Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Houdini's sister Gladys Weiss in 1957

Here is a photo of Houdini's sister, Carrie Gladys Weiss, in 1957 at age 75. She's pictured here with Gerri Larsen, mother of Magic Castle co-founders Bill and Milt Larsen, and Art Baker. This photo was taken by James Randi at a party held at the home of Meyer Silberstein on Sept 8, 1957. It appeared in the November 1957 issue of The Linking Ring. Gladys passed away in January 1959.


You can read more about the somewhat elusive Carrie Gladys Weiss HERE. And make sure to come back at the end of this week when I'll offer up a Gladys artifact unseen for 20 years.
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9 comments:

  1. Beth S.August 21, 2013 at 3:23 PM

    Wow, what a great find! I look forward to seeing news of this Gladys artifact. :) I went back and re-read that earlier post on Gladys, which you linked in this article. Glad to know we finally confirmed her date of death, at least. But it would be nice to know more of her long life, and how she became blind (if we can ever know that).

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  2. Leo HeviaAugust 21, 2013 at 4:36 PM

    I read in Manny Weltman's Houdini: Escape Into Legend that a cooking accident involving hot grease blinded her.

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  3. CarnegieAugust 21, 2013 at 5:49 PM

    Great photo!

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  4. melboAugust 21, 2013 at 7:26 PM

    I agree with Beth. Leo, hot grease? That's horrendous. I read a snippet in one of the bios (might have been Secret Life) which mentioned that Mama felt responsible for it in some way. In any case, very sad.

    Right, Friday ... it's on.

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  5. melboAugust 21, 2013 at 7:28 PM

    I've just gone back and read the comments on the older post. The plot thickens.

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  6. AnonymousAugust 21, 2013 at 8:21 PM

    You would think hot grease would have disfigured her face as well.

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  7. John CoxAugust 22, 2013 at 8:50 AM

    I've heard cooking accident. I've also heard she was partially blind from birth and blamed Mayer Samuel's advanced age for the defect. It's one of the many Gladys mysteries.

    I interested in the fact that James Randi took this photo. I wonder if he ever interviewed her or had lengthy conversations with her about HH?

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  8. Leo HeviaAugust 22, 2013 at 5:01 PM

    I also wondered if Randi had a long talk with her when he took this photo. He's still alive...right?

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