Monday, October 1, 2012

Memoirs of Harry Houdin

Our friend Tom Interval of the terrific website Houdini in the New York Times has made a very interesing discovery that he is sharing as a FREE eBook. I'll let Tom explain in his own words:

"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.
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1 comment:

  1. EricOctober 1, 2012 at 10:42 AM

    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.

    I 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).



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