#onthisday 147 years ago today, March 24, 1874, Harry #Houdini (Ehrich Weiss) was born. Here's a letter from Howard Thurston: "On behalf of the S.A.M. I presented Houdini, last Saturday night, a beautiful oil painting of his mother. We all know Houdini has faults but then again, pic.twitter.com/ulnl3qA99E
— Rory Feldman (@Rory_Feldman) March 25, 2021
Saturday, March 27, 2021
"We all know Houdini has faults..."
Our friend and leading Thurston expert Rory Feldman tweeted this out for Houdini's birthday. An intriguing mention of Houdini and his "faults" here. And what about this oil painting of his mother? First I've heard of that. This was written in July 1924.
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Looks like the painting was presented at an SAM banquet in the Hotel McAlpin. The date and year are in question but Thurston must have dated this letter. The faults Thurston pointed out must have been HH's ego and intolerance of the spotlight away from him.
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing at first. But the McAlpin banquet that year was on June 6. This letter is dated July 14, 1924. I don't have any SAM events around this time.
DeleteThurston mentioned "last Saturday night..." Could he have been referring to the June 6 banquet? But that was five weeks prior. A gift like that had to have been at some get together so others could see the painting.
DeleteAnd June 6 was a Friday, so...
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