Houdini and Brindamour: Showdown in San Francisco

Magic historian Gary Hunt, who blogs at Magic Footnotes and has made a specialty of researching escape artists of Houdini's era, has uncovered a story about Houdini and a rival "Handcuff King" that I don't think has ever appeared in print before. I'm excited to share that story today.

In September of 1907, Houdini was appearing in San Francisco at the Orpheum Theatre on Ellis Street near what's known as the Fillmore District. The Orpheum had relocated to the area while downtown was being rebuilt after the devastating earthquake and fire of 1906. Right next door to the Orpheum was another vaudeville house, The Princess.

During the final week of Houdini's engagement, a rival escape artist, Brindamour, was booked into the Princess Theater. Below is a photo from Brindamour's own scrapbook showing the side by side theaters at this time. In fact, you can see a Brindamour poster in front of the Princess.

Click to enlarge.

George W. Brindamour was born to French Canadian parents in Cannon Mills, Minnesota on April 5, 1870. A one time photographer, Brindamour began performing handcuff escapes at the turn of the century. He claimed to have been the originator of the handcuff act. With his mustache and goatee, it was said he also sometimes doubled on stage for Herrmann the Great (presumably Leon).

In 1900, when Houdini was first finding success in the U.S. under the management of Martin Beck, Brindamour twice appeared in opposition theaters in Providence and Philadelphia offering an exposé of Houdini's act. Soon Houdini was off to Europe and super stardom; but his absence allowed Brindamour to gain a foothold in America vaudeville with his own version of the handcuff act.

Gary reports that a confrontation between Houdini and Brindamour had been building during the summer of 1907. The men sniped at each other in the pages of Variety, which ran an ad touting Brindamour's $1,000 per week salary as the highest ever paid by the Western States Vaudeville Association. Rumor had it that the William Morris Agency had signed Brindamour to play against Houdini who had recently signed with a rival agency. As if to tweak Houdini even more, the Princess advertised Brindamour as "King of All Handcuff Kings." Variety predicted that "fur should fly" when the two rivals finally met in San Francisco.

So did Houdini march over to the Princess with his Bean Giant, Mirror Cuff, or one of his other "handcuff king beaters"? Did he send confederates to gum up Brindamour's act or knock down his advertising? (Recall Houdini once allegedly threatened to shoot down a balloon advertising Blackstone that flew within sight of his own theater.)

The September 21, 1907 issue of Variety reported what happened:

Jail Breakers at Peace

Despite the predictions of open warfare when the rival jail breakers (Houdini and Brindamour) came into as close a competition as they were last week in this city, the dove of peace reigned supreme over Ellis street. Both lock defiers pursuing the even tenor of their ways as though oblivious of the other’s existence.

Anticlimactic, I know, but that's also what makes this interesting. Why didn't Houdini go after Brindamour (or vice versa)?

Well, in 1907, Houdini was already looking beyond handcuffs and jail-breaking as his bread and butter. His feature that week was a challenge to escape from a box made by employees of the Emporium department store. The week prior he had escaped from a paper bag without tearing the paper. In fact, while Brindamour's was billed as King of all Handcuff Kings, Houdini's billing at the Orpheum was: "Houdini in New Sensations." So Brindamour might have seemed less of a threat to Houdini at this time, and to have engaged him would have just given him publicity. The best way to hurt Brindamour (and William Morris) was to do nothing.

But it's also possible Houdini and Brindamour might have made a truce. It's possible both men could sense that a spat over who was the superior "handcuff king" might seem trivial and petty to citizens of a city that was still digging out from one of the worst catastrophes of the 20th century.

After San Fransisco, Brindamour and Houdini never again crossed paths, and Brindamour would meet what The Santa Cruz Sentinel called his "waterloo" just a few weeks later in Sacramento.

Brindamour keep doing the handcuff escape act long after it went out of fashion. When bookings got slim, he would sometimes put on a full evening show or just do magic. He performed on all the major vaudeville circuits through the 1920s. He retired to Los Angeles in 1930 and was said to have played character roles in movies. George Brindamour passed away on July 31, 1941 at the age of 71.

Today the Orpheum and Princess are long gone, and Ellis Street has been subdivided with a shopping center and condos. (I visited the area last Halloween while I was in San Francisco for the Official Houdini Seance.) But it's fun to know that, for one week in 1907, Houdini and Brindamour shared the street as co-handcuff kings.

Thank you Gary Hunt for this story, photos, and additional background information on Brindamour.

Related posts:

• Christine U'Ren captures Houdini in San Francisco
• Houdini vs. Boudini: The forgotten challenge
• Houdini vs. Hardeen in Oakland
• REPORT: The Official Houdini Séance 2015