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| Harrisburg Telegraph, May 8, 1926. |
This piece also provides some clues about what Houdini's 1926-27 tour would have looked like. It says he is booked in Harrisburg for a February 1927 return, and that the tour itself is already booked through March. Of course, this was never to be. Houdini died two months into his second tour on Halloween 1926.
Built in 1908, the Majestic stood at 323 Walnut Street in Harrisburg. In 1936, it was converted to a movie theater and was renamed the Rio. It closed on October 25, 1954, and was razed in March 1955. Today, Strawberry Square occupies the site.
Want more? Click below to view an original poster from this brief but historically significant 3-day engagement in Harrisburg from Mike Caveney's Egyptian Hall Museum.
It's very interesting that the reporter noted the reason for Houdini no longer doing the handcuff escapes, which we know was due to the severe arthritis in his left wrist from the 2 fractures and the one surgery to rebreak the wrist bones causing intense arthritis. This would prevent him from collapsing his left hand small enough to back out of the cuffs. The bone damage would have made his wrist larger. Love the poster! Great find John!
ReplyDeleteInteresting info about the wrist injuries. Can't wait to read all this in your book. But I'm not sure I'd say this had anything top do with giving up the handcuffs. Those wrist breaks happened in 1918/1919. Houdini started phasing out the cuffs in 1907. I think the reason he stopped doing the handcuff act was that it was played out and too widely imitated. He was moving on.
DeleteVery true. Handcuff acts became a dime a dozen so Houdini smartly moved on to bigger any better attractions.
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