In my upcoming book, Handcuff King: The Conquests of Harry Houdini, 1900-1909, I'm hoping to provide the most complete and accurate chronology of Houdini's life during his peak "Handcuff King" days. I'm pretty confident my facts are confirmed and correct. But there's still one thing driving me crazy!
When exactly did Houdini and his mother travel to Hungary and have the "Queen for a day" reception at the Grand Hotel Royal in Budapest?
Every biography that includes this event puts it between Houdini's engagement at the Hansa-Theater in Hamburg and his opening at the Colosseum in Essen. That places it at the very end of April 1901.
However, this timing is problematic, if not impossible. Houdini closed at the Hansa on April 30 and opened at the Colosseum the next day, May 1 (after doing a police station test). So there's no time for a two-day excursion to Budapest.
I think it's more likely that it happened at the end of August 1901. Houdini himself said that at the end of the Budapest trip, he escorted his mother "en route to America." I take this to mean that he took her to her ship. And according to a letter Houdini wrote to Fredrick Roterberg (brother of Gus), his mother sailed for home on August 22.
Where does the April date come from? As far as I can find, the primary source for the entire Budapest story is Harold Kellock's Houdini: His Life Story. Kellock writes that it happened "at the close of his engagement" (implying Hamburg, but not saying that explicitly). What was Kellock's source? A clue can be found in this sentence:
"After listening patiently to his remonstrances," Houdini wrote in an autobiographical fragment, "I revealed to him my plot to crown my little mother and allow her to be Queen Victoria for a few fleeting hours."
I trust Kellock really did have an account of this written by Houdini, likely an unpublished document. However, I don't know where that document is today, and I don't believe any other biographers saw it. This is likely why Ken Silverman omitted the story entirely from his own book, Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss, but I think that's going too far. I believe it happened.
Milbourne Christopher in Houdini: The Untold Story goes with the April date, even adding the specific detail that Houdini closed on a Saturday. But Houdini's Hamburg engagement ended on a Tuesday. Christopher also says his mother returned to America before the end of Houdini's engagement in Essen in May. That's not correct either. So Christopher was working from a flawed chronology.
If I'm going to revise Houdini history and challenge the likes of Milbourne Christopher, I'd better have proof! Otherwise, I feel like I have to stick with the conventional placement of the trip at the end of April and add a caveat that it may have happened later. But, man, I'd sure like to know for sure!
My book is still a few months away from going to the printer, so my hope is that someone out there might have the Kellock document or anything that provides evidence for exactly when Houdini and his mother took their famous two-day trip to Budapest. April or August 1901? Or maybe some other time entirely???
If you have anything to share, feel free to comment below or shoot me an email.
Thanks to Dr. Steffen Taut for helping me nail down Houdini's German performance dates. Top image from the McCord Stewart Museum.
