Houdini D.C. Challenges

The photograph of Houdini hanging upside down in a straight jacket with the Washington Monument in the distance and the Treasury Building across the street is quite famous. Although in the photo to the left the monument is not visible.  I always assumed that this was the only time he did an out door stunt in D.C.. However, I was mistaken. That escape took place in front of the Keith's Vaudeville Theatre on January 12, 1922 (today). It just so happens that the National Press Club had their offices in the same building as the theatre at the time, which I'm sure had something to do with the iconic photo that was taken. But there were earlier publicity escapes and challenges that took place in Washington D.C..


Early Challenges

Let's begin in January of 1906.  New Years Day 1906 he escaped from a jail cell at the 10th Precinct  625 Park Road NW in D.C. (Turns out the building IS still there, though I had originally reported that it wasn't. ). A few days later on January 6th Houdini escapes from the Jail Cell that once held the assassin of President Garfield at the D.C. Jail. He was no stranger to pulling out all the stops when he came to the Nation's Capital.

In fact, also in 1906 Houdini accepted a challenge to escape from a man sized Paper Bag. He also took on the challenge to escape from a zinc lined Knabe piano case. If that wasn't enough both Saks & Company (they would later become Saks Fifth Avenue Dept Store) and S. Kann Sons & Company (The first D.C. area Department store) challenged Houdini to get out of a packing crates that they built.  These challenges took place at the Chase Theatre which was previously known as The Grand Opera House and was located at 1424 Pennsylvania Ave NW, directly across the street from the Willard Hotel.

Following Houdini's departure from D.C., a local athletic teacher Maurice Joyce said he would expose how Houdini did his escapes. He did this at the Columbia Theatre. Please remember this name as later in the year I'm going to do a piece on the Columbia Theatre in D.C.. Mr. Joyce claimed the boxes and cases were all made per Houdini's instructions and were faked by the builders. All of the challengers said Mr. Joyce was a liar, more than likely he just didn't know and this was good a chance as any to gain some personal fame for himself.

The First Outdoor Straight Jacket Escape in D.C.

The Munsey Building in Wash D.C.

Then years later on April 19, 1916, Houdini is back and this time he is hung upside down 100 ft in the air outside of the Munsey Building. It took him two minutes and thirty seconds to free himself from the straight jacket! The police claimed that over 100,000 people watched Houdini's escape. They also said it was the single biggest crowd next to an Inaugural Event in the city's history. At least that is what the Kalush biography states. The Washington Times reported 15,000 and then the following day corrected that up to 20,000. Clearly they couldn't count any better in 1916 than they do counting crowds in DC today! One more note about the Munsey Building Straightjacket escape, and I didn't realize this when I first posted the article. Apparently, the Washington Times Newspapers Offices are located IN the Munsey Building. Well Done Houdini!

When I first read about this escape I searched and searched for the Munsey building and came up with nothing. And then one day I found it, and I was rather surprised at where it was. The Munsey building was directly next door to the National Theatre on Pennsylvania Ave. The day before his straight jacket stunt he gave an interview to the Washington Times. It's an interesting interview because he says that he's been escaping for 'thirty years' and so far has never been stuck. But eventually someone will come along and trap him so he's about ready to hang it up. He also mentions he'll continue to perform but presenting things that are not quite as spectacular. Well first, thirty years from the date of the newspaper would have made Houdini 12 years old, so I'm not sure that's quite accurate. Secondly, this is 1916, and six years from when this article came out, he does another upside down straight jacket escape promoting his appearance at Keith's Vaudeville Theatre that I mentioned above. The problem was, Houdini wasn't Houdini unless he was doing spectacular things.

Houdini and Politicians

While at Keith's President Woodrow Wilson took his wife to see Houdini perform the Water Torture Cell. Keith's was actually President Wilson's favorite theatre and he attended performances there often. According the the Silverman biography, following the show Wilson said to Houdini that he envied his ability to get out of tight situations. Although for facts sake, the Kalush Biography says this exchange actually happened in Dec 1914 (two years previous) when Houdini received a private invitation to visit the President at the White House. Who cares it's still a pretty big compliment from the President of the United States!

Were there more? You bet there were. But I'm actually still gathering data on all of it. You see something that I never considered before was that when Houdini was appearing somewhere, part of his deal was that he would accept challenges daily. So in a two week span of time he could have 14 different challenges.

Apparently Houdini made quite an impression on other politicians in town as well. The same day that President Wilson attended a performance of Houdini's at Keith's theatre, Houdini later went to the Visitors Gallery at the Capital Building and was spotted by Vice President Marshall. The Vice President waved to Houdini and slowly and gradually others did as well. The Washington Times said "in show business terms, Houdini stopped the show!" Vice President Marshall sent a note to Houdini who was then taken to the V.P's office. Several other Senators showed up and Houdini did an impromptu performance for the members of congress right there in the Vice President's Office. Houdini was quoted as saying "it was the proudest moment of his life".  This quote was in regards to having Wilson see him at Keith's and then later sharing the afternoon with members of congress.

There is much more to Houdini in D.C. but most of that deals with his fight against Spiritualism which I'll save for another time.

Blackstone In D.C.

Here's a slight change of pace from all the Houdini stuff. Did you know that Harry Blackstone Sr. is in the Smithsonian Museum? Back in the 1985 Harry Blackstone Jr. donated two original pieces of his father's equipment to the museum. Apparently it was the first time they accepted a magic donation. I find that somewhat hard to believe because I'm sure there are Houdini items in the Smithsonian.

But it is still quite exciting for Blackstone to be in the museum. Now whether or not they are on display, that I cannot say. The two items in question are one of the original Dancing Handkerchief Casadega Cabinets and the original Floating Lightbulb apparently built by none other than Thomas Edision!

Houdini in Wash D.C. Jail

It was January 6,1906 when Houdini was invited try his hand at escaping from the Old D.C. Jail. Located on the Southeast Corner of East Capital Street and 19th St SE, the Old D.C. Jail was famous for holding Charles Guiteau the assassin of President Garfield. He was kept in Cell No. 2 of the South Wing of the Jail, also known as Murderer’s Row. Houdini, would be stripped naked and placed into the cell that once held Guiteau and currently held another prisoner named Hamilton who was waiting to be hung for the murder of his wife. The prisoner was so scared of Houdini that he hid in a corner of the cell while Houdini began his escape. Two minutes later, Houdini was out.

But that was not the end of his stunt. He went to several other cells and opened the doors and had the prisoners change cells with one another. Then after he had switched them around, Houdini broke into the cell which held his clothes. He got dressed and walked out to the shock of the prison officials. All of this in twenty one minutes.

The D.C. Jail was built in 1872. It stopped being used in the late 70s. I keep finding conflicting dates on when it was torn down.  It was located several blocks behind the Capital Building.

That was not Houdini’s only jail escape in D.C.. On January 1, 1906, five days before the Old DC Jail Escape Houdini was brought down to the Police Station in the 10th Precinct and he escaped from a jail cell there. I am not sure but that may be the current Metropolitan DC Police Station on 300 Indiana Avenue NW. At the time Police Chief Richard Sylvester had his office in that building and the current police chief has her office in this building. So it could be the same place.

I found a note online that the parking lot for the Old DC Jail buts up against the parking lot for RFK Stadium and the Old DC Jail lot is still there though the building is long gone.

Houdini in Washington D.C.

 

On January 12, 1922, Houdini hung upside down outside of Keith’s Vaudeville Theatre on 15th Street in Washington D.C (first photo). The theatre was torn down in the early 80’s I believe. But if you go to the Old Ebbitt Grill which is on the corner of 15th and G St. you can actually sit in an area that used to be where the seats of the theatre were. And actually, when you walk into the Old Ebbitt Grill, you are walking through the front doors of the Keith's Vaudeville Theatre!

I went down there a few years ago and took some photos of the area. I had a most unusual sensation. I had this memory kick in of seeing the theatre. I knew it couldn’t be true, but somehow in some far corner of my mind I had this very vidid memory pop up of the theatre. I could see the red marquee with all the lights and everything. In the real world I was sure the theatre was over where the columns of the building were because that area was newer than the rest of the building. Then when I found the two pictures above my jaw dropped. The marquee is EXACTLY where my memory told me it was. And I just found a color photo and indeed this is exactly as I remember it.

I'm pretty sure the reason I had a memory of this building is because I had driven past it many times on either field trips during school or with my parents when they were taking me downtown to Al's Magic Shop when I was a kid.