In April of 1906, Houdini appeared at the Salem Theater in Salem Massachusetts. While in town he also did a jail escape and between shows he also stopped by the Peabody Academy of Science. Fast forward to modern times and the Peabody Essex Museum will be hosting a small exhibit simply called Houdini In Salem. This is part of their celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Houdinis passing. Before I give you the details of the exhibit, let me share some details of Houdini's visit 120 years ago.
MARVELOUS! Salem News
It would appear, on the Monday of April 16th, Houdini attempted a Jail Escape from the local Police Station. It began around 9:00am when Houdini was stripped of his clothes, three pair of handcuffs were on his wrists and then two pair of leg irons encircled his ankles. He was then placed in a cell and his clothes were locked into a different cell. By 9:12am, the officials were finished locking Houdini up and they proceeded to wait in an upstairs room. Pretty sure they were not expecting what would take place.
Houdini quickly escaped from the cuffs and leg irons, he then released himself from his cell, went to the nearby cell with his clothes and got dressed. But he wasn't finished. He took a pair of handcuffs and placed on side back on his wrists, and then went to the jail cell holding a prisoner named Robert McCoy. He opened McCoy's cell door, placed the other side of the cuffs on McCoy thus locking the two men together. Then Houdini proceeded to unlock the back doors and escape out back. He quickly turned around and went to the front of the Police Station and yelled up to the Police officials, who were in a second story office. They were dumbfounded, and the Salem News simply said the stunt was "Marvelous!".
SALEM THEATRE
This was the perfect set up for Houdini's short fun of shows at the Salem Theatre. This was a 1,200 seat vaudeville house. Houdini had an iconic display of posters and props that sat out at the front of the theatre. That photo is at the top of the page.
Among the escapes Houdini presented during his run at the Salem Theatre was his
Prison Cell & Barrel Escape. This is the Barrel he got from
Jacob Hyman when he basically bought him out, so that he wouldn't perform as J.H. Houdini. Hyman/Hayman went on to medical school. The Prison Cell & Barrel Mystery essentially took the place of the Metamorphosis illusion in the show. In this particular mystery, Houdini is placed inside the barrel which is then roped and locked on the outside. A prison cell goes around this, which frankly, I'm not sure what that is. Perhaps it's a facsimile of a prison cell, set pieces painted to look like a prison cell perhaps. In only a matter of seconds, Houdini shows up in the audience, and a member of his crew is discovered inside the barrel. A transposition illusion, and one that didn't stay in the show very long.
Incidentally, I'd like to point out something from the image of the Salem Theatre display at the top of the page. In the center, you'll see a wicker basket. It turns out this was from a challenge he received the week before, when he was in Boston. Here is what the Boston Evening Transcript from April 12, 1906 had to say, "When he returned to Keith's Theatre 3200 persons were anxiously awaiting to see the outcome of the challenge of the employees of the James Barrett Company. The challenge read that Houdini escape a wicker basket, padlocked and suspended in midair, and was signed by D.J. Hurley, William Buckley, Joseph Santos and Frederick Spade.
At 10:15 o'clock Houdini, after being searched, entered the basket, which was placed on a platform. A strong iron rod extended across the top of the basket and was securely fastened on each side with padlocks. In addition, strong rope was put around the basket. The basket was hoisted several feet above the stage. At 10:22 Houdini began to free himself. It was exactly 10:33 when he jumped from the platform and showed the basket to the audience, secured and locked as it was at first. 'It was the easiest challenge I have yet received.' he said, as he bowed to the audience. "
One of the big moments at the Salem Theatre was a challenge by the company Almy, Bigelow and Washburn. This was a big department store on Essex St. in Salem. Houdini was challenged to get out of a packing crate built on the stage by the employees in the shipping department of the store. That successful escape took place on April 17th. It's possible that the packing case in the photo at the top of the page may have been the one used during the show.
One of the nights, two local police officers brought a Straitjacket with them to challenge Houdini to escape from. And of course, he accepted their challenge and freed himself in full view of the audience. Houdini could make quite a spectacle out of the straitjacket escape, whether hanging upside down outside a building in the jacket or on stage. On a theatre stage, there would be plenty of thrashing and moving about and rolling on the ground. By all accounts it was a sensational escape and he freed himself in less time than it took to secure him in the jacket.
PEABODY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
Houdini received one other press article after his visit to the Peabody Academy of Science. Upon visiting the museum he saw a pair of handcuffs in a display, that to him, seemed to be mis-marked. Houdini knew the handcuffs in question were not as old as the display claimed and he offered a challenge to anyone who could prove him wrong. The Salem Evening News covered this in their paper, talking to the curator of the museum to get their side of the story. (see the actual cuffs below)
And this brings me to the reason for the article. The Peabody Essex Museum is going to have a small exhibit dedicated to Houdini, celebrating his 100th Centennial and his time in Salem. They will also have the very pair of handcuffs on display that was part of this controversy. The exhibit runs from Sept 3, tHRU November 2, 2026. So if you are near Salem, you can go and check out the exhibit for yourself and learn what the verdict was. Did Houdini have to cough up the $1000 or was the Museum display correct? Then again, you can also listen to my podcast, episode 116, and listen to the exhibits curator George Schwartz, tell the whole story about what happened. Or maybe, do both.
On October 31, George Schwartz is going to be speaking on Houdini in Salem and then Anton James Andresen, the Official Magician of Salem, will be presenting a Houdini inspired magic show!
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