They arrived in mid-June to find the citizens of Halifax embracing summer, enjoying traditional activities like strawberry festivals and picnic excursions to McNab’s Island. From there, Marco and the Houdinis departed for Halifax and a scheduled weeklong stand at the Academy of Music on Pleasant Street (now Barrington Street). The locals were mystified by the show’s illusions, which included escapes, levitation, and mind reading.Īt the next stop, in Saint John, New Brunswick, the troupe performed to modest houses. The troupe performed two shows in Yarmouth, which were both well attended. Within seconds, the young showman returned the unlocked handcuffs to the chief. In one publicity stunt, Houdini visited a downtown store and had Yarmouth’s chief of police handcuff him with a pair of the city’s own regulation irons. All this for only twenty-five cents! How could mere magicians compete with such a spectacle?Īs they say, the show must go on, so Houdini set to work promoting the upcoming performance. As an added bonus, the show featured an anteater and a badger, and closed with clowns and hilarious fun makers.
The monkeys also appeared “appropriately costumed” to perform as actors and dancers. Unfortunately for Marco and the Houdinis, these monkeys had talent to burn! They boxed, leapt from trapezes, rode bicycles, and walked on a high wire. Rufus Somerby, sixty-three, a veteran vaudeville manager and ventriloquist, had begun a summer-long tour of the region in Yarmouth with his wildly popular Professor Wormwood’s Monkey Theatre. Upon their arrival, Marco and the Houdinis realized they were up against some formidable competition. On May 28, 1896, Marco and his assistants, including Harry and Bess Houdini, prepared for two shows at Yarmouth’s Boston Marine Hall. The first stop on the Maritime tour was Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The Marco Magic Company was bankrolled by Edward Dooley, a Connecticut-based performer who went by the stage name “Marco the Magician.”
#BESS HOUDINI PROFESSIONAL#
They also had a stint with a travelling circus, with Bess performing as a singing clown while Harry worked the sideshow and occasionally posed as the circus wild man.Īfter touring New England with a fledgling variety show that went bankrupt, twenty-two-year-old Harry Houdini and his wife jumped at a chance to join a professional theatre tour through the Maritime provinces. The couple often performed their illusions up to twenty times a day at dime museums. Prior to touring Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Harry and Bess (Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner) had been serving a gruelling vaudeville apprenticeship. One Maritime community even holds the distinction of hosting the very first international performance headlined by Houdini. What very few people realize is that early in his career, long before he became famous, Harry Houdini toured the Canadian Maritimes as a humble magician’s assistant. The young couple was broke and stranded in Nova Scotia. For Harry Houdini and his wife Bess, there was no such luck. So long Cremation of Floribel! Your troubles have come to a merciful end here in Canada. Disappointment and frustration turned to despair as his lovingly crafted illusions disappeared into a foggy night in the summer of 1896.įarewell, Voodoo Temple of Bra-ha-ma! Your secrets will forever remain a mystery in the drafty stone cellar below a police lock-up. Harry Houdini watched helplessly as the sheriff seized his props for non-payment of debts.
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