Following the end of WWI in 1918, a fascination with the dark arts of magic, conjuring and spiritualism swept through the US, particularly among the wealthy fashionable set. There were a number of cultural elements at play during this time, all threaded through the ideas of mysticism and spirituality. King Tut’s tomb was discovered in 1922, spreading an Egyptophilia fad through every cultural corner, from architecture to fashion to home decor. Seances and mediums and phantom writing became parlor games. And this interest in spiritualism and mysticism overlapped with the tail end of the so-called golden age of fraternal orders, during which peak membership in quasi-mystical social clubs like the Shriners saw peak membership before the depression-era decline of the 1930s.

Magic as a form of live theater was immensely popular during this time. And whether magicians took a position in favor of or opposition to spiritualism, many incorporated mystical or spiritual themes in their acts. All of these fads, from magic to Egyptophilia to fraternal orders came together for Asa Candler, Jr., and sparked a keen interest that he would put on display in his usual grandiose way. Collide those interests with celebrity worship, just like his automobile and athletics days, and you’ve got a recipe for obsession.

It all started with Harry Houdini.

Buddie was a fibber, a blowhard, and a narcissist. So when he told stories to friends and family well into his elderly years about his friendship with Houdini, he couldn’t simply be believed at face-value. After all, if given an opportunity to puff up his importance or claim his seat at the right hand of the most influential people in an industry, he’d take it and blow it up beyond belief. He told family that he was friends with Houdini and learned a magic trick from him that he swore to take to his grave. In 1951 he told author David Wesley Soper a story about showing his Houdini trick to native Africans while on safari in the book “These Found the Way: Thirteen Converts to Protestant Christianity.”

In fact, by that point in his life, just two years prior to his death when his health was in serious decline, he declared that Harry Houdini was one of his closest friends.

Excerpt from “These Found the Way: Thirteen Converts to Protestant Christianity,” 1951

No Houdini historian that I can find has any record of Asa Candler, Jr., as a significant presence in Harry Houdini’s well-documented life. In fact there is no documentation of a relationship at all. So the question is: did Buddie know Harry Houdini?

Surprisingly, the answer is yes. As with so many of his cockamamie stories, there was a kernel of truth to this one. He likely knew Houdini. And it’s possible Houdini taught him a trick or two. But the timing of their intersection was brief, and although many famous magicians at the time are documented visitors to Briarcliff, Houdini doesn’t appear to have ever made the trip.

So how did they know each other? Well, Houdini’s career took an interesting turn when he started to make a name for himself as an escape artist. He appeared early in film history in a 1901 short titled “The Wonderful Adventures of the Famous Houdini in Paris.” In 1916 he made another film appearance, and in 1919 he appeared in the box-office hit, “The Master Mystery.” He appeared in two more films before he decided to create his own company in 1921, the Houdini Picture Corporation.

He needed a headquarters for his business and returned to New York to set up shop. He had an existing relationship with the Cinema Camera Club, which had its headquarters on the sixteenth floor of the New York City Candler Buiding, which was owned and built by Asa, Sr., in 1912. This may be the means by which be chose to lease space in the NYC Candler Building. As the manager of Asa, Sr.’s holdings, Asa, Jr., oversaw the leasing and maintenance of the NY office building. He was the leasing agent that signed the agreement with Houdini himself. Houdini Picture Corporation letterhead gives his address as the Candler Building, confirming his connection.

Houdini Picture co letter with Candler Building return address, 1921 SourcE: https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/02/houdini-and-zukor.html — Houdini Picture co letter with Candler Building return address, 1921
SourcE: https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/02/houdini-and-zukor.html

The film company folded 2 years later in 1923, and then in 1926 he passed away.

When Buddie met Harry Houdini he was immediately taken by him. A lover of celebrity, he latched onto the idea of friendship with the famous escape artist and started learning magic as a hobbyist. He also started collecting magical apparatuses. Interestingly, the first public documentation of his magical hobby is 1928. However, his interest can be confirmed as early as 1925.

In 1925 Buddie and his wife Helen decided to build a new addition onto their relatively new mansion. They wanted a music hall, one that would house the largest Aeolian pipe organ in Georgia. To escape the hubbub of construction they went on a tour throughout Asia, including an extended visit to Manilla in the Philippines. It was on this trip that he met a man named José Cruz. José was a local amateur magician, who Buddie decided would make a great teacher and assistant. During his stay on the island he agreed to pay for José to emigrate to the US. On April 7, 1925 José arrived in America with his brother Philemon and a friend or relative named Vincenzio. His official capacity was butler, but his duties included teaching Buddie and his son Sam how to do magic tricks and assisting them in their acts.

In 1928 Buddie took his private train car to Lima, Ohio, so Sam could compete in an amateur’s set at a convention for professional magicians. Blackstone the Great was there to judge the talent show. Although the writer of the article covering the event incorrectly named Sam as Asa Candler, Jr., he noted that José had come along to assist. José’s role as family magician is also confirmed elsewhere, and more information will appear in a future site update.

In 1929 Buddie became one of the founding members of the Atlanta Society of Magicians. The club may have been intended to align with the Society of American Magicians, which had Harry Houdini at the helm as president for many years. That said, Buddie appeared to forge connections with both SAM and IBM, the International Brotherhood of Magicians, which was based in Lima, Ohio, and which hosted the youth competition noted above.

In 1930 an article about the popularity of magic spoke of Buddie’s obsession at a time when it intersected with his next greatest love, airplanes.

“One of the most incurable fans, and one of the master tricksters, is Asa Candler, son of the millionaire soft drink magnate. It is recorded that Candler jumps into his airplane and rides to Manhattan at regular intervals to pick up the best examples of mystification lying about the market.”

— The Cumberland Evening Times, May 16 1930

The number one magic shop in NYC for the best apparatuses was Martinka & Co. Incidentally, it was owned at one point by Harry Houdini and served as headquarters for S.A.M. It is highly likely that this was Buddie’s destination and vendor for all things magic when he visited New York.

Update: Since writing this entry I was contacted by a magician named Baffling Bill, who owns a 1920s Thayer-made apparatus that is confirmed to be one of Asa Candler Jr.’s collection. It’s called the Phantom Cargo Cage and it’s a jaw-dropper. I’ve watched this video a dozen times and it makes me say wow every time. Have a look!

According to a story relayed to Bill by the Phantom Cage’s previous owner, Asa Jr. contacted Floyd G. Thayer of the Thayer Magic Company, then regarded to be the best of the best, to order a magic trick. He liked it so much that he then sent Thayer a check for $10k (in late 1920s money) and asked for one of everything in his catalogue. That’s so Buddie.

More images of Asa Jr.’s former Phantom Cargo Page can be found below in the gallery, along with a photo of his Thayer Tea Chest. Huge thanks to Baffling Bill for contacting me with information. You can visit http://www.bafflingbillmagic.com for more information about his shows.

By 1930 Buddie’s third-floor ballroom was stuffed to the rafters with magic tricks. Because, as with all of his hobbies, he couldn’t have just a few of something. He had to have it all. There was no such thing as “enough.” He started holding “magic soirées,” which were attended by Atlanta’s elite: the wealthy and connected, members of the Shriner organization, members of the Citivan service organization, and celebrity magicians.

Dante the Great and the Great Blackstone are both on record as guests at a Briarcliff magic soirée. In 1931 local air traffic reporting recorded Howard Thurston and The Great Raymond as guests on Buddie’s personal airplane as they flew in and out of Atlanta. Also in 1931 an article in a magic periodical named The Seven Circles tells of a celebration at Briarcliff in honor of The Great Raymond, where a wealth of magical tricks and apparatuses was performed for a delighted audience.

And it wasn’t just his son Sam who got in on the act. Sources claim he used his twin daughters, Martha and Helen, Jr., in his act. Martha, in particular, was noted as his assistant.

And then by mid-1931 it all came to a screeching halt. Magic was over and Buddie was no longer interested. It’s not hard to speculate why, given that his devoted magic assistant and butler, José Cruz, died violently in January of that year (more on that in a future update). Suddenly magic was out, dead to him. Like so many other hobbies, when he decided he was done with it he simply stopped cold and moved on to something else. That something else was Airplanes.

Over the next few years he occasionally appeared in the media connected to magic, but only as a retrospective or as the owner of magical apparatuses on loan to other magic acts. In the early 1950s a beat reporter for Billboard magazine wrote about a visit to Atlanta, where he met up with magic duo Torrini and Phyllis, who owned a magic shop in the Peachtree Arcade Building. They acquired the rights to act as selling agents of Asa Candler, Jr.’s valuable magic collection, which was at that point appraised to be worth around $50k ($500k in today’s money). From there the collection was sold off piece by piece, dispersed through the community, and lost to history. The Billboard writer, Bill Sachs, bought some. Blackstone and Lieutenant Lee Allen Estes of the Kentucky State Police also bought some of the collection. The collection was said to contain, “all Conradi and Thayer made equipment… the best.”

I have reached out to several active members of today’s magic community, including the owner of the second largest private collection in the world, and the archivist who manages David Copperfield’s collection (currently the world’s largest). Neither was able to find any information about where Asa Candler, Jr.’s, apparatuses ended up. The search continues, but by now there may be no way to prove the provenance of anything that may have originated in the Briarcliff collection.

I spoke with one of Asa Candler, Jr’s great grandsons during my research. Although he is well-informed and knowledgeable about his family’s history, he knew nothing of his great-grandfather’s connection with the magic community, nor did he know that his Great Uncle Pete (a.k.a. Samuel) knew magic tricks and had competed as a child. I will continue to try to fill in more of these gaps in Buddie’s history as I can. I still hope to track down some of his collection and to share them here in the future.