Bess, Mama and Harry

But no one worshiped his mother more passionately than Harry Houdini.  Ever since that day on his twelfth birthday when his father had made him swear on the Torah to take care of his mother, Houdini had more than fulfilled his pledge.  As the country sang “I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl that Married Dear Old Dad,” Cecilia Weiss’s adoring son sought to be with her whenever he could, most especially on that Second Sunday in May 1912 – a day then gaining nationwide observance as Mother’s Day.

While playing in Hammerstein’s Victoria Theatre in New York in 1912, Houdini asked Willie Hammerstein for his weekly salary in gold.  Hammerstein acceded to his odd request and gave Houdini a heavy canvas bag laden with one thousand dollars in gold coins.  Then after having his assistants polish the “double eagles”, he entered his mother’s room at 278 and is said by Bess to have cried, “Mother, Mother, do you remember the promise I made to father years ago; that I would always look after you? Look what I bring you now! Hold out your apron!  And with that he poured the glittering contents of the bag into his mother’s lap.  His mother clasped her son to her bosom, and tears streamed down the cheeks of both of them.

H A P P Y   M O T H E R  ‘ S  D A Y !

Source:

• Houdini: Escape Into Legend The Early Years: 1862-1900 By Manny Weltman
• Houdini His Life and Art by Bert Randolph Sugar
• The Great Escaper Illustrated by Annabel Large