Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Bessie's last address

While doing some research in the Magic Castle library, I stumbled on this item from the February 1943 issue of Genii magazine. This is the last thing written about the living Beatrice Houdini in Genii, who died on February 11 of that year.

Genii, February 1943

What I like about this is it gives Bessie's last Los Angeles address: Cedar Lodge, 2030 Griffith Park Blvd. Cedar Lodge was actually "Cedar Lodge Sanitarium." Back then, a sanitarium (or sanatorium) was a hospital for long-term illness, most typically associated with the treatment of tuberculosis. While the exact cause of Bessie's death has always been vague, Bess's niece Marie Blood told me that both she and Ed Saint died from TB.

A modern condo building stands at the site today. While the address has changed to 2018 Griffith Park Blvd., the complex still carries the name Cedar Lodge, as you can see in the Google map photo below.

4 comments:

  1. Interesting find. Great info as always.

    ReplyDelete
  2. my grand mother came to stay with bess then she took her back home Bess pass away in needles Ca, on the train, they had to take her off the train they cought another one later to laid to rest.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If I remember right, Saint was 52 when he died, the same
    as Harry.
    He was also 10 years her jr.
    Jon Oliver

    ReplyDelete

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