Houdini's Final Worcester Performance: A Century Later, His Legacy Endures

An estimated 5,000 people gathered Sept. 30, 1926, at 174-188 Main St. in Worcester to watch the famous Harry Houdini perform his famous copper-casket trick. Little did the crowd know it would be his final outdoor performance before his death, just one month later, on Halloween.

Summerfield’s furniture store hosted the event, challenging the public to prove “the casket is not as represented” and invited the public to see the casket in its storefront windows along Main Street.

During the spectacle, Houdini, who had begun his magic career some 30 years prior, promised to allow himself to be sealed in an “airtight” casket worth some $5,000 for more than one hour.

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In an article published in The Evening Gazette on Sept. 30, 1926, the casket, described as “made of steel and covered with a copper casting, is the one that Houdini says he will be buried in when he dies. It has a glass lid, which is screwed down on a rubber gasket.”

The building that housed Summerfield's still stands at 184 Main St. in Worcester

The article goes on to describe the way in which Houdini communicated with the outside world during his time trapped within. Up until this time, Houdini was known to use a telephone system, but during this particular stunt he is described as blinking his eyes to communicate with his assistant, who was sometimes his wife, Bess.

Then, after about 30 minutes, the article explained, moisture began forming on the glass, which allowed Houdini to write upon it. There is no mention of what the seemingly magical man wrote.

Walking past 184 Main St. in 2025, the building housing Summerfield’s remains, with only slight changes to the exterior over the last 100 years.

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The Summerfield’s stunt was not Houdini’s first in the city. In fact. just a couple of days before, on Sept. 28, he performed his well-known “underwater test” in the pool of the YMCA. Unlike the Summerfield display, this stunt was performed in front “largely of physicians and scientific men,” according to the Worcester Telegram.

During the stunt, Houdini was lowered into the pool in a sealed casket, where he remained for one hour and 11 minutes. Several newspapers claimed the event was held after accusations Houdini used a telephone system between the underwater casket and the surface, to provide him with oxygen. During the stunt, in front of officials, researchers and the media, the magician proved his own claim that he relied upon controlled breathing to perform the feat rather than trickery such as a hidden source of air.

Undated photo: This is a publicity photograph of Houdini used to promote shows or news articles about himself. Harry Houdini, who spent part of his childhood in Appleton, died on Halloween in 1926.

Over at the YMCA on Main Street, Pam Suprenant, vice president of youth development and community services, could not contain her fandom as she told the tale involving its pool.

"No one ever asks but I always tell," she said with a chuckle.

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Suprenant explained that when she first started working at the third-oldest YMCA in the country 29 years ago, she was informed about a closet containing some of the physical history of the organization.

Standing at the pool's edge, the same pattern pictured in the old photographs of Houdini's stunt is still visible, although the "4 feet" marker has been removed and the pool, at one time the longest in the United States, had been cut in two.

Harry wasn't the only Houdini in the magic field. His brother, Theo Hardeen, was also an escape artist. Both Houdini and Hardeen were stage names; the family had emigrated from Budapest, Hungary, with the surname Weiss.

Before Houdini's death, the brothers would perform together, and upon his death, Houdini bestowed all of his magician equipment to Hardeen with the agreement that when Hardeen died, it would be incinerated.

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Houdini died without an heir, but Hardeen had three children with his wife, Elsie Fozzard, including Gladys Ivy Hardeen, Theodore Hardeen Jr. and Harry Houdini Hardeen.

When Hardeen died, the collection wasn't actually destroyed. Some of it was sold to his protégé, Sidney Hollis Radner, a graduate of Worcester Academy; some was given to Bess, Houdini's widow, and handed down through the family, ending up in the hands of Houdini's great-nephew, John Hinson.

Hinson, who lives in Worcester and works as a chef for a nursing home, comes from Houdini's wife's side of the family tree; his great-grandmother was Bess' sister. He grew up playing with a pair of Houdini's infamous handcuffs and listening to the tales of their love story, Houdini's performances and his playful personality.

"I love being part of the family," Hinson said, as he opened a suitcase revealing hundreds of family photographs and letters. "When I was younger and people found out, it was sort of like 'Wanna bet?' and I won a lot of bets. When people find out we are related, they always want to know how he died."

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Hinson describing how Houdini took the stage in Detriot despite having appendicitis and a 104-degree fever.

"He collapsed on stage and was taken to the hospital and it was too late," Hinson said. "He didn't die in a cell like some of the movies depict. He did get punched, which didn't help the situation, but he was just so stubborn."

When asked what his favorite family story was growing up, his reply was simply "All of them."

"According to my family, Bessie was supposed to go out with Hardeen, but Harry intervened and the rest was history," he said, adding the pair often performed together early on his career. "She was very petite, just 4-foot-11, and very beautiful."

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Hinson admits most of Houdini's things and family heirlooms have been sold or gifted, but he still has one pair of handcuffs and a large silver punch bowl gifted to the magician in 1913 for 30 years of performing.

After sitting with Hinson, it's clear to see why his favorite stories are "all of them," from Houdini being the first to fly an airplane in Australia, to coining the stage name "Buster" for silent film star Buster Keaton, and even being taken "into custody" by the German police just so he could give them a private show. Even Hinson's dog, a 1.5-year-old terrier mix, is named Houdini.

Here in Worcester, the magician's legacy is much more than a few stunts on Main Street. In the months before his death, Houdini had been working to debunk those who believed they could communicate with spirits or the dead.

Worcester's Clark University had planned the first in a series of lectures around the topic of spiritualism and invited the magician to speak.

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It began during a lunch date months earlier with professor Carl Murchison, chair of the Clark psychology department, and his friend, Harvard University professor William McDougall. They took a seat at the Bancroft Hotel and were joined by McDougall’s good friend, Houdini.

Murchison detailed that lunch and said the trio “began talking about spirit mediums, psychic phenomena and other matters relating to psychical research.” After Houdini and McDougall did not agree on some things, Murchison suggested the pair duke it out in a public symposium at Clark.

“Mr. Harry Houdini was to have been a speaker in this symposium, but his untimely death prevented,” Murchison wrote of the series. The professor ended up working with Houdini’s widow to provide information during the eight lectures.

In the years following her husband's death, Bess held a séance in the hopes of communicating with her lost love, but after a decade of no answers, she moved on. Hinson explained séances still take place every year on the anniversary of his death, which he prefers not to attend. Instead, he says a prayer for his distant relative on Halloween night.

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"Next year, he'll be gone 100 years," Hinson said. "Blackstone, Danté, I mean who are they? They're magicians of course, but no one has ever heard of them. But Houdini, everyone knows Houdini, and he is still somewhat of a mystery 100 years later."

T&G engagement editor Sarah Barnacle is getting to know Central Mass. by exploring some of the best places to go and things to do in Worcester County. If you have an idea or suggestion, please email sbarnacle@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester County Wonders: Houdini's trio of Worcester performances

[SRC] https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/worcester-county-wonders-harry-houdinis-090159301.html