According to Ruth Brandon and Milbourne Christopher, Houdini frees himself from a strait-jacket, falls into an awning, rolls into the street under the wheels of a moving truck, grasps its underside and rides away:
- He was captured after a fight and, as one might expect, taken up to the roof of the building, strapped into a strait-jacket and suspended head down over the street below. (He freed himself, fell into an awning, rolled into the street under the wheels of a moving truck, grasped its underside and rode away). [Ruth Brandon, The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini, page 207]
- Captured after a fight, Houdini was taken to a rooftop, strapped in a straitjacket and suspended head down over the side. He released himself, fell into an awning, then dropped to the ground. Then he rolled under the wheels of a moving truck, grasped the underside and rode away beneath it. [Milbourne Christopher, Houdini The Untold Story, page 163]
According to the Paramount Script, Houdini frees himself from a strait-jacket, swings like a pendulum at the end of the rope, catapults his body through a small window; and then scales a wall and disappears over the other side.
According to the Paramount Script, Houdini leaps down into an alley-way and makes a dive under a fast moving truck after he escapes from a jail cell, not after he escapes from the strait-jacket as Ruth Brandon and Milbourne Christopher suggest.
So which sequence is correct?
- (A) Strait-Jacket, Awning, Truck
- (B) Strait-Jacket, Window, Wall
- (C) Jail, Truck
- (D) B and C
- (E) None of the above
I believe the answer can be found in the following:
This insert appears to be in chronological order and follows the Paramount Script with the exception, that there is was no scene that mentions an awning in the Paramount Script.
So based on all of the circumstantial evidence, I believe the following:
- Answer A is incorrect because it includes the Truck and not the Wall
- Answer B is incorrect because it includes the Window and not the Awning
- Answer C is correct because it follows Paramount script and chronological insert
- Answer D is incorrect because B is incorrect
- Answer E is incorrect because C is correct
That is, I believe that the Awning scene (lobby card L302-75) did happen as part of the strait-jacket escape and appears in the movie. However, I believe the truck scene happened as part of the jail escape not the strait-jacket escape.
Hopefully, one day I will know for sure. What do you think?
I’m with you on C being the correct answer. BTW, I have an original of that awning lobby card.
You are very lucky to have an original; I am jealous.