This past weekend, we went to San Jose to celebrate the engagement of my Son David to a beautiful girl named Danielle.

It was magical.  At the engagement party, Danielle’s father gave a very touching speech about his little girl; and I did a special magic tribute to the couple:

“This 1 dollar bill represents David and his family and this one dollar bill represents Danielle and her family.  If we put both together, we end up with two (the two bills become a 2 dollar bill) amazing people meant to be together.”  I followed this with a silk, ring, rope routine with a theme about tying the knot.  For the finale, I said that “David and Danielle could not get married unless they passed my test with a deck of cards”:

They each select and sign cards that are obviously put in different halves of the deck. When she squeezes the deck and thinks fondly of him, his card and only his card mysteriously turns face up in the deck.  Then he squeezes and thinks of her, and her card does the same.  As a kicker, the two cards are shown to have moved together in the deck.  Then as the final straw, when the two cards are put together in her hand and his hand covers the cards, the two cards become one in their hands.

They passed the test.

It was an amazing time had by all!  The food, drink, cake and party were a total success.

BTW:  During our visit, my son told me that Houdini had performed at the San Jose Improv.

I have finally tracked down and received a copy of the infamous Kansas City Post newspaper that I alluded to in my previous posts:

• September 29 – First Suspended Straitjacket Escape Not 98 Years Ago Today
• September 8 – First Suspended Straitjacket Escape 98 Years Ago Today

Below is the proof that Houdini Frees himself of a Straitjacket Suspended Head Downward at the Post on September 8, 1915 in Kansas City.

Special Thanks to the Kansas City Public Library for going back and digging through their archives one last time and locating this elusive article for me to share.

According to Kenneth Silverman (Houdini – The Career of Erich Weiss, 1996), the First Suspended Straitjacket Escape by Houdini was performed 98 years ago today.  Houdini did perform a suspended straitjacket escape 98 years ago today (September 29, 1915) hanging forty-five feet  from the office building of the Minneapolis Evening Tribune; it was just not the first place he performed it. I believe the first place was in Kansas City (September 8, 1915).

Three weeks ago, on September 8^th, I did a blog about the First Suspended Straitjacket Escape by Houdini.  In that blog, I presented proof that Harry Houdini was in Kansas City in September 1915 and could have performed the suspended straitjacket escape then.  The evidence included the following:

• Ad for Harry Houdini performing his Water Torture Act at the Orpheum Theater in Kansas City on September  11, 1915
• Reprint of a Suspended Straitjacket Article from Kansas City Post Newspaper (undated) that appeared in Will Goldston’s October 1915 Magazine of Magic

The only thing left unfinished from my blog three weeks ago was to locate a copy of the Kansas City Post Newspaper that has the Suspended Straitjacket Article and verify the date.   Little did I know how difficult a task this would turn out to be!  After much searching of online newspaper archives, and numerous queries to different libraries, the infamous article was finally located by the Kansas City Public Library on microfilm which I will post here as evidence once I receive it in the mail.

I was intrigued by a question that John Cox brought up on his blog:

• Where and when did Houdini first perform the suspended straitjacket escape?

And of course, when I am intrigued by something, this blog is what you get.

Kalush via a mention by Will Goldston says it was September of 1915 in Kansas City.  Silverman says it was hanging forty-five feet from the office building of the Minneapolis Evening Tribune on September 29, 1915 sourced to a newspaper in the Stanley Palm collection.

There is a very nice discussion on The Magic Cafe Forums but nothing is definitive.

Well the Sept 29^th, 1915 date in Minneapolis is well sourced, so that leaves the Kansas City date that needs more research.

So what is this mention by Will Goldston?

It just so happens that I have the October 1915 edition of Will Goldston’s The Magazine Of Magic, with the article “Harry Houdini – His Latest Escape”.

[Page 17]

[Page 18]

But nowhere in the above “Harry Houdini His Latest Escape” article do we see a date.

So did he perform in Kansas City in September 1915?

I checked some other sources:

• Koval (Houdini Research Diary) doesn’t mention him being in Kansas City at all in September 1915.
• Brandon (The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini) mentions the following: In September 1915, “the greatest street throng in the history of Los Angeles” – 20 -25,000 people – had seen him swing from the Los Angeles Tribune building. The same month, 5,000 saw him in Kansas City, where the tie-in was with the Kansas City Post.   Los Angeles in September 1915 is clearly an error; Brandon doesn’t provide sourcing for Los Angeles or Kansas City, although Kansas City likely came from the October 1915 edition of Will Goldston’s Magazine of Magic.
• Last but not least, Kasson (Houdini Tarzan and The Perfect Man) mentions the following: He appears first to have executed this escape in Kansas City on September 8, 1915.  By this time he had been wriggling out of straitjackets for almost twenty years but never before while suspended upside down over a street in full view of thousands.  For days The Kansas City Post, known for sensational journalism, had trumpeted the coming event to its readers… Now we have a possible date, Wednesday, September 8, 1915. 

Next I contacted the Kansas City Public Library:

Jeremy Drouin, Senior Librarian of Special Collections, searched their electronic newspaper archive and found an advertisement for a September 11, 1915 afternoon show at the Orpheum Theater where Houdini was performing his water torture act.

Here is the full citation provided by Genealogybank: Advertisement Date: Saturday, September 11, 1915 Paper: Kansas City Star (Kansas City, MO) Volume: 78  Issue: 218 Page: 11

This evidence of him performing the Water Torture Cell at the Orpheum Theatre puts him in Kansas City in September 1915, which means he could very well have performed the suspended straitjacket on September 8, 1915 as sourced by Kasson.

Unfortunately, the electronic database at the Kansas City Public Library does not include copies of the Kansas City Post which based on the evidence should have an article to match Goldston’s reprint of the suspended strait-jacket event and possibly some ads leading up to event as suggested by Kasson.

Last weekend, my wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary in San Francisco.

Harry Houdini, probably the greatest magician, appeared at least four times in San Francisco, nearly eight years apart: June 1899, September 1907, November 1915, and March 1923. He was 25 during the first appearance and was not yet famous enough to headline the theater billing at the Orpheum. But by 1907 he was known world-wide. In 1915, for the Panama-Pacific Exposition, he performed an escape from a manacled box lowered into the water at the Aquatic Park. He was also performing his famous Chinese-water torture escape at the Orpheum.  But his visit in 1923 was his biggest.  At the age of 49 and in front of 30,000 watchers, he performed his famous “escape from the strait jacket while in mid-air” at Third and Market streets. This visit was to be, unfortunately, his last.  Before he could return to San Francisco, he died three years later from peritonitis on Halloween, 1926.  [sfgenealogy.com]

We had an incredible visit to San Francisco that was very magical.  It started with dinner at Pier 39 over-looking the Bay.  We then walked around the shops and just happened to stumble across a Houdini’s Magic shop where I picked up a Houdini calendar celebrating Houdini’s 100^th Anniversary of the Water Torture Cell; what is really cool about the calendar is that it identifies key dates and events in Houdini’s life.

We also stumbled into a shop at Pier 39 that specialized in displays of famous people signatures.  For $9000, you could own the display below which includes signatures of Houdini, Blackstone, Thurston, Wilson and Dornfeld.

We then took a taxi to the Marrakech Magic Theater to see an uproarious one-of-a-kind close-up show in an intimate, historic setting located right near San Francisco’s famous Union Square.

The first thing I noticed when we walked inside the historic building was a beautiful poster of Carter the Great and The Vanishing Elephant illusion.

Of course it made me think of a couple items displayed below that I had seen a few weeks ago at an antique shop (after seeing the acclaimed “Watson and The Dark Art of Harry Houdini” at the Sacred Fools Theatre) in Hollywood with some magic associates.

• A gigantic original Carter Poster from San Francisco

• Spot light from the New York Hippodrome circa 1910-1920 which could have illuminated Houdini and his vanishing elephant

The evening at the Marrakech Magic Theater began in the Sultan’s Oasis lounge where we enjoyed cocktails, a little pre-show entertainment and a meet and greet with magician-owner Peter Morrison.  After about an hour, Peter personally took us into the main showroom.  The main showroom was an intimate close-up theatre, where Peter put on an amazing 75 minutes of extremely fun and entertaining magic.  He made sure to get every audience member involved in the show. I personally got involved in a multi-spectator mind reading prediction routine, where I had to write down the time to check out of the DEVON hotel (I wrote 1:19 PM).

My favorite routines of his were the following:

• Comedy Houdini Escape – where two strong men lock chain handcuffs behind Peter’s back and raise and lower a red velvet curtain upon his command where we find the magician, his suit jacket and the chain handcuffs in humorous positions and poses.  Eventually he escapes the suit jacket and the chain handcuffs.  Hilarious!
• State of Mind routine – Peter drops four quarters as a prediction into an empty chest given to him by his wife.  A spectator throws 4 darts at a map of the United States that randomly end up on four different states.  Everyone is stunned, when the spectator opens the chest and removes the four quarters and finds that they are the four randomly selected states hit by the darts.  Amazing!

He also performed a very nice rope and ring routine, linking ring routine and multiplying billiard ball routine.  I would highly recommend Peter and his show if you are in the San Francisco area.

What a great night of magic!

The magic continued the next morning.  We had an incredible breakfast at the hotel and then walked to Ghirardelli Square where they had a “milk can” of chocolate that I just had to have.

Walking through the park on our way back to check out of the hotel, we came across a strait-jacket hanging from a tree.  Only in San Francisco!

San Francisco was definitely a magical place to visit!

Two Weeks ago, I attempted to see the Houdini Display with the Russian Manacle at the Whittier Museum, but the docent with the key never showed up; apparently there have been some problems.

I called the Museum this past Friday and they promised someone would be there this weekend with the key. They told me to make sure I arrived before the last tour, which is at 3 pm.

On Saturday, my wife, son-in-law, daughter, grand-daughter and I made the trip to the Whittier Museum to try and see the Houdini Display with the Russian Manacle.

Grandpapa and Grand-Daughter at the Whittier Museum

We arrived at 2:45 and the door was locked due to a tour in progress and only 1 docent on the premises.  There were 3 other people waiting that had arrived at 2:00 and were told by the docent that they could not join the tour that had just started, but would have to wait outside for the next one at 3:00.

We had driven in from Los Angeles and the other 3 people had driven in from Hollywood to see the Magic Exhibit.  At 3:00, our tour began with the docent telling us that the magic exhibit upstairs was closed and that we would be getting a tour of the down-stairs on the Whittier experience.  At first I thought the docent was joking.  This was not the case; we were told that we needed to arrive at 1pm to see the magic exhibit and we could come back tomorrow.  I let the docent know that I was here two weeks ago and called yesterday to confirm that I would be able to see the magic exhibit.  The docent confirmed what I already knew, he was the docent that was supposed to be here two weeks ago with the key.

Well, I wasn’t about to drive all this way a second time and not see the Houdini Display and the Russian Manacle or was I.

I can tell you one thing, at this point, there was no way my family was going to participate in a 45 minute tour of the Whittier experience. We were just about to walk out, until I finally was able to talk the docent into foregoing the Whittier tour and taking us upstairs to see the Magic exhibit.

The elevator doors to the second floor opened; Were we finally going to get to see the Houdini display and the Russian Manacle?

The first thing that the docent announces as we exit the elevator is that we can’t see the Houdini display on the right because the lights in the display won’t come on.

You had got to be kidding me.  I felt like I was in the twilight zone.

Apparently, 2 months ago, the museum had motion sensors for all the lights in the museum installed and since that time, the lights in the Houdini display have not come on.  So for 2 months and counting the highlight of the exhibit, display and museum has been in the dark.

Family trying to see the Russian Manacle in the Dark

After trying to see the Russian Manacle in the dark, I asked the docent if he was going to describe the other magic exhibits that were not in the dark; he proceeded to tell me that he was never given a script.  At this point, I took matters in my own hands and gave my family and the other 3 guests my own tour of the magic exhibit.

I don’t think the Society of American Magicians (S.A.M.) would be happy with how their collection is being portrayed by the museum and that the Houdini Display has been in the dark all this time.

Houdini’s Father: Mayer Samuel Weisz

Hope all of the dads out there have a great day!

Yesterday, I finally made the trek to the Whittier Historical Society & Museum in Whittier, California to see the exhibit called Behind Smoke and Mirrors: The History of Magic and Illusions that supposedly features one of the five famous handcuffs that are uniquely Houdini.

I say supposedly for a couple reasons.

First reason:  No one showed up with the key to open the museum so I never got to see the exhibit or the Houdini display that featured one of his five famous handcuffs.

What are the five famous Houdini handcuffs you ask?

Mirror Challenge Handcuff, Séance Handcuff, the Bell Handcuff, the French Handcuff with Letter Lock and the Russian Manacle.

What famous Houdini handcuff is supposedly on display?

Closeup of Russian Manacle on Display

Russian Manacle

Second reason: Is this really the famed Russian Manacle we see Houdini actually wearing in photographs?

Steve Santini has his doubts and John Bushey believes it is THE Russian Manacle.  See the Forum at Handcuffs.Org: S.A.M. collection in Whittier, for their expert opinions.

Either way, it would have been nice to see the exhibit and the Houdini display, which besides the Russian Manacle, included handcuff display boards created by Edward Saint and a dress worn by Bess Houdini.

The exhibit closes July 13^th, so there is still time if someone has the key.