The year 1907 saw Houdini touring free of his handcuff act and image. Exotic challenges now replaced the cuffs and spectacular bridge jumps supplanted jail breaks as his new headline grabbing stunt. It was a year in which he raised his profile and his price and became an undisputed star of American vaudeville, which in itself was booming under a new monopoly that embraced him.
This post is now retired.
But you will still be able to enjoy the story of Houdini in 1907 with the publication of my upcoming book.
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Thank you for another year in the life of HH! I love this series and how it maintains the chronology for that year. Every time you post another year I learn new stuff. It's like reading a chapter in a new HH biography. The whopping $70,000 contract and how much L.A. had changed in seven years since 1899. It was only the beginning for that city. And since Bess skipped out on Chicago by the end of that year we're beginning to see her retirement from show biz.
ReplyDeleteThanks Leo. Chronology for me is key! And fun to do a year that doesn't get much attention in bios as it doesn't have a seminal escape for event to anchor it (like the Mirror anchors 1904 or the Milk Can anchors 1908). But when you drill down you can see it's another fascinating year!
DeleteChronology is everything to me as well! Silverman devotes a number of pages to 1916 and 18. 1917--not so much.
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