Houdini, Frank Tate, and a $5 bill

Here's a well-done video from HEC and historian Andrew Wanko about Houdini in St. Louis and Columbia theater manager Frank R. Tate, who famously told the Handcuff King, "You are not worth a five dollar bill to me."

I can add some more context to this unique time in Houdini's career. Houdini returned to America in 1905 and had been drawing large audiences and creating a sensation on the big-time Keith's vaudeville circuit. In 1907, he told his friend Dr. Waitt in Boston that he didn't want to do another tour of Keith's theaters "as I would like to give it a rest so as not to weary the public." Instead, he started making plans to return to Germany, where he hadn't appeared in three years.

However, Keith's made him an offer he couldn't refuse, $70,000 for 40 weeks, and he went back on tour. By early 1908, as feared, there were signs that audiences were tiring of him. Several managers, including Tate, took notice. The Milk Can helped, but it did not entirely solve the problem of escape fatigue in some cities. Houdini completed his tour and left for Europe. He would not play the U.S. for another three years.

Frank Tate died in 1934. As the video shows, his grave is located in the Bellefontaine Cemetery in North St. Louis. I'm looking forward to visiting St. Louis someday and visiting some of the Houdini sites. When I do, I plan to lay a five-dollar bill on the steps of Manager Tate's mausoleum.

Want more? You can view research related to Houdini's 1908 appearance in St. Louis as a "Scholar" member of my Patreon below. Included here is an original Columbia Theater program from the Fred Pittella Collection featuring the first advertisement for Houdini's Milk Can.

Related:

• Mystifying man in St. Louis
• St. Louis catches 'Houdini' fact check fever
• Houdini to the minute