They gained notice with a trunk escape Houdini created called The Metamorphosis and began playing in leading vaudeville houses from the Midwest to California by 1900, they were also starring on the East Coast circuit. Bess left the Floral Sisters and became her husband's new stage assistant and the act became The Houdinis. After a three week courtship, and despite objections to a Gentile daughter-in-law, the couple were married on June 22, 1894. She was performing a song and dance act as one of the Floral Sisters in Brighton Beach, New York. Born Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, she met an unknown magician named Ehrich Weisz in 1894 who, with his brother Dash, was performing under the name Houdini Brothers. What follows is a rebroadcast of that final seance held on the roof of the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel on October 31st, 1936.Entertainer. If ten years passed without the code being revealed, well, it was “ Goodnight Harry.” The two agreed that for the next ten years, on the Halloween anniversary of his death, Bess would conduct a seance in which the ghost of Harry would produce a secret code. In fact, shortly before Houdini’s death, he entered a pact with Bess. While Bess dabbled in the occult, even operating a tearoom in the neighborhood, she never truly seemed to accept Harry’s belief in a spirit world. 67 Payson Avenue, former home of Bess Houdini. CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGEĮvery Sunday, at the hour of Harry’s death, Bess would lock herself in a room of her 67 Payson Avenue home with a photograph of her dead husband and wait for a sign. 1930 Federal Census shows Bess Houdini (highlighted at bottom) living at 67 Payson Avenue. Not long after Houdini’s death Bess left her and Harry’s West 113th Street apartment and moved to Inwood where she would be joined by other members of the Houdini clan. Bess Houdini buys 67 Payson Avenue, The New York Sun, February 19, 1927 While Bess Houdini was left a sizable life insurance payout the recent widow could clearly no longer afford her and Harry’s former lifestyle.
on Octohe left his widow, Bess, on shaky financial footing. When fifty-two year old Harry Houdini died in a Detroit hospital at 1:26 p.m. Houdini in center with mother on left and Bess on right.
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