Houdini: A Life Worth Reading (7 page)

Despite Houdini’s passion for publicity, his relationship with his wife Bess was kept private from the press. Observers frequently said that Houdini appeared to act very lovingly towards Bess, and after his death his property was found to contain many love notes written to her, describing her as his sunshine and using many other romantic metaphors. Bess, like Houdini, was very private. She liked to make clothes and fine food, and to shop. The couple did not have any children, despite their attempts to conceive. Their letters to friends reflect sadness that they were not able to have children. They parented instead their pets, which included a small dog named Charlie and a parrot named Polly.

Houdini and Bess continued to enjoy each other’s company, although some of Houdini’s diary entries reflect that he treated her at times more like a griping mother than like a wife. He also made it clear to her that his devotion would have to be shared with his mother, and then the memory of his mother when Cecilia passed away. Houdini obsessed about another man benefiting from his hard work and savings. He repeatedly made Bess promise that if she should remarry after he died, that she insist that her second husband sign a prenuptial agreement agreeing to not pursue any part of Bess’s estate that came out of her marriage to Houdini. Houdini took out a large life insurance policy naming Bess as his beneficiary and put the Harlem brownstone in her name.

As many opportunities as Houdini must have had to cheat on Bess, there is only evidence of one affair: with the widow of his famous friend Jack London, Charmian London. In 1918, after Jack had passed away, Charmian spent a winter in New York City. Houdini invited her to come see his show “Cheer Up” in January, and diary entries on her part reflect that soon thereafter he and she started a love affair. Houdini’s own records reflect that he felt troubled by his infidelity, and the physical aspect of their affair seems to have died out relatively quickly, even before Charmian returned to California. Houdini and Charmian continued to exchange amorous letters, however. It is unclear if Bess ever knew of the affair; she did speak of discovering love letters from several women to her husband after Houdini’s death, one of which she said came from a widow whom she had trusted, possibly Charmian.
Bess also complained when Houdini played the lover of younger female actresses during his film career. Charmian and Houdini met up again in 1924 when Houdini was performing in California, but there is no evidence that their love affair continued at that time.

Normally Houdini and Bess made an event out of their anniversary; for several years they took trips out to Coney Island in New York City, the site of their honeymoon. For their twenty-fifth anniversary, in June of 1919, Houdini threw an elaborate banquet at a Los Angeles hotel (the pair was living in Los Angeles at the time in order to accommodate Houdini’s acting career, see Chapter VIX). Two hundred guests attended and gourmet food was served. The couple made an entrance and Bess reportedly nearly fainted. A letter from Houdini from that night reflects his genuine affection for Bess and for the life they had built together. From their thirtieth anniversary, in 1924, there remains a photo of them tied together, kissing.

Houdini’s devotion to his mother Cecilia is extensively documented; he regarded her as a saint and took great pride in providing for her as his father had asked him to do on his deathbed. Houdini lavished gifts on Cecilia and moved her into 278. Biographers speculate that Houdini viewed Cecilia as one of the only people in his life that was entirely loyal to him, and with whom he did not have to compete with anyone to earn love and acceptance. In return, he worshipped her and craved her happiness. A famous picture of Houdini shows him posing between Cecilia and his wife Bess, eyebrows raised, very content with position between what he called the two women in his life.

In July of 1913, Houdini set sail for a tour in Europe. His mother and some other family members came to the dock as usual to see him off, and Houdini made a big show of running off the boat several times to give his mother another last kiss. His mother said to him, as she always did before he left on a big trip, that perhaps she wouldn’t be there when he got back. Houdini tried to cheer her up, and she told him to get her some slippers. Shortly thereafter, Cecilia suffered a stroke from which she would not recover. Houdini received the news that she was gravely ill and hurried back to the States, but too late: Cecilia died on July 17, 1913. Houdini begged the family to postpone the funeral, which they defied Jewish tradition to do. Houdini finally arrived in New York and sat with his mother’s body all night.

At the age of thirty-nine, Houdini suffered the loss of his mother with great despair. He returned to performing but continued to have spells of loneliness and grief over Cecilia’s death. Houdini also missed his father, attending rabbinical services every year on the anniversary of Meyer’s death. He visited his mother Cecilia’s grave often and on all anniversaries of her death and his birthday. He even had Cecilia’s mother unburied from her grave and buried next to Cecilia. He arranged for a huge monument known as an exedra to be placed on his family plot, which he dedicated on October 1, 1916, even though large gravesite monuments are frowned upon in the Jewish cultural tradition.

After his mother’s death, Houdini rented out the old Harlem brownstone and stayed with his brother Dash (Hardeen) and Dash’s wife Elsie. Houdini had always maintained a close relationship with Dash, who seemed content to give him center stage. Dash suffered from ulcers and other stomach problems. He and his wife had two children. Houdini also had a loving if distant relationship with his younger sister Gladys, who suffered from health problems that left her at least partially blind. Originally proud of his brother Leo, a young doctor who had a reputation for womanizing, Houdini turned against his brother when Leo married the ex-wife of their other brother Nat, strongly suggesting that there had been an affair during the marriage. Houdini considered this a huge scandal.

Houdini’s letters also reflect some tension between himself and Dash and his wife while the families cohabitated. In February of 1918, Houdini and Bess moved back into the Harlem brownstone where his mother had spent her last days. In his early fifties, Houdini wrote his will, going to great lengths to make sure that the sister-in-law who had divorced one brother and married another would not get any share of his riches, nor would the second brother she had married. Houdini’s brother Bill died in 1925 of tuberculosis, an illness he had fought most of his life.

In 1905 Bess, recovering from a serious illness, told Houdini she wanted her mother. Bess’s mother, a Catholic, had disowned her eighteen-year-old daughter twelve years earlier when she married the Jewish Houdini. Houdini went to his mother-in-law’s apartment and reportedly refused to leave until Mrs. Rahner came with him to 278 to see Bess. Apparently Bess’s mother accepted, and she and Bess immediately began crying upon seeing each other. Bess was then thirty years old. The two reconciled, and Mrs. Rahner resolved to accept Houdini as her son-in-law. She seemed to do so with some success, although some reports maintained that she sprinkled holy water about the house after Houdini’s visits. Later on in life she moved into 278 and accepted Houdini’s financial support.

After reading this chapter, you will know more about

• An educational insecurity:
  An impoverished background deprived Houdini of a formal education, and he strived to make up for the lack.
  

• The first popular book:
  Houdini’s first major book caused controversy in the world of magicians.
  

• More controversy:
  Additional books made both law enforcement and the public unhappy with Houdini.
  

• Houdini’s ghostwriters:
  Many of the magician’s books were not his own words.
  

While touring in Europe, Houdini attempted to join the literary world, writing articles for magic and theatrical publications.
His biographers suggest that editors really did most of the work on these journalistic pieces, as Houdini in truth had poor grammar and did not type very clearly due to his lack of formal education. Houdini nevertheless set his sights on writing a book documenting the history of magicians. He was determined to gain a reputation an educated, intelligent man and not be known merely as an entertainer.

After his return to the United States, Houdini published some short stories and a ninety-six page book exposing fraudulent magicians and conmen, called
The Right Way to Do Wrong
. Biographers strongly suggest that another writer largely wrote this piece as well. Houdini also published a monthly magazine known as
Conjurers’ Monthly
. In
Conjurers’ Monthly
, he fought openly and publically with other magicians and writers, especially competing and sparring with another magic magazine,
the Sphinx
, published by a Dr. Wilson. The refusal of the Society of Magicians (or SAM) to adopt
Conjurers’ Monthly
as its official magazine led to Houdini’s resignation from that organization, although he later rejoined and became president.

In his first major book,
The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin
, Houdini attempted to discredit every claim to fame made by his former hero, Robert-Houdin, explaining how each contribution attributed to Robert-Houdin could be traced back to earlier artists. The passion with which he attacked Robert-Houdin caused controversy in the magicians’ community, as Houdini allowed Robert-Houdin almost no credit for any work. His contempt for all imitators seemed to be focused on his former idol, and Houdini’s own obsession with being the first and the best seemed to blind him to some historical realities. For his part, Houdini believed the book provided a service to all who had been robbed by Robert-Houdin of the fame that they deserved.

Around 1910, after Houdini announced that he would no longer do handcuff tricks, he wrote a book called
Handcuff Secrets
. This book worried law enforcement officials around the world, who thought of it as a guide for criminals on how to open locks and escape cells.

Continuing his literary endeavors, Houdini wrote a second edition of
The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin
, and co-wrote a book called
History Makers in the World of Magic
. In 1918 and 1919, Houdini wrote a column called M-U-M (Magic – Unity – Might) for the Society of American Magicians’ magazine. He also wrote many other articles and participated in the publication of several other books about magic, although it seems likely that he hired others and used Oscar Teale to do the bulk of the research and writing on these numerous pieces (see Chapter XII for more information about Oscar Teale).

In the early 1920s Houdini published the book
Miracle Mongers and their Methods
. Most biographers acknowledge that this book was really ghostwritten, even though it does draw heavily on Houdini’s many experiences during his early career in vaudeville and circus performance.

Houdini’s crusade to expose fraudulent mediums led to his publication of another work of significant length, a book called
A Magician Among the Spirits
. This book was organized around exposures of famous mediums from history, and chapters explaining the various phenomena produced by “physical” mediums—those who produced physical effects such as the movement of objects, the production of ectoplasm, and the writing or drawing of words and pictures rather than who proclaimed to have psychic powers. Although Houdini prided himself on producing a work of historical accuracy and scientific significance, in reality
A Magician Among the Spirits
, although well received, contained a number of errors and plenty of personal biases, including a rant against Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (see Chapter XI). It is also a matter of debate how much of the work Houdini produced himself and how much he farmed out to ghostwriters.

In the early 1920s, some combination of Houdini and his ghostwriters authored a romantic detective novel called
The Zanetti Mystery
. Houdini also claimed to have authored short stories for the publication
Weird Tales
, which were supposedly autobiographical. In reality, the stories were based on Houdini’s incredible imaginations of escapes from burials inside ancient pyramids and gothic dungeons and were written by the later famous author H.P. Lovecraft. Another controversial claim to literary fame by Houdini arose in 1923, when he claimed to have edited the long-awaited biography of a revered deceased magician named James Elliott, who was famous for his card tricks. Another magician, Clinton Burgess, disputed Houdini’s editorship, insisting that he was the editor and Houdini merely provided funding for the book’s publication. Burgess and Houdini fought publically and bitterly, and Houdini succeeded in getting Burgess kicked out of the SAM, although it is debatable how much editing Houdini actually did and how much he again turned over to Teale and to other contractors.