Lovecraft, Eddy and possibly Houdini’s Last Letter

According to Kalush:

In Providence, the next stop of the tour [Oct 4-9], Houdini and Bess went to dinner with H.P. Lovecraft and Clifford Eddy Jr.  Both men were working on a book for Houdini called “The Cancer of Superstition” but Eddy was also an undercover operative for Houdini, filing many field reports on his visits to fraudulent mediums.

…

Shortly after meeting with Eddy and Lovecraft, Bess was stricken with a non-specific form of poisoning, probably from food.  Houdini immediately summoned Sophie Rosenblatt, a nurse who had worked for the family previously; but by Friday, October 8, Bess’s condition had deteriorated so badly that Houdini stayed up all night comforting her.  She improved a little the next day, which was the last day of the run, so Houdini arranged for her and Sophie to leave straight for Albany, the next tour stop, while he took a late train to New York, where he had meetings scheduled for Sunday [Oct 10].

…

When the meetings concluded, he checked in with Rosenblatt in Albany and decided to postpone his train back. At some point after midnight, Houdini called his friend Joe Dunninger, the mentalist [to pick him up in the car]

…

“I’ve seen my house for the last time, Joe. I’ll never see my house again.”

According to Koval:

• Oct 4-9: Providence Opera House, Providence, RI
• Oct 11-13: Capital Theatre in Albany.  Houdini suffers a broken ankle [Oct 11 according to Wissner]
• Oct 14-16: Van Curler Theatre Schenectady, NY
• Oct 18-23: Princess Theatre, Montreal, Canada”
• Oct 22: Houdini is struck in stomach [and sends a letter to Mr. Eddy]
• Oct 24 (only): Garrick Theatre, Detroit, MI  Houdini collapses after his show.
• Oct 31:  Houdini dies

According to a short letter in Fred Pittella’s collection, dated October 22 and sent from Shubert-Princess Theatre to Mr. Eddy in Providence R.I.:

My dear Eddy:

On account of accident which has laid me up, I cannot do much writing.

Will answer in detail from Detroit.

Best wishes.

Sincerely yours, Houdini.

I find it interesting he uses the word “accident” and that “on account of accident“, Houdini can’t do much writing [about the Cancer book], but feels he will be able to “answer in detail from Detroit” where he was scheduled to perform at the Shubert-Garrick Theatre the weeks of October 24 and November 2nd.

Is he talking about the accident in Albany or Montreal?

Note: Houdini’s untimely death on October 31, 1926 derailed the plans for the Cancer of Superstition book, as his widow Bess did not wish to pursue the project.  That said, parts do survive.  In 1966, Lovecraft’s detailed synopsis for “The Cancer of Superstition” and “The Genesis of Superstition” part written by Eddy was first published.  Future posts will describe these and evidence of additional parts that survive.

Special Thank You to Fred Pittella for allowing me to share the contents of a historic letter dated Oct 22, 1926 from his personal collection.

Source:

• Kalush – The Secret Life of Houdini
• Koval – The Illustrated Research Diary
• Pittella Collection – Letter from Houdini to Eddy dated October 22, 1926
• Wissner – The Houdini Correspondence File

Related:

• Houdini’s Last Tricked Spirit Photograph
• Houdini’s Last Interview

Honey-Moon with Houdini

Sonia Greene had come into his life in the weeks after his mother passing.  Was she, therefore, no more than a replacement for his mother.  Nonetheless, they were married and life was hectic.  He was engaged on a strange ghostwriting job.  It was to write a story for the great escape artist, Harry Houdini to be published in Weird Tales.  When he discovered that there was not a shred of truth to the story, he asked the Weird Tales owner, J.C. Henneberger, to let him embellish it.  He finished it at the end of February 1924, but lost the manuscript on March 2, in Union Station in Providence when taking the train to New York the day before his wedding.  Fortunately, he had another copy and on the morning of his wedding, he was furiously re-typing it.  He had only typed half of it when it was time to head to the church.

The plan had been to go to Philadelphia after the wedding, but he and his wife were too tired and returned to her apartment.  Of course, there was still the manuscript to be finished.  On arriving in Philadelphia the following day, she read out from the copy while he banged away on a borrowed typewriter.  That was how they spent the first day and a half of their married life. ‘When that manuscript was finished, ‘she wrote, ‘we were too tired and exhausted for honey-mooning or anything else.’ The story was sent off and later that month he was paid $100 for it, the most money he had earned to-date for a story.

Of course we are talking about HP Lovecraft and “Imprisoned With The Pharaohs” which was first published in the May-June-July 1924 issue of Weird Tales magazine, the story tells of Houdini’s adventures trapped in a Egyptian tomb.

Source: HP Lovecraft  The Mysterious Man Behind The Darkness