LINK: Houdini and the Weed Chain Tire Company

Here's a terrific post on The Autopian about the Weed Chain Tire Company and their famous challenge to Houdini in 1908. Click the headline or the image below to read "Harry Houdini Once Escaped From Eight Tire Chains, Two Steel Car Wheels, And A Crapload Of Padlocks."

 

I'm impressed they were aware of the Weed Chain rematch. Not many people know that Houdini did this challenge twice.

Related:

• The Weed Chain Tire Grip challenge
• The Weed Chain rematch
• Houdini pitchbook with Weed Chain cover nabs $1,230

Wild Weber's

Take a look at this advertisement for Weber's Bread from 1972. I was a Wonder Bread kid myself. But had I seen this ad, that might have been different!

Santa Barbara News Press, Feb. 10, 1972.

Weber's Bread was founded in 1908. Kudos to the ad agency for using a photo of Houdini from that very year—unless that was just a happy coincidence.

While Weber's bakery went out of business a few years ago, you can still buy bread with the Weber's name and distinctive checkerboard packaging.

Related:

• Jack Rabbit was a Houdini bunny
• Houdini's secrets brought to you by Camel cigarettes
• Ehrich Weiss makes a name for himself

Houdini, Frank Tate, and a $5 bill

Here's a well-done video from HEC and historian Andrew Wanko about Houdini in St. Louis and Columbia theater manager Frank R. Tate, who famously told the Handcuff King, "You are not worth a five dollar bill to me."

I can add some more context to this unique time in Houdini's career. Houdini returned to America in 1905 and had been drawing large audiences and creating a sensation on the big-time Keith's vaudeville circuit. In 1907, he told his friend Dr. Waitt in Boston that he didn't want to do another tour of Keith's theaters "as I would like to give it a rest so as not to weary the public." Instead, he started making plans to return to Germany, where he hadn't appeared in three years.

However, Keith's made him an offer he couldn't refuse, $70,000 for 40 weeks, and he went back on tour. By early 1908, as feared, there were signs that audiences were tiring of him. Several managers, including Tate, took notice. The Milk Can helped, but it did not entirely solve the problem of escape fatigue in some cities. Houdini completed his tour and left for Europe. He would not play the U.S. for another three years.

Frank Tate died in 1934. As the video shows, his grave is located in the Bellefontaine Cemetery in North St. Louis. I'm looking forward to visiting St. Louis someday and visiting some of the Houdini sites. When I do, I plan to lay a five-dollar bill on the steps of Manager Tate's mausoleum.

Want more? You can view research related to Houdini's 1908 appearance in St. Louis as a "Scholar" member of my Patreon below. Included here is an original Columbia Theater program from the Fred Pittella Collection featuring the first advertisement for Houdini's Milk Can.

Related:

• Mystifying man in St. Louis
• St. Louis catches 'Houdini' fact check fever
• Houdini to the minute

The Houdini way to San Jose

It was 100 years ago today on October 29, 1924, that Houdini gave his spiritualism lecture at the Victory Theatre in San Jose, California. This was Houdini's only visit to the city. A review of the lecture in the San Jose Mercury News began:

    A missionary with a message of sanity and common sense, Houdini, a powerfully built little man in a dress suit, left no doubt in the minds of an audience at the Victory theatre last night that so-called mediums are despicable frauds. It was a wonderful evening's entertainment, the best San Jose has offered in a long time.

During the lecture, SAM member Fred P. Faltersack came onstage to assist Houdini in demonstrations. Faltersack worked at the nearby Winchester Mystery House, the world's most vivid example of how belief in spiritualism can overtake a person's life. After the lecture, Faltersack gave Harry and Bess a midnight tour of the sprawling property. Houdini was reportedly impressed with Mrs. Winchester's seance chamber. The next day, Houdini and company left for San Fransisco.

I recently took a quick trip to San Jose and had a chance to visit the various Houdini locations in the city. There's more than you might think!

First up was the site of The Victory Theatre at 45 N 1st Street (the address later changed to 57 N 1st). The Victory later became a movie theater and was renamed The Crest. In October 1953, it played the Tony Curtis Houdini biopic. So I guess Houdini returned after all! It's fun to think that someone who saw Houdini at The Crest may have also seen the real Houdini there in 1924.

The Crest remained a popular San Jose cinema until 1965, when it burned to the ground. The fire was attributed to two teenage boys. The theater was never rebuilt. 

Today, the site of the Victory/Crest is a parking lot. Ironically, an escape room currently sits at the end of the block.

Just one block over from the Victory is the site of the Empire Theater at 23 N 2nd Street. Hardeen appeared here twice in July and November 1908. The theater closed in 1926. Today, an attractive building stands on the spot, but it's unclear if this is the original theater building. (I don't think it is.)

San Jose Mercury, Nov 17, 1908

Not far from the sites of the Victory and Empire is the still-active Jose Theater at 62 S. Second Street. The Jose's vertical sign once hung outside the Victory/Crest. It was moved and re-lettered after the Victory's destruction in 1965. Theater lore holds that Houdini performed here, but I think it's being confused with the Victory. However, Terror Island played here in 1920, so it still qualifies as a Houdini location to me!

Evening News, June 11, 1920.

San Jose once again became the center of Houdini activity when the PCAM (Pacific Coast Association of Magicians) held its annual convention at the Civic Auditorium in July 1938. Bess was an honored guest and featured in their big show inside the Mongomery Theater. Here, on July 21, 1938, it was proclaimed that Halloween would henceforth be known as National Magic Day in honor of Houdini.

Evening News, July 19, 1938.

The San Jose Civic Auditorium and Mongomery Theater still stand today. So does the Hotel Sainte Claire (today the Westin), where Bess and Ed Saint stayed during the convention. The hotel sits just across the street from the Auditorium at 302 South Market Street.

Finally, the Winchester Mystery House still stands and is a very popular San Jose landmark and tourist attraction. They are proud of their Houdini connection. In their archives, they have a 1924 newspaper clipping that Houdini signed and sent to the house after his visit. A large Houdini poster also hangs in one of their dining rooms.

George Hardeen at the Winchester Mystery House in 2024.

There was a plan to hold a Houdini Seance at the Winchester Mystery House during the 1938 PCAM convention to be attended by Bess and conducted by Ed Saint. The seance was announced in newspapers and magic magazines. But it never happened. In 1976, a local SAM chapter held a 50th Anniversary Houdini seance in the house. 

Genii, July 1938. The seance never happened.

This week, Houdini seances will be held in Appleton, Scranton, Las Vegas, Chicago, and more. But if you ask me, I think this year Houdini's spirit can be found in San Jose!

Related:

• Houdini's 2nd lecture tour began 100 years ago today
• A Winchester Mystery House mystery...solved?
• Winchester rarities (Patreon exclusive)

The Columbia was wild about Harry!

I've seen effusive Houdini advertising before, but this ad for the independently run Columbia Theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio, takes the cake. This was for Houdini's two-week run in January 1908. I love how it adds "And Houdini" after every other name on the bill.

Cincinnati Post, Jan. 6, 1908

I would love to know what exactly was displayed in Max Joseph's cigar store window. 

This was Houdini's third appearance at the Columbia. During his first week, he escaped from a cell at Cincinnati’s Central Station in 31 minutes. The cell had once held the infamous Scott Jackson (right), a murderer whom some believed had hypnotic power and was able to impose his will on victims using his steel blue eyes.

During his second week, Houdini featured a string of challenges: packing case (Monday), leather bag (Tuesday), iron-bound willow hamper (Wednesday), paper bag (Thursday), and a packing case built on the stage (Friday). He finished his run on Saturday with a straitjacket escape in eight minutes on a $100 wager.

Another nice detail about this engagement is that Houdini's mother joined him. Houdini recorded in his diary that, upon her arrival in Cincinnati, “Charlie the dog went wild for thirty minutes with joy.”

The Columbia Theater stood at 525 Walnut Street. It became part of the Keith circuit in 1910 and was renamed the B.F. Keith Theater in 1912. Houdini played the theater seven times. It closed in September 1965 and was demolished in July 1966. Today, it is the site of Fountain Square.

Want more? You can download research related to Houdini's 1908 engagement in Cincinnati as a Scholar member of my Patreon below. Thanks to my patrons for supporting content like this.

Related:

• Off-script in Cincinnati
• LINK: Houdini, Martin Beck, and Herrmann in Cincinnati
• Houdini living on the air in Cincinnati

LINK: A Window on the Past: Harry Houdini’s trip to Portland in 1908

The Portland Press Herald has a piece about Houdini's appearance in Portland, Maine, in June 1908 and his jump from the Portland Bridge (site of the Casco Bay Bridge today). It includes a photo of the jump from the South Portland Historical Society that I've never seen before (right). For a larger version, check out the full article at The Portland Press Herald.

Related:

• Houdini's Bridge Jumps
• Casco Bay Bridge (Wikipedia)
• Houdini's Rochester bridge jump

Guest Blog: Houdini's mysterious safe

Today, I'm happy to share a guest blog from our friend Johan Ahlberg in Sweden about Houdini and his safes. Take it away, Johan!

HOUDINI'S mysterious SAFE

By Johan Ahlberg 

Harry Houdini had a great mechanical interest in complicated locks and safes. On his tour in Germany, he saw several safes and strongboxes that not only had complicated locks but also secret mechanisms to even find the keyhole. Some safes had combination locks, where secret levers needed to be operated in a secret manner to open the lock.

Houdini claimed he was challenged by a judge to open a big safe, which was kept in the judge's chamber with a combination lock, when he sued the German police for slander in Cologne, Germany.

The French magician Robert-Houdin made a desk with secret compartments. For extra security, there was a complicated lock in which you had to put your finger in a hole and touch a secret lever to open the lock. If you did it in the wrong way, a razor-sharp knife with a strong spring was activated, and the finger was cut off immediately. It was so the thief could easily be identified.

On December 4th, 1908, at the Euston Palace in England, Houdini was challenged to escape from a monster safe.

The safe was brought on stage. Houdini was searched and locked inside. He escaped in just 14 minutes, leaving the safe still secure and locked.

The terror of being locked up inside an airtight safe must have thrilled the audience. Houdini had planned the escape in detail, and it was probably one of Houdini's easiest escapes. But anything could have gone wrong; it took Houdini's nerves of steel to pull it off. If Houdini had fainted inside the safe or the lock mechanism had interlocked, it could have ended in disaster, like it did for Genesta when he tried to copy Houdini's milk can escape.

James Randi escaped in a TV show from a safe that was shown to be empty and locked. Suddenly, the combination dial started to spin. The door flew open, and out jumped Randi. The safe was so incredibly small that it seemed to be impossible for a human being to be inside. David Copperfield was handcuffed and locked in a safe with a combination lock. A chain was wrapped around the safe and padlocked. The clock started ticking, the combination dial started to rotate, and suddenly, a blast, the building was blown up, and everything was buried. David emerged on a table outside unharmed, smiling mysteriously. The effect was stunning, but Houdini was the first escape artist to escape from a borrowed safe under test conditions.

Houdini told a story in which he visited his lawyer in New York he was left alone with the lawyer's safe. He managed to manipulate the combination lock and his lawyer was dumfounded. Houdini claimed he had a micro meter in a watch that could register the small movements of the tumblers. To manipulate a combination lock can take hours or days to open even for a expert locksmith.

There was a rumor about a safe or a vault in Houdini's house. I once asked Marie Blood, Houdini's niece and the last link to Houdini's home, if she ever saw or heard anything about a vault? She said no! She never went down in the cellar. After Houdinis death there was another story about a safe that Bess couldn’t open. A locksmith, Charles Courtney, was called in an after working for hours on the combination lock it wouldn’t open. When Courtney asked Bess how Houdini opened the safe she said he just waved his hand over the lock and it opened like magic. Courtney bought a strong magnet and the lock opened or so he claimed.

The problem with that story is that a magnet can’t operate a lever through the safe's thick steel plates. In the safe, there were several love letters from women written to Houdini and the silver Mirror handcuffs. However, it’s a fantastic story.

Houdini's safe that Courtney claimed he opened with a magnet. The safe has the text “HOUDINI” on top. The Mirror handcuffs were stored inside.

An article in the Swedish newspaper KvP in 1974 described how Houdini had left a locked safe with his attorney in New York that contained his secrets. The safe was to be opened on Houdini's 100th birthday. With the press present, the safe was opened, but it was empty! 

I bet Houdini was laughing in his heaven.

Thank you, Johan.

If you'd like to share your own Guest Blog here on WILD ABOUT HARRY, feel free to get in touch and let's talk about what you have in mind. I know there's a lot of untapped Houdini wisdom out there!

Related:

• Is it safe?
• Guest Blog: The Stockholm Affair
• Deconstructing Houdini '53: Judgment in Germany

Milk Can poster sets new auction record at $180,000

Let's kick off 2024 with the big news that happened during my holiday break. 

An original Houdini Milk Can poster sold at Potter & Potter's "Select Secrets" magic auction on December 9th for $180,000 (including buyer's premium). That is a new record for a magic poster. The auction description says this poster originally came from 278 and is one of only five known to exist.

This is easily one of my favorite Houdini posters. It just perfectly captures the drama of this famous escape. In Houdini: A Mind in Chains, Bernard Meyer suggests the imagery is womb-like. Sure, I see that. What I also see are Houdini's brothers doing the locking. The man in the goatee and glasses certainly appears to be Leopold Weiss. I'm betting the other men are Nathan and Bill. Has anyone else ever noticed this?

Another auction lot of note was a copy of The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin inscribed to Terror Island director James Cruze during the production of the film. That went for a not unreasonable $3000.

Want more? You can watch video of the historic sale of this poster as a member of my Patreon below.

Related:

• When failure meant a drowning death
• The greatest Houdini auction ever
• Houdini Water Torture Cell poster makes history at Potter & Potter auction

Sangaw surprise

In November 1908, four Chinese men challenged Houdini to escape from a "Sangnau" (alternately spelled Sanguaw or Sangaw) at the Oxford Music Hall in London. The device was characterized as an ancient Chinese torture device and was a one-off escape. Or was it?

This challenge is covered in most Houdini biographies. Houdini went back and forth with the challengers, refusing certain aspects of the restraint, such as having his feet nailed to the floor. He also insisted on having two doctors present during the test. Houdini made his escape but vowed he'd never take on the dreaded Sangaw again.

However, magic history buff Whitt Smith recently sent me a detailed account of a special S.A.M. "Houdini Night" at the Palace Theatre from The Sphinx (January 1922) that reveals the sangaw was not a one-off escape after all. And more! The key excerpt is below: 

     Houdini then went on to say that while traveling through China in 1908, the natives challenged him to escape (privately and under their own conditions) from a Chinese sangaw--a wooden contraption similar in form to a horizontal bar on uprights, but being furnished also with a lower crosspiece. Houdini accepted their challenge, and had secretly introduced a movie man and his camera that the outcome of the challenge might be seen by the outside world. And so, on The S.A.M's. "Houdini Night," there was flashed upon the screen Houdini's escape from the sangaw of the Orient. In the picture the Chinese are seen binding Houdini securely and in the most businesses-like manner. First, securing each wrist to the central portions of the uprights, then securely binding the feet to the floor-piece, and lastly running a loop under the front part of the neck, thence around the head in such a manner that the head may not the lowered; then remainder of the rope is then securely fastened to the central part of the upper most cross-piece. At the conclusion of the picture, Houdini repeats his escape in real life before the audience, using a genuine Chinese sangaw and extracting himself with lightning-like rapidity from bonds identical to those used by the Orientals. 

Not only is it exciting to learn Houdini did the sangaw at this event, but it's even more exciting to discover there was film of the escape! The idea that it was shot secretly in China in 1908 is pure hokum. It was almost certainly something Houdini staged himself. But how I'd love to see this! No matter how many descriptions I've read of the sangaw, I still don't understand exactly how this contraption worked. Alas, this film might be long lost.

Want more? You can read the full Sphinx article, which includes a terrific description of Houdini's Water Torture Cell, as well as the 1908 newspaper accounts of the original sangaw escape as a "Scholar" member of my Patreon by clicking below.

Thank you, Whitt!

Related:

• Sailor rope tie challenge revealed at last
• Houdini's gibbet and the Hippodrome war float
• Houdini's history with the S.A.M. told in new book

Mystery of the Houdinis baby (solved)

This photo tends to draw a lot of comments and curiosity when it appears online. The Houdinis never had any children, so who is this mystery baby? Could it be Houdini's niece, Marie Blood? His nephew, Harry Houdini Hardeen? Or could it be Houdini's daughter!?

I actually discovered the answer a while back via a notation on an original photo in the collection of Dr. Bruce Averbook. However, I recently found a newspaper clipping that confirmed everything and explains it as well as I can, so here you go:

Atlantic City Daily Press, August 13, 1908.

The Houdinis visited the Infant Incubators on June 22, 1908, which also happened to be their 14th wedding anniversary. This was before the exhibit had officially opened to the public on June 27. Houdini was playing a two week engagement at Young's Ocean Pier Theatre in Atlantic City at this time. You can see Houdini and the "Infant Incubators" sharing the bill below.

Atlantic City Daily Press, June 27, 1908.

Want more? You can unlock 20 newspaper clippings related to Houdini's eventful 1908 Atlantic City engagement as a "Scholar" member of my Patreon below.

Top image from the House of Roulx Houdini Collection.

Related:

• A close call in Atlantic City
• Bess Houdini: "If I Had A Son"
• Did the Houdinis have a daughter?

A tour of Houdini's Cleveland

Two weeks ago I gave a lecture on "Houdini in Cleveland" at the Magic Collectors Expo 2023. After the conference I spent a day visiting many of the locations I featured in my talk. While it's all still fresh in my head, here's my fact-finding tour of Houdini's Cleveland.

Houdini's first appearance in Cleveland was the week of March 12, 1900. This was during his first Keith's vaudeville tour before he traveled to Europe. He appeared at the Empire Theater which stood at 750 Huron Road. Today Cleveland's beautiful art deco AT&T Building stands at that address.

During his 1900 engagement Houdini escaped from manacles at the Central Police Station on Champlain Street. This was one of his nude tests. That station was razed in 1925 to make way for Terminal Tower which still stands today in downtown Cleveland.

Houdini returned to Cleveland in 1905 and 1908 playing B.F. Keith's Theater at 619-625 Prospect Avenue. In 1908 he was more than a little chagrined to find he was not the headliner. Instead Julius Steger & Co. in the skit "The Fifth Commandment" was the featured performer. "Is this week the first step toward oblivion?" Houdini wrote in his diary.

The Prospect Avenue Keith's closed in 1923 and today a modern office building stands on the site. Or at least that's what I thought. When I visited, I could see that the "modern" building was a facade fronting what appears to be the original building that still shows the profile of a theater. The building beside it, which in Houdini's time was the Colonial Hotel, is still there and very recognizable.

Houdini cancelled his 1911 appearance in Cleveland when he broke a blood vessel in his kidney in Detroit (an injury that never properly healed and gave him pain the rest of his life). But he was back in 1915, this time playing the magnificent Hippodrome Theater at 720 Euclid Avenue. This was the second largest stage in the world at this time. Houdini would play the Hippodrome three times in 1915, 1916, and 1922. Among his escapes at this theater was a challenge from the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Co. to escape from a cask of their famous Gold Bond Beer.

The Hippodrome stood until 1981 when it was razed to make way for a parking garage. Today the new City Club Apartments are rising on the site of the theater.

A survivor in downtown Cleveland is the beautiful May Company building. The May Co. challenged Houdini to escape from a packing case made by their shipping department three times in 1905, 1908 and 1915. Houdini beat them every time. In 1925 they left it to their competitor the Baily Co. to challenge Houdini with their own packing case. He beat that one too!

In 1915 Houdini performed one of his more untypical outdoor stunts in Cleveland. He was strapped into a straitjacket atop a railway boxcar and escaped while spectators watched from the Cleveland viaduct bridge above. For more details on this unusual escape, check out THIS POST.

Houdini performed two suspended straitjacket escapes in Cleveland. The first was from the John Harkness Brown Building at 1019 Euclid Avenue on December 20, 1916. Happily, the building still stands today as the Euclid Grand apartments.

Houdini's second suspended straitjacket escape was from the Cleveland Press building on February 3, 1922. The building stood on the NW corner of East 9th and Rockwell. A terrific photo of the escape ran in the paper the following day.

Today the Press building is long gone, and even the Dunkin Donuts that now stands on this corner was out of donuts when I visited. So a double let down at this location! But at least we know Houdini hung here.

In 1924 Houdini barnstormed the country with his spiritualism lecture. Cleveland was one of his tour stops. Houdini appeared at Engineers Hall on February 27, 1924. Engineers Hall was located inside the Engineers Building on St. Clair Ave. It was demolished in 1989 and today is the Marriott Key Tower. By the way, I didn't know the location of Engineers Hall when I gave my talk. Fellow expo attendee Jim Kopco found it for me. Thank you, Jim!

Tickets for Houdini's lecture were sold at the Korner & Wood bookstore located at 1512 Euclid Avenue. This was a popular store that stood until 1963. Both Houdini and Blackstone are remembered to have been customers. Today the store and building are long gone.

If there was ever a time to be a Houdini fan in Cleveland it was 1925. Houdini performed in the city twice that year. But don't take it from me. Let's hear from someone who was there!

Houdini performed at the Palace for two weeks beginning March 9, 1925. The first week he featured his escape act. The second week he devoted to spiritualist exposes. The Palace is inside the magnificent B.F. Keith Building at 1615 Euclid Avenue. The good news is the Palace survives along with several other beautiful theaters in Cleveland's Playhouse Square.

While the theater was closed during my visit, I was still able to find my way into the lobby. It's a beautiful space and I could imagine Houdini as the prince of this palace.

During Houdini's 1925 run he exposed the well-known trumpet medium George Renner. Houdini attended Renner's seance at 2650 Superior Ave. in disguise and secretly smeared his trumpet with lampblack. When the lights came on, Renner's hands and face were cover in the soot, proving that the trumpet manifestations were the work of the medium and not the spirits. Renner was arrested and charged with fraud. Houdini had ten minutes to make it to the Palace for his performance. Newspapers reported he did his act with his hands still covered in the lampblack.

While Houdini's exposures drew headlines and large crowds to the theatre, it made him at least one enemy. Check out the below from the March 10, 1925 Cleveland Plain Dealer:

While in Cleveland Houdini stayed at the Hotel Statler at 1127 Euclid Avenue. The Statler is still there (it's now apartments), and from the outside appears just as it did in Houdini's time. A bonus is that the building stands beside the former John Harkness Brown building where Houdini did his 1916 suspended straitjacket escape. It's a great block for Houdini location seekers!

Houdini returned to Cleveland in November 1925 with his "3 Shows in One." This time he performed at the Hanna Theater located at 2067 East 14th Street, just a block over from the Palace. The Hanna still stands today. I couldn't get inside, but I did find the old stage door and could feel Houdini's spirit on that spot.

During his final Cleveland appearance, Houdini performed for handicapped children at the Sunbeam School. Below is a terrific photo of Houdini performing for the kids. An account of this show in the November 6, 1925 Cleveland Plain Dealer details Houdini's performance of the die box. The original school building was razed for the new Sunbeam School located at 11800 Mt. Overlook Ave.

Houdini was booked to return to the Hanna for the week of November 9, 1926. This was to be his next stop after his two week engagement in Detroit. He didn't make it. As we know, Houdini died in Detroit on Halloween of that year.

There's one last Houdini Cleveland connection. In 2017 the city played host to the Official Houdini Séance inside a bank vault. Houdini was a no show, but his memory proved to be alive and well in Cleveland -- a five star Houdini city!

Want more? You can see an exclusive photo of Houdini in Cleveland from the collection of Dr. Bruce Averbook and download the research I did for my lecture as a "Scholar" member of my Patreon by clicking the image below. 

Very special thanks to Aimee LePelley of the Center for Local & Global History for helping me find Houdini in Cleveland.

Related:

• A five star Magic Collectors Expo in Cleveland
• Boxcar straitjacket escape mystery (SOLVED!)
• Exploring Houdini's Austin