Hanging out on a tropical island on the day of the long awaited release of Joe Posnanski’s book, The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini.

You can get the book by ordering it at Amazon.com (US release Oct 22) and Amazon.co.uk (UK release Oct. 31)

My copy should be waiting for me, when I return from vacation. Can’t wait to finally read it.

BTW, I have been told that how I discovered the name of the daily mirror reporter, my current thoughts on how Houdini escaped the mirror cuff, and my research on two other endings to the Tony Curtis movie, are in the book. which is very exciting.

My next planned post will be on Halloween.

Six years ago, I did a post, titled: First Suspended Straitjacket Escape Not 98 Years Ago Today (September 29). The Minneapolis escape was the second public suspended straitjacket escape, after the September 8, 1915 escape from the Kansas City Post building in Kansas City, MO.

At the time of the September 29 post, I didn’t have a photograph for this Minneapolis escape, nor much information, but that changed when I visited the McCord Museum last year. The very first scrapbook, I looked at had a lot of newspaper clippings that included straightjacket escapes, like the one that took place 104 years ago on September 30, 1915. That’s right, the escape actually took place on September 30, 1915, not September 29, 2015 as previously documented by others.

As evidence, I share the photo and text from the following two newspaper ads:

• Star Tribune, Thu, Sep 30, 1915

At 12:05 today, Harry Houdini, to whom padlocks and cells present no more difficulty than that offered to the ordinary person by an open door, will essay to make his escape from a straight-jacket while suspended by his heels from the sign in from of the Tribune. This is a feat similar to one he accomplished upon a previous occasion, and unless Minneapolitans succeed in fastening the straight-jacket more securely that Houdini supposes he promises to extract himself with a few moments. The jacket will be adjusted by entirely disinterested parties so that there is no chance for any suspicion of collusion, and the jacket used is of a regulations type.

Houdini, who is appearing at the Orpheum, is said to enjoy an international reputation for the case with which he escapes from handcuffs, prison cells and other impediments. He has appeared in almost every large city of the civilized world and in each metropolis had baffled the police by his dexterity. He is said to be the only man ever to escape from one of the famous Siberian convict wagons, a conveyance far more dreaded and more formidable than the Black Marias familiar to citizens of American towns.

 

• Minneapolis Journal, Fri Oct 1, 1915

Before a crowd which thronged Fourth street from Nicollet to Marquette avenue, Harry Houdini, the “worlds champion self-liberator,” freed himself from a straitjacket while suspended by the feet—which were bound—from the electric sign in front of The Tribune building at noon yesterday. When the jacket had been adjusted by Minneapolis detectives and policemen and his feet securely bound, Houdini was swung high over the heads of the crowd. The immense throng was unexpectantly quiet as Houdini began his work.

A few convulsive , serpentine wriggles, a few movements of his powerful shoulders, and Houdini’s arms, which a moment before had been securely held by leather and canvas jacket were free. As he unfastened the straps which had defied all comers, he smiled down at the officers who had adjusted the straitjacket and remarked that he would join them in a moment. He slipped the apparatus over his head and allowed it to fall into the arms of the officers below and gave the signal to “lower away.”

The straight-jacket was furnished by the police and was the most powerful they have. It was put on by several plain clothes men under the direction of Thomas P. Gleason, who tested each strap and said he was satisfied it was “according to Hoyle.”

Tonight on the Orpheum stage, Houdini did attempt to escape from a packing case which has been prepared by the employees in the shipping room of the New England Furniture & Carpet company. The packers have made a box which they believe will defy all the powers of the wizard.

“I do not promise to get out the box,” declares Houdini. “However, I have never failed yet, and certainly will try.”

This feature will be presented instead of the regular act which Houdini offers.

Bonus:

Also, courtesy of the McCord Museum, here is a newspaper image not previously posted for Houdini’s December 4^th, 1915 suspended straightjacket escape from the Express Tribune building.

For details of this escape and other images, see John Cox excellent post:

• Uncovering Houdini’s 1915 Los Angeles straitjacket escape (at last!)

According to a scrapbook clipping at the McCord Museum, it was Houdini night at the Checker Inn 93 years ago today:

A $1.50 dinner and all kinds of smokes free for all members in good standing. Remember, everything free, “HOUDINI” will be there, and we also have a magical surprise for you. Remember the date, time, and place, -Wed, Sept. 22 at eleven P.M. at the “Checker Inn” – 477 Stuart St. near Huntington Ave.  Seats still on sale at the box office of the Majestic.

If you are not in good standing – Bordicott will be there – nuff sed!

Bring a guest if you wish, but remember that it is a stag party, and it will cost you $1.50 per guest.

Related:

• Buried Alive in Boston: Eye Witness

During my visit to the McCord Museum, I was fortunate enough to have read a compilation (April 24, 1920 v1 n1 to June 5th 1920 v1 n7) of “The Amazing Exploits of Houdini” found in The Kinema Comic.

1. The Bride & The Orangutan.
2. The Jewel Thieves.
3. “Stop Thief!
4. The Gold Melters.
5. Adventure of the Midland Express.
6. In The Dead of Night.
7. Out of The Sky.

Each issue contains a several page serialized fictional story (by-lined by Houdini). This week I share my paraphrased version of “The Jewel Thieves” found in the May 1 1920 v1 n2 issue:

Houdini is sleeping in a hotel room on the seventh floor. When he stays in a hotel with a telephone in the bedroom, he makes it a point of screwing off the bell before retiring, thinking that the shock of ringing will not be so great. On this night, the sound of the vibrating hammer was more terrifying than any bell would be.

Houdini answered the phone and was told that the hotel was on fire and he needed to leave his room at once and make his way outside by the back staircase, since the main staircase was ablaze and impossible.

Half asleep, Houdini jumped out bed, and dashed out the door toward the back staircase used by the servants. To make his way down the pitch-dark stairs, he had to feel his direction with his hands on the wall. Suddenly, Houdini received a blow on the back of his head from some hard instrument, dropped to the ground, and was hurriedly searched, but nothing was found.

Houdini was awakened by the corner of a door pushing into his ribs. A man with no shoes on dashed across to a window, opened it, and disappeared.

Houdini slowly rose to his feet, crashed through some swinging doors and on to the floor of one of the hotel corridors. He had a splitting headache and didn’t remember that the building was on fire.

Rising to his feet again, Houdini staggered forward perhaps a dozen yards, when a door opened and a man whose face was drenched in blood from a cut on his forehead, yelled that “They’ve bagged the lot. Taken every dashed thing.”

Houdini asked what happened?

Thieves broke into his room, hit him on the head and stole his diamonds.

Houdini told the man he got hit on the head also and that he should telephone the cops.

Houdini staggered towards the man’s room and threw himself on his bed.

The police were sent for. Slowly recuperating and trying to gather his scattered and wounded wits together, Houdini was able to reconstruct the adventures of the night. Houdini remembered the alarm of fire sent over the telephone, his scramble down the back stairs, then being hit on the back of the head by some unknown assailant. Then it dawned on him, that the thieves somehow called him up on the telephone instead of their victim, their purpose evidently being to decoy the man from his room whilst they robbed him of his jewels.

Houdini rose from the bed and pushed his way past the hotel servants who were attending to the victim of the robbery. Houdini made his way through the door of the room which the man had climbed was situated. It was still open.

The window gave on to a lower roof of an adjoining building. The drop from this window to the roof would be about eight feet. Houdini curiosity was aroused, and despite his aching head he decided to investigate.

Just beneath Houdini, on the top floor of the building, he could see a lighted window. There was no reason for a lighted room at that time. Almost before the resolution was made, Houdini’s leg was over the parapet; a drainpipe ran down the front of the building, Houdini tested its strength. It appeared to be safe enough. Houdini risked it, and clinging almost like a fly, slipped down the sill of the window.

Only a corner of the room was visible, but a side of a table was in view. At this table, he could see one hatted man removing precious stones from their settings.

Suddenly, without the slightest warning, the spring of the blind was released. Houdini discovered there were three men in it, the one at the table, another one at the other side of the table, and the one who by letting up the blind had exposed Houdini.

The man nearest the window moved towards Houdini and raised the sash. As Houdini waited his fate, he felt a strong hand grip his ankle and then another took hold of his other ankle.

Houdini was dragged into the room and bound hand and foot. Houdini smiled!

Houdini’s back against the wall, freed his hands; Tied behind him, it was quite a simple matter to hide his actions from view of the men.  Then, working very gingerly, got his feet loose, undetected.

Houdini reached for a revolver from his hip pocket and covered the three men.

Houdini ordered the men into the corner of the room. When they were safely in the corner, Houdini picked up one of the instruments which they had been using and threw it through the window.

Down below in the street, you could hear pattering of feet, and then the shrill blast of a policeman’s whistle.

Within five minutes, three policemen, hammered their way into the room where Houdini held the men prisoners.  All facts were so conclusive. The jewels on the table were sufficient to condemn the men.

Of course, Houdini was thanked by the victim of the robbery. “You must have been called up on the telephone instead of me.” he said. “As a matter of fact, I occupied your room on the previous evening.”

What really happened on October 24^th, 1926 between the train arriving and the show in Detroit?

Let’s see what the biographers have to say.

According to Williams & Epstein [1951]:

he took his scheduled train that evening, to Detroit. The doctor’s summoned to meet him at the station in the morning diagnosed appendicitis and ordered an immediate operation, but Houdini insisted that he must appear in the theater that evening. When he walked out on the stage he had a temperature of 104 degrees.

According to Gresham [1959]:

Urged by Bess, Collins sent a wire ahead of them from the train. When they pulled into Detroit, they were met by a doctor. Houdini’s temperature was one hundred and two degrees.

He scorned going to a hospital. But when they got to the hotel he crawled into bed and had Bess pile blankets on him. His chill, which shook the bed, lasted a half hour.

In spite of his loud refusals, Bess sent for a committee of doctors. They were unanimous—Houdini had appendicitis and needed an operation at once. Bess wept and argued all day when Houdini was not dozing uneasily. When curtain time approached he asked for news from the box office. The report came back, “Sold out. Not a vacant seat in the house.” That settled it, “Help me up. They’ve paid their money to see Houdini. “By God, they’re going to get a show.” His temperature was now one hundred and four.

According to Kendall [1960]:

“You can’t take that train to Detroit tonight,” Bess insisted, “show or no show”. He was scheduled to appear in Detroit the next evening.

“A train ride won’t hurt me. I always do my best thinking on trains.”

Stubbornly, he had his way. But as the train clacked onward across the autumn-colored landscape, all thought was driven from him. He was conscious of only one thing, pain driving through him with every turn of the iron wheels on the rails. At last he was forced to give in to the pleas of the nurse and Bess that a wire be sent asking a doctor to meet the train at the station in the morning.

The doctor was there. As soon as Houdini could be gotten to a hotel, the doctor his temperature and examined him. The thermometer measured 102 degrees. Then a severe chill gripped him and he lay shaking for almost a half hour. Other physicians hurried to his bedside.

“Your symptoms indicate acute appendicitis,” one of them told the shivering and sweating magician. You must be operated on at once.”

Houdini clenched his teeth and asked Bess, “How many tickets have been sold for the show tonight?

“All of them, someone else spoke up. “A full house.” “I’ll go through with my act,” Houdini said.

That evening when he walked out onto the stage his temperature was 104 degrees.

According to Christopher [1969]:

A telegram was hurriedly dispatched to George H. Atkinson, the show’s advance man in Detroit, when the train made a brief stop at London, Ontario. He was instructed to have the best doctor in the city ready to give Houdini a thorough examination before the opening, Nurse Rosenblatt took Houdini’s temperature, it was 102 degrees.

The Montreal train arrived late. Collins doubted they could track the equipment to the theater, hang scenery, and get the magical apparatus uncrated and assemble before curtain time. Rather than check in at their hotels, the entire company went directly to the theater. There was no doctor waiting at the Garrick despite the urgent wire. Houdini pitched in and helped stagehands and his assistants set up the heavy gear.

Dr. Leo Dretzka and the show’s advance man paced the lobby at the Statler Hotel. The doctor had to leave for a medical convention that night, but he had promised to examine the ailing escape artist first. After asking a dozen times at the desk if Houdini had checked in, Atkinson finally phoned the theater.

There was no cot in Harry’s dressing room at the Garrick. He stripped off his clothes and stretched out on the floor. Dr. Dretzka knelt and touched the inflamed stomach. Bess didn’t hear the doctor say that an ambulance should be called immediately, that Houdini was suffering from acute appendicitis. Had she known the danger her husband was in, there would have been no performance that night.

Harry dressed for the show. The theater manager had stopped to say the house was sold out and standees were lined outside to get in. “They’re here to see me,” Harry explained as the worried doctor rushed away to make his train. “I won’t disappoint them.”

According to Fitzsimons [1981]:

After the show the company boarded the train for Detroit, where they were booked for a two-week run. When the train started, the pain was so intense that he could hide it no longer. He told Bess about the blows to his stomach. Nurse Rosenblatt took his temperature and it to be 102 degrees.

The train was scheduled to stop at London, Ontario, and from there a telegram was dispatched to the show’s advance man in Detroit, instructing him to have a doctor waiting. When Houdini arrived the doctor examined him. He diagnosed acute appendicitis and ordered an ambulance to be called immediately. But Houdini refused to go into hospital right away. The theatre was sold out and he would not disappoint the audience.

According to Brandon [1993]:

Houdini closed in Montreal that Saturday, 23 October, and was due to open in Detroit the following day for a two-week run. On the train he was no longer able to conceal his suffering. Bess, distraught, and barely recovered from her own illness, telegraphed ahead to the show’s Detroit advance man instructing him to get the best doctor in Detroit ready to examine Houdini before the opening.

The train was late – too late for them to check in at the hotel before leaving for the theatre. The doctor was waiting, meanwhile, in the hotel lobby. Finally the advance man, waiting with the doctor, thought to telephone the theatre. The doctor rushed round and examined Houdini on the dressing room floor, there being nowhere else he could lie down. He diagnosed acute appendicitis and said an ambulance should be called at once to take Houdini to hospital. Bess did not hear this, and Houdini did not tell her. Nor did the theatre manager, who was present during the examination. He had his own worries. The house was sold out and queries were still waiting outside the theatre. He said, “We have a $15,000 advance sale. What are we going to do? to which Houdini replied, “I’ll do this show if its my last”.

He was now running a temperature of 104 degrees.

According to Silverman [1996]:

Scheduled to open in Detroit the next evening, he, Bess, and their entourage got to the train late that night. Once on board he experienced such severe stomach pains that a wire was sent ahead asking for a physician to meet the train at the Detroit station in the morning.

Houdini arrived in Detroit with a temperature of 102. After examining him hurriedly, a physician found signs of appendicitis. Houdini nevertheless checked into the Statler Hotel, where for a half hour he shook with chills. He was determined to give his opening night show, even though at curtain time his temperature had risen to 104.

According to Kalush [2006]:

After Saturday’s evening show, the troupe prepared to take an overnight train to Detroit, where they were scheduled to open their run on Sunday night.

The opening night sold-out crowd at the Garrick Theater in Detroit was getting antsy Houdini’s show was scheduled to start at eight-thirty, but after a short announcement that there was a delay due to the late arrival of personnel and equipment from Toronto, it was almost nine and there was still no sign of the mystifier. Suddenly, the familiar strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” echoed through the theater and Houdini walked onstage.

“We have just made a thousand-mile journey from Montreal, and we are tired,” he exaggerated, as he began to perform magic.

A doctor had examined him before the show and had urged him to the hospital immediately, but Houdini had refused. “They’re here to see Houdini,” he spoke of the sold-out house. “I won’t disappoint them.”

So what is the source for these different versions.  It appears, Williams & Epstein, Gresham, Kendall, and Silverman’s source was Kellock [1928] and the New York Times, 1 Nov 1926.

According to Kellock [1928]:

He had to make a train for Detroit, where the show was due to open the next evening.

Houdini was so ill on the train that his attendants wired for a physician to meet him at the station in the morning. His temperature on arrival was 102. As soon as he reached his hotel in Detroit he had a chill which lasted twenty-five minutes. Several physicians, who had been called insisted that he cancel his performance. They said that his symptoms indicated appendicitis, and an immediate operation was imperative.  Houdini, informed that the house was sold out, doggedly declared that he must go on. Just before the curtain went up his temperature was taken at 104.

According to NYT:

He suffered no distress at the time but after he had boarded a train for Detroit, he complained of pain. At first he attributed it to something he had eaten but as it increased he called in the company’s nurse, who in turn arranged by wire to have a physician meet the magician in Detroit.

Dr. Leo Kretzka, a prominent physician, made a hurried examination and told the patient there were symptoms of appendicitis. He left it to Houdini to decide whether it would be advisable for him to appear that evening at the Garrick Theatre for the opening night of the show. Houdini would not disappoint his admirers.

Fitzsimons, Brandon’s and Kalush source was Christopher, although neither mention a Dr. Dretzka. And Christopher’s source was the Conjurer’s Magazine May 1948 article, The Last Man to see Houdini Alive, by Bruce Reynolds:

George Atkinson, Dean of Theatrical Press Agents, told me the story one evening in the Lambs Club in New York City. “Then the fateful day when I was in Detroit where Houdini was to play next. I received a wire from his manager who was in Montreal, that ‘The Great Man’ had suddenly been stricken ill and that I was to have a doctor meet the train upon his arrival.  He was due in Detroit on Sunday afternoon and was scheduled to give a performance that night. I had a doctor waiting at the hotel but Houdini did not come to the hotel; instead he went directly to the theatre, and there in grave alarm I found him running hither and thither, anxious about his props. I quickly phoned the doctor back at the hotel. The doctor rushed to the theatre and found Houdini sitting on a packing case, with his funny little hat pulled down over his eyes. His temperature was 103. The doctor hurried him into his dressing room, laid him on the floor and made an examination. ‘Appendicitis,’ the doctor said. He ordered Houdini to his hotel and to bed. Cold compresses were to be administered at regular intervals. Houdini scoffed at the doctor’s orders. Defiantly, he went on about arranging his props and he gave a show that night.”

So did a physician see Houdini on the train, the floor of the dressing room at the Garrick Theatre, or at the Statler Hotel? Did Houdini go to the Statler Hotel before going to the Garrick Theatre, or did he go directly to the Theatre?  I tend to believe the following:

According to Sophie Rosenblatt’s (nurse) affidavit [Feb 15^th, 1927]:

He had to leave Montreal that night for Detroit and on the way to the railroad station and at the station itself, he was very sick and constantly complained of pains in his stomach. I took him in a restaurant to get a cup of hot boiled water and took a bottle of black coffee for him on the train. He was unable to sleep all that night after leaving Montreal and constantly stated that he had pains in his stomach.

The following morning I took his pulse and told Mrs. Houdini that her husband was a very sick man. I asked Mr. Stuckel, his manager, to have a physician meet the train at Detroit as I realized that Houdini was very ill and was getting worse ever since the blows were struck in his dressing room. Dr. Leo Dretzka of Detroit was the physician who first saw him in Detroit. His temperature was 102, his pulse from 120 to 128 and his respiration 46. At the hotel in Detroit where he went upon leaving the train, he had severe a severe chill which lasted for about twenty-five minutes. At that time his temperature was 103.6, his pulse was 130 and his respiration 48. We then called Dr. Richards, the hotel doctor, who saw Houdini at about 6:30 in the afternoon and prescribed pills for Houdini to take every half hour for his pulse and respiration. He went to the theatre to give his evening performance. He was practically helpless and was unable to dress himself for the performance. We took him to the theatre and he was in bad shape throughout the performance. It seemed that he was unable to open his eyes while he was putting on his make-up for the performance. After each act he literally fell down almost helpless and dragged himself on the stage again. After the performance he was carried to the hotel and his condition was reported to Dr. Richards who was then out of town. Dr. Richards recommended Dr. Cohn and Dr. Cohn called on Dr. Owen who took a blood count. It was then decided to call in Dr. Watkins and Dr. Kennedy, distinguished surgeons of Detroit, to examine Houdini. He was taken from the hotel to the Grace Hospital in an ambulance and an operation was decided upon.

I suppose its also possibly that Houdini went to the theatre first, saw Dr. Dretzka, who ordered him to his hotel where he saw Dr. Richards and then returned to the theatre to perform.

What do you believe?

Related:

• Houdini’s last train ride

Back in 2017, five of the six 1977 Stuart Pharmaceutical calendars from the series numbered DM-73301 to DM-73306 were shared:

1. June: Escape from Prison when Manacled in Handcuff and Irons (HHCE Collection)
2. July: The Celebrated Straitjacket Release (HHCE Collection)
3. August: The Challenging Release From Wet Sheets (John Cox Collection)
4. September: The Perilous Escape From the Spanish Maiden (HHCE Collection)
5. October: The Spectacular Release From the Cannon (HHCE Collection)

Each featured Spectacular Houdini Feats and original artwork by James Barkly. At the time, we didn’t know what the number 6 (DM-73306) calendar was, but we do now.

It is for the The Daring Underwater Escape from a Nailed Packing Box and covers the month of November and December.
Stuart Pharmaceutical’s also created six 1978 Houdini calendars, of which five ot them I will be sharing at later dates; the September/October 1978 calendar still alludes me.

There were two Houdini items (Lot #260 and Lot#267) that I had my eye in in the July 12-13 Haversat & Ewing Howie Schwarzman Auction Part II.

Lot# 260 [Price Realized $1,925,00] :

Laurel Canyon, California. Bess Houdini writes in her hand: My home on Lookout Mountain, Laurel Canyon, Hollywood, Calif. Very rare! [Estimate $125-150]

Note: This is also the home that Houdini may have stayed in when he came to California in 1919 to film, The Grim Game.

Lot #267 [Price Realized $460.00]:

Small scrapbook with clipping mostly pertaining to Houdini. Other articles on Blackstone and Kellar. two dozen pages along with many additional blank pages.

[Estimate $80-100]

Note: The scrapbook contains an original 1925 Parson’s Theatre Program

I am not surprised that both items went for way more than their estimate.

Congratulations to winner(s).

Related:

• Parson’s Theatre Program 1925 Original?
• Lookout Mountain in Laurel Canyon
• LINK: Inside the Houdini Estate

During my visit to the McCord Museum, I was fortunate enough to have read a compilation (April 24, 1920 v1 n1 to June 5th 1920 v1 n7) of “The Amazing Exploits of Houdini” found in The Kinema Comic.

1. The Bride & The Orangutan.
2. The Jewel Thieves.
3. “Stop Thief!
4. The Gold Melters.
5. Adventure of the Midland Express.
6. In The Dead of Night.
7. OUT OF THE SKY.

Each issue contains a several page serialized fictional story (by-lined by Houdini). This week I share my paraphrased version of “Out of The Sky” found in the June 5 1920 v1 n7 issue:

One moment the plane was gliding smoothly on its journey, and the next it appeared to take a decided list and to wobble anywhere, with a peculiar fancy for a spiral dive.

Houdini climbed out of the passenger seat with a jack knife and a pair of pliers. He began to move forward slowly until he reached the damaged section. He hacked away at the woodwork, ripped the canvas, and then cut the whole section free of the wires. At the end of five minutes he had finished the job and watched the damaged part go sailing down to earth.

The pilot yelled: The balance! The balance!

Houdini moved toward the extreme edge of the plane, testing each inch as he went in the manner of a child on a see-saw. An equal balance was not achieved until he passed the place beneath where he had cut the damage away. The machine gradually righted itself and was able to land.

On their way to London, they landed somewhere between the border country of England and Wales. The countryside was particularly desolate. Not a house of any sort within view.

The pilot’s nerves were considerably shaken. For a long time, he remained in his seat, recovering from the strain of the landing.

Houdini crossed over to the pilot, who thanked Houdini for saving him.

Houdini and the pilot were interrupted by a clatter of hoofs on the hard ground, and the next moment a youngster on a pony swept round the end of the machine and asked if he could help anyway.

Houdini asked if he could direct them to the nearest house or railway station.

The youngster not more than sixteen years of age, directed them to his brother’s house. The youngster couldn’t accompany them, because there was a bit of trouble and he needed to stay on look-out. He would keep an eye on the machine and catch up with them later.

After thanking the youngster, Houdini helped the pilot from his seat and they walked to the farm house where they met the older brother and sister, who insisted they have a meal and spend the night.

During the meal, they learned that the older brother had been a major in the Army and on retiring had bought a stud farm from a widow who had been unable to carry on with it after her husband’s death.

Houdini asked about the trouble that the younger brother had mentioned. The major mentioned that the people in the district regard him in the light of an interloping foreigner. Somewhere at the back of their minds they believe that he did the widow wrong, but that is not the case.  The widow could not carry on, and advertised the place for sale, and he bought it at her price and is making it pay. That morning he got an anonymous letter, telling him that unless he makes preparations to leave the place, his ponies would be wiped out. It means that the youngster and his older brother have to be up and out all night. After hearing this, Houdini volunteered to be out all night, too.

Before setting out for the stables, Houdini procured a small quantity of flour and a white sheet.

They set out across a huge plain. It was decided to prowl about separately, and if anything should happen, they would call one another by firing a shot in the air.

It was a lonely job. There was no moon out, and the night, consequently, was pitch black. Houdini’s animal trotted along at a nice comfortable pace for about an hour, when suddenly he stopped and planted himself firmly on his four legs. They were at the top of a hill, and not fifty yards away was the damaged plane.

All of a sudden, a shot rang out on the clear night air, it was the signal. Stopping by the aeroplane had given Houdini an idea.

Carrying the sheet and the flour with him, Houdini rushed across the machine and threw them into the driver’s seat. He turned the nose of the aeroplane in the direction from whence the sounds had come and pushed the machine towards the slope, which was steep enough to carry her down. When the speed was sufficient, he jumped aboard and rigged himself has a ghost.

Houdini made a beautiful-staged entrance. The machine ran down the slope across the little valley, and came to stop a few yards on the other side.

Peeping over the side, Houdini discovered that he was in the midst of a crowd of about twenty men. Some were mounted, and other were on foot. On seeing them, Houdini rose to his full height and raised his arms above his head. Then, without uttering a sound, climbed from the pilot’s pit and walked with a stately tread along the broken plane. Every eye was on him.  They all stood still as if petrified or in fright.

Then, as Houdini came nearer, there was a stampede, as you heard flying hoofs and feet running away in fear.

Houdini then laughed out loud and removed the sheet from his shoulders.

In 1950, Film Producers, Inc was going to make a Houdini Pic. They commissioned a 150-page screenplay (June 25, 1950) by Stephen Longstreet which led to a 172-page screenplay by Endre Bohem and Hilda Gordon (August 29, 1950).

Below is a summary of the 172-page screenplay:

It is Halloween in New York City and the year is 1927 – the first anniversary of the Great Houdini ‘s death. In accordance with his instructions, a group assembles in a bare room of his house on 113^th Street to conduct a séance in the hopes that Harry Houdini can return to them. Among them are Bess, his attractive beloved wife, in her middle forties; Roy, sixty, his manager; Tony, fifty, his best friend; Dr. Jamieson and Dr. Schaeffer, scientists; Joe Quinn, a reporter. A sealed envelope left by Houdini is opened and read by Tony. Houdini promises to come back tonight if he can, and to help him he wants his friends to concentrate on him. Each of them has a different thing to remember. Tony will remember him as a child, when he was still little Ehrich Weiss…

Ehrich is only thirteen when he astounds his pal Tony and their school teacher by mysteriously getting out of a locked classroom where he is supposed to remain as punishment for not paying attention. Ehrich then runs off to the carnival grounds where he accepts the challenge of Roy and Stella Comstock, a young couple performing cycling and magic stunts, to duplicate the great needle trick. Ehrich is bound, suspended head first and picks up the needle with his eye-lid. Roy is impressed and offers Ehrich a job, but the boy insists on having his five dollars instead. With it Ehrich buys a coveted Chinese puzzle lock from the junkman and exasperates Mama Weiss and Tony with the long hours he spends before he finally opens it. Mama is a pleasant, careworn woman, who resignedly realizes that her beloved Ehrich is a problem boy who may spend all his life trying to find the answers to mysteries…

By the time Ehrich is in his early twenties, he is performing as a magician with Roy and Stella Comstock and gets billing as “The Great Houdini.” During a show at a high school auditorium, Houdini selects the pretty, eager Bess Rahner from the audience to assist him. A pebble from a small boy’s slingshot breaks the beaker of chemical water and ruins Bess’s dress, but this give Houdini an excuse to make amends and see Bess again. Despite the opposition of Bess’s stern mother, a romance develops between them and leads to an early marriage, which alienates Bess and her mother. Mama Weiss, however is very pleased that her son has found as pretty and sweet a girl as Roy’s Stella…

Bess’s first appearance at a third-rate theater as Houdini’s assistant finds her frightened, and angry with Houdini for making her wear tights, but his glib patter and sensational feats of magic overcome her fear, and afterwards he kids her out of her anger…

Houdini constantly practices new stunts and escape routines, and hoping to get into big-time vaudeville, he and Bess go to Detroit with Roy and Stella for an audition. They are booked, but when Houdini tries to escape from a strait-jacket, he finds he hasn’t yet mastered it and as a result they all lose their jobs. To get fare back to New York, Houdini performs a daring stunt by being handcuffed, leg-ironed and weighted, then diving through a hole in the ice into the Detroit River. Bess, Stella and Roy, in the waiting crowd, become panicky when Houdini fails to come up. Roy is on the point of going after him, when Houdini at last emerges triumphantly, having located the hole in the ice barely in time. This stunt is highly publicized by Joe Quinn, a young newspaperman, and as a result Houdini accepts a lucrative offer from the Orpheum Circuit and hires Joe as his press agent. Realizing he will be doing daring stunts for the rest of this life, Houdini feels it’s wrong to ask Bess to face the torture of having to stand by and wait and never be sure he’ll emerge alive, but Bess shares his confidence in himself as well as returning his love and she insists on sticking with him…

Houdini becomes well-known as an escape artist. When he appears at the Palace Theater in Pittsburgh, Tony, Mama Weiss and Mrs. Rahner, Bess’s mother whom Mama has as last gotten to accept her daughter’s marriage, are in the audience. Houdini escapes from an ancient Chinese water-torture chamber, but in the process his ankle is broken. Tony, who is studying medicine, tries to make Houdini take proper care of his ankle, but Houdini insists on keeping his engagements in New York…

Houdini confounds the N.Y. police by escaping from a locked cell in the Tombs. Then, although his ankle is still in a cast, Houdini, dangling head downward and supported by ropes, works himself out of a strait-jacket, has he is lowered from a building in Times Square…

Photo courtesy of Fred Pittella

On tour across the country with Bess, Houdini continues to perform more and more spectacular escape stunts and he becomes famous for them and for his showmanship. When he learns that Stella has been injured during the performance of her and Roy’s bicycle act, he talks them into going to London to look over the act of a Harvey Houdini who claims that Houdini is imitating him. Houdini wants Roy to set up a way for him to debunk the phony. Meanwhile, Houdini buys a home for Bess in New York, and has Mama Weiss and Mrs. Rahner get it in shape so they can move into it when they return from England. Before they go, Houdini performs an escape feat for an assemblage of Boy Scouts in which he is tied to a stake from which he has to free himself before a ring of fire envelops him. It very nearly leads to his being burned to death since kerosene has been used on the fire. Afterwards Tony, now a doctor, warns Houdini that he must give his body a chance to recover from the many beatings he’s been giving it. Houdini refuses to do so, but insists that Tony go abroad with him and Bess to be on hand for occasional checkups.

Aboard ship, Houdini and Bess amuse the passengers by conducting a séance, but it disturbs Houdini when one of his guests, a Dr. Schaeffer, insists on taking the supposed message from his dead son seriously…

In London, Houdini cleverly debunks the trickery of the phony Houdini, making the latter a laughingstock to the audience…

Houdini captivates Europe with his fantastic feats, but in Paris he has a narrow escape from a trickily locked safe when an attendant tampers with the lock…

In Russia, the Secret Police are furious when Houdini pulls off the impossible feat of escaping from a large safe-like metal box-car. Celebrating afterwards with Bess, Stella and Roy at a nightclub, Houdini witnesses Hindu Ramandra’s endurance test of remaining locked in an air-tight coffin for eighteen minutes. Houdini determines to do the stunt the next night and remain inside twice that long, despite Bess’s apprehension. However, Houdini doesn’t get to perform this feat, for the critical illness of his mother sends them all hurrying back to New York.

Mama Weiss dies before Houdini gets there, and he becomes haunted by a fragmentary message to him which she was unable to complete – a message about something he should know about. Houdini feels that it may be possible to contact Mama and with the worried and understanding Bess, he investigates the possibilities through various mediums, all of whom he finds to be fakes. He discovers that Dr. Shaeffer is being duped by these phonies, and he launches a crusade to expose them, giving lectures and staging exposes, with Bess’s help. A Dr. Jamieson, head of a psychological foundation, enlists Houdini’s aid in exposing the famous Angelus Sisters, which Houdini does by duplicating their supposed spiritual phenomena by mechanical means. But this whole business seems to depress Houdini and to get him interested in his former feats, Roy gets Ramandra to challenge him. At the Hippodrome Theatre, Houdini astounds the world by remaining in a sealed, airtight glass casket for an hour and thirty-one minutes. However, afterwards, Houdini seems like a changed, broken man, and Bess becomes frantic with worry because she can’t seem to reach him at all. She is very apprehensive when several months later, Houdini insists on being locked in a sealed casket and buried in a grave. When he remains inside for three and half hours, Bess suffers agony, but at last, he frees himself and, like a frightening apparition, emerges from the earth…

Bess thinks it a miracle that Houdini is now his cheerful self, and he asks her forgiveness for having had to undergo this experiment which he hoped would put him in touch with his mother. While it failed, he feels that perhaps after his death, he may be able to contact Bess…

And so, a year after the death of the Great Houdini, Bess and his friends are assembled in the hope that Houdini will return. They sit in expectant silence with Bess nervously playing with Houdini’s Chinese puzzle lock, which she’s always carried for good luck. They wait many minutes past the scheduled time, and then Bess suddenly is elated to discover that the puzzle lock, which no one has ever opened except Houdini, is now open. She took tenderly at Houdini’s photograph and it is almost as if he were smiling…

Credits:

• Summary Snippets courtesy of Paramount Files at Margaret Herrick Library

Related:

• THE GREAT HOUDINI Sequence A
• Another Ending to the Tony Curtis Houdini Movie

Although there is no real evidence to support this claim, Houdini’s sister Gladys once stated that Houdini/Ehrich was named after an infant son [born April 6th, 1873?] who died through a fall.

That said, John Cox wrote a wild blog post, The Houdini Earth birth year conundrum, that suggested Houdini believed he was born in 1873 until he discovered his true birth year [1874] during his weekend visit to Budapest with his mother in 1901. John speculates:

Having discovered the truth in 1901, Houdini recorded his real birth year in official records. But for the public record, one that his mother might read, it remained 1873 for HER. Tellingly, the 1914 edition of his pitchbook [The Life, History and Handcuff Secrets of Houdini pitchbook], published after her death, his birth year is updated [from 1873] to 1874.

So, after Houdini’s mother died, that was the end of 1873 or was it. Well, I just recently acquired Houdini’s Book of Magic and Party Pastimes (Copyright 1927, by Beatrice Houdini, Executrix of the Estate of Harry Houdini), where it surfaced again:

I wonder where the publishers got their source for the date and brief story of his extraordinary life?  Obviously, not from Bess?

Happy Father’s Day!  And special congrats to my son, who just became a father to my grandson that the hospital nurses nicknamed “Little Houdini”.

Related:

• Houdini was a twin?
• Houdini’s Book of Magic times three