Six weeks on from Halloween, I’ve just recently finished plowing through the last of the kids’ candy stash that I had managed to squirrel away unnoticed So through the fog and anguish of acute sugar withdrawal, I’d like to take a look back and talk about the premature demise of a man who has become inextricably linked to the glorious holiday – the legendary magician, Harry Houdini.
Born Eric Weiss in the year 1874, the master showman and icon of the paranormal arts met his fate under circumstances that aren’t fully understood even to this day. One thing we DO know, however, is that the series of events that would lead to Houdini’s death at the young age of 52 began in Montreal, Canada, in a building that still stands – at least for now.
Just a few blocks away from the old Montreal Forum sits a darkened theater that helped comprise one of the early 20th century’s most exciting theater scenes. The Princess Theater, as it was known then, played host to a variety of stage productions from legitimate theater to vaudeville and even burlesque. Numerous well-known acts graced the Princess stage, such as Charlie Chaplin and in October 1926, Harry Houdini in what would turn out to be his final show.
Of course, nobody at the time knew that Houdini’s days were numbered. After all, the death-defying performer was still at the top of his game. But it was backstage at the Princess that he suffered the freak injury that ultimately did him in. Greeting admirers in his dressing room prior to the show, he was asked by one man if the legend was true that he could take a punch to the stomach without experiencing pain or injury. When Houdini acknowledged that such was the case, the young college student immediately and without warning unleashed a flurry of devastating blows on the 52 year-old magician and escape artist.
Houdini wasn’t ready. He didn’t realize that the attack was coming, so he didn’t prepare himself for it. By the time he managed to signal for the young man to stop, the damage had been done. In a state of profound agony, the consummate showman gamely made it through the night’s performance – and two additional shows the next day – before heading off to Detroit, the next stop on his tour. It was there that Harry Houdini died of a ruptured appendix. The date was October 31. Halloween.
The Princess Theater still stands in Montreal, though it is no longer the majestic venue it once was. In the 1960’s, it was re-branded The Parisien and converted into a cinema. By the time of its ultimate closure in 2007, the main auditorium had been subdivided into seven movie theaters. Today it sits vacant, likely awaiting eventual demolition. Perhaps it’s just a matter of time before the wrecking ball comes to sucker punch the old theater into the next world. If so, I doubt Houdini would mind all that much.
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