This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/19/2021
Vernon, Dai (David Frederick Wingfield Verner). Ticket for the Banquet at Which Dai Vernon Fooled Harry Houdini. Chicago, 1922. Letterpress ticket, numbered 414 in red ink, admitting the bearer to the Houdini Night banquet at the Great Northern Hotel in Chicago on Feb. 6, 1922.It was at this banquet that Dai Vernon, still a relative unknown, presented his version of the Ambitious Card to Houdini, who claimed he could discover the secret behind any trick were it shown to him three times. Vernon performed the effect eight times, fooling the master escape artist every time. Houdini was said to have stormed away from the encounter, frustrated and completely baffled. For years after, Vernon was known as “The Man Who Fooled Houdini.”