Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Houdini and the Marx Bros at the Polo Grounds


Here's a recent find that has me excited for a few reasons. 

The ad below shows Houdini appearing with a whole universe of recognizable stars at a United Jewish Campaign benefit at the New York Polo Grounds on June 27, 1926. What I really love is that the Marx Brothers are there. In fact, the winner of the "Charleston Contest" would be awarded a part in the Marx Brothers' then-hit Broadway show, The Coconuts.


I'm a big Marx Brothers fan, so I'm always on the lookout for a Houdini connection. While I've been able to find them appearing in the same city at the same time (and, of course, there's the famous Groucho story), this is the first time I've found them performing at the same event.

Below is a photo of the Polo Grounds, which was also home to New York baseball at this time. This is the only documented appearance of Houdini at the New York Polo Grounds (as far as I know).


There's something else notable and potentially historic about this benefit appearance. According to a report about the upcoming event in the Daily News:

    Among the novelty acts will be a stunt by Houdini, who will hang from a steel cable across the polo grounds. 

If this is a suspended straitjacket escape, and it certainly sounds like one, this would be his last known suspended straitjacket escape, wresting the honor from Worcester. It would also be the only recorded suspended straitjacket in 1926. I just wish I could confirm it. Follow-up reports on the event don't provide any details of any Houdini stunt.

The benefit drew over 20,000 people and raised $75,000 for the United Jewish Campaign. That's over $1.24 million today. Oh, and the winner of the Charleston Contest was Miss Mary Suchier, 20, of 242 W. 85th in Manhattan.


Want more? I've uploaded a dozen clippings about this event to my Patreon. Thanks to my patrons for supporting discoveries like this.


UPDATE: Reader HennyD found the following in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 20, 1926:
A thrilling stunt of the show will be offered by Houdini, who will be suspended from a steel cable stretched across the Polo Grounds in which position he will attempt to free himself from a straight-jacket in record time.
So we know this was to be a straitjacket escape!

And there's this from The New York Times, November 2, 1926, which might be a reference to this stunt:
Mrs. Gertrude Hills, who asked Houdini last summer to help raise funds for a charitable cause, said that he gave his assistance gladly and hurt his side in trying to best his own “straight-jacket” record. Following this mishap, he had what was diagnosed as “ptomaine poisoning,” said Mrs. Hills, and “when he left on his tour he told me that he did not feel himself and that he still felt the effects of the injury and the attack of ‘ptomaine poisoning.’
Thanks to HennyD and Leo Hevia!

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18 comments:

  1. THAT'S an incredible line-up of stars! Seemed like all of show business was there.

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  2. About the planned stunt, sometimes when you are doing research and you see something like this, it's difficult to tell whether it was actually done.

    I ran across that a few times doing research from my Channing Pollock book. I see stories about for instance Channing supposed to be in a TV series about a magician who solves crime, but cannot find if it actually took place.

    Good work John. I too love all things Marx Brothers.

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    1. That is very true and something to consider. Thanks, Michael.

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    2. As a fellow Marx Bros and Houdini fan as well I hope you'll forgive my butting in but I think I can provide an insight to your Channing Pollock mystery. In 1964-1965 there was a short lived TV series called The Rogues about reformed conmen (Gig Young, David Niven and Charles Boyer) who would trick bad guys for a price. The 14 Feb 1965 episode was titled "Run For The Money" and had Channing Pollock playing a magician in West Berlin who doubled as an Intelligence officer. I'm suggesting that this might be the TV appearance "as a magician" you were inquiring about, If I'm permitted the link you can watch the episode here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE2nxKN6GsI

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  3. Didn't HH do a straitjacket escape around August/September that injured him? Didn't a nurse report that injury? Wasn't this in the Sloman/Kalush bio?

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    1. A suspended straitjacket escape? Not that I'm aware.

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    2. Ah, found it. No mention of an SSJ, just "an attempt to free himself from a straitjacket” at a benefit "that summer." It could have been this one!

      This is one of the book's creative dramatizations -- an invented conversation between HH and Gertrude Hills. I see their sources in the Laid Bare book and will check it out at some point. Good tip. Thanks.

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    3. Youre welcome! Silverman noted that HH took it easy that summer until the Shelton Pool test. Could it be that he was recuperating from that straitjacket Polo Grounds injury?

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    4. That could be! You may have helped unlock a nice piece of the narrative of that summer.

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    5. You found the Polo Grounds article and connected the dots. That's 99%. I just had that thought about the injury in the S/K book. It's interesting that he puts the SSJ in the closet after the Polo Grounds event and sticks to laying in a casket for his stunts. Less strenuous than the jacket?

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  4. Everything is conjecture? We are certain he had an ankle injury before his demise. We are sure he had an appendectomy based on hard evidence. We know his focus in his later years was on his collection and exposes. I NEVER believed he was murdered but rather as I have seen with my own body, medical conditions were happening to the invincible Houdini that as men "we tend to ignore" which later took his life. Also, medical technology in 1926 is not as it is now in 2024. Benjilini

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    1. I agree. It's clear the Marx Bros. killed Houdini.
      Quick, someone call the History channel!

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  5. How that Houdini got in my pajamas, I’ll never know. Garry Hayes

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  6. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of Sunday, June 20th states: "A thrilling stunt of the show will be offered by Houdini, who will be suspended from a steel cable stretched across the Polo Grounds in which position he will attempt to free himself from a straight- jacket in record time."

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    1. Oh nice! Thank you. So we know it was a straitjacket. Not we just need to know if it happened.

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