Houdini In Salem Mass

 

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 run 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. In all Houdini performed 6 shows in three days at the Salem Theater in Salem Mass.

PEABODY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE

Houdini received one other press article in Salem 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!

Click here for more information: https://www.pem.org/events/houdini-halloween-magic-show

Juan Tamariz Has Passed

 

Juan Tamariz, born Juan Tamariz-Martel Negron was born October 18th, 1942 in Madrid Spain.  He was a pioneer of card magic and magic technique. Known as The Maestro by those who followed his teachings, he truly revolutionized card magic. 

I first saw Juan Tamariz at the World Magic Summit in Washington DC. He did the Friday Night stage show by himself and brought the house down. I knew little about him before he walked out. But he began to do things that defied explanation. He did a lot of card magic on stage, but he had a way of projecting what was happening that it worked for the large crowd.

Then came his iconic appearance on The Worlds Greatest Magic TV Special where he did magic with a tiny car. Hilarious, zany, and mysterious. I'm sure a ton of lil cars were sold after that and I must admit to never seeing anyone do that routine. Maybe it was one of those things that only Juan could pull off.

In Spain, Juan was a household name, not just among magicians, but the public as well. He had countless TV appearances, but also his own TV shows. He was a household name in Spain. 

Juan was also a teacher. He taught many of the top Spanish magicians, which is probably why whenever a Spanish magician comes on Penn & Teller Fool Us, they're ready to hand over the trophy even before they start their routines. Just brilliant thinking, subtlety and strong magic.

He also authored many books, among them Verbal Magic, Sonata, The 5 Points of Magic, The Magic Way, The Magic Rainbow, Letters From Juan and probably some I missed. Personally, I couldn't have made it through the pandemic and all my virtual shows without Juan's book Verbal Magic. 

Juan Tamariz passed away August 18th, 2026. I will at some point do a more detailed biography and likely a podcast on Juan. Until then, my condolences to his many friends and family members and those who truly adored his special brand of magic!

The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini, Escaping Obscurity, A Review

 

Ok, I will admit it, I'm late to the party. In fact, I'm so late I owe John Cox an apology. I always intended to pick up his book, I just have been a bit overwhelmed with projects. But now I have it. The book that is a work by Mike Caveney, Dr. Bruce Averbook, and John Cox called Escaping Obscurity.

This is the travel diary of a young Harry Houdini. It dates from 1897-1899. And you wouldn't think there'd be that much to cover during that time, but young Harry was a busy guy. I'm personally irritated at myself, because parts of the Travel Diary have appeared in print before. The first time I believe was in the Doug Henning book, HOUDINI His Legend and his Magic, page 19. Yes, it's only a few pages, yes, it's hard to read. But unlike many people today who are not learning how to read cursive writing, I'm of the generation who can. This would have made an excellent blog article or podcast. But they beat me to the punch!

Let me state for the record, Escaping Obscurity is impressive! It's a large volume, far thicker than I expected. 374 printed pages, and many of these are full color. Actually, they are all probably full color, it's just that some images are black and white to begin with. Every recorded day in the Diary is addressed with what was going on and images of either Houdini or the location, or newspaper articles or something that helps support that part of the story. 

There will be a few images that are new to the reader, at least they were new to me. Page 96 has a wonderful and very clear photo of Houdini and Samri Baldwin. I've seen several images of the two performers together, but this one is new to me. Samri Baldwin made the claim to be the first magician to publicly escape from a pair of handcuffs. He also is credited for introducing the Q&A Act into the world of magic, having taken it from the world of the mediums. I have a podcast episode on Baldwin if you are interested. 

On page 89 there is an image, I have seen before, at least I think I have. I can't recall if it was in print, or if Ken Trembly showed it to me. At any rate, it's the first image of Houdini doing any sort of escape routine, captured in a photograph. The image also contains a ghostly figure apparently assisting him. Seeing the larger version is remarkable.

I had only one complaint about the book, which is no longer a valid complaint. The font size is very small. But when compared to the Henning book, it's the same size. So complaint withdrawn! The book is very artistically laid out.  Whenever possible, it contains images of additional performers that might have something to do with that part of the story. For example, there is a photo of Dr. Walford Bodie on page 48. It's included in the book because Houdini gave Bodie his Electric Chair that he acquired from Huber's Dime Museum. This happened in 1920, so it's a bit out to date for the diary, but it helps to fill in the Huber story nicely.

This is not a novel, it's an annotated version of Houdini's Travel Diary. It's beautiful and full of history and adds to many stories you might have read in other biographies on Houdini. But it's not the type of book you sit down and read like a traditional biography. I say that just to let you know what exactly it is.

Also, it's something that you wouldn't have if it weren't for the kindness of both Dr. Bruce Averbook, the current owner of the diary, and Mike Caveney, the publisher. This is a truly rare glimpse into the early career of Houdini. John Cox does an excellent job of filling in the blanks and explaining what each of these 'stops' along the tour was all about. And finally Michael Albright was charged with putting all of it together graphically into the amazing book it is. It's a joy to view and examine. For the Houdini researcher, it's another very valuable tool to help tell the ever expanding story of The Master Mystifier himself!

How to buy the book: go here: MikeCaveney's site or here for a signed copy: JohnCox's site.