Select Secrets: Rare & Important Magicana

Houdini, Harry (Ehrich Weisz). Theater Program for Houdini’s Final Performance. Detroit, 1926. Four pages from a Garrick Theater program beginning Sunday, October 24, 1926, the week of Houdini’s death. The program describes and details Houdini’s extensive three-part program of magic, escapes, and spiritualism exposés, features an ad playing on Houdini’s name, and the terminal leaf bears an illustrated ad stating that the week of October 31 will be Houdini’s last in Detroit. One folded sheet, approximately 8vo, laid in a contemporary Garrick program with color covers, staple holes evident. The only example we have located. Houdini’s unexpected death on October 31, 1926 has been a source of great fascination and speculation for nearly 100 years. He opened in Detroit at the Garrick on October 24, arriving from Montreal where he had sustained an unexpected punch to his stomach, which ruptured his appendix. On opening night in Detroit, attempting to work through excruciating pain, Houdini collapsed on stage and was rushed to the hospital. Doctors there determined that peritonitis had set in, and one week later, he succumbed.