Religious Racketeers (later retitled The Mystic Circle Murders), a film featuring Beatrice Houdini in a supporting role, premiered at Shea’s Century Theater in Buffalo, New York, on this day in 1938. You can easily find a clip from this film, with Mrs. Houdini’s unconvincing acting, on YouTube. The low-budget feature seems to have been the only consolation prize for Beatrice Houdini and Edward Saint’s 1930s campaign to convince Hollywood to produce a Houdini biography. The Houdini movie finally happened in 1956, long after Mrs. Houdini’s and Edward Saint’s deaths, when showbiz biographies were back in fashion. With the success of Al Jolson’s filmed biography in 1946, Hollywood was finally inspired to celebrate vaudeville celebrities.
