Sunday, March 5, 2017

Houdini arrives in Providence

Here's a nice ad from the Providence Journal dated March 4, 1917, announcing Houdini's appearance 100 years ago this week. This was shared on Twitter by @ThisDayInWWI.


While in Providence, Houdini did a suspended straitjacket escape from the Brownell Building at Exchange Place, a stunt that appears to be referenced here in the illustration.

Related:

3 comments:

  1. I like the drawing of Houdini...but upon a closer look, some details are odd for us here, who know better:

    Houdini is in a straitjacket, and yet his visible hands are restrained behind his back.

    The jacket appears to be on backwards: The "reinforced neck" is at the rear; along with the absence of straps & buckles on the back.
    (the straps & buckles seem to be depicted as being on the front).

    Also, it kind of looks like his legs and/or feet are inside some sort of "bag"?

    But of course, his public wouldn't notice, nor care about the artist's poetic license...

    It still gets the message across: Don't Miss Seeing Houdini at Keith's!

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    Replies
    1. I noticed that about the hands, but I didn't catch that the collar was backwards! It's a great illustration though. One I've never seen.

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  2. Funny you should post this on March 5th, my birthday.

    Here is a link to a photo of the actual event:

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204843690678116&set=a.1065642047334.2012124.1414505754&type=3&theater

    ReplyDelete