Searching for Miss Daisy

Adrienne Barbeau as Daisy White

The first time I heard the name Daisy White was while watching the Houdini movie staring Paul Michael Glaser. Adrienne Barbaeu played the part of Daisy White and in the movie she worked for Hardeen in his show and then later shacked up with Houdini while he was struggling over the death of his mother. This of course is the fictionalized movie version of things. As easy as it is to become enamored with Adrienne Barbeau's portrayal of Daisy, I didn't give Daisy much thought beyond that.

Then I came across this statement "Houdini only ever loved two women, his mother and Daisy White." That's quite an eye opening statement especially given the way the legend of Houdini has been portrayed. By the way, that statement came from Maurice Zolotow, who was a show business biographer. His statement was from a review he wrote in the NY Times for the book HOUDINI: The Untold Story. By Milbourne Christopher.  Needless to say, that was all it took to cement my curiosity and send me on the search for the actual story.

Daisy White

Truth be told there was a real Daisy White. Her name was Gertrude Nickerson* and my research so far shows she was from Middlesex Massachusetts. She apparently got involved in musical theatre or musical comedy, probably in Vaudeville. How she got into magic initially is a bit of a mystery. She apparently worked for Servais LeRoy at some point, most likely in the 1920s. Whaley's Who's Who says that she learned magic as an assistant to Frank DuCrot and then later became a demonstrator at Martinka's Magic Shop (actually Hornmann's at the time). It's unclear though her actual path into magic as several sources give different accounts.

There are a couple interesting stories about her work at Hornmann's Magic Shop. At this time the shop was located over on West 34st St in NYC. One day Max Malini walked into the shop. There were a number of other magicians around and Daisy was working behind the counter. Max walked up to Daisy and grabbed some of her red hair and with a pair of scissors cut off the handful of her hair. The clump of hair was then vanished and her hair was found to be perfectly restored!

Another story involved a young John Scarne coming into to the shop to meet Frank DuCrot of magic lessons. Daisy was there and introduced herself and kept Scarne company until Frank arrived. No one know Scarne at the time. Frank Ducrot and John Scarne went in the back room to start their lesson and John was a little unimpressed with the technique that Frank was teaching with cards. He asked if he could learn something other than cards and Ducrot, somewhat puzzled asked if he didn't like card tricks? Scarne said he already learned a lot from professional card mechanics and proceeded to show Frank Ducrot a number of mind numbing effects. Frank was so blown away he called Daisy to the back room and they both sat there for hours watching John Scarne do effect after effect. Ducrot told Scarne that he needed to meet Houdini, and he set up a meeting for them to meet. The night of the meeting, which was also at the shop, a number of magicians were there and they all went to the back room. Frank wouldn't let Daisy come in the back though, he made her stay at the front in case any customers showed up. Typical boys club attitude.

By all accounts Daisy White exuded sex appeal, though I'm sure they didn't call it that back then. She had a habit of wearing low necked dresses and was known to lean over the counters at the magic shop while doing demonstrations revealing her ample cleavage to the customers and no doubt selling all the inventory they had! The latest book on Houdini, Masters of Mystery by Christopher Sandford, has this description of Daisy, "...Houdini's voluptuous former assistant Daisy White, whose duties had sometimes called for her to parade up and down the stage in an overfull dress while the illusionist prepared his next trick in the background." So she apparently worked for Houdini as well.

Beyond her sexy figure, Daisy was a talented individual. She was an accomplished pianist and often played piano for shows put on by the SAM Parent Assembly. She was quite active in the Parent Assembly having helped put together ladies nights and worked on decorating the banquets. In the 1930s, she was involved in a court case in which a member of the Parent Assembly acted as her lawyer.

Back in the 1920s, Guy Jarrett the eccentric illusion designer, hired Frank DuCrot to present a collection of Jarrett's illusions at the Idle Hour Playhouse in NY. Daisy White was the assistant. It appears the show played a single date. But the unique illusions of Jarrett's were photographed with Daisy White in them. These photos later appeared in the pages of his incredible and controversial book on illusion magic simply titled, JARRETT.  He referred to Daisy as '118 lbs but with quite some gazangas'.

Houdini died unexpectedly in 1926.  After his death, his ever faithful wife discovered a safe in the basement containing love letters from women who had fallen for her husband over the years. Among these were some rather hot and heavy letters that came from Daisy White. Bess had a clever way of confronting the women. She invited them over her house for lunch and as they were leaving, she handed each one of them their letters back tied up nicely with a ribbon. It's unclear if Daisy was one of the invited ones. The confrontation with Daisy however seems to have been more personal. Daisy convinced Bess that nothing happened between her and Harry. This must have been the case because Daisy and Mrs. Houdini remained friends.

I had read in a number of biographies that Bess opened a tea room called 'Mrs. Houdini's Rendevous' in NYC for a period of time. The location of which was where Rockefeller Center is today. The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush, mentions a 'speakeasy' which was run by both Bess and Daisy White. From 1920-1933 serving alcohol was illegal in the U.S.. A 'speakeasy' was an illegal barroom. The Secret Life of Houdini goes one step further referring to the speakeasy as a brothel. This information apparently from Arthur LeRoy, but Patrick Culliton thinks and I agree, that this was a 'mischaracterization' referring to the speakeasy as a brothel. I don't honestly know if the tea room and the speakeasy were one in the same. The tea room apparently made no money because Bess wouldn't allow down on their luck performers to pay. But a speakeasy, well I can't imagine that going out of business during prohibition unless they were shut down by the authorities. No record exists of Bess or Daisy going to jail, as far as i could find, so that's not likely. It will remain an open question until I can dig further.

Next, Arthur Ford enters the picture. He was the Reverend of the First Spiritualist Church in NY. He befriended Daisy White. His charismatic charm won over Daisy and she became a spiritualist and even joined his church. On page 149 of The Houdini Code Mystery by William Rauscher there is a photo of an invitation card for a lecture being presented at Carnegie Hall by Daisy White which reads "You are cordially invited to attend a private demonstration given by courtesy of Miss Daisy White to expose the comparative virtues of Modern Magic, Mind Reading and Spiritualism". The date on the card was April 1929.

Arthur Ford apparently also won over Bess Houdini. Both The Secret Life of Houdini and The Houdini Code Mystery say that Bess & Ford were dating, though very discretely. They met after a lecture/debate on Spiritualism between Howard Thurston and Arthur Ford in which Ford easily won the debate. On February 8th of 1928, Ford gives Bess a message from Houdini's mother. Eleven months later, Ford, through his spirit contact Fletcher, produces a message from Houdini himself. Bess announced to the media it was the authentic and genuine message that she and her late husband had agreed upon.

Then all hell broke loose. The media began debunking the whole affair. Dunninger, the mentalist, got involved and pointed a finger at Daisy White saying she gave the information to Ford. One source said Daisy claimed she knew the code, as did a lot of magicians, but she did not know what the 'message was'. The United Press story that appeared in newspapers of the time said that Daisy knew Arthur Ford but "never discussed Houdini 'in that quarter or never had said she had got Houdini's code before his death." Ford also denied that Daisy had anything to do with it. However, The Secret Life of Houdini says "when some of Houdini's friends threatened to expose Daisy White's involvement, she threatened to go public with her sexual relationship with Houdini and she had 'one or more witnesses' ready to vouch for her story." Which was it really? Did she know the code? Did she give it to Ford? Did she have the affair with Houdini after-all?

To those questions, I don't have concrete answers. It's clear that history has revealed Houdini to be NOT the ultra-conservative straight laced individual that his biographers had painted him to be. Did he actually cheat on Bess or did he just have close relationships with other women? Hard to say. It's so easy to want to paint him into a modern day box and apply the loose standards of today to Houdini. Then again, there is the old saying 'boys will be boys'. We know he had some sort of relationship with other women, and pretty good chance with Daisy White as well. But beyond that we can only speculate.

Sometime in 1933 she was getting work as a numerologist. She had a business card that read 'Science of Sex and Numbers'. As I mentioned above, she gets involved in a court case over her mother's estate in Massachusetts. She eventually was awarded one half of the estate. Then after that Daisy vanishes from the magic literature.

I've been trying to track Daisy through ancestry.com and if I have the correct person, I think she died on August 6, 1993 in Athens TN, but I'm not 100% on that**. There are a number of Gertrude Nickersons and this one is the one who matches Daisy the closest, but I need further confirmation. (see note below)

That my friends is all I could find on the infamous Daisy White, so far at least. I'm going to ask a special request to my fellow magic historians. If anyone knows anything about Daisy White that I didn't cover, OR if you have photographs you'd be willing to share, please contact me at carnegiemagic@me.com
I'm going to continue the research on Ms. White and eventually hope to be able to write a much longer piece on Daisy.

*This blog has been an exciting one and new information just came in regarding Daisy White's actual name. It's from a newspaper, so I still need to verify it, but you can read it in the comments below by Bill Mullins. Very thankful for the input by others!

** As I feared the information on Daisy's death is incorrect. Houdini The Man Who Walked Through Walls by William Gresham, published in 1959 says that Daisy had already passed on though they do not give a date. So she died prior to 1959. The hunt continues.


Special Thanks to Joseph Pecore, The Conjuring Arts Research Library, Ask Alexander, Patrick Culliton, John Cox and others who shared their knowledge of Daisy White. Also extra special Thank You to Patrick Culliton for allowing me to use his photo of the real Daisy standing (upper left).

Dennis Haney, The Wizard of Rosedale - News and Features - Baltimore City Paper

Here is a great news article on my friend Denny Haney of Denny's Magic Studio in Baltimore. Always enjoy reading about Denny!
Dennis Haney, The Wizard of Rosedale - News and Features - Baltimore City Paper

Tracking the Body of Houdini

Grace Hospital Detroit (Library of Congress photo)

With the recent controversy and chatter over the History Channels DECODED Episode regarding HOW Houdini Died, I thought I'd go in a slightly different direction and follow his body after his passing. We know Houdini died on October 31, 1926 in Detroit Michigan. What follows is a description of the events following his death right up until his burial. There are photos of the various places his body stopped along the way and the article concludes with the short 20 second recording of the Houdini Funeral.

DETROIT Oct 31, 1926

Wm. R. Hamilton Funeral Home

He died at 1:26 p.m. in Room 401 at Grace Hospital in Detroit. From there his body would have gone to the hospital morgue and then to Wm. R. Hamilton's Funeral Home on 3957 Cass St. The photo here shows the white house which was the original building for the funeral home and is where Houdini's body would have been. There is a larger brick building connected to it on the left but this was not completed until the 1930s. This is where Houdini was embalmed by John Fraser, one of the employees at the funeral home.

While this was happening the Houdini Show and all it's props and equipment were being crated and shipped back to NY. However, oddly, one piece did not make the trip. It was a bronze coffin with a glass lid which Houdini had intended to use for a buried alive stunt during the 1926-27 Tour. After the embalming at Wm.R. Hamilton's Funeral Home his body was put into this coffin and then into the crate for the coffin. Houdini's body now fully crated was taken by truck to the Michigan Central Station. An extra Pullman Car had to be added to the train for Houdini's casket and for his family to travel back home.

ARRIVAL IN NY
Newspaper accounts of the time report the body leaving Detroit on the 1st to arrive on the 2nd in the morning at Grand Central Station in NYC. In the photo (left), you can see the crate containing the casket with Houdini's body. One thing I never noticed before was the fellow standing on the far left hand side with his hat in his hand. That is Servais LeRoy, the illusionist and friend of Houdini. In fact, hundreds of people were at the station to see the casket arrive. Houdini had been the President of the Society of American Magicians as well as one of the most famous and beloved entertainers in the world, his death came as a shock to everyone.

Location of West End Funeral Home W 91st

Upon arrival at Grand Central Station, the casket was taken by Samuel Rothschild to his West End Funeral Chapel, 200 West 91st Street. The casket was to remain in state at the funeral parlor until November 4th. There had been talk of having the casket lie in state at the Hippodrome Theatre but this did not happen.
A letter Houdini had written several years before was discovered outlining the details of his funeral and they followed his instructions. Per Houdini's wishes the funeral would take place at the Elks Clubhouse Lodge No.1 in NYC. According to news reports, thousands of people came by to pay their respects at the funeral parlor.  By the way, the photo to the above/right shows the location of the West End Funeral Chapel, but today it is the Plaza Jewish Community Chapel.

NOVEMBER 4TH

On the morning of November 4th, 1926, the casket made it's second to last stop, this time the Elks Clubhouse on West 43rd near Broadway. It took three cars to move all the flowers from the funeral parlor to the Elks Clubhouse. Houdini would have been proud as the room was packed  for  his funeral. Close to two thousand people showed up for the service.

The service began at 10:30 a.m. and was officiated by Rabbi Bernard Drachman and Rabbi B.A. Tintner. Eulogies and remembrances were given by numerous fraternal groups, magicians and others in the theatrical community. The very first Broken Wand Ceremony was conducted by a member of the Society of American Magicians. This is where a magician breaks a wand to signify that the magic of the deceased individual has ended. It's a great ceremony, but I'm actually not sure how fitting it was for Houdini as his magic kinda continued on, even till today.

Kenneth Silverman's book HOUDINI!!! says that Bess held up well until the casket was sealed at which point she broke down in tears. Incidentally, the casket that Houdini's body traveled in from Detroit to NYC was actually a bronze casket liner. It was placed inside a larger casket and the entire thing hermetically sealed before it was carried out to the hearse. Houdini's male assistants acted as the pallbearers, with some very notable individuals being listed as honorary pallbearers; Martin Beck, his former manager and theatrical impresario, Bernard Gimbel, one of the originators of the Gimbels Dept. Store, William Morris, of the famed entertainment agency,  and Adolph Zucker, a film mogul who started Famous Players Film Company which eventually became Paramount Pictures. These were just a few of the high profile names listed as honorary pallbearers.

As the casket was carried to the hearse, the mourners could see for the first time that the streets were jammed with 2,000 spectators who had all come out to say their last goodbye to the master of mystery.

Houdini Funeral Procession

According to The Secret Life of Houdini, the funeral procession to Macapelah Cemetery contained twenty five vehicles.  How long it took to travel from the Elks Clubhouse to the cemetery, I do not know. Silverman's book HOUDINI!!! says that the funeral procession was scheduled to drive through the theatrical district before heading to the cemetery.

Finally at the cemetery, the two rabbis were present at the grave site as well as Houdini's family and widow Bess and one hundred+ mourners. Houdini made it clear in his final burial instructions that he was to be placed next to his mother. After the final words and prayers were given by the rabbis, the casket was lowered into the ground. According to the Silverman biography, Theo Weiss, Harry's brother tossed a flower onto the lowering casket and as if my magic a shower of flowers were tossed by the grieving graveside friends. This can be seen on the longer 1 minute plus footage of the Houdini Funeral, but I've only seen the shorter video (below).

Below is a short 20 second video of footage from the Houdini Funeral. It's obviously second or third generation because of the poor quality.

RIP Houdini