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,
Oh baby!
Great stuff Joe! Congratulations on obtaining more literature on the Tatler cuffs. The more I see that photo of McCaffrey holding the opened Tatlers with the key inserted, the more I suspect they were not gimmicked. HH had his key and possibly some type of extension to reach the lock.
The 1933 article implied it was a simple matter for McCaffrey to snap them open, but he wouldn’t reveal how he did it; and the article also implied the “unopenable” [unpickable] handcuffs opened with both a key and a combination [of turns].
The committee we see in that photo handled the cuffs and whatnot before snapping them on HH. I’m sure it was locked and opened with the key to make sure it was kosher. If it was gimmicked to open without a key, I would have been nervous if I had been HH. Since this was all staged, gimmicking the cuffs seems pointless to me when you can hide the duplicate key in your pocket.
I Iike Randi’s assertion quoted in the Silverman bio: “I can assure you that the Mirror handcuffs were not opened with anything but the key.” Perhaps that long key we see in the photo was the duplicate he used in his ghost cabinet. Easier to reach.
I hear ya. That said, on the day of the challenge, I don’t believe the committee handled the cuffs, nor were they locked and opened by the press agent before applying them.
Notice in the McCaffrey photo that the long key has an unusually large oval ring on its head. Handcuff keys don’t have large tops like this one…unless you were HH and needed the duplicate to be mondo sized to open the cuffs more easily.
The 1933 article also implies that the handcuffs had been unopened since they were snapped on Houdini’s wrists that memorable day in London: Houdini got the key by subterfuge, but couldn’t open the combination, and had to force them off unopened, injuring his hands.
He must have had the duplicate key somewhere, most likely on his person. Since he staged this, there had to be a duplicate key. We know there were two keys, the short and long one.
With the keyhole pointing up the cuffs are in perfect position to use that long key. That said, the cuff could simply be a gravity operated mechanism and the turning of the key multiple times was just for show and did nothing. Radner used to shake off the Séance Cuffs [precursor to Tatler Cuffs]; the cuff would fall open at the locking end, not slipped.
Until the Tatler Cuffs surface and are examined, we won’t know for sure.
You’re right about that, Joe! Until the Tatlers are examined we’re just guessing. A gravity opening mechanism still sounds risky to me. A committee member holding the locked cuffs upside down could have stumbled onto it.
Here’s another guess, that unusually large oval ring on the head of the long key could have been used to turn the end cap to allow enough room for the latch to come out.
Definitely. That’s a weird long handcuff key and a good indication it was used in the ghost house. HH was not about to fumble with a tiny key.
I use to play with the mirror handcuff be for my grandparents sold them,
That is so cool! Thank you for sharing!!
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The photos all indicate that Houdini was locked into the Tatler cuffs that day in 1904. Also the Tatler cuffs resemble closely the silver replica non functional cuffs presented to Houdini by the Daily Mirror weeks later. When and why do the “Copperfield” Mirror cuffs come into being? It would make sense if Houdini staged it all that the cuffs he was locked into were gaffed and he had the “Copperfield” cuffs made as an ungaffed version.
I remember when I visited the Houdini museum in Niagara Falls back in the 1980’s the Copperfield cuffs were displayed with two large (long) keys. (I still have a photo). We know the Tatler cuffs had, at least, both a small and large key.
Well said Perry; I totally agree. I visited the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in June of 1980 but failed to get a photo of the DC cuffs with the keys; And would love to see your photo from the museum.
I will look for that photo and send it along to you. I do have a few photos of the USD I took showing what looks like damage to the “gaff”. I sent them along to Richard Sherry to see if this would substantiate his USD is THE USD. He seemed to confirm he saw the same damage on his cell. Would you like to see these?
I would love to see those. And nice to get confirmation from Richard. Thanks for sharing! Truly appreciate it!!
How do I attach photos? If I can’t, if you can send along an email address I can send you the photos I sent Richard directly. Perry.
My email address is: hhoudinice@gmail.com
Thank you!