Gifts from Houdini: Story of a Partnership

We are pleased to share an additional story about Carleete and Houdini, as told by Andrew Van Buren and reproduced from the HowesFamilies.com Genealogy pages. 

"We are very pleased to recount here the story of one of Carleete's tricks which must now be close to 100 years old but still in occasional use. Full credit to circus performer, magician and plate spinner, Andrew Van Buren, whom I met in October 2019 and subsequently wrote to me with this story.

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I write this slice of history after One-Name Study researcher Paul Howes attended one of my talks on the founder of the modern circus, Philip Astley.


Afterwards, Paul came to speak to me about two particular branches of the Howes Family, the first included Captain Sidney Howes, who was a famous Lion Tamer, Paul was surprised and excited to learn that Sidney Howes' Grandson, Michael, is one of my long-standing best friends in the circus industry, but also Paul mentioned another branch of the Howes Family Tree which included a man called Harry Howes, whose stage name was Carleete. Well, this is such an amazing coincidence and it brought back the story I am about to recount.


I grew up in a show business family. My parents, Fred Van Buren & Greta, worked around the world with their illusion shows and in turn, I was born into show business.


I have always had an interest in the history of show business from theatre to circus and variety, plus catching the tag of the summer seasons and variety show tours. I grew up around a lot of the stars of the time, but I always loved the speciality act and went on myself to not only take over my parents' illusion shows and develop them further but also developing my own shows with circus skills of trick cycling, juggling and my performance of plate spinning with real plates, which I can be regularly seen performing on television game shows. The other skill I have mastered is the art of escapology which was made famous by Hungarian showman Harry Houdini.

I think my interest in Houdini came from a story revolving around a rare prop that my father owned and that I now own – a Vanishing Oil Lamp.


The story behind this Vanishing Oil Lamp starts in 1960 when my mum & dad were working at City Varieties Theatre in Leeds in England (back then they were known as The Amazing Yoxani’s).

An old magician escapologist had come to the theatre wanting to meet my dad, the reason was that he had several items for sale, the one that caught dad's attention was a Vanishing Oil Lamp, an amazing piece of engineering that he had never seen the like of before. During the negotiations for this, the old magician escapologist added to the sales pitch that its previous owner was Harry Houdini. Well, my dad questioned this, thinking it’s obviously to bump the price up, but they did the deal and dad brought the prop.


The following year in 1961 mum and dad were back at City Varieties Leeds in the Good Old Days television show, which was televised by the BBC. Dad had decided to include that Vanishing Oil Lamp in the performance. My mum walked on with the lamp, it was lit, placed onto a round table and instantly vanished. A powerful effect, but one that they didn’t feel particularly fit their usual modern style of performance, but for the Good Old Days, it was ideal.


The prop was placed into a flight case and from then on only brought out to be maintained and shown to magic visitors coming to their home, and in more recent years visitors to my studio.

From 1961 fast forward to 2016, my parents had now been retired for twenty years, I was well established with my own tours and shows around the world, but in September 2016 I went back for my biennial appearance at City Varieties Leeds in their stage production of The Good Old Days.


Topping the bill was popular Irish comedian Jimmy Cricket and I was performing two spots, my escapology act in the first half and my juggling, unicycling and plate spinning in the second half. On the 24th September 2016 Matinee performance I had come off stage from my escapes act, having just successfully got out of a straight jacket (what a way to make a living), when Alan – one of the long-standing front of house staff, came around with a note for me from a member of the audience.


The note was from a lady called Sylvia, requesting that I meet her and her nephew after the show, so once we came off from the finale I darted out to front of house, where a delightful old lady stood with her nephew.


Sylvia’s nephew Martin explained that when Sylvia saw me performing it brought back a flood of memories and stories that Sylvia recounted to Martin, who had never heard these stories before, tales of her father, Osmond Howes, and Grandfather, Harry Howes.

Sylvia then explained how they were both escapologists who worked under the stage name of Carleete and whenever Harry Houdini came to the UK, Harry Carleete Howes would challenge Harry Houdini to escape from his challenges and restraints. What the public didn’t know is that Carleete and Houdini were in a business partnership for this, but it always made for great press coverage and publicity.


Discussing this further Sylvia explained that when Houdini was last over here in the UK he left several props with Harry Howes, which in turn were passed on to Osmond. She said that she remembered several sets of handcuffs, plus a Vanishing Oil Lamp. Well, this set alarm bells off for me. I enquired what had happened to that oil lamp, Sylvia replied that her father had sold it to another magician years ago, in the late 1950’s early 1960s. She was sure the magician had been performing right here in City Varieties Leeds!


The coincidence was too great to be anything other than fact, it sounded like this was dad’s lamp, it had to be! I didn’t mention anything to my dad until I visited him the next day, when I told him that a lady whose father was a magician had visited me, I thought to myself that I have to test this to be 100% sure, I said her father was called Carleete. Straight away dad said that’s the man who I brought the Vanishing Oil Lamp off all those years ago in Leeds.


So that sales pitch of that old magician in 1960 selling Houdini’s Oil Lamp to my dad was true. It only took 56 years to confirm it, but in 1960 my dad Fred Van Buren brought Harry Houdini’s Vanishing Oil Lamp off Osmond Carleete, what are the odds of all these years later Harry Carleete’s granddaughter seeing my performance, asking to see me, then confirming without even realising it, that I now own Harry Houdini’s Vanishing Oil Lamp, via her grandfather, her father and in turn my father. That is real magic.

Andrew Van Buren 31st October 2019. "