Thursday, March 31, 2011

Heeeere's Milla!

Mistress or stalker?
If you recall, in my infamous and much-viewed post from last December, The illicit loves of Harry Houdini, I couldn't find a picture of prime suspect, Milla Barry. Now, thanks to Houdini biographer and Conjuring Arts Research Center maven, William Kalush (The Secret Life of Houdini), we have our girl!

As a refresher, in 1903 Houdini shared the bill with singer/actress Barry and appears to have become personally entangled with her in some way. He confided in a close friend that Barry was attempting to break up his marriage. "I am having a hell of a time, and it will become worse," he wrote.

But was this an affair, or just a fatal attraction situation? I tend to think it was something other than romantic. Most of Houdini's mistresses come into his life in the late teens and early 1920s, when Houdini was in prime male mid-life crisis age. I also don't think Houdini would cheat while his mother was still alive.

Thanks again to Bill Kalush.
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3 comments:

  1. TracyMarch 31, 2011 at 7:56 AM

    I wondered what Milla looked like! Thanks for posting this John. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. melboMarch 31, 2011 at 12:39 PM

    A saucy minx, that one.

    (Penny to a pound that if they had been around today, she would have been sending him dirty text messages every five minutes).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bill MullinsMay 22, 2013 at 7:25 PM

    Apparently there are some recordings of Barry's voice exant:

    http://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk/discography/search/search_advanced?operatorSel_0=and&parameterSel_0=performer&parameterKey_0=artist_028370&parameterKeyTxt_0=MILLA%20BARRY

    ReplyDelete