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This was one of three postcards Houdini sent Bess on this particular train journey through Germany. You'll note the time is 2:35 AM. As it turns out, Houdini could not find an open hotel and had to sleep "on the soft side of a bench" that night.
The mention of "our son" is interesting. This postcard pre-dates their dog Charlie (if we believe the story of them getting the dog in Russia), so I'm not sure what Houdini is talking about here. I also can't quite make out is his pet name signature.
Stay tuned for more.
Great stuff! But I was hoping you would transcribe Harry's message. Reading his handwriting is a chore. I don't understand why he's traveling alone in Germany. I always thought they moved around together on the rails and through hotels.
ReplyDeleteHis handwriting here is much easier to read than later in his life. Get ready. No transcriptions. You're spoiled enough as is. :p
DeleteThis trip is a mystery. He seems to be traveling alone to Dresden for some reason. In my chronology I have nothing for the week that follows. Maybe he was on a spy mission! (More likely visiting an old magician.)
Allright, allright--I'll take a wack at it. Does the photo encompass the entire postcard? It looks like some of it isn't inside the photo edges. What does Kadaria mean?
DeleteMarch 28, 1903 2:35 AM.
Darling Kadaria Wilhelmina Weiss, just landed and am eating a coffee + drinking cake. In train I woke ? + looked for you + our son. Do you remember the building on card?
We saw all the great paintings here ? Yours till Death ?
Love that he is “eating coffee + drinking cake”....,rather whimsical and playful. The fact that he woke up looking for her is sweet and their son is indeed a mystery....were they talking about their fictitious son that early on? Wishing the pet name was legible too.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as a read “eating coffee + drinking cake” I was like, I love this guy! His letters to Bess are filled with whimsy.
DeleteYes! 100% me too. I absolutely adore getting a glimpse into that whimsy <3
DeleteI take it to mean he was dreaming on the train - dreaming he was with her, and they had a son, and when he woke up it took him a moment to realize it was a dream. This is a postcard, so he had to be succinct, and they had the "code act" background which allowed them to say almost nothing, and mean everything.
ReplyDeleteGood thinking Lisa! It makes sense he had a dream.
DeleteOh, I never considered that, but I love it! Thanks Lisa.
DeleteI think Lisa's explanation may indeed be correct.
ReplyDelete(often, it takes a woman's perspective to clear up a mystery)
There's another possibility. Remember Ruth Brandon in her book (and in documentaries) talked about how Harry and Bess created a "phantom child" named Mayer Samuel who is referred to in their letters. This could be that.
ReplyDeleteI thought about that as well. The fictitious child that would eventually become president of the U.S. If Harry was referring to that then it must have been clear to them by 1903 that a child wasn't gunna happen.
Delete1. Is that signed "Pokey"? 2. Where was it mailed to ? (Where was Bess?)
ReplyDeleteIt looks like "Pokey" to me as well...I too wonder where Bess was at the time. Love his charming sense of humor, as always. Agree with Lisa's surmise about waking from a dream.
DeleteIt was mailed to Bess at the Central Hotel in Berlin.
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