Showcasing vintage male photography, mostly nude. You must be 18 years of age or older to visit this blog! If you hold a copyright on any material shown on this blog, notify me, and it will be removed immediately.
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Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini appeared almost nude in a number of his escape routines.
Those usually involved being dumped into water chained or boxed, so I'd love
to know why he's almost naked escaping from jail in this one.
I have a larger version of this photo (this one is cropped) labeled "Murderer's Row." A little searching turned up this 1907 newspaper article https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/data/batches/curiv_pomo_ver01/data/sn85042462/00175047475/1907092901/0467.pdf in which Houdini reminisces about various escapes. It turns out he did many escapes from from jail cells, resulting in a reputation as "the international jailbreaker." In this case, in January 1906, he was stripped (presumably so he couldn't be concealing any keys or other tools) and locked into the strongest cell in the Washington D.C. jail, the cell on "Murderer's Row" in which Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield, was confined. Of course, Houdini escaped from it.
I have a larger version of this photo (this one is cropped) labeled "Murderer's Row." A little searching turned up this 1907 newspaper article
ReplyDeletehttps://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/data/batches/curiv_pomo_ver01/data/sn85042462/00175047475/1907092901/0467.pdf
in which Houdini reminisces about various escapes. It turns out he did many escapes from from jail cells, resulting in a reputation as "the international jailbreaker." In this case, in January 1906, he was stripped (presumably so he couldn't be concealing any keys or other tools) and locked into the strongest cell in the Washington D.C. jail, the cell on "Murderer's Row" in which Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield, was confined. Of course, Houdini escaped from it.
Of course he escaped. Your explanation of his nudity makes sense.
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