Houdini's Gift of a Nashville Dog, Plus 2nd Nashville Appearance

The Great Lafayette & Beauty, the dog Houdini gave him.

I have written several times about how Houdini gave The Great Lafayette the gift of a dog while the two both were appearing in Nashville. Lafayette named the dog, Beauty, and it would become his traveling companion and best friend for the rest of their lives.

In 1899, Houdini and Lafayette were both in Nashville and appearing at the old Grand Theater (Grand Opera House). On November 6th, went down to the Nashville Police Department, unannounced. As the story goes, Houdini came into the station house, along with some reporters and made the claim they could lock him up in their cuffs and he could get out. The police in the station just laughed at him. Eventually, they brought out three pairs of cuffs, one of which hadn't been opened in 10 years because no one had a key. Houdini took key-less cuff and stepped out of the room for a moment. When he returned, the cuff was open, to the amazement of the chief of police! The officers locked Houdini in all three pair of cuffs and then, the newspaper article says, "he stepped behind an improvised curtain and began his escape." Houdini was free in 2 minutes and came walking back into the room two minutes later holding the three cuffs which had now been interlocked together.


Apparently, according to a March 12, 1924 article in The Tennessean Newspaper, Houdini, recalling the event from years previous, says that the detective who handcuffed him, later gave him a dog. And that Nashville dog, was then given to Lafayette and became the most treasured gift that he would ever receive.


Lafayette, later had a fake pedigree made for the dog. On the front door of his home in London Lafayette  hung a plaque that read 'The more I see of man, the more I love my dog'. Beauty had her own room and bathroom in the house. She ate five course meals. And an image of Beauty appeared on Lafayette's checks. She also was a member of the cast of his show.

Second Appearance in Nashville

This appeared to be Houdini's second appearance in Nashville. The first was back in 1899. Now it was March 11, 25 years later and he was appearing at the Ryman Auditorium. His show was sponsored  by The American Legion. Please note, in the advertisements he was referred to as 'The King of Magicians.'

To advertise his appearance, a group called 'The Battle of the Colors' would perform an aerial battle over the business district of Nashville. The troupe consisted of four planes taking off from Blackwood Field and being flown by pilots from the National Guard. They would first distribute fliers from the planes and then meet for the mock battle. Part of the fun was shooting red and green sky rockets at each other! I wonder what the FAA would say about that today, lol.

In addition to the airplane battle, articles appeared almost daily in The Tennessean Newspaper proclaiming Houdini's upcoming appearance and how he would be exposing fake mediums.

On the evening of March 11th, Houdini began with his lecture of Spiritualism, complete with his slide show. He presented a number of spirit like effects, like how fake mediums made messages appear on spirit slates, and how they could speak through spirit trumpets without being seen. Later he explained how these various effects were done. Houdini even covered one local ghost sighting from the Nashville area, called The Bell Witch of Robertson County. The Bell Witch was so popular that it's said, even President Andrew Jackson apparently had an encounter while encamped with his troops on the Bell Farm.

He completed his performance that night with his signature Milk Can Escape. However, it had been advertised that he would present the Water Torture Cell. I'm guessing the stage floor of the Ryman couldn't withstand the 100 gallons of water needed for the USD, so the opted for the Milk Can escape, which still was an under water escape. The Tennessean which covered the event, stated the audience that night was fair. I take this mean this was either not a full house, or the response to the performance was less than expected. The article does mention that the auditorium was freezing inside, so perhaps knowledge of this kept potential ticket buyers away. Or perhaps it was a situation where people were expecting a night of magic, and instead they got a lecture with a few tricks included. This issue had come up before with Houdini's Spirit Exposure Lecture. But I think it's more likely that it was not a sell out crowd.

One side note, every ticket holder to the show was given a 25 cent coupon that could be applied to a ticket for that evening's American Legion's Ball, being held at the Hermitage Hotel following Houdini's performance.

Houdini In Nashville 1899

The year 1899 was a big year for Houdini. A few months earlier he had his breakout moment in Minnesota. And after years of struggling, his star was beginning to take off. During his first appearance in Nashville TN, he played at the Grand Opera House. The Grand Opera House was built in 1850 and over the years had many names, these include: the original name The Adelphi, the Gaiety, May's Grand, Milsom's and of course The Grand Opera House. In 1902 the building would burn down and be replaced by the Bijou Theatre around 1916 and then by the Municipal Auditorium, which today is The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum.

Unlike some cities like Boston, Chicago, Washington DC and Baltimore that had many many theaters, Nashville only had four around the turn of the century. Houdini performed at the oldest and most popular of that group.

I will get into what he did at the theatre shortly. But first I want to discuss his first big publicity push when he arrived in town. He showed up, apparently unannounced at the Nashville Police Department on Nov 6th, 1899. An article that appeared in The Nashville American Newspaper, writes, "Before a number of interested spectators at the station house, prof. Harry Houdini, a clever Australian, and a genius among magicians,  worked a number of sleight of hand tricks, which thoroughly mystified those present. " That doesn't sound too spectacular . 'A number of interested spectators', hmmm, not the 50,000 who appeared at his Baltimore event. Also, they have him listed as an Australian. Did they misunderstand what he said, or just exactly what was said? Did they mean Austrian? Which would also be wrong.

As the story goes, Houdini came into the station house, along with some reporters and made the claim they could lock him up in their cuffs and he could get out. The police in the station just laughed at him. Eventually, they brought out three pairs of cuffs, one of which hadn't been opened in 10 years because no one had a key. Houdini took keyless cuff and stepped out of the rom for a moment. When he returned, the cuff was open, to the amazement of the chief of police! The officers locked Houdini in all three pair of cuffs and then, the newspaper article says, "he stepped behind an improvised curtain and began his escape." I'm wondering if this small curtain was his 'ghost house' or if they truly just made a make shift curtain maybe out of sheets or blankets from the jail.

In any event, Houdini was free in 2 minutes and came walking back into the room two minutes later

holding the three cuffs which had now been interlocked together. Note, the image at the top of shows Houdini in a lot more than three pair of cuffs.

After this, Houdini entertained the group with card tricks. This is actually the most interesting part of the article to me. Houdini escaping from handcuffs is what we expect from him. And it's not unheard of for Houdini to do card magic for people. But one trick specifically he performed was The Card Stab. He had a card selected and lost in a shuffled pack. The cards were spread face down on a table. Houdini was then blindfolded, took hold of a spectators wrist, and with the aid of a pen knife, stabbed the selected card. The newspaper said he referred to this as 'mind reading'.

This effect is Malini's Card Stab! Or to be more precise, this was the trick that would be known as Malini's Card Stab.  I always thought it was Malini's trick, but apparently, it wasn't. I don't know the origin of the trick sadly. I can see that tricks like The Card Sword, and Nailing a Card to the Wall, could be precursors to the Card Stab. But I don't know the origin of the Card Stab. It's amazing to see Houdini using it at this appearance. He followed this up with his needle trick. Apparently he put on quite an impromptu show for the police and newspaper reporters present.

 Also in Nashville this first week were Frederick the Great and Herrmann The Great (Leon).

On Sunday Nov 12, 1899, The Nashville American Newspaper had a notice that says Houdini has been held over a second week. His previous escapes from handcuffs and insane devices drew lots of crowds. They also report what a great sensation his cabinet trick was, probably referring to his sub trunk. And then they also print the notice to the left.

Please note the image which mentions Lafayette will be appearing at the Grand as well.  A significant event in magic history will take place during Lafayette's run.

It was during this time that Houdini gave Lafayette a little dog as a gift. That dog, who would be named Beauty, would become Lafayette's traveling companion, co-star and best friend in real life.

Finally, notice the ad that appeared directly under the GRAND ad. This one is from the Grand Opera House and reads, "$250 Reward To Any Sheriff, Constable, Officer or private citizen who can produce any regulation HAND-CUFFS or LEG-SHACKLES from which HOUDINI, the HAND-CUFF KING, cannot extricate himself, allowing the key-hole to be sealed, proving he uses no keys or wires, and brings out the cuffs interlocked, showing he does not slip his hands." This from the Manager of the Grand Opera House. Though I'm sure it was Houdini who put up the $250 reward, knowing his money was safe. I think from the newspaper accounts, the management at the Grand did not know what they had in Houdini when he first arrived. But as the week progressed and he began to get newspaper coverage, and they saw the crowds increase, they realized Houdini was a money maker for the theatre and really began to push his appearances at the theatre.

This was Houdini's first visit to Nashville TN and he would return in the future. I'll be covering more of his escapades in Nashville in the future.