 |
| The Commercial Appeal, Feb. 17, 1916. |
The building where Houdini performed his 1916 and 1923 escapes still stands at 30 N. 2nd Street in Court Square in Memphis. This was the headquarters of The Commercial Appeal until 1933.
Related:
Monday, January 17, 2022
Houdini hangs in Memphis (the first time)
Recently I re-upped my newspapers.com subscription and was excited to see they now have the archive of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis. Not only did this allow me to finally confirm Houdini's appearance and suspended straitjacket escape in September 1923 (and update this post accordingly), but I also discovered a hitherto unknown Memphis appearance in 1916 in which he also did a suspended straitjacket escape on February 16, 1916. The paper gave it this terrific spread!
Related:
Related:
A great find!!! HH was apparently woozy from hanging upside down for the escape. Was that theatrics? Could be. The paper said he would escape from a tank of water that week in Memphis. Has to be the USD.
ReplyDeleteIt's 1916 and there are already a lot of vehicles on the road. I thought that was a 1920s phenomenon, but it happened earlier. At least from this newspaper photo.