Houdini and the President

In honor of this President's Day (also National Handcuff Day), I thought I'd repost this photo of Houdini and Theodore Roosevelt taken aboard the ocean liner Imperator on June 23, 1914.

It was aboard this "last boat out of Germany" (before the outbreak WWI) that Houdini would amaze the former President with a demonstration of Spirit Slates -- accurately pinpointing where Roosevelt had just spent his Christmas holiday. The next day it was said that Roosevelt took Houdini aside on deck and asked him, "man to man," if what he did was genuine Spiritualism.

"No, Colonel," Houdini is said to have answered. "It was just hocus pocus."

Original version

The original version of this photo was of Houdini and Roosevelt standing amid a group of other passengers. Houdini had the others cropped out and proudly gave this out as presentation piece. The above photo, from my own collection, is glued into an inscribed copy of The Unmasking of Robert Houdin (those ink flecks are from Houdini's signature). I've seen several other copies of Unmasking with this photo inside. I'm not sure when Houdini did these or how many exist, but it makes for a terrific presentation copy.

In his book Shots At Sea, Tom Lalicki had some fun with Houdini and Roosevelt's ocean-bound adventures, although he set his action aboard the Lusitania and worked in his fictional young hero Nate Fuller. Recently a remarkable artifact from this voyage sold on eBay.

Of course, Houdini was also photographed with President Abraham Lincoln...via the spirit world!