There are two often-told origin stories about how and when Houdini discovered his skills as a lockpicker. There's the "pies in the cupboard" story and the "convict in cuffs" story. But I recently discovered a third entirely different story told by Houdini himself in 1899. Intriguingly, it involves a hand injury as a boy.
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I suspect that HH made his deep dive into locks, and handcuffs shortly AFTER Beck discovered him in the Spring of 1899. And what did Beck see HH perform that gave him the idea to challenge him with his own cuffs? Probably the escape from the Bean Giants. Many years later Hardeen wrote a letter to Sid Radner offering to teach him how to showcase the escape from the BG cuffs as the highlight effect in an act.
ReplyDeleteHoudini was doing the full-on challenge handcuff act long before Beck. As early as 1895. Police stations, audience handcuffs, etc. He had mastered it by 1899. Houdini was doing the challenge handcuff act when Beck saw him. That's why Beck sent up his own cuffs (allegedly).
DeleteThe narrative across the board in biographies depicts HH plodding forward with his magic act until Beck discovers him in 1899. Presumably HH must have added a few escapes in the act to spice it up. This must have tipped off Beck to his escape abilities. Beck urges HH to drop the magic and focus on the escapes. THAT is the accepted narrative. HH gets a burst of creativity and begins challenging police stations and breaking out of jails.
DeleteThe composition of his act when Beck first saw him remains a mystery. At least to me. I believe Bess had stayed in NYC, and Harry was performing solo in Minnesota at that time in 1899. I assume he did some type of handcuff escape that caught Beck's eye.
Forget that narrative. It's not accurate. All your questions will be answered in my book next year. :)
DeleteOkay thanks! I presume you mean the diary book?
DeleteAs you and I discovered in our search from newspapers at the time, Houdini was doing the challenge handcuff escape pretty earlier on in his career.
DeleteWhat is a mystery is how did he get interested in locks? We have the myth of course, but most of it does not make sense. Was he interested in locks before he learned to do the handcuffs?
He did buy the secret to the act from a magic store. And as we know, Samri Baldwin did the challenge act many years before.
Houdini proved that it's not the secret that matters, but how one sells the trick. And as the years went on, he learned to do just that.
He learned enough about handcuffs to make the bold claims that no one can provide cuffs he could not escape from. It was bold and exciting. And perfect for Houdini's time.
August Roterberg, the German Chicago magic dealer was an early consultant for HH on the handcuff escape. Christopher does give us a clue on HH's escapades in police stations before Beck arrived on the scene. The January 1899 police station challenge is a seemingly small detail but it shows that HH was on it early.
DeleteLeo -- yes, the Diary Book. You'll be able to walk along with Houdini through all these years and, hopefully, understand all these dynamics. I always knew Houdini's early career was murky in people's minds, but I guess I never realized just how murky. Good! Means this book will be of value. :)
DeleteDoing a handcuff act does not necessarily mean one is an expert lock picker.
ReplyDeleteThat's true.
DeleteThe true mystery for me are the prison locks. How did HH learn about the locks on prison doors? You can't study those locks and you can't take them home with you to dissect them for information. I just don't see how he could have learned about them. Obviously he found a way, but his solution is not obvious. Maybe the diary book will cast some light on this? C'mon man!!!
DeleteThe jailbreaking started in Europe, so after the diary. But I don't think HH ever recorded his methods in any diaries. Good chapter on jailbreaking methods in Houdini's Fabulous Magic. Also the David DuVal book Cell Escape.
DeleteYeah I'm gunna have to go back to Fabulous Magic and reread that chapter. I have the De Val book but haven't cracked it open to read it yet. On page 29 Silverman has HH escaping a Chicago police station prison cell on April 5, 1900, and five days later he did it again in Kansas City, Missouri. This was before Europe.
DeleteAh, correct, sorry, I forgot the 1900 escapes. Still after the diary.
DeleteNewspaper articles depict Houdini’s handcuff and jail-breaking escapes when he and Bess were touring the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick during the summer of 1896—a tour that was initially started by Edward Dooley (The Marco Magic Company) before it ran into financial problems.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any of those original articles, Robert? I would love to see them. I'm a big fan of Bruce MacNab's book about Houdini in the Maritimes.
DeleteI reside in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the east coast of Canada. When I was attending university here--many, many years ago--I took one day and went to the Public Archives to see what I could find on Houdini. Back then (early 1980's), all the historic newspapers from the area were on microfiche. One was able to get a photocopy of any pages that were of interest. I do have a couple pages from that time. Sadly, the quality is not the greatest. I do have plans to return to the Archives, in the very near future, to see if I can secure better quality copies, especially now that technology has improved so much.
DeleteI will include, for you, a transcription of one of the articles that I have which is dated June 26, 1896 (Halifax Herald):
ESCAPE FROM DORCHESTER
'Mysterious Harry Houdini, of the Marco company, who tested the handcuffs of Chief O'Sullivan last Friday and succeeded in releasing(?) himself from all that were put on, made the same test at the academy of music last night. When the announcement was made from the stage that Houdini could get out of any handcuffs that might be brought, Sergeant Collins came forward with handcuffs and with the assistance of Mr. Urban, chef of the Halifax hotel, chained him in such a way that he seemed impossible of release. But it was an easy task for Houdini, as he released himself in one minute and four seconds. Tonight Houdini will be put to a hard test and he promises to release himself in less than two minutes. This performance in Marco's bill(?) is called 'Escape from Dorchester.'"
On the same page, in the upper right-hand corner, is an advertisement for Marco's show at the Academy Music. It is difficult to read some of it, but what I can decipher, reads as follows:
ACADEMY MUSIC
One Week
Commencing Monday, June 29
The Only, The Original
First Time Here
MARCO, Man of Mystery
See The Voodou Temple, Mystery of L'Hassa, Metamorphosis, Cremation of Floribel, Mahomet's Mystery
Weirdly Astonishing marvellous Test By Mlle' Marco
The World's Greatest...
Clairvoyant(?)...
Usual Prices...and 75 cents
(A chunk of this last section, unfortunately, is indecipherable)
When I return to the Public Archives, I can update you on the quality of the prints that I will get made.
Thanks, Robert. This is great stuff and very helpful.
DeleteOne thing to look out for is any newspaper article mentioning a stunt in which Houdini was bound to a horse. If this happened, it would have been around this time (June 15-July 5, 1896).
DeleteGet a load of this, on page 200 of Gibson's Houdini's Fabulous Magic:
ReplyDelete"I offered my handcuff act to the Welsh Brothers for $5 extra per week, but it was rejected. Eventually, I offered to clown the bars, collect lithographs, and do my handcuff show for $3 extra per week, and it was also refused. In fact several managers later on refused to allow me to do handcuffs, and it was only after persistently presenting it every once in a while like a trick in several museums, that I eventually was allowed to do the act steadily, and only after I had become known to the managers."
The cuffs were indeed there early on.
That's a very important quote. I use it in the diary book. Or at least I mention it.
DeleteWonderful! That diary book is highly anticipated.
Delete