Houdini loses his marbles

On May 16, 1925, Houdini attended The Boston Traveler's Greater Boston marbles championship. There, he witnessed young Jack Walkenstein take the title. He then played a game against Jack and was "badly beaten," as you can read for yourself in the account below.

Boston Herald, May 17, 1925

Jack became quite a celebrity that month. In fact, it became fashionable to be photographed getting a lesson in the fine art of marbles from Jack.

Mount Vernon Argus. May 27, 1925.

You can see a photo of Houdini and Jack's match over at Joe Notaro's Harry Houdini Circumstantial Evidence. The photo was part of a scrapbook page that appeared on eBay in 2014 and was won by Casa Museo de la Magia in Valencia, Spain, who now have it on display.

 

Below are some more tales of Houdini the sportsman.

Related:

• Houdini the golfer
• Harry's Thanksgiving run
• Harry Weiss, boxer and club swinger?