Monday, February 17, 2020

Straitjacket plus (update)

A clipping from the April 8, 1933 Toronto Star Weekly sold for $67 on eBay over the weekend. The article, "Peril Of Working With A Magician", interviews Ruth Hathaway, who claims to have assisted Houdini and other magicians such as Thurston and Blackstone. (I've never heard of her). But the true attraction is this dynamite photo of Houdini in "a rope-bound straitjacket".


I've been finding a lot of new images of a straitjacketed Houdini in newspapers from 1923, which is when I suspect this photo was taken. But this is the first image I've ever seen of him in a straitjacket with additional ropes added. I love it!

Thanks to Kevin Connolly for the heads up.

UPDATE: I've now discovered an even better (or at least more complete) version of this same photo. This appeared in the Boston Post promoting Houdini's upcoming suspended straitjacket escape in the city on December 22, 1921.

Boston Post, Dec. 21, 1921

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11 comments:

  1. Leo HeviaFebruary 17, 2020 at 10:12 AM

    Not quite the first time HH combined ropes with straijackets. There's a photo of him in the full body suit in Christopher with ropes around his folded wrists. Ropes and straitjackets go well together like ham and eggs.

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    Replies
    1. John CoxFebruary 17, 2020 at 11:12 AM

      I know the pic you're talking about. I always though those were belts or extra straps, not ropes.

      Delete
  2. Leo HeviaFebruary 17, 2020 at 10:21 AM

    Also--I believe the jacket in this newspaper clipping is the $46,000 Pawn Stars straitjacket.

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  3. CarnegieFebruary 17, 2020 at 10:21 AM

    Also note the arm strap, which is another less common thing on the Houdini straitjacket escapes.

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  4. Tom and JohanFebruary 18, 2020 at 8:14 AM

    Terrific photo, thanks for sharing. I wonder if the complete article is available online from the newspaper's archives. It would be interesting to see what Miss Hathaway had to say.

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    Replies
    1. Tom and JohanFebruary 18, 2020 at 8:32 AM

      Just looked, and there are indeed online archives for the Toronto Star (with very old ones in a Toronto library) but couldn't find this.

      Delete
  5. Houdini & HardeenFebruary 19, 2020 at 1:07 PM

    Wow great find!

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  6. Leo HeviaFebruary 20, 2020 at 8:20 PM

    HH seemed to favor this straitjacket for newspaper photo ops. There are numerous other photos of him wearing this one.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Michael GriffinFebruary 26, 2020 at 7:23 PM

    Holy Crap!!
    So "KNOT" the normal pic, wow this is freakin cool....Thank you!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. John CoxApril 3, 2021 at 6:08 PM

    UPDATED with the complete photo. Also discovered this was taken for his Dec. 1921 Boston suspended straitjacket escape. (I've found a treasure trove of photos from this stunt that I will be sharing soon.)

    ReplyDelete

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