Credit: 1899.Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Reproduction Number LC-USZ6-2100
This is a very early photograph of Harry and Bess Houdini that is in the Library of Congress. To me, it looks-like the image has been hand trimmed. Could it have been cut out of some kind of entertainment trade magazine.? I don’t know without physically seeing it. No matter what, it’s a new image to most of us. Enjoy!
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I remember this photo, I used it in my book, Houdini Speaks Out, on page 10. I don’t know how to fully explain what has happened to this image but when I received my image copy that I purchased from the Library of Congress it does arrive with the trimmed top as you see it. However, when I scanned it in to the computer it shows up with a “ghosted” double image where the trimmed portion is. So that’s why it appears this way. I’m assuming at some other past point in time, someone at the Library saw this too so that’s why they cropped it. You will notice that the image in my book is square topped which I acheived by using photoshop to recreate the background over the ghosted image. Mystery solved.
Arthur, very good post.
Now if we can find out if they were ever married…..
Oh no … bad cropping again. Thanks Arthur for explaining it.
I have often wondered about the marriage thing too. It seems odd for them both considering the time in which it occurred. All the more reason for them to fib about it though if that were the case. And let’s face it, they were together such a long time that if they weren’t married, it was really only the piece of paper that was missing.
Both concepts seem so unbelievable to me. For Them not being married in the 1890′s was just so taboo. On the hand, not to have one piece of a paper to prove they were married from any of the 3 alleged marriages would seem impossible.
Now let me put on my tin foil hat and try this one. Because they weren’t married, was one or or both of them unwilling to produce a child because of their marital status??
I know, it does seem strange that if there were three “weddings” there is somehow no evidence of any of them. That’s the thing that perplexes me.
I have a theory about the childless issue – when I read in the Kalush book that it was Bess who had the problem, I started to wonder if she may have had something called Turner Syndrome. It is a genetic anomaly found only in females which causes abnormal formation of the reproductive organs. All women with it are infertile.
Some women are more severely affected than others and have other issues but there are plenty of women who appear otherwise normal, just with short stature and primary infertility. It is often picked up in adolescence when normal development fails to occur.
Bess was born at a time when girls matured much later and she got together with HH at the age of 18. It is highly likely that she did not know much about her situation but I assume at some point it was investigated when they had not had any children after a few years.
Her short stature and the family lore that she was born without ovaries is what makes me think that this is the case.
Bit of an aside there and nothing to do with mirrors. Sorry. =)
When I was interviewed for “The Secret Life” I said that Marie Blood told me that Bess never sexually matured. As for girls maturing sooner today, I don’t think it’s so. It has more to do with their weight. I forget the number, but it’s something like 85 pounds. We are all heavier than the people from 100+ years ago. You can take a quick look on the net about the weight thing and maturity.
Ah, so you’re the source. =)
You’re right, it does have a lot to do with weight or more specifically, percentage of body fat but there are other factors too. I remember reading a while back that average age in the 19th century was 15 – 16 which seems late these days. Whatever the average is seems to be influenced by many factors including lifestyle, better nutrition and which country the figures were taken in.
I still don’t know what the likelihood is of a girl from a large family dominated by women, making it to the age of 18 without realising something was amiss. I’m not sure when she left home but it must have been pretty young so it is possible the subject did not really come up.
Just speculation on my part.
I wonder if common law marriages were more common in those days. I’m not a social historian, so I wouldn’t know about cultural attitudes toward that.
I always thought their made-up story about Houdini spilling acid on her white dress when she was a schoolgirl, and ruining it, was an unconscious admission that they had sex before marriage. I figured that was why they got married so soon after meeting.
If they weren’t married, that would help explain the antipathy of Bess’ mother to Houdini, which would soften only after the Houdinis had been together for many years. Of course, their different religions might explain that alone.
In the biographies, Bess does come across as little-girlish psychologically. It wouldn’t be surprising if there was some physical condition that contributed to this. I wonder what Marie Blood meant by “sexually developed.”
I think it was less frequent for common law marriages. Taking in both of their religions, I just can’t see. With a quasi-rabbi father, I just can’t see it.
As for Bess’s mother, the religion difference was probably more like it. To marry a Protestant even back then would have give many a conniption.
I don’t know what Marie thought, but if Bess didn’t reach 85 pounds till late in life, she may have been right.
Hi Kevin:
Great site! Sorry I’m chiming in so late, but just came across this post. Bess didn’t, as one writer above suggests, have Turner’s syndrome. The disease causes marked physical abnormalities that would have been evident in photographs of Bess, and she’d never have been able to perform the metamorphosis illusion with the condition.
John Cox likely has the malady correct on his Web site. Marie (Blood) thought that Bess couldn’t have children because of her tiny size. The latter is in keeping with the condition John spaks of, but we’ll likely never know for sure. It’s evident that Marie found her way into both Harry and Bess’ hearts because they had no children of their own.
Greg
Greg – Sounds fine by me, but I’ll have to go with what Marie told me. I think you were there when I was down in NC with her when she did talk about it. That and they she was very light in weight in her child bearing years.