TLS, one page, 8.5 x 11, Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount Pictures letterhead, March 2, 1921. Letter to Harry Houdini, in full: "Thanks for the dope on the Coulon stunt. Pat Kearney and I tried it on an office boy and it worked. Hope you will drop in and see us some day soon." In fine condition.
Beatty was a publicity director for Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount, which produced two of Houdini's films—The Grim Game (1919) and Terror Island (1920). Here, he thanks the great illusionist for describing "the Coulon stunt," an act performed by Johnny Coulon, the 'Unliftable Man.' In the stunt, the diminutive Coulon—a five-foot-tall former boxer—harnessed 'occult energy' to prevent a weightlifter from picking him up. When Houdini was approached by journalists about the bit, he replied: 'It’s hokum! It’s the principle of the fulcrum and a matter of leverage. Coulon is in stable equilibrium and his subject isn’t. Coulon keeps his subject at arms’ length to get the best advantage of the leverage. Furthermore, the trick has been played before!'
