Houdini: Master of Mystery

A vertically oriented backglass/translite-style pinball artwork panel in a gold and cream Art Deco frame, its lower third dominated by a painted Las Vegas street scene. Along the bottom edge, two paper cards are affixed over the art: at lower left an ornate cream-coloured instruction card with a decorative chain-and-clasp border, a black-and-white photographic portrait of a dark-haired man with a thick moustache in a suit and tie, and a bold letterpress heading; at lower right a plain white card in heavy black sans-serif type giving a per-player coin price. Between them, the painted scene shows a tan/gold casino frontage with tall blue-lit window panels, a bulb-framed sign box and a large gold capital word, beneath a horizontal gold band lettered in black-outlined capitals. Two flanking panels show hazy purple and pink desert-mountain scenery with tiny white birds in flight, a soft airbrushed finish typical of mid-century lithographed backglass art. The upper portion is much darker, with muted reds, browns and blacks suggesting a shadowy interior or stage setting with framed pictures and a distant arch.

A Victorian music-hall illusionist poster rendered as a backglass. The top half is dominated by the enormous word HOUDINI in chunky gold marquee letters, each stroke studded with tiny round light bulbs and outlined in dark maroon, sitting on a maroon-and-gold horizontally striped band. Directly beneath, in smaller gold serif capitals with black outline on a dark banner, reads MASTER OF MYSTERY. The lower half is a red theatre stage: heavy gathered crimson curtains fall at left and right, tied back, framing a stage opening that carries two huge stacked lines of pale cream block capitals, PRESS above START. Along the bottom edge a silhouetted audience of heads and shoulders in purple and blue-black watches the stage. Flanking the title are illustrated props: at upper left a painterly tan lion or bear cub with a pale muzzle and dark nose, paw raised, and above it a dark tilted hat or helmet with a brass fitting; at lower left a cream-and-gold framed display case, tipped diagonally, its glass showing small props inside. At upper right a green-glowing wand or baton is held aloft beside a skull wearing a tall dark hat, and below it a chained sack of treasure, an hourglass, a wooden treasure chest, scattered gold coins and a pale sphere. Bottom left carries a small circular pinball emblem above the words AMERICAN PINBALL.