"There was a magician and singer/dancer named "Harry Houdin" who toured Australia and New Zealand in the 1860s. He claimed to be Robert-Houdin's nephew, which is unlikely, IMHO. I just finished writing a short e-booklet about Houdin and published it on Smashwords last night (link below).
I came across Houdin's name by accident when searching to see if anyone else was named Harry Houdini before 1874. I thought it was a typo at first until I found an archived newspaper ad touting "HARRY HOUDIN: The Great Polynational Mimic." Of course, the next thought that went through my head was, "I wonder if Houdini knew about this guy!""
Download Harry Houdin: The Great Polynational Mimic by Tom Interval at Smashwords.
Amazing. I'm not sure Harry Houdin's name would have been well-known to a couple of New York City teenagers in the 1890s. Probably a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it was common for 19th-century performers to trade on the name Houdin, the way they used to adopt the name Herrmann (in various spellings).