Is the Whitehead above, the same Whitehead as the one below?
J. G. Whitehead
UPDATE: The answer is NO.
W. G. Whitehead real name is Wallace I. Whitehead and was from the ARTS ’27 class.
See the Don Bell book, The Man Who Killed Houdini, chapter 13 (A Brother Found) and page 246 for some more information on a possible connection between Wally and Gordon.
J.Gordon Whitehead was from the ARTS ’28 class, although he never graduated. He was born in Gourock Scotland November 25, 1895, graduated from Kelowna High School, British Columbia, in 1914, and dropped out of McGill in 1926, almost immediately after the Houdini incident.
Source: yearbooks.mcgill.ca
Special thanks to Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz for the tip that led me to find the McGill Yearbooks.
WG looks like a 1926 grad, whereas JG appears to be in the class of 1928. Older brother, maybe?
LoL. You are not too far off. Check out Bell on page 245-246 and chapter 13. In the chapter 13, A Brother Found, Bell does not give the first name of Gordon’s brother to protect the family. Bell makes reference to a younger brother Gordon on page 90, but on page 91 we find out that Gordon was really the older brother by 8 years, which coincides with Gordon and Wally’s birthdates In fact Gordon was the oldest of the family and his brother was the youngest.
I don’t think this is our Whitehead. J.G. Whitehead was 30 when he attended McGill and he was described as having thin hair. He looks almost bald on top in Smiley’s sketch of the dressing room incident. This guy looks pretty young,
Agreed. Wallace Irvin Whitehead aka Wallie was born in Farnum Que July 27, 1904. J Gordon Whitehead was born in Scotland 11/25/1895. They were 2 different people. One was slated to graduate in 1927 and the other in 1928.
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