Here's an unusual photo of Houdini that ran with a review of the William Lindsay Gresham biography,
Houdini The Man Who Walked Through Walls, in the London Evening Standard on March 29, 1960 (Headline: "Oh, why do they have to give Houdini away?") At least it says this is Houdini! I'm not familiar with this photo and it almost looks like a Houdini impersonator or even a wax figure. A strange Harry indeed.
UPDATE: I've found another newspaper image taken at this same time. This one shows Harry's hands are bounds. It appears to be real and appears to be him. I do think heavy theatrical makeup might be what's giving him that strange look. This one I shared on my Patreon below:
Related:
I was just about to say, "it's an impersonator", then I saw you wrote that above, LOL. It's ole Harry, just caught in an odd moment.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a photo from the 1920 British tour. The Evening Standard must have had this photo in their files for 40 years.
ReplyDeleteOnly problem with that is what appears to be a lot of grey at the temples. Think of HH in Terror Island. That's when his hair looked like on that tour.
DeleteIt looks like wax to me. And not even the good, Madame-Tussaud-level wax. It looks like the lame competitor, used-to-be-Napoleon-but-now-it's-Houdini-level wax.
ReplyDeleteHaha. Those are my favorites. Hollywood Wax Museum style. :)
DeleteMadam Tussaud's wax museum has been in London since 1835. Is it possible they did a wax figure of Harry? In a shirt and bowtie?
ReplyDeleteI would love to know that. And if they did, see a pic.
DeleteI checked the Wikipedia list of Tussauds figures through the ages (however accurate that may be), and Houdini's name does not appear. Plus, I really imagine Tussauds would do a better job.
DeleteAh, thank you, Lisa.
DeleteIf it is authentic, it's distorted by heavy hand re-touching on the eyes. It could be a reall but low quality photo badly re-touched.
DeleteLooks like a plastic surgeon's ad for a face lift - using a faked photo of Harry to show the possible results.
ReplyDeleteHarry got a Botox injection? Looks like it.
DeleteIs it possible this is a rare pic of him in his theatrical stage makeup and that's giving him this tight look? Maybe he even enhanced his eyebrows.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed the enhanced eyebrows. He has naturally thin eyebrows. They look heavier in this photo. There also appears to be some type of dark mascara above each eye, on the eyelids.
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