Bessie down under

All this weekend we are celebrating the birthday of Bess Houdini, and for the occasion the mighty Kevin Connolly has provided this terrific unpublsihed photo of Bess (on left) in Australia during Houdini's brief aviation career. What a great shot. What a great smile!

Click to enlarge.

This was probably taken at Rosehill, where Bess took it upon herself to make tea and cake for the assembled onlookers who couldn't always be assured that the weather would allow Houdini to fly that day. Bess saw to it that the spectators didn't go hungry -- on the house. By the way, that's Houdini's assistant James Vickery doing the dishes back there. Looks like he was Bessie's assistant too. 

The celebration continues tomorrow...

UPDATE: According to an article by Bayard Grimshaw in Abracadabra, March 23, 1974, this photo was taken at the Rosehill Racetrack on April 27, 1910.