Photo Credit: Images courtesy of Harry Ransom Center

In part 1, I asked the following question:

• So, if you asked Houdini what was the worst fix he had ever been in, what would he say?

Well Charles F. Oursler caught up with him one day in Baltimore Maryland while he was lunching and asked him that very question:

“They had contrived a trap from a bent sapling, to which I was bound, and the devilish feature about it was that if I made one false move, I would dislodge the lowered end of the sapling, send it flying high into the air, and probably tear myself almost in half.

But I got out.  I dislocated my ankle in doing so, but I got out. Yes, that was about the worst fix I ever was in. I don’t want any more like it. “

Source: The Eagle Magician Volume 1 No. 11 September 12, 1916

So, if you asked Houdini what was the worst fix he had ever been in, what would he say?

 “I was performing in a portion of the west where there were a great number of Indians.  They were vastly interested in my performances, and when the sweeping challenges which I had issued were translated to them, they were deeply moved at what they regarded as my arrogance and effrontery.  They determined to test my powers.  Forthwith one of the big-wigs of the tribe sent me a messenger, who demanded to know if I would submit to be bound as they dictated, and agree to escape from their toils.  At first, I was tempted to stipulate that the nature of the test be explained to me beforehand, an invariable rule in my challenges.  But here was an unusual case.  The teasing uncertainty of it; the advertising possibilities; and many other features about it; appealed to my imagination.  I did not know what I was doing, but I told the Indians to ahead and do their worst.

The theater was crowded with Indians the next evening.  I invited their committee on the stage, and told them to proceed, I was then at their disposal, and made the most of their opportunity.  They bound me with thongs, and twisted the fetters until I could have struck them in my pain, but I let them go on.  I got out in less time than they required to bind me.

Would you believe it, they were not satisfied?  They wanted still further proofs of my prowess.  The next day a committee of red-skins called upon me and begged me to come to their land, where they gave me, then and there, about the worst test to which I have ever been subjected.”

Care to guess before I reveal the details in my next post?

Trivia:  What did Rudy have to do with Houdini’s last performance in Montreal?

Click here for the answer.

A P R I L  F O O L S ! ! !

Image courtesy of John Cox Collection

However, according to an article, When Houdini was President” by William Frazee in a 1953 MUM:

Some of the New York City boys told me that the research department of Paramount studios discovered that Houdini and Hardeen were step-brothers.  Well, it is no surprise to any of the old timers as we all knew this, but it came as a surprise to the younger generation.  As Houdini was the oldest one and both had the same mother, what was Houdini’s right name?

That said, Okito, a friend of William Frazee, wrote in the January 1954 MUM, that he had often heard rumors, yet could not possibly substantiate this fact.  In the same article, Okito mentioned that when he visited his late friend Ottokar Fischer in 1926 he proved to him by authentic documents that Houdini was born in Hungary and that his name was Ehrich Weiss.