KUKOL MYSTERY SOLVED!

FRANZ KUKOL, HOUDINI'S RIGHT HAND                                                   (houdinisghost.com)

In my soon-to-be-published historical novel The Escape Artist: Houdini in Russia, H. H. Kukol describes his father, Franz, as having been "through fire, water, copper pipes and all the roulette halls of Monte Carlo."

FRANZ KUKOL AT LEISURE                                                                            (wildaboutharry.com)

A savvy group of Houdini bloggers, including Pat Culliton, John Cox, Kevin Connolly and Dean Carnegie have all published material undermining the claims of mainstream Houdini biographers that Franz Kukol, Houdini’s #1 assistant, disappeared after World War One. 

All magicians know that what vanishes must eventually reappear. 

MR. CULLITON AS MR. KUKOL

Pat Culliton, who once portrayed Franz in a film, has partially resurrected him via various documents placing him in New York after the War.  Today, we go even further. 

Houdini subject file, Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University

According to this letter, published here for the first time, Kukol, now called “Frank,” is alive and well in New York as late as 1924, still working for the man he considered the best and wisest he had ever known.

COMING UP: The story behind this letter, never told before, in which Harry states categorically that he and "Colonel Teddy Roosevelt" are close personal friends. Harry defends himself against charges of "fakery."


RELATED:

HARRY HOUDINI & THEODORE ROOSEVELT