The talk of Chicago

It was 100 years ago today that Houdini opened his "3 Shows in One" at the Princess Theater in Chicago for the start of what would be a remarkable 8-week run. For the occasion, I thought I'd rerun this post from 2022.

Here's one last post about Houdini at the Shubert Princess Theatre in Chicago in 1926. This 8-week run was longest single theater engagement for the 3 Shows in One and would prove to be Houdini's last appearance in the Windy City. Today I thought I'd share a collection of newspaper ads from the Chicago Tribune that pitched Houdini's show over the course of that record run.

This first ad from Match 4, 1926, shows the comedy play Young Blood with Helen Hayes preceding Houdini at the Princess. The Houdini show was playing the Bronx Theater in New York this week. Houdini flew by airplane to Chicago on March 7th. 

Coming!

Here's an ad for Houdini's opening night on Monday, March 8. You can bet he made sure the theater was ready, even if he had to do it himself!

Week 1

By the second week Houdini was "the talk of Chicago." I can believe it!

Week 2

Wonderful caricature artwork features on this ad for the start of Houdini's third week. If you've ever wondered what tickets cost back then, here you can see "600 Seats at $1 and $1.50 every night."

Week 3

More nice artwork for the start of Houdini's fourth week. "Have Houdini Give Your Friends a Spirit Message." I'm surprised spiritualism isn't played up more in these adverts.

Week 4

The famously prophetic Halloween artwork features on this fifth week ad. "Give yourself a treat. Bring the kiddies!" Any of those kiddies still around, I wonder?

Week 5

This week six ad takes aim at the pocket book. A .50¢ matinee? 300 seats at $1? No excuses now!

Week 6

Week seven saw a special added attraction -- reformed trumpet medium Annie Benninghofen.

Week 7

For his final week Houdini brought back some of his tried and true challenge escapes.

Week 8

Houdini's final two shows were on May 1st. He then traveled on to the Goodyear Theater in Akron, Ohio. Actress Eva Le Gallienne moved into the Princess with two Ibsen plays, The Master Builder and John Gabriel Borkman. Doesn't sound nearly as fun.

Last Day!

The Chicago Princess Theatre was located at 319 S. Clark Street. It converted to a movie theater at the end of the 1920s and closed in 1937. In 1941, the building was razed to make way for a parking lot. The Metcalfe Federal Building now stands on the site.

But let's not forget Houdini was here...for eight full weeks!

Clippings: Newspapers.com. 

Top photo: Houdini His Life Story by Harold Kellock.

Related:

• Houdini never ceases to surprise
• The Benninghofen confession
• Houdini's grand finale: 3 Shows In One

The Benninghofen confession

Let's return to the front of the Princess Theater in Chicago with another terrific image from the collection of the McCord Museum. This captures a sidewalk stand advertising a very special week during Houdini's record 8-week run at the Princess in 1926.

Photo: McCord Museum

The confession of acclaimed trumpet medium Annie M. Benninghofen was a major coup for Houdini and a real blow against spiritualism. On April 15, 1926, Houdini held a press conference at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago with Benninghofen who admitted that she had practiced fraud for 30 years. Houdini and the medium then gave a demonstration seance for the gathered reporters exposing her techniques.

"My father was a spiritualist. He was devout in his belief," explained Mrs. Benninghofen. "He was an educated man, but he was duped just like all the others. Although I now admit the work I did was a fraud, I must say that at the time I was sincere. I really believed I was helping the spirits. But I never fooled my mother. And on her deathbed, she asked me to give it up. I refused, but I got to thinking about it, and finally I quit."

Houdini added, "They are all just alike. I have yet to meet a real medium. Mrs. Benninghofen is the greatest of all of them I have met, and she admits that her work was a fraud."

Mrs. Benninghofen appeared with Houdini onstage during his 3 Shows in One on the evening of April 16. Houdini then featured her as part of his show for the entire following week (April 19-25). That's the week we see advertised above. I love that it promotes it as "The Greatest Sensation Since the Confession of the Fox Sisters!" Also notice the mention of Cecil Cook. Houdini had busted her a year earlier.

Houdini and Mrs. Benninghofen took a series of photos together at the Butler studio in Chicago. You can see several of those photos affixed to the sidewalk stand. Below is another less common photo from the McCord collection.

Photo: McCord Museum

When Mrs. Benninghofen completed her week with Houdini at the Princess, she gave him her spirit trumpet along with sworn statement that it was used for fraud. Today there are several Houdini owned spirit trumpets in private collections, but I'm not sure which is the famous Benninghofen trumpet. If anyone has any info on that, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks to the McCord Museum for helping unlock these stories with their magnificent images.

UPDATE: Brandon Hodge of The Mysterious Planchette has come forward with what he believes to be the Benninghofen trumpet, and I think he's right! Brandon writes:

I know lots of folks make big claims about Houdini items, but I have long suspected I own the Benninghofen trumpet. I have two trumpets acquired from the Dunninger estate (which had many Houdini-associated items), and one is not only the same configuration as the Benninghofen trumpet (the fully rolled bell-edge is a rare feature on historical trumpets), but has the same slightly darker/mis-matched pieces.

Related:

• Houdini never ceases to surprise
• Five original Houdini glass negatives sell on eBay
• More Houdini glass negatives materialize on eBay

More Houdini glass negatives materialize on eBay

Three original glass negatives featuring rare images of Houdini sold yesterday on eBay. A photo showing him being bound by two young boys (identified on the slide as Stephen Ligorotis and John Tallitsch) sold for $1,059. A shot of Houdini with trumpet medium Annie Benninghofen holding a giant spirit trumpet brought in $670. A third slide showing Houdini doing cards tricks for Chicago detectives ("Chief Shoemaker & dicks") sold for $847. This last image is the only one that has appeared in print.

The Benninghofen photo is of particular interest as it recalls Houdini's own giant spirit trumpet now in the Fred Pittella collection (seen in this post). This does not appear to be the same trumpet (dang it), but it establishes that giant spirit trumpets were a thing!

These all came from the Chicago Herald Examiner collection and from the same seller who offered several other Houdini negatives last year. I'm holding my breath to see if more might appear!

Related:

• Five original Houdini glass negatives sell on eBay
• Breedlove vs. Houdini trial photo fetches $400

Five original Houdini glass negatives sell on eBay

A remarkable set of original Houdini glass negatives sold on eBay yesterday. They show Houdini being bound to a chair by young girls ($781.00); Houdini and trumpet medium Annie Benninghofen ($1,150.00); and two photos of Houdini at the South Clark Street courthouse in Chicago ($402.00 and $159.50). The look on Houdini's face in the last photo is priceless! All the images are from 1926 and taken by noted photojournalist Henry Schaefer of Acme Newspictures for the Chicago Herald-Examiner.

But there was actually a fifth negative that the seller had mistakenly identified as being Annie Benninghofen. Nope, that's Houdini! The auction was at only $2 with ten seconds to go and I was hoping to get a bargin. But in the last seconds it shot up to $187.50, so it appears not everyone was fooled.

Don't believe this is Houdini? Check out the below from The Tao of Houdini by Patrick Culliton. This appeared in the Chicago Herald-Examiner.

Related:

• Harry Houdini - master of disguise
• Rare Houdini images from House of Roulx 
• Houdini and Charlie clean up