On New Years Eve, I received an email from Sammy Smith, Linking Ring editor, that my April 2024 article, “The Search for the Holy Grail of Houdini Handcuffs”, won an “Award of Merit” plaque, and the plaque (at long last!) was now in his hands from the awards company and would be sent to me shortly.
Well as you can now see, it arrived. I will display it proudly in my Houdini room.
Thanks to all the members of the IBM and Linking Ring editor Sammy Smith for this honor.
Today I continue my series on The Daily Illustrated Mirror reports leading up to the Mirror Handcuff Challenge event of March 17th 1904, the event itself, and post-event reporting.
Previously I shared:
Today, I share the March 19, 1904 issue of The Daily Illustrated Mirror:
I think the £100 handcuffs (i.e., the Tatlers) he freed himself from, are priceless now.
The above is nice recap of the challenge.
While the above story is mainly fiction, what about the bullet in the back of Houdini’s left hand? Compare photo above (no bullet) with photo below (bullet) that appeared in the August 1904 issue of the British monthly Wide World magazine that included “A One-Night Engagement” by H. Houdini (The “Handcuff King”). These photos appear to be of a right hand”
But Patrick Culliton’s, The Tao of Houdini, on page 78 has an image of the left hand:
Thoughts?
Related:
Today I continue my series on The Daily Illustrated Mirror reports leading up to the Mirror Handcuff Challenge event of March 17th 1904, the event itself, and post-event reporting.
Previously I shared:
Today, I share the March 18, 1904 issue of The Daily Illustrated Mirror:
Today I continue my series on The Daily Illustrated Mirror reports leading up to the Mirror Handcuff Challenge event of March 17th 1904, the event itself, and post-event reporting.
Previously I shared:
Today, I share the March 17, 1904 issue of The Daily Illustrated Mirror:
You gotta love Houdini’s answer to the £200 question on whether he can get out of the MIrror Handcuffs!
And, the last part about another inventor having a much better handcuff is interesting, along with the fact that they would be in the audience, where the inventor of Mirror handcuff was not in the audience as far as we know.
Today I continue my series on The Daily Illustrated Mirror reports leading up to the Mirror Handcuff Challenge event of March 17th 1904, the event itself, and post-event reporting.
Previously I shared:
Today, I share the March 16, 1904 issue of The Daily Illustrated Mirror:
Again, the paper mentions the Mirror Representative showing how its possible to jerk open regular handcuffs if you know the trick, but this time goes on to emphasize that when Houdini takes them from his wrists they are properly unlocked.
Also mentioned is shaking the hands of the British Blacksmith, whether beaten or not, implying the Blacksmith would be at the challenge (which AFAIK he was not present).
And Houdini asking the Daily Mirror (owners of the cuffs) to allow him to make a specification of the lock, whether succeeding or not, implies getting his hands on the cuffs after the event.
Today I continue my series on The Daily Illustrated Mirror reports leading up to the Mirror Handcuff Challenge event of March 17th 1904, the event itself, and post-event reporting.
Previously I shared:
Today, I share the March 15, 1904 issue of The Daily Illustrated Mirror:
The torture test referred to was none other than The October 24, 1902 Hodgson Challenge
But the Daily Illustrated Mirror Challenge will be no torture test but a scientific exhibition.
And implies the handcuff was submitted to London’s best locksmiths.
Last week, I shared the March 11, 1904 issue of The Daily Illustrated Mirror:
Today, I share the March 14, 1904 issue of The Daily Illustrated Mirror:
I found it interesting, that the Daily Mirror Representative, rapped open the police regulation handcuffs Houdini escaped from that day. And that the special handcuffs are the property of the Daily Mirror Illustrated.
Also of interest, we learn the name of the representative of the Hippodrome, but not the name of the representative of The Daily Mirror.
And we learn of the handcuffs being inspected.
Future posts will include daily reports leading up to the Mirror Handcuff Challenge event of March 17th 1904, the event itself, and post-event reporting.
Last week, I shared all of the known Birmingham “Tatler Cuff” images to date. Today, I thought I would share an article on the Birmingham “Man” who claims to have invented a Handcuff With a Lock Which Cannot Be Picked. The below article appeared in The Daily Illustrated Mirror, March 11th, 1904:
I found it interesting the Birmingham blacksmith’s theory on Houdini’s methods for picking handcuffs and how those methods wouldn’t work on his invention with a lock that cannot be picked.
Black and White Illustrated Budget Magazine April 02, 1904
I recently was the winner of Lot# 177 (Houdini Mirror Cuff Illustrated Budget) at the last Haversat & Ewing auction.
Description:
The Black And White Illustrated Budget Magazine April 2, 1904. Original article on Harry Houdini. The Handcuff King at the Hippodrome and the famous Mirror Cuff challenge from the London Daily Mirror. Depicts a nice image of Houdini with the cuffs on.
The Handcuffs
The “Handcuff King” at the London Hippodrome: Houdini being Handcuffed
A Birmingham blacksmith spent five years in devising a lock on a pair of handcuffs which he alleged “no mortal man could pick.” Mr. Harry Houdini picked the handcuffs in one hour and ten minutes.
Although the lot referred to the cuff as the Houdini Mirror Cuff, it is an image of what has become to be known as the Tatler Cuff with its different hinge than the Houdini Mirror Cuff in David Copperfield’s collection.
Below are the other known Tatler Cuff images on the list:
The Illustrated Mirror March 15, 1904
Possibly the first public image of the Tatler Cuff.
This is a sketch of the special handcuffs from which Mr. Houdini “the Handcuff King,” will try and escape at the matinee performance at the London Hippodrome on Thursday in response to a challenge by the “Daily Illustrated Mirror.”
THE TATLER NO. 143 March 23, 1904
This image caused so much discussion on the Forum at Handcuffs.Org in 2014 and is where it got named the Tatler Cuff. You will notice, it is very similar to the page that appeared in the Black and White Illustrated Budget Magazine April 02, 1904. I am now the proud owner of both pages.
THE SPECIAL PAIR OF HANDCUFFS
From which Houdini liberated himself at the Hippodrome last Thursday after an hour’s work. These handcuffs took five years to make and contained twenty-one separate levers. Below the handcuffs is shown the key with which they were locked.
HOUDINI’S GREAT LOCKPICKING FEAT AT THE LONDON HIPPODROME
This illustration shows the locking of the handcuffs on Houdini’s wrists in the presence of representatives of some London newspapers.
The World’s News, Saturday May 7, 1904
This image (The Special Pair of Handcuffs with Key Underneath) was obviously taken from photo found in the Tatler Magazine. And is from an article on the unbreakable handcuff lock.
Pittsburg Sun Telegraph newspaper May 18, 1933
The last known public image to date. It shows the other side of Tatler cuff not shown in the other photos from 1904 and with a Long Key as opposed to a short key. Note the direction of the middle hinge. At the time of the photo, the cuffs were in Pitsburgh at the home of Theodore H. Heuber, 241 Atwood Street. McCaffrey (national vice president of the Society of American Magicians) was helping with arrangements for the national convention of the International Brotherhood of Magicians to be held at Beaver Falls in June. He examined the handcuffs for a moment, and snapped them open.
Addendum:
The Birmingham “Tatler Cuffs” are out there, it is just a waiting game before they become public. While we wait, please enjoy my article,
Recently received a pdf and confirmation that April 2024 issue of The Linking Ring contains an article by yours truly about “The Search For The Holy Grail of Houdini Handcuffs”. This is a compilation of my ground-breaking posts into a single article and edited for the magazine.
The Linking Ring is the official magazine of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM). You can join the IBM and receive the magazine via their official site.
I am not currently an IBM member and would love to add a hardcopy of the magazine to my collection.
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