Sunday, August 27, 2017

For the birds

This was posted today on the Houdini Museum of New York Facebook page. A sensational image of Harry and Bess taking some time out to feed the pigeons.



Despite what's captioned here, this actually isn't the same photo from Doug Henning's Houdini His Legend and His Magic (page 109). This photo appears to have been taken at the same time, but the angle is very different. This photo is a little better and, as far as I know, unpublished. So a nice Sunday treat for all of us!

The Houdini Museum of New York is located at 421 7th Avenue, 3rd Floor. It houses one of the largest public displays of authentic Houdini memorabilia in the world.

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    9 comments:

    1. Wow! Great stuff John! Thanks to you & the museum for posting this! Is this Central Park? Is that popcorn? Birds love popcorn.

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      1. Afraid I don't know when or where this was taken. Is there a building like that in or near Central Park? Afraid I don't know NY well enough to say. 278 was very near Morningside Park, another possibility, I guess. By my feeling is this was taken while on the road.

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    2. Could easily be one of the walking paths in Central Park in the late Fall looking out onto one of the adjoining streets that encircle the park. Perry from NJ.

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      1. Good catch Perry! Can anyone identify that white building behind Harry and Bess?

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    3. If you look in the Henning book, you'll see a different angle that shows the path leading to central grass hub that looks like it might be the base of a monument. But it's cut off so you can't quite see what it is. But that pic reveals more of the geography.

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    4. Oh my that is a great photo. One can only imagine the conversation they were having.

      Jack

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    5. Shall we assume that this is a posed photograph, staged by Harry & Bess?...or when Harry & Bess went out, were they "followed" by photographers, as celebrities are today, and this is the happy result?

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      1. During their travels, Franz Kukol would carry a camera and take candid shots like this. I feel like this is a Kukol capture. (This is one reason I don't think it's NYC.)

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