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| Brooklyn Eagle, May 29, 1945. |
If you look carefully at this ad, which ran in several New York papers on May 29, 1945, you'll see "Hardeen & others" in very small print along the side.
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This points to the RKO Madison Theater, located at 54-30 Myrtle Avenue in the Ridgewood area of Queens. The below confirms that.
It appears this was a one-day performance at the Madison, which was primarily a movie theater. But while waiting for the new Bob Hope film to arrive, you could catch a day of old-time vaudeville. It's interesting to think of how Hardeen's career spanned the history of vaudeville, from its beginnings at theaters like the Imperial to its decline as a one-day novelty at theaters like the RKO Madison.
It was during this final show that Hardeen named Douglas Geoffrey his successor, "Hardeen Jr." The next day, he went into Doctors Hospital for an operation. He never came out.
The RKO Madison opened in 1927 as the Keith-Albee Madison Theatre. It featured vaudeville and movies. It dropped vaudeville as a regular feature in 1932 when it became part of RKO. But its large stage was still sometimes used for live performances. In 1966, escape artist Mario Manzini performed there.
The Madison became a grindhouse in the 1970s and closed in 1978. But the building still stands today as the Liberty Department Stores. Where Hardeen took his last bow.
The fate and now appearance of The Liberty Theater, reminds me of The Clune/Cameo Theater in Los Angeles where Houdini appeared in person with, "The Master Mystery."
ReplyDeleteYes, very similar! https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2019/08/houdini-and-master-mystery-at-clunes.html
DeleteWow! My nyc hometown! I used to walk by this place in the way to the L train!! Wild.
ReplyDeleteOh, very cool. Sorry I didn't tell you this back then!
DeleteHaha! It is just so amusing to see a building I am familiar with. I even shopped in that store!
Deletethe internet won't let me post as anything other than annoymous....this is Colleen :)
ReplyDeleteYou have to log in for your name to appear. It's at the upper right hand corner.
DeleteOn some browsers that doesn't work anymore. Google doesn't support Blogger worth a damn. We're in wilderness.
DeleteThat's scary. I never log out of here because I don't want to fall in the same rabbit hole Colleen fell in.
Deletebtw---Friend, Mario Manzini - STILL performs today with his escape act. His career started at New York's Huber's Museum - in the late 1950's....A 7 decade performing career!
ReplyDeleteStill remember Mario on The Mike Douglas Show, which had Jill St. John among the other guests, when he did an escape underwater in a glass tank.
ReplyDeleteDiego Domingo
I vaguely remember that as well.
DeleteHoudini saw vaudeville's impending decline on the horizon and tried to jump ship to the movies. He made the right move with his own two hour touring show, although I think the second season tour wore him down.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I would characterize it like that. When Houdini started eyeballing the movies (1915ish) vaudeville was at its peak. What Houdini saw in the movies was a way to make an equivalent or even better living without the grind of travel and the toll on his body. He might have sensed a decline on his return on 1922/3 when he now had to play 3-a-day venues like Junior Orpheum as part of his tour. But I don’t think anyone would have predicted the end of vaudeville even at that time. They were building major vaudeville houses right up to 1929. I think the decline was shocking fast due to the depression and the talkies. It's a good question for a true expert. When did the observable decline begin? I bet the answer is early '30s.
DeleteIn his HH bio, Gresham notes Houdini could see the competion was becoming "those flickering images" that once were in nickelodians seating maybe a couple of hundred, by 1914 were in legit houses on Broadway.
DeleteGresham notes that by 1915, Houdini could see the power of the new media with D.W. Griffith's epics playing with full orchestras with a two dollar top on broadway.
Others did not want to face that productions that took train cars with scenery, players and workers, could now be sent in tin cans to play morning to night paying only a projectionist in their place.
Diego Domingo
Reading issues of THE BILLBOARD, you see "Vaudeville" news taking up pages in the front, with a column for those moving pictures behind them....then the column becomes full length, then 2, then taking up a page and eventually in the front with vaudeville, burlesk, and other live entertainments behind them, down to a page, then a column and ______.
DeleteThat's funny! Do you have a timeline for those issues? What issue do you see vaudeville way in the back? What year?
DeleteVaudeville has it's featured section in The Billboard probably from 1900 on, if not earlier. You see this and all the changes in show business as the years progress.
DeleteInteresting to note that every new techology nthat arises...phonograph, radio, movie, talking pictures, TV, etc., is laughed at, ignored, feared, fought, and ultimately embraced.
Diego Domingo
I would assume Houdini would have made the same fate as his brother had he lived into the mid 1940’s. Once a headliner of unimaginable proportions reduced to a small blurb some 30 -40 years later. Do we see anything Houdini could have done to remain a headliner? Was there even anyplace he could go to headline? This was the era of motion pictures and pretty much too early for television. Houdini would have been too old to make anything of himself in the movies. I would think by 1945 Houdini at 71 would be looking on from the sidelines and retired.
ReplyDeleteThat's one scenario. I think he would have done USO shows and help out for the war effort selling war bonds and so on. He might still have been doing a touring show like Dante and Blackstone in the 40s. He would have made appearances at SAM and possibly other magic conventions. The magic convention made its debut right when he was exiting the stage.
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