houdini’s career is one of legends. How would he hold up today? Would he be a Las Vegas act or something else?
John Cox: It’s so hard to say what he’d be doing as he was such an original of his day. The escape act was really a new form of entertainment. So he would be doing something just as original and unique today. He might not even be a magician! He would follow his passion and instincts and give us something amazing. I think the only thing we can know for sure is he would be a Superstar!
EN: Who are your favorite magicians today?
John Cox: David Copperfield, Penn & Teller, and David Blaine are my “favorites", although I enjoy ALL magicians really. But I gravitate towards these giants of our time because their lives are writing the history of magic in this age, and I love magic history first and foremost. I also think they are all components of Houdini. Take these three men, add in James Randi and Lady Gaga, and you have Houdini!
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Related Links
My 2014 interview with Mr. Cox:
Photos courtesy John Cox
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