Houdini in South Bend

It's rare these days that I find a suspended straitjacket escape that I didn't already have on my list, but that's precisely what happened last week. A recent upload of the South Bend News-Times online revealed that Houdini hung from the News-Times building in South Bend, Indiana, on January 29, 1924.

South Bend News-Times, Jan. 30, 1924

Why was this so hard to find? I've discovered many newspapers ignored a Houdini stunt if it was performed in conjunction with a rival paper. If that rival paper isn't archived online, it's like it never happened. How many more of these are waiting to be discovered, I wonder?

The News-Times building stood at 210 W. Colfax Avenue. Below is a photo of it as it appeared in Houdini's time. Today, the building is long gone. 

Happily, the South Bend theater where Houdini appeared, The New Palace, survives today as The Morris Performing Arts Center. So we can add to the list of surviving Houdini theaters as well!

Want more? While this was Houdini's first (and last) appearance in South Bend as a headliner, he had performed in the city in his early days. Houdini told the story to a News-Times reporter. It's a charming, untold tale that I'm sharing as a History Exclusive on my Patreon below.

Related:

• List of surviving Houdini theaters
• Houdini's known suspended straitjacket escapes
• Uncovering Houdini's 1915 Los Angeles straitjacket escape (at last!)