Tuesday, August 24, 2021

'Houdini’s Throwing Knives: The Search for Provenance' in August MUM

The August issue of MUM (the official magazine of the Society of American Magicians) contains an exhaustive and well-researched article by David R. Adamovich (aka Throwdini) and Colleen Fitzpatrick about a set of what are said to be Houdini's throwing knives. 

While it might seem odd for Houdini to have owned throwing knives, and in the past I've expressed skepticism about these, David and Colleen have now tracked down the origins of these knives, and while they've yet to find the smoking gun evidence that firmly places them in Houdini's hands, what they have discovered gives these provenance that's as good, if not better, as many of Houdini handcuffs out there. So...

Houdini the knife thrower? Maybe! Pick up a copy of the August MUM and decide for yourself.


Thanks to David and Colleen for sharing part of their journey with me.

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2 comments:

  1. It never seemed out of place to me that Harry might have owned a set of throwing knives. He was known to collect oddities, and performed in a circus for a while. I don't think he was a serious knife thrower, and most likely played with it during his circus days like acrobatics and so on. He may have made friends with the knife thrower and took a few lessons. Or this all happened later on in Europe where we he performed in circus style venues.

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