Dean also has a lengthy post about Bess on his Magic Detective blog: The Life of Bessie Houdini. As Dean says, we're "Bonkers About Bessie" for this month!
Showing posts with label Marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marriage. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Bonkers About Bessie!
Our friend Dean Carnegie at The Magic Detective Podcast has an episode devoted to Bess Houdini. Some stories here I've not heard. Enjoy.
Dean also has a lengthy post about Bess on his Magic Detective blog: The Life of Bessie Houdini. As Dean says, we're "Bonkers About Bessie" for this month!
Dean also has a lengthy post about Bess on his Magic Detective blog: The Life of Bessie Houdini. As Dean says, we're "Bonkers About Bessie" for this month!
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
No escape
Here's a fun one that's new to me. I'll let it speak for itself.
By the way, $12,500 is the equivalent of $197,646 today. Maybe the three of them could have worked something out!
Related:
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| Bangor Daily Commercial, Sept. 27, 1921. |
By the way, $12,500 is the equivalent of $197,646 today. Maybe the three of them could have worked something out!
Related:
Saturday, June 22, 2024
130 years bound
Today is Harry and Bess Houdini's 130th wedding anniversary. The couple married in Coney Island on June 22, 1894. To mark the occasion, here's a beautiful unpublished photo from the collection of John C. Hinson showing the Houdinis in 1924. Forever bound!
Want more? You can read the original 25th anniversary letter from Harry to Bess as a member of my Patreon below. This gem comes from our friends at the Harry Ransom Center.
"We have starved, and starred together. We have had our little tiffs but your sunny smile, and my good (?) sense always smoothed out the bitterness. I love you—love you—and I know you love me. Your very touch, your care of me dearest and the laughter in my heart when you put your arms around me prove it. Think dear heart, twenty five years. . . .yours till the end of the world and ever after."
-Note written by Houdini to Bess on
their their 25th Anniversary
Friday, June 7, 2024
Bess and the "bad woman"
While reading Houdini: His Life Story by Harold Kellock recently, the following paragraph jumped out at me as containing an intriguing mystery:
Page 209: Another lady of the halls who cut a wide swathe among the European nobility bobs up in the diary for a time. She was on the same bill with Houdini and elected to make a confidante of Mrs. Houdini. She was a rare dark beauty. Her apartment was fitted in queenly splendor, and in the boudoir her pink perfection reposed on sheets of finest black satin. An amorous German prince had presented her with a toilet set of pure gold, and her jewels represented the taxed sweat of thousands of peasants of several countries. "I think –– must be a bad woman," Houdini confided to his diary, and speculated as to whether he was doing right in permitting his wife to associate with her.... The former idol of princes is now fifty and has settled down as a saleswoman in a five-and-ten emporium in New York City.
As this woman was still alive in 1927-8 (at age 50), it's clear Kellock is being careful not to name her. So who was she? All we know is what we have above. Is that enough to suss out the identity of the "bad woman"?
Please share any thoughts or ideas in the comments below.
Thursday, June 22, 2023
Anniversary day
I'm marking Harry and Bess Houdini's 129th anniversary on my Patreon today with a very special rarity from the Harry Ransom Center. It's a single page that will both warm and break your heart. Click below to share in the love.
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Anniversary gift
To mark Harry and Bess's 128th wedding anniversary today, here's a rarity from the McCord Museum. As I've noted in a few posts, the McCord is celebrating their own 100th anniversary by offering images from their collection free of use.
The below is from their Houdini holdings and might seem innocuous at first. I don't even think this is Houdini's handwriting. But the date tells us this is something very special.
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| McCord Museum |
This appears to be a tag that accompanied flowers or some other gift from Houdini to Bess on their Silver Anniversary on June 22, 1919. The Houdinis celebrated the day with a gala dinner at the Hotel Alexandra in Los Angeles. The hotel and ballroom still exist. I had a visit in 2019.
Here's wishing Harry and Bess a happy 128th. I'm not sure what metal that would be, but it would need to be a rare one!
Related:
Related:
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Houdini used to demo new AI tool LiveStory
Last year MyHeritage developed an AI tool that brought old photographs to life. It's was wild tech that allowed us some fun with Houdini images. Now the site is back with an enhanced version called LiveStory, and they've used Houdini to demo it!
"Houdini" makes more than a few mistakes about his life here. Of course, the real Houdini did as well, so maybe that makes this all the more real! The idea that Harry and Bess met in 1893 and were married a year later is an error I keep seeing repeated. Were is this coming from, I wonder?
You can read more about LiveStory at New Atlas.
Monday, December 13, 2021
Houdini's lost top hat is found
Our friend Roger Dreyer from Houdini Revealed (formally the Houdini Museum of New York) shares with us a remarkable new acquisition with a great story behind it. Gaze below at Houdini's top hat!
Roger purchased this hat from James F. Green (aka Mr. G The Magician) who bought it from magician and author Burling Hull in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Hull told Green a curious story of how he acquired it. He was at an S.A.M. banquet in New York with Houdini also in attendance (he did not provide the year). Hull asked Bess Houdini to dance with him, which she did. Hull was a handsome man...too much so for Houdini. The jealous Houdini marched out and retrieved Bess and left the event in a huff. In doing so, he left his top hat behind. Hull chased after them to return the hat, but he failed to catch up to them so he kept the hat for himself.
The dancing with Bess episode was written up by Bev Bergeron in the March 2007 Linking Ring ("A Dance with Bess: The Tricks, Tales, and Trials of Burling Hull"). According to Bergeron, Houdini later apologized when he leaned who Hull was and offered up Bess as a dancing partner at their next S.A.M. gathering. But it appears Hull did not offer up the hat!
Hearing this story I was immediately reminded of the below item from Motion Picture News about, yes, Houdini losing his hat at an S.A.M. banquet in 1922.
This is Boston, not New York, so this could be another S.A.M. event and another hat. But this is all great stuff and another terrific addition to Roger Dreyer's amazing collection.
Friday, December 10, 2021
Deconstructing Houdini '53: Wedding night
Today I continue my scene by scene dissection of Paramount's 1953 biopic Houdini, in which I attempt to make the case that it's much more historically accurate than it is given credit. And anything else that comes to mind. Last time Harry and Bess finally connected at Tony Pastor's. Today we join them on their...
Chapter 5: Wedding Night
The wedding night sequence starts off with a nice visual beat in which Harry guides his new bride to his family home. Bess assumes they will be ascending the stairs of a handsome brownstone. But Harry shakes his head and guides her down to a basement level dwelling. Rich he ain't!
Not wanting to wake his mother, Harry attempts to sneak Bess into his bedroom. But it doesn't work. Mama, played by Angela Clarke, catches the young couple who then scramble, unsuccessfully, to explain themselves. Clarke was only 44 when she starred in Houdini. The real Cecelia Weiss was 53 when her son got married. Clark is actually a better age match than some succeeding mamas who tended to be portrayed as elderly from the start (most notably Ruth Gordon in The Great Houdinis). Clarke's mama is welcoming of her new daughter-in-law, which is also true of the real Cecelia Weiss.
One of the most interesting aspects of this scene is what can be seen in the background. Look closely and one can spot no less than two Menorahs, thus establishing Harry as Jewish. We've already discussed how Bess's introduction suggests a Catholic school (which is again mentioned here), so the mixed faith marriage of the Houdinis is indeed part of this film...if you look hard enough.
After mama gives her blessing, we dissolve to Harry's bedroom where a sleeping Bess is startled awake by Harry, in pajamas, bringing out a large box. He insists that Bess climb into it. Both actors are exceptional in this moment, almost seeming to ad lib some of their playful dialogue. Once Bess is locked inside, Harry retrieves a large saw and announces, "I'm going to saw you in half."
The famous Sawing in a Woman in Half illusion, as presented here, was first performed by Horace Goldin in 1921. It caused a sensation and ignited controversy over who invented the effect (which is covered in Mike Caveney's acclaimed new book, 100 Years of Sawing). Putting this in the hands of Harry Houdini in the 1890s is a howling anachronism, although Houdini would eventually perform his own version of this effect in 1926 called "Slicing a Girl in Eight."
However, the idea of showing a nascent Houdini working on an effect that would become a classic of magic is entirely accurate. That trick was Metamorphosis. But the Sawing works great here to terrify Bess, which is also true of their early life. In Houdini His Life Story Bess relates at least two stories about how her new husband frightened her with his magic tricks and strange behaviors. He would then soothe her by showing her the secrets, which is exactly what we see play out here in the movie.
While there is no account of what the real Harry and Bess did on their wedding night (I can make a guess), this classic scene became a template for later biopics with events playing out in a very similar manner. In The Great Houdinis (1976) Sally Struthers ends up handcuffed to Harry. In the Houdini Miniseries (2014) Kristen Connolly finds herself locked in a trunk.
Harry: Was it so awful?
Bess: No, but I expected something different on my wedding night.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Houdini and his "sister" 112 years ago today
Let's kick off the month with a terrific illustration that appeared 112 years ago in the September 1, 1907 San Francisco Examiner. This accompanied a humorous playlet called "The King of The Cuffs or What's In A Name?" In it, the Houdinis have a group of fellow vaudevillians over for tea. But what's interesting is Bess is portrayed as being Houdini's sister, not his wife.
UPDATE: Recently I found an article in the March 15, 1908 Pittsburgh Daily Post that openly discusses what it calls the Houdinis "my sister" subterfuge:
The article goes on to tell the same basic story shared in this post about how Bess believed husband and wife acts don't succeed and how they should no longer perform as such. It goes on say that success came soon after that decision, and Bess, who "is superstitious to a degree that is abnormal even among people of the stage," felt she should never appear onstage as Mrs. Houdini.
Wild!
Related:
The idea of Bess playing Houdini's sister is not as odd as one might think. I have found numerous references from the 1890s right up through 1925 that Harry and Bess often presented themselves as brother and sister onstage.
I've been contemplating a post on this brother-sister revelation, but I'm still gathering info and trying to get my head around it. But it appears Harry and Bess might have played characters onstage more than has ever been understood.
Below is the full playlet as it appeared in the Examiner. If you click it and save to your desktop, it should open large enough to read. Enjoy.
Below is the full playlet as it appeared in the Examiner. If you click it and save to your desktop, it should open large enough to read. Enjoy.
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| Click to enlarge. |
UPDATE: Recently I found an article in the March 15, 1908 Pittsburgh Daily Post that openly discusses what it calls the Houdinis "my sister" subterfuge:
The article goes on to tell the same basic story shared in this post about how Bess believed husband and wife acts don't succeed and how they should no longer perform as such. It goes on say that success came soon after that decision, and Bess, who "is superstitious to a degree that is abnormal even among people of the stage," felt she should never appear onstage as Mrs. Houdini.
Wild!
Saturday, June 22, 2019
Visiting the site of the Houdinis Silver Wedding Anniversary
It was 100 years ago today that Harry and Bess Houdini celebrated their Silver Wedding Anniversary with a gala dinner at the Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles. The event was attended by 200 guests, including luminaries such as Roscoe Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Cecil B. DeMille, Jesse Lasky, and Will Rogers. On making her entrance to the ballroom, Bess was so overcome she swooned. Houdini had to dash to get her a glass of wine to brace her up. He joked that it reminded him of "my old running days." After dinner the guests danced until midnight.
Below is a shot from other side of the room. Note the fireplace and original doorways. Through which did the Houdinis make their entrance, I wonder?
Today the ballroom was being prepared for a Quinceanera. It was fun to think that, exactly 100 years ago, tables and chairs were being arranged for the Houdinis dinner. And somewhere upstairs Houdini was writing the following note for Bess to find after dinner along with diamonds in a silver setting.
My Soulmate Wife:
Our silver wedding today. No, dear Heart, we have had twenty-five silver weddings. You have been truly my wife, my all in life. If only my sainted mother were here now she would nod her head with pride.
We have starved and starred together. We have had our little tiffs, but your sunny smile and my good sense(?) always robbed them of bitterness. I love you, love you, dearest, and I know you love me. Your very touch, your care of me, dearest, and the laughter in my heart when you put your arms around me prove it. Think, dear Heart, twenty-five years! The years have flown. It seems only yesterday that I carried you away to take you for myself.
Sweetheart, I will give you this letter after the reception tonight. I am writing this whilst you and Jule are busy at the mirror making up, and as I glance at you and see the happiness in your eyes I bow my head in silent thanks to Almighty God that I am the lucky man to make you happy. May God keep you long for me my Precious Love.
Yours to the end of life and ever after.
EHRICH
One revelation is that the ballroom is located on the second floor, which is something I never gathered from the famous photo. Below is a photo from the outside of the building showing the four ballroom windows that look out over Spring Street.
It was also a treat to see the inside of the Alexandria itself. Built in 1906, it was the most luxurious hotel in Los Angeles for many years. In fact, I'm wondering if Houdini stayed at the Alexandria when he performed at the Orpheum just a few blocks away. The Alexandria also has a rich Hollywood history. Charlie Chaplin not only got married in The Palm Court ballroom, but in the lobby (below) he had a fight with MGM head Louis B. Mayer. It was also on the hotel's exterior that Harold Loyd shot his famous human fly sequence for Safety Last.
While today the hotel has been renovated, many beautiful original features remain, such as a grand stairway that would have been familiar to the Houdinis.
It's surprising that such an important and unchanged Houdini location seems to have flown under the radar for so many years. The good news is The Alexandria Ballrooms are available to rent. While they remain a popular venue for weddings and receptions, I'm thinking this famous space would be a desirable location for future Houdini documentaries, and, of course, an ideal setting for an Official Houdini Seance.
So while I might have been 100 years late to the party, I'm thrilled to have made it today, and to have experienced this unchanged space that still seems to hold the loving energy of Harry and Bess Houdini.
Thank you to Charlene Bustos for allowing me this special visit on this special day.
Related:
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Houdini in 1919
Welcome to another year of WILD ABOUT HARRY. Lets kick off 2019 with a look back at what Houdini himself was up to 100 years ago.
Houdini began 1919 with the flu. This was not a small matter. Between 1918 and 1920, the Spanish Flu pandemic killed 50 to 100 million people worldwide. Fortunately, Houdini beat the virus and recovered. Another death-defying escape!
Related:
This post is now retired.
But you will still be able to enjoy the story of Houdini in 1919 with the publication of my upcoming book.
Related:
- Houdini conquers Hollywood (at last) in The Grim Game
- What caused The Grim Game plane crash?
- Houdini's madcap Hollywood lunch
- Terror at the Hot Springs
- Return to Terror Island
Friday, October 19, 2018
Bess never looked up
Here's a terrific article from the April 27, 1916 Baltimore Evening Sun. This ran the day after Houdini's suspended straitjacket escape from the Sun building before a crowd of 50,000. I'm always excited to find something like this that not only gives us fresh insight into Bess, but also provides untypical details about an outdoor stunt. And an awesome new photo!
While I'm sure Bess was able to act the part of the "worried wife/assistant" when called upon, there are details here, such as being concerned about his internal organs, that makes me think her anxiety about this particular stunt was genuine. And recall the postcard I recently shared written on the day of his suspended straitjacket escape in Kansas City in which Bess wished she was home in Brooklyn "where I belong."
Speaking of Baltimore, I will be appearing at The Jewish Museum of Maryland on November 4th with a talk about Houdini in Hollywood and screening of The Grim Game. If I have time, I will seek out the location of this escape. And I will look up!
Related:
While I'm sure Bess was able to act the part of the "worried wife/assistant" when called upon, there are details here, such as being concerned about his internal organs, that makes me think her anxiety about this particular stunt was genuine. And recall the postcard I recently shared written on the day of his suspended straitjacket escape in Kansas City in which Bess wished she was home in Brooklyn "where I belong."
Speaking of Baltimore, I will be appearing at The Jewish Museum of Maryland on November 4th with a talk about Houdini in Hollywood and screening of The Grim Game. If I have time, I will seek out the location of this escape. And I will look up!
Related:
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Original Houdinis anniversary photo for sale
Recently Tom Morello shared with me with a remarkable treasure that he has owned for over 40 years. It's the famous group photo of the Houdinis Silver Wedding Anniversary held at the Los Angeles Alexandria Hotel on June 22, 1919. According to Tom, this is the framed photo that hung in the Houdinis home in New York.
Tom acquired the photo in 1977 from Kevin St. Onge, who had purchased it from Terry Roses. Terry had acquired it from Joe Berg, who received it from Bess Houdini herself. Tom has never taken it outside of the frame, but be believes there is some writing on the back. As you can see from the image above, the photo is complete, unlike the one seen in Houdini His Legend and His Magic and at the Library of Congress.
Tom is now looking to sell this long held treasure. If you are interested, contact him VIA EMAIL HERE. I've not see the photo in person, so if you have questions, please direct them to Tom.
Thanks for the share, Tom!
Related:
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| Click to enlarge. |
Tom acquired the photo in 1977 from Kevin St. Onge, who had purchased it from Terry Roses. Terry had acquired it from Joe Berg, who received it from Bess Houdini herself. Tom has never taken it outside of the frame, but be believes there is some writing on the back. As you can see from the image above, the photo is complete, unlike the one seen in Houdini His Legend and His Magic and at the Library of Congress.
Tom is now looking to sell this long held treasure. If you are interested, contact him VIA EMAIL HERE. I've not see the photo in person, so if you have questions, please direct them to Tom.
Thanks for the share, Tom!
Related:
Friday, May 18, 2018
Were Bess and Ed Saint secretly married?
There has long been a rumor that Bess Houdini and Edward Saint were secretly married. Magician Arnold Furst, who knew the couple well, believed they were. But no evidence, such as a marriage certificate, has ever surfaced. Of course, no marriage certificate for Harry and Bess has ever surfaced either!
Recently while fleshing out the A.D. page of my New Houdini Chronology, I found this curious item in Ed Sullivan's 1938 Hollywood gossip column:
So is this where the marriage rumor got started? Possibly. But it makes no mention of Saint. Should we accept Bess's word that it isn't true? Or does this item present evidence it might have been true. At least this shows us the idea of a secret marriage was in the air ever at that time.
The date, April 19, 1938, might be suggestive. This is right around the time Bess and Ed began to have some middling success in the movies. Bess had just shot Religious Racketeers, and they had recently set-up a Houdini biopic at Paramount. So maybe they married in anticipation of a expected windfall of cash? Possibly it was more about consolidated assets than romance.
Anyway, just more to fuel the speculation!
Arnold Furst's recollections of Bess and Ed can be read in David Charvet's excellent cover profile of Bess Houdini in the October 1995 issue of MAGIC.
Related:
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Happy Anniversary Harry and Bess
Today is the 123rd wedding anniversary of Harry and Bess Houdini. The couple married on June 22, 1894 in Coney Island where they were both working as sideshow performers. It's said they later had two more ceremonies to satisfy their families -- one with a rabbi and the other with a Catholic priest. "I'm the most married woman I know," Bess would quip.
If they were in town on their anniversary they would always spend it in Coney Island and take a playful anniversary photo (above is their 1917 pic). Their song -- said to have been the song Bessie was signing when Harry first saw her on stage -- was Rosabel...
Related:
- Did the Houdinis marry in 1901?
- Coney Island: Where Harry met Bessie
- William Lindsay Gresham on the Houdinis marriage
(I know what you are all thinking: "Forget this mushy stuff, bring on the 278 pics!" Know that I'm working on it and hope to have the first post up this weekend.)
Sunday, October 16, 2016
How "The Houdinis" became "Houdini"
When Harry and Bess set out on their showbiz careers in 1894, they billed themselves as "The Houdinis." But by the time they achieved their first success under Martin Beck's management in 1899, the act was now billed as just HOUDINI.
I've often wondered how and when that change occurred? Was it Beck's idea to sideline Bess in the billing? That might have been an awkward conversation, especially as we know Houdini feared Bess's "brainstorms."
But now I've stumbled on an article from the March 15, 1908 Pittsburgh Post Gazette Sun which, incredibly, describes that very conversation. As with other articles that focus on Bess -- "a little brown-haired bit of humanity" -- it's filled with oddities. Houdini introduced her onstage as his sister? But it also features a knockout shot of Bess and their dog Charlie that I've not seen before.
I know the image quality is poor, so I've also excerpted the relevant paragraph below, but the entire article is worth the read if you can.
So is this true? Who knows. Bessie was as much a myth-maker as her husband. Remember the interview in which she talked about her daughter? But it's still a great tidbit.
Check out the links below for more tales from The Houdinis early career.
Related:
I've often wondered how and when that change occurred? Was it Beck's idea to sideline Bess in the billing? That might have been an awkward conversation, especially as we know Houdini feared Bess's "brainstorms."
But now I've stumbled on an article from the March 15, 1908 Pittsburgh Post Gazette Sun which, incredibly, describes that very conversation. As with other articles that focus on Bess -- "a little brown-haired bit of humanity" -- it's filled with oddities. Houdini introduced her onstage as his sister? But it also features a knockout shot of Bess and their dog Charlie that I've not seen before.
I know the image quality is poor, so I've also excerpted the relevant paragraph below, but the entire article is worth the read if you can.
 |
| Click to enlarge. |
"Harry," said the wife one day. "I have never known a act billed as 'Mr. and Mrs.' to succeed. Can you think of one?" He thought awhile and then shook his head in negation. "Well," said she, "suppose you bill yourself just as Houdini and leave me out of it." To make a long story short, the following week, "Mr. and Mrs. Houdini" disappeared from the program and the single word Houdini had taken their place. From that time dates the rising tide of Houdini's fortune.
So is this true? Who knows. Bessie was as much a myth-maker as her husband. Remember the interview in which she talked about her daughter? But it's still a great tidbit.
Check out the links below for more tales from The Houdinis early career.
Related:
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Did the Houdinis secretly marry in 1901?
Today is the 122nd wedding anniversary of Harry and Bess Houdini. The couple married on June 22, 1894. Or did they? In recent years, historians have pointed out that there's something fishy about the official story of the Houdinis marriage. While there is no doubt Harry and Bess lived and traveled together from that June day, some have questioned whether they were ever actually legally married at all.
As the story goes, Harry and Bess met in Coney Island where they were both performers, and after knowing each other for only a week, they married. The famous Coney Island boss John Y. McKane performed the civil ceremony. They later repeated their vows in two more ceremonies, one with a Rabbi (for Harry's family) and again with a Roman Catholic Priest (for Bess's family). This led to Bess saying, "I’m the most married person I know, three times and to the same man."
But the late great Houdini historian Manny Weltman found problems with this story. In his book, Houdini: Escape into Legend: The Early Years (1993), Weltman revealed that John Y. McKane could not have married Harry and Bess as he was in Sing Sing prison at the time. There were also plenty of rackets on the Bowery in those days, and it's possible whatever marriage license the young couple purchased (for $2.00 -- Bess paid) might not have been legit. In Houdini His Life Story, Bess admits: "How people went about getting married was a mystery to both of us."
As to the later ceremonies, Weltman (and later William Rauscher) argued that no Rabbi or Catholic priest would have performed a mixed faith marriage in 1894 as it was prohibited by both faiths at that time. Houdini said they were married by Rabbi Tintner of Mt. Zion Temple -- "The man who married me to the woman I have never ceased to love." Trouble is, Rabbi Tintner would have only been 14-years-old in 1894. The Priest who did the Catholic ceremony was said to be Rev. G.S. Loui of Brooklyn. But Weltman could find no priest by the name of Loui (or Louis) in the records of the New York Roman Catholic Archdiocese, nor in the 1894 phone book. To top it all off, no record of the Houdinis marriage certificate has ever been found.
So this is what leads some to question whether Harry and Bess Houdini were ever legally married. Another possibility is that they got legally married later in life in secret ceremony. That's the theory that comes to my mind when I look at the photo below from Houdini His Legend and His Magic by Doug Henning. Is this the smoking gun evidence that has been hiding in plain sight all these years?
This photo comes from Bess Houdini's own scrapbook, and was among several other "anniversary" pictures. (The Houdini's took an anniversary photo every year, in Coney Island if they were in town.) On the photo is written: "Houdini and wife, married 7 years." So at first sight, this appears to be their 7th anniversary photo. But look at what's written at an earlier time in ink that is fading: "1901 Wedding day." That could be just another way of referring to an anniversary. Or it could literally mean their Wedding DAY. It also happens to be the first such photo in the album.
Is it possible this photo was actually taken on their legal Wedding Day in 1901? They are certainly dressed for it. Rabbi Tintner would have been old enough to conduct the ceremony, and the secret of the missing wedding certificate might be a simple as no one has looked for it in the year 1901. It's also possible the marriage took place in Europe, which is where the Houdinis spent much of that year.
Later, when this annotated "wedding day" photo was added to the album, it was re-annotated as an anniversary photo along with the other pictures, as by that time Houdini was establishing his official biography and mythology. Recall that the Houdinis also created a romantic fiction about how they first met.
Anyway, this photo and the "Wedding Day" annotation has always given me pause, so I thought today was a good day to throw it into the stew of speculation about the Houdinis mysterious marriage.
Related:
As the story goes, Harry and Bess met in Coney Island where they were both performers, and after knowing each other for only a week, they married. The famous Coney Island boss John Y. McKane performed the civil ceremony. They later repeated their vows in two more ceremonies, one with a Rabbi (for Harry's family) and again with a Roman Catholic Priest (for Bess's family). This led to Bess saying, "I’m the most married person I know, three times and to the same man."
But the late great Houdini historian Manny Weltman found problems with this story. In his book, Houdini: Escape into Legend: The Early Years (1993), Weltman revealed that John Y. McKane could not have married Harry and Bess as he was in Sing Sing prison at the time. There were also plenty of rackets on the Bowery in those days, and it's possible whatever marriage license the young couple purchased (for $2.00 -- Bess paid) might not have been legit. In Houdini His Life Story, Bess admits: "How people went about getting married was a mystery to both of us."
As to the later ceremonies, Weltman (and later William Rauscher) argued that no Rabbi or Catholic priest would have performed a mixed faith marriage in 1894 as it was prohibited by both faiths at that time. Houdini said they were married by Rabbi Tintner of Mt. Zion Temple -- "The man who married me to the woman I have never ceased to love." Trouble is, Rabbi Tintner would have only been 14-years-old in 1894. The Priest who did the Catholic ceremony was said to be Rev. G.S. Loui of Brooklyn. But Weltman could find no priest by the name of Loui (or Louis) in the records of the New York Roman Catholic Archdiocese, nor in the 1894 phone book. To top it all off, no record of the Houdinis marriage certificate has ever been found.
So this is what leads some to question whether Harry and Bess Houdini were ever legally married. Another possibility is that they got legally married later in life in secret ceremony. That's the theory that comes to my mind when I look at the photo below from Houdini His Legend and His Magic by Doug Henning. Is this the smoking gun evidence that has been hiding in plain sight all these years?
This photo comes from Bess Houdini's own scrapbook, and was among several other "anniversary" pictures. (The Houdini's took an anniversary photo every year, in Coney Island if they were in town.) On the photo is written: "Houdini and wife, married 7 years." So at first sight, this appears to be their 7th anniversary photo. But look at what's written at an earlier time in ink that is fading: "1901 Wedding day." That could be just another way of referring to an anniversary. Or it could literally mean their Wedding DAY. It also happens to be the first such photo in the album.
Is it possible this photo was actually taken on their legal Wedding Day in 1901? They are certainly dressed for it. Rabbi Tintner would have been old enough to conduct the ceremony, and the secret of the missing wedding certificate might be a simple as no one has looked for it in the year 1901. It's also possible the marriage took place in Europe, which is where the Houdinis spent much of that year.
Later, when this annotated "wedding day" photo was added to the album, it was re-annotated as an anniversary photo along with the other pictures, as by that time Houdini was establishing his official biography and mythology. Recall that the Houdinis also created a romantic fiction about how they first met.
Anyway, this photo and the "Wedding Day" annotation has always given me pause, so I thought today was a good day to throw it into the stew of speculation about the Houdinis mysterious marriage.
Related:
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Boxed Bess
The story of Bess getting stuck in the Metamorphosis trunk is one that appears in most Houdini biographies. It was also amusingly dramatized in The Great Houdinis (1976). Recently I came upon this story from the Feb. 6, 1900 Sedalia Democrat describing exactly what happened that night, right down to Bessie's outburst, "So this is the way you try and kill me, is it?"
The offending trunk was almost certainly the trunk that was for many years was owned by the great Patrick Culliton. This is the trunk the Houdinis were using in 1900. It's a trunk I've had the pleasure of being put inside. I did not get stuck.
For those familiar with how the Metamorphosis works, it's a little hard to fathom how Bess could become "trapped" due to a lack of keys. Of course, to get out would have exposed the trick to the audience, so Bess might have just been a trooper and allowed herself to remain locked up. Or is it possible this was all just an attention getting publicity stunt? If so, I doubt Harry was happy when he saw the paper identified him as Robert Houdini.
Many assume this happened during the Houdinis early struggling days, as portrayed in the clip below from The Great Houdinis (the singing is a Hollywood invention). But by February 1900, Houdini had already signed with Martin Beck and had scored success on Beck's Orpheum circuit out west. He had also just appeared at Keith's flagship theater in Boston. Fortunately, this did not happen at a Keith or Orpheum theater.
This happened at The New York Theatre on Broadway between 44th and 45th Street. The theater was built by Oscar Hammerstein in 1895 as the Olympia (a precursor to his Victoria) and contained two theaters and a roof garden. Harry and Bess were performing in the 1,675-seat Music Hall which was reserved for variety acts. The New York was an independent theater and a competitor to Keith's Union Square. Maybe that's more evidence to suggest this was staged. Houdini could afford to have an "accident" like this off the Keith circuit.
In 1915, Marcus Loew turned the New York into a "multiplex" cinema. The building stood until 1935. Today the site of Bessie's boxing is the Criterion Center Stage Right in Times Square.
Related:
Click to enlarge.
The offending trunk was almost certainly the trunk that was for many years was owned by the great Patrick Culliton. This is the trunk the Houdinis were using in 1900. It's a trunk I've had the pleasure of being put inside. I did not get stuck.
Bessie's nemesis.
For those familiar with how the Metamorphosis works, it's a little hard to fathom how Bess could become "trapped" due to a lack of keys. Of course, to get out would have exposed the trick to the audience, so Bess might have just been a trooper and allowed herself to remain locked up. Or is it possible this was all just an attention getting publicity stunt? If so, I doubt Harry was happy when he saw the paper identified him as Robert Houdini.
Many assume this happened during the Houdinis early struggling days, as portrayed in the clip below from The Great Houdinis (the singing is a Hollywood invention). But by February 1900, Houdini had already signed with Martin Beck and had scored success on Beck's Orpheum circuit out west. He had also just appeared at Keith's flagship theater in Boston. Fortunately, this did not happen at a Keith or Orpheum theater.
This happened at The New York Theatre on Broadway between 44th and 45th Street. The theater was built by Oscar Hammerstein in 1895 as the Olympia (a precursor to his Victoria) and contained two theaters and a roof garden. Harry and Bess were performing in the 1,675-seat Music Hall which was reserved for variety acts. The New York was an independent theater and a competitor to Keith's Union Square. Maybe that's more evidence to suggest this was staged. Houdini could afford to have an "accident" like this off the Keith circuit.
The New York Theater. (Source: Cinema Treasures.)
In 1915, Marcus Loew turned the New York into a "multiplex" cinema. The building stood until 1935. Today the site of Bessie's boxing is the Criterion Center Stage Right in Times Square.
Related:
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Coney Island: Where Harry met Bessie
Walter B. Gibson, who knew Houdini and sourced information from the man himself, says in The Master Magicians (1961) that they were at the Sea Beach Palace. Milbourne Christopher in Houdini The Untold Story (1969) says the Coney engagement was "first at the Vachress Casino, then at Sea Beach Palace." Some non-Houdini sources, such as the unpublished Last Stop, Coney Island, also name Sea Beach Palace as the location, so let's take a look at that candidate first.
Sea Beach Palace was not actually on the sea or beach. It sat inland north of Surf Avenue and was a hotel, pavilion, and the depot for the New York & Sea Beach Railroad. Below is a description of Sea Beach Palace from the excellent website, Heart of Coney Island:
The Sea Beach Palace had originally been constructed on the grounds of the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia [the first World's Fair held in the US], where it served as the United States Pavilion. Dismantled and shipped to Coney Island by barge over the winter of 1876-77, it was one of several structures from the exposition that were later moved to Coney Island and helped create the amusement area's distinctive profile in the first years of the nineteenth century. The main building of Sea Beach Palace was a domed structure 375 feet long and 60 feet deep, with spacious wings on either end. The facility included a dining room that could seat 3,000 guests, and the railway terminal was to the rear of the structure."
Sea Beach Palace was demolished in 1920 and today the site is the Luna Park Co-op at 2879 West 12th Street. Sea Beach Palace stood at the site of what is now Building #5.
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| Modern map showing location of Sea Beach Palace. |
On page 25 of his classic work Houdini The Man Who Walks Through Walls(1959), Gresham reproduces a news item from the Coney Island Clipper dated June 22, 1894, the day the Houdinis were married. The clipping concerns a challenge to the "Hunyadi" Brothers box trick from a local man named Risey, and it specifically names the theater where the Brothers Houdini were performing: Vacca's. It also suggests a location in the sub headline: "Much Merriment Along Coney Island's Bowery."
Vacca's Casino was at the corner of Buschman's Walk and Ocean Avenue. Ocean Avenue was better known as "the Bowery." The Bowery was the heart of the social scene at Coney Island, filled with bars, restaurants, dance halls, performances, arcade games and even roller coasters. It is fair to say that Houdini performed in the heart of Coney Island's raucous social district, which frequently made the newspapers as a place where the police looked the other way and where patrons mixed with dancing girls and where the public drank freely and generally ignored the strict social proprieties of the times.
Attached is a map of 1895 so you can get a feel for what the area looked like. In the 1895 map, look at the intersection that is immediately above and to the right of the number 77. Vacca's likely was the "Hall" directly across the street from Connor's Hall. Alternatively, Vacca's may have been one of the smaller venues at the northeast corner of the intersection. We'd have to find actual photographs to know for sure.
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| 1895 map showing the likely location of Vacca's (X). |
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| Overhead of the Bowery today (Google Earth). |
As for Milbourne Christopher's claim of an engagement at "Vachress Casino," he was likely sourcing Gresham and confused the name. Again, according to David Sullivan, there was no such theater called Vachress. And while it's tempting to think Vacca's was maybe a nickname for Vachress, David says: "We know that 'Mr. Vacca' and 'Mrs. Vacca' actually did exist based on the newspaper articles (assuming the reporting was done properly), and at that time, almost all halls were named after the proprietors because of the way land/rents were handed out by a corrupt local politician to specific individuals."
In his book, Coney Island - The People's Playground, author Michael Immerso says the Floral Sisters were at the Sea Beach Palace and the Brothers Houdini were at Vacca's. I don't know Immerso's source for his info on the Floral Sisters, but this nicely squares the reports of them at both venues, and it has a romantic ring to it. The boy from the Bowery falls for the girl at the Palace.
Bowery Street still remains today. However, all the structures from Houdini's time are long gone. Today the area is mostly empty lots. Bushman's Walk, which was not a street but a wooden planked sidewalk that ran down to the beach, is no longer marked in any way, so it's hard to pinpoint precisely where Vacca's Casino once stood. But we now know it was somewhere along this short stretch of Bowery Street, so visitors to Coney Island can still walk in the footsteps of the young Harry and Bess Houdini.
Interestingly, while doing my own search for Vacca's, I found a clipping from a May 6, 1894 New York Times that announced: "OLD CONEY IS NO MORE - Law and Order to be Established in the Lawless Realm of McKane." According to Brooklyn's Mayor Schieren: "Nothing in the way of entertainment would be permitted to go on except sacred concerts." Among those venues singled out to be "suppressed for good" was "Sea Beach Palace and Vacca's Pavilion."
This article appeared a month before Harry and Bess arrived. If any of the mayor's reforms took place, they were not as far reaching as threatened, and thank goodness for that! Had Vacca's and Sea Beach Palace been shuttered, the Houdinis may have never met.
Coney Island remained a favorite spot for the Houdinis. If they were in town at the time of their anniversary, they would always spend the day at Coney and have an anniversary photo taken at one of the tourist photo stands or a playful photo on the beach. For Harry and Bess Houdini, Coney Island was magic.
A very big thanks to David Sullivan of www.heartofconeyisland.com for all the valuable information and images, and to Colleen Bak whose recent trip to Coney Island was the inspiration for this investigation.
UPDATE: A few updates thanks to our readers. Vacca's full name was "Vacca's West End Casino" and it did indeed sit at the South-East corner of Ocean Ave and Bushman's Walk, exactly as marked on the 1895 map above. It appears the mayor's edicts did take effect in 1895 and Vacca's license was revoked (Sea Beach Palace survived). Finally, Manny Weltman in his great work Houdini Escape Into Legend, The Early Years: 1862-1900 confirms that The Floral Sisters were performing at the Sea Beach Palace while the Brothers Houdini were at Vacca's.
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