HOUDINI In Washington D.C. 1906

The Sunday Star, Washington D.C. Sept 16, 1906

I have spent a lot of time following Houdini's footsteps while he was in the Nation's Capital, mainly

because I live in this area and can occasionally go down and check out sites for myself. Houdini was in town in January 1906 and had a very successful run. It looks as though demand for Houdini was pretty high because he was back in September for two weeks.

This time performing at Chase's Polite Vaudeville Theatre. Search as I have, I've been unable to turn up a photo of Chase's theatre. However, to the right is a program from Chases. The building has long been torn down. However, it was a very popular location during Houdini's time and he was in town doing his Straitjacket, Handcuff and challenge escapes.

Houdini began his run on Sunday September 16, 1906 featuring a standard stuff from his repitiore, but let's face it, his standard material was quite exciting. In one escape demonstration he was handcuffed with a half dozen pair of wrist and leg irons. During another sequence he was tied to a chair with several yards of rope by members of the audience. The final demonstration was his first challenge of the week. This is what the Evening Star Newspaper reported, "Possibly the most pleasing of his demonstrations was the simple manner in which he opened a pair of antique handcuffs from Greece, furnished by Andrew Alexaids, a local Greek interpreter, and an old-time pair of slave handcuffs. He freed himself from these manacles in full view of the audience, the slave-era handcuffs yielding when simply tapped on the floor."

September 17, 1906 the newspaper ad for Chase's says "Houdini-The World's Handcuff King and Prison Breaker, IN NEW AND SENSATIONAL ESCAPE FEATS AT EVERY PERFORMANCE. Police and Public Challenged to Test His Never Defeated Power." Also at the bottom of the ad it says that Houdini has been re-engaged for next week, so he'll be staying over an extra week.

September 18, 1906 the newspaper ad reads "Houdini Challenged! TONIGHT HE WILL ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM A MURDEROUS MANIAC'S STRAIT-JACKET ...... CAN   HE  DO  IT?

September 19, 1906 the newspaper ad reads "Houdini's Greatest. Tonight he will attempt the most difficult handcuffs ever used to challenge him. Will he free himself???

September 20, 1906 the newspaper ad reads "HOUDINI IN A BAG! Challenged by Killian & Co., paper box manufacturers, Houdini will tonight try to escape from a big paper bag. Can he?" So far the week has been fairly normal material for Houdini. The Paper Bag Escape is something he would repeat in other cities.

September 21, 1906 the newspaper ad reads "HOUDINI BOXED UP Tonight he will attempt to escape from a packing case made by the packers of S. Kann, Sons & Co., Will he succeed?"

September 22, 1906 Houdini offers a twist on an earlier escape. Here is what the newspaper ad read, "HOUDINI IN A BAG No.2 Tonight he will try to get out of a paper bag tied at both ends. Will he do it? Come and See!"

September 23, 1906 marks the beginning of the second week. An interesting thing takes place. Because Houdini has been drawing so many people to his shows, the theatre has decided to open up the wings on the stage and ad chairs there! These seats come at a premium. In addition the newspaper ad for Sunday Sept 23, changes it's look at lists all of the weeks challenges.

There are articles in two different papers featuring Houdini in addition to the newspaper ads. One of the articles mentions that there will be a challenge escape at every performance in addition to Houdini's usual program of handcuff releases.

September 24, 1906 the newspaper ad reads, "HOUDINI's ORDEAL. Tonight he will attempt to escape from a maniac murderer's strait-jacket in full view of the audience. A thrilling event. Can he get out?" The following day another paper ads this report about the Sept 24 performance, "Last night he submitted to the demands of an insistent challenger who presented a manacle different from the regulation pattern required in the act. It took some minutes longer than the usual for Houdini's performance, but when he emerged from his cabinet, both hands were free."

September 25, 1906 the newspaper ad reads, "HOUDINI IN A CASE. Tonight he will attempt to escape from the Saks & Co., packing case, which will be constructed on the stage in full view of the audience."

September 26, 1906 the newspaper ad reads, "HOUDINI JACKETED Tonight he will attempt to escape from a Blackwell's Island insane asylum homicidal lunatic's strait-jacket, with leg bag and ropes upon him."

On September 27th there is an unusual change in the ads that appear in the Washington Time and The Evening Star papers. One of them prints an ad that reads, "HOUDINI IN ROPES Tonight he will make a sensational effort to escape from rope imprisonment in a chair." But the other paper has an ad that lists a whole bunch of challenges. That ad reads, "HOUDINI, The Mysteriarch of Manacles and Prisons. TWELVE CHALLENGE ESCAPE ATTEMPTS. Every Matinee and Every Evening Night. Houdini will make different Thrilling Tests of His Powers. Lunatic's Crib Escape. The Door Transfixion. The Ladder-of-death Suspension. The Witches' Pillory Confinement. The Invincible Paper Bag Release. The Iron Crate Incarceration. The Mammoth Football. The Greater Packing Case Tests. The Padlocked Leather Bag Escape. The Thrilling Hindoo Needle Feats, &c. &c. &c." There is one more article from the 27th, but I'm saving it for the end.

On September 28th he had a clever challenge put forth that reads like this, "HOUDINI'S ZINC CASE
Tonight he will attempt to escape from the Knabe & Co. Piano Export Packing Case, Lined with Zinc and Screw-Fastened, etc."

September 29th, 1906 was his final night of the two week run. Here is what the ad says, "HOUDINI'S FAREWELL Tonight he will conclude his engagement with a grand display of his power of manacles and strait-jackets."

That concludes his two week run at Chase's Polite Vaudeville Theatre. However, I wanted to reprint the newspaper article that appeared on Sept 27th, 1906. It's a little too long to just retype, so I am putting it below so you can read the entire thing yourself.

A Unique Houdini Music Video

Here is something cool, a music video featuring HOUDINI. Justin LaBlond is the musician who created this and I'm assuming he also wrote and sings in the video. One of my pieces of Houdini Art is also in the video.  Check it out!

Houdini's Needles in 1899

When I was doing the research for the piece on Houdini's Needle Trick, I came across a reference in HOUDINI-The Key by Patrick Culliton where Houdini was doing the Needle Trick as early as 1899. I just found an article from The San Francisco Call Newspaper dated June 25th 1899 and the title of the article is, Houdini in His Weirdest Trick of Chewing Needles. This is probably Patrick's source as well. The paper goes into great detail describing his routine. It's clear that Houdini was doing the Needles in 1899, and very likely earlier than that because he already has this piece turned into an amazing routine. If you've ever tried the Needles, it does take a bit of time to get used to placing the needles in your mouth as it is a bit unnerving for the performer let alone the audience.

Below is the complete article and notice the photo at the end of the young Houdini doing the Needle Trick!

Houdini's Cannon Challenge

Mutineers tied to cannons in the same manner that Houdini was tied to a cannon. They were about to be executed.

In February of 1911, Houdini was faced with an unusual challenge, one that was more dangerous than normal. The challenge reads as follows:

Chatham, Feb 14, 1911

Mr. Harry Houdini,
Dear Sir-We challenge you to stand in front of a loaded Government 8 cwt. steel gun, to which we will secure you, insert a fuse which will burn for twenty minutes, and if you fail to release yourself within that time you will be blown to Kingdom Come.

In lashing you to the muzzle of the gun we will place a rifle barrel between your arms behind your back, bringing your hands on your breast where we will securely lash them. Your feet we will tie to an iron ring which we will nail into the floor. Your body we will lash against the muzzle of the gun in such a manner that we believe it will be impossible for you to free yourself.

Test must take place in full view of the public

Signed by four petty officers of the Royal Navy.

According to the book, The Original Houdini Scrapbook, by Walter Gibson, Houdini accepted the challenge and found it to be very difficult. In Houdini's own words, "The situation required quick action. I struggled and worked at my best. I lived up to my reputation, and free myself in twelve minutes!"

There is a small wrinkle in the historical record however, according to the William Kalush biography, The Secret Life of Houdini, he says that the chief of police reluctantly allowed the demonstration to go forward and even allowed the cannon to be loaded, however, he did not allow them to light the fuse. But the story in the Walter Gibson book says that they did light the fuse. I don't have a newspaper account to refer to to find which story is correct.

HOWEVER

Fast forward to October 12, 1919, The Washington Times Newspaper reported that while Houdini was filming The Grim Game, he had accepted the challenge of four naval officers to be strapped to the mouth of a cannon in Pershing Square, Los Angeles. The Times reported, "The weapon was loaded and a fuse attached, but the police interfered before the trigger lanyard could be pulled."  The newspaper further reported "Houdini extricated himself from the ropes, which it had taken six minutes to tie, in exactly two minutes and a half."

I'm wondering if this is the cannon escape that Kalush was referencing but connected it to the Chaltham Cannon Escape. I have no problem believing that Houdini presented this escape two different times. He often repeated challenges in different cities. But the best proof would be newspaper accounts and so far I only have the one from The Washington Times. Eventually, I hope to find one from an L.A. paper.

I did some checking and discovered that Pershing Square during World Ward 1 was often the scene of militia receptions and was named after General Pershing, so it seems highly likely that there were cannons present for Houdini to actually do this escape.

The upcoming HOUDINI-Miniseries will feature Adrien Brody escaping from the mouth of a cannon. I saw a still image, and it looks like an older Houdini, so my guess it was 1919 Cannon escape.

Finally, Steve Baker, who was known as Mr. Escape during his performing career, presented a Cannon Escape as well in the early 1970s. His version was called 'The Human Target and a photo collage can be seen below. Steve's version had no cannonball, but did include gunpowder and the fuse. This was during a period of time when Steve was trying to duplicate all of Houdini's escapes.

Houdini's Life Changing Event In St. Paul That You Haven't Heard

7th St. St. Paul-The Palm Garden is down this street.

According to the history books, in March of 1899, Harry Houdini was playing at a beer hall in St. Paul Minnesota called The Palm Garden*. We know that at some point prior to March 14th, Martin Beck arrived at the beer hall with a group of other theatre owners. Beck witnessed Houdini's act of escaping handcuffs, but thought they must be faked. So Beck challenged Houdini to escape from some handcuffs that he would bring. The following night Beck brings with him three pairs of handcuffs and Houdini escapes from all three. That's the story we are all familiar with. It's the same story in Kenneth Silverman's bio on Houdini, and basically similar story to the Kalush Bio. In the William Kalush biography, The Secret Life of Houdini, he adds a story that took place before the Beck meeting which really had nothing to do with performing.

On March 14th, Houdini gets a telegram from Martin Beck in Chicago. The telegram says, "You can open Omaha, March 26th, at $60, will see act, probably make proposition for all next season." Houdini records in his journal "This wire changed my whole life's journey."

That's what we know to be the historical record of the day Houdini's life changed forever. However, there is something else, and I do not know if it happened before Beck's arrival or after. It could have even been the thing that lured Beck to the Palm Garden, that is IF it happened before. If it happened after the Beck encounter, then Houdini was making the most of this encounter by pulling out all the stops.

The St. Paul Globe Newspaper, March 7th, 1899 edition. This records an event that happened one week before Houdini got the telegram from Martin Beck. So somewhere in between is when likely when they met. Here is the story....

Houdini was performing at the Palm Garden, and part of his act was the challenge handcuff routine, where anyone can bring cuffs and he will escape from them. A member of the audience suggests he let the police try. So between acts, Houdini and the Manager of the Palm Garden head to the Central Police Station in St. Paul and ask Chief Schweitzer if they would challenge Houdini with a pair of their police cuffs. The Chief comes out with an unusual pair. According to the newspaper the Chief is quoted as saying "I'll fix him, I've got a pair that would defy Mephistopheles himself." They put the cuffs on Houdini and then add a more up to date pair of cuffs on him as well. Then Houdini is taken to another room to attempt his escape in private.

Two minutes later, Houdini came back into the room with the cuffs not only removed, but locked together. The locking together is a subtle way of showing that he didn't simply 'slip' the cuffs of his wrists, but rather had to open them in order to put lock them together. The feat made the newspaper.

To add to this, I checked the complete newspaper for a day or so before and after and the Palm Garden never ran any ads for Houdini's appearance. So this blurb on March 7th is the only recorded historical record of his St. Paul visit. As I mentioned before, if it happened before the Beck meeting, it could have been what drew Beck to the Palm Garden. If it happened after, then it was Houdini doing what he did best, getting publicity. And it's the last article that would be written on him before he went off under Martin Beck's direction.

*The Palm Garden was a type of indoor beer garden that became very popular in the 1890s. I don't know how many there were, but it appears that many major cities had one. Some of them offered entertainment, usually orchestras or smaller bands.