Introducing the Dumb Houdini Store

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Last year I stumbled on a shirt with this stupid Houdini graphic on it.

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That quote makes no sense. Brain and mind are synonymous in that context. It would be like saying, “I get the best ideas from my thoughts.”

As it turns out, that’s not an actual Houdini quote. Someone just half-remembered something Houdini once said and thought, “Eh, I guess I’ll make a shirt out of that.” You can read more about all this on my original post.

Now, look, I don’t know if Houdini was actually dumb or not. I think to do the things he did you maybe have to be a little dumb (or at least a little crazy). And I do think the last phase of his career—the “I'm going to test spiritualists to see if I can find one who can get me in touch with my mommy” period—perhaps doesn’t suggest the sharpest mind in the world. I don’t see much difference between this statement: “Is this woman actually producing an ectoplasmic hand from her vagina? We shall never know unless we conduct the proper testing!” and this one, “I can’t know if leprechauns exists until I’ve consulted all the peer reviewed research.”

And as I said in the original post, I think calling yourself Houdini because your hero was Houdin is kind of a dumb thing to do.

But whether he was actually dumb or not, I think it’s fun to imagine him as being an idiot. All the old pictures take on a different perspective when you imagine him being a total moron who didn’t intentionally get himself in these situations.

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I literally can’t look at pictures of him now without imagining him as a little goofball dum-dum. I see it in his face. I see it in the faces of the people around him.

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In my previous post, I joked about a line of t-shirts with fake stupid quotes by Houdini on them.

Well, now they actually exist and just in time for Christmas. The perfect gift for everyone on your list. The Dumb Houdini Collection at the new Dumb Houdini Store.

Yes, this is real. The purpose behind this is two-fold. The first is because I think it’s funny. The second purpose is because I have some projects I’m working on that I care about and I’m trying to figure out if I’m going to use a print-on-demand type of service like this or if I’m going to do what I’ve done with the GLOMM shirts, i.e., use a traditional screen printer, have the shirts shipped to me, and then do the actual shipping out to you myself (or via someone who is helping me out). That’s obviously a more involved process and it means having to try and keep sizes in stock and all that which is a minor pain in the ass.

So the Dumb Houdini Collection is a test of this type of service to see how it works for my needs. If you order a shirt (or sticker) and you have any issues with the service or the quality of the goods, send me an email and let me know. (You don’t need to let me know if all went well. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll just assume that.)

The Dumb Houdini line comes in three different styles, depending on how willing you are to have something stupid on your shirt.

There is the simple Dumb Houdini logo shirt (black).

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There is the Dumb Houdini Brainmind shirt (white or light blue)

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And the Dumb Houdini Chains shirt (white or stone grey)

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To be clear, this is a real thing, and I will be happy to see anyone in a Dumb Houdini shirt in the future. But this is not like a “call to action” type of thing. If you’re not inclined to buy it, don’t feel like, “Oh, I should buy one anyway because I like his site and I should help him out.” Don’t you worry about me. I have everything taken care of. If I make enough to cover the cost of the artwork, I’m good. If I make a million more dollars than that, then I’ll be very good.

Buy this because you want to attract people with your keen sense of fashion. Or buy it to be the envy of the next magic club or convention you go to.

The Dumb Houdini Store will possibly be an outlet for other magic adjacent items in the future, but I’m not making any reference to The Jerx on that site. That way, if someone stumbles across the site or you send them there, it won’t link them back to this site.

Also, Threadless has free shipping for Cyber Monday on orders over $45 in the US or $80 internationally (code: FREESHIP11a87779 ). If you spend $80 on Dumb Houdini merchandise, congratulations, you must have a ton of expendable income, or you are, in fact, as dumb as Houdini.