Pushing the Envelope

Rather that wait for the United States Postal Service to some day issue a stamp that honored Houdini.

It was 1976, the year of the Bicentennial, as well as the 50-year milestone of Houdini’s Halloween death in Detroit, Michigan, and Kaiser, owner of the Premier Company, a printing firm in Houston, deemed it the ideal time to go postal with Houdini. “While still hoping to enlist the cooperation of philatelic and magical societies,” stated a notice circulated at the SAM National Convention in Philadelphia that year, “Mr. Kaiser feels that this important occasion should not go unnoticed in collaboration with accompanied cachet designer, John J. Henler, the Premier Company will proceed on its own and produce an attractive cover that will appeal to both stamp collectors and magicians as a once-in-a-lifetime keep-sake.”

The distinctive four-color “Houdini Commemorative Cover” was privately issued, sans an official stamp. Attached was a 6.3c Liberty Bell stamp and a 7.9c Snare Drum stamp, captioned “Beat the drum for liberty, and the spirit of ‘76” [both were U.S. bulk rate issues), and they were canceled with a “DETOIT, MI /OCT 31, 1976 / 48233” postmark.

The flap of the envelope carried a reproduction of a blue-ink signature of “Harry Houdini Mysteriarch,” and printed beneath it was a caption: “His true signature circa 1906.”

Inside was a 3-1/2 by 6-inch card with a synopsys of Houdini’s career that concluded with the statement: “This is the FIRST philatelic recognition in the U.S. of magic and magicians.”

Ads in The Linking Ring, M-U-M and Genii announced the “Memento Cachets” were available from the Premier Company for $1 each or three for $2.50. And, as with most printers, the more you ordered the less the unit price became: 60c each for 25 to 100 copies; 50c each for 100 or more.

[MAGIC DECEMBER 2001]

Photos: HHCE Collection