Episode 4 Additional Information

Deadly Punch??? Read comments at the end of article*

Episode 4 continues the last days of Houdini. Oct 22, 1926, Houdini, his wife Bess, her niece Julia Sawyer and her nurse Sophie Rosenblatt are about to go into the Princess Theatre. Waiting outside for them are two college students from McGill University, Jacques Price and Sam Smiley (Samuel Smilovitch). You might recall from the previous episode that Sam Smiley was the student/artist who was drawing sketches of Houdini during his lecture at McGill. He showed them to Houdini and invited him to come to see him backstage at the theater.

Houdini, along with the group headed to his dressing room, the time is a little after 11 a.m.. According to the Silverman biography, the dressing room at the Princess Theatre was about 8ft by 10ft. Houdini reclined on a couch in the back of the room while Smiley in Price sat in chairs a few feet from Houdini. Smiley was there to do another sketch of Houdini.

A few moments later there was a knock on the dressing room door and Julia Sawyer got up to answer the door and she let Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead into the room. He briskly walked over to Houdini and returned a book that he had borrowed. Houdini introduced Whitehead to the other boys, so it was more than just a first time meeting for them, which many of the older Houdini biographies make it sound like. Whitehead had met Houdini before. In fact, he met him several times before.

The Don Bell book about Whitehead says that Whitehead called on Houdini at his hotel on two occasions and mentions borrowing the latest copy of Scientific American. In this meeting, Whitehead is returning a book. When Whitehead entered he took over the conversation, irritating Smiley. Whitehead asked him about the miracles of the Bible and Houdini chose not to discuss that, but added that the stunts he did would certainly look like miracles in biblical days. Whitehead then asked if it was true that Houdini could withstand a punch to the stomach without feeling any pain. Now here is something I had missed before, Houdini tried to change the subject and pointed to his strong arms and shoulders. He even went so far as to let the students feel his arm muscles. When Whitehead again asked if Houdini could take a punch, Houdini again shifted focus to his arms.

My one question is, when did Houdini ever use punching him as a bragging point? 'Ladies & Gentleman, not only am I the greatest escape artist in the world, but you can punch me and I will feel nothing!' Really??? I don't think so. But regardless, Houdini agreed he could take the punch. Apparently Whitehead misunderstood this as an invitation to throw some punches. Houdini was still reclining when the barrage of punches flew. As I pointed out in the episode, it was not a single punch either. Whitehead hit Houdini numerous times before Price pulled him off.

There were only 4 people in that room when the incident took place. Houdini, Smiley, Price and Whitehead. The students all gave a deposition as to what they remembered. It was not viewed as a criminal act and Whitehead was never arrested.

A few minutes after the punches, Smiley finished his sketch of Houdini, and he signed it and gave it to the magician. When Houdini saw the sketch he mentioned to Smiley, "you made me look a little tired in the picture....the truth is I don't feel so well". I think if we look back at what had been taking place; Houdini had been nursing a broken ankle, he was under enormous amounts of stress over the million dollars worth of lawsuits, he was receiving death threats, he was not getting much sleep at all, and now he just got hit with a barrage of punches to the stomach. I also can't help but wonder if back in Providence R.I. just a short time before when Bess got food poisoning, if perhaps Houdini had also contracted a small case of that as well. I'm guessing of course. But we know he did not look well and here he admits to not feeling well either.

The students left around noon and Houdini prepared for the show. He still had a show that night to do and the Saturday performances before they were to leave for Detroit.

J. Gordon Whitehead after this point almost vanishes from history. Author Don Bell spent 20 years digging up information on Whitehead and discovered he lived the life of a recluse. If he were alive to see the name of the book Bell wrote, "The Man Who Killed Houdini" I imagine he would be glad he never went out in public. But is it fair to say he killed Houdini? I understand it makes an exciting story and certainly very intriguing. But according to Bell, Whitehead met with Houdini at least two times following the October 22 incident in the dressing room. So if he really had murder on the mind, you'd think Whitehead would have finished him off. I think it's very likely that someone would have attempted to kill Houdini and possibly succeeded, but his own stubborness about not going to the hospital and attending to his health issues really was his undoing.

Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead died of malnutrition in 1954. He is buried in an unmarked grave. I have a photo of the plot of grass where he is buried over at my DeadConjurers blog. It's interesting to me that of the almost 50 graves pictured on the site, the one that is most viewed is actually Whiteheads. The number of views even dwarfs that of Houdini's grave.


*The photo at the top of the page is actually a staged photo with Houdini and the fellow with the boxing gloves on is Jack Dempsey. I thought it made a pretty good picture to add to this particular article which is really about a deadly punch, but I also wanted to point out the photo is NOT from the actual event on Oct 22.

This is all thats left of the Princess Theatre today.

Houdini - Whitehead, Episode 4

Today marks the 86th Anniversary of the infamous 'punch' incident where Houdini was hit numerous times in the stomach by J. Gordon Whitehead. The Magic Detective Show Episode 4 delves into this event and shares some information about just who Whitehead was.

This episode is coming out a little early because I wanted it to try and follow the important events of Houdini's life as they unfold.

Don't forget to check out the  'Additional Information' on Episide 4 either later tonight or tomorrow. Until then, enjoy Episode 4!

Episode 3 Additional Information

Episode Three of The Magic Detective Show is about Houdini's Final Tour and gave some facts that happened on and prior to October 19th, 1926.

Let's begin. The final Houdini Tour started on September 7th 1926.  It was supposed to be a five month tour. Houdini was taking a route that he had taken many times before according to Kenneth Silverman. The tour opened at the Majestic Theatre in Boston Mass for a two week run. Houdini had a couple new features in his show this fall. He was presenting an illusion he purchased from Joe Dunninger, "Cutting a Woman in Eighths" or as one newspaper ad said "Slicing a Woman in Seven Parts". He also had another new feature that he restricted to venues that were two weeks long. This other feature is referred to in the Kalush Biography as "The Mystery of the Sphinx.  This was Houdini's Buried Alive Escape done on stage. According to the Kalush Bio, he debuted the escape in Worcester, however on John Cox's blog WildaboutHoudini.com there is an ad for the Majestic Theatre in Boston which clearly says he is doing this escape at that theatre and I found a similar ad which you can see below. It makes sense as the Boston gig was two weeks long. On Episode 3 I actually said he debuted it in Worcester because that's the information in all the books, but I think the ad shows that indeed Houdini was doing the buried alive escape in Boston.

In Patrick Culliton's book Houdini The Key, he gives a description of the effect along with method. I've seen many Houdini escapes duplicated, but this is one I would have love to have seen live!

After being being placed in a straight jacket, then into a canvas sack and into the coffin, the coffin was lowered into the large glass fronted box and covered with sand. Houdini would step out from behind the large box to take his bow! Houdini made his escape in two minutes.

How on earth they traveled with something of this size is beyond me. I'm going to guess that the dimensions of the larger outer box might not be quite as large as they appear in the poster. Certainly less sand would be required if this were the case. Also, the outer box had a front made of glass. It would be near impossible to travel with a thick piece of glass the size that is indicated on the poster, so again I think it makes sense that the outer box was not quite as large.

After Boston, Houdini headed west to Worcester MA. This was another two week run and it was here that he presented his third Underwater Coffin Test at YMCA Pool in Worcester. His run in Worcester was followed by a short 3 day run in Providence Rhode Island. This is where Bess Houdini contracted food poisoning after a dinner out with Harry and H.P. Lovecraft. The run in Providence ended on Oct 8th and Houdini sends Bess and crew to Albany NY, while he takes a detour to NYC. Houdini needed to meet with his lawyer to discuss the mounting lawsuits he was receiving. He also met up with Joe Dunninger, who served as taxi driver for Houdini while he was in town.

Houdini took the train back to Albany and arrived early in the morning. At this point, he was going on very few hours of sleep.  Opening night at the Capital Theatre in Albany Houdini had an accident as he prepared to do the Water Torture Cell Escape. However, I'm unclear on exactly what took place.
The Silverman Bio says "the cables twisted or swayed" and the resulting 'lurch'  cracked the footstock and he fractured his ankle. The Kalush bio says simply that "as he was hoisted in the air he gasped and his face twisted in pain." The Henning bio says "as he was lifted in the air one of his ankles snapped", the Gresham bio says basically the same thing. In Randi's biography it says "as he was lifted he felt a crack. The frame (footstock) had loosened and wrenched his left foot, injuring the bone." Here is what Houdini had to say in a letter he wrote on Oct 12th, two days after the accident, "The cover snapped as we were drawing it up, and I have some sort of fracture on the left leg. The left side of my body is somewhat weaker than the right, or perhaps it just struck a glancing blow. Anyway, it hit with enough force to smash the cover which is of heavy nickel-plated steel." This comes from a letter reprinted in Houdini The Key by Patrick Culliton.  The odd thing is a Doctor was reported as saying that if the stocks had not cracked Houdini's leg would have been cut off.....I'm not quite getting that part of it. I wonder if John Gaughan saw the cracked stocks when he refurbished the WTC? All the stories are similar and whatever the actually cause, the end result was a fractured bone. 

At any rate, Houdini was hurt and unable to do the WTC. A doctor put a splint on his leg and told Houdini to go to the hospital. Of course, Houdini refused because he had a show to finish. He did his Needle Trick and then went on with the exposure of fake mediums to finish the show. The remainder of his tour he was in constant pain due to the fractured left ankle.

From Albany they ventured down the road to Schenectady NY, where despite the injury he presented three days of shows. Next stop, Montreal Canada. He opened on October 18th at the Princess Theatre in Montreal (though the Gresham book says he opened on the 17th).  By all accounts Houdini looked 'sickly' and tired and frankly old. If you figure in the lack of sleep, the pain from his leg and add to that the stress of $1 Million in lawsuits being filed by ticked-off spiritualists, Houdini sure had a right to look bad.

He accepted an invitation by the head of the psychology department at McGill University to give a talk before the students. The lecture set records for attendance and it took place in the Student Union Building. Today this building is known as the McCord Museum and a photo can be seen in Episode 3 of the Magic Detective Show. Houdini's lecture took place in the ballroom at 5p.m. on Oct 19th, 1926. His talk was on Magic & Spiritualism. A stand-out moment in the lecture was when Houdini took a needle and shoved it through his cheek to demonstrate his high tolerance for pain. This is a stunt he had done for years in his talks and lectures. He finished his lecture talking about fake spirit mediums and his encounters with Lady Doyle, the wife of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and with good ole Margery the Boston Medium.

Following the lecture he met with students and one of those he talked to was Samuel Smilovitch, known as Sam Smiley. Sam had been doing sketches of Houdini during his lecture and showed them to him. He liked the artwork and invited Sam to meet with him backstage at the Princess Theatre before one of his performances over his run in Montreal. And that is where I stopped the Episode.

What takes place next is historic and tragic and will directly lead to the end of Houdini's life. Be sure to watch the next Episode of The Magic Detective for the details!

Red Marks to Tour Route. Blue is Houdini's detour to NYC