Houdini, Harry (Erik Weisz) | One of Houdini's most celebrated escapes

Houdini, Harry (Erik Weisz)

Houdini in Russia. Leipzig: Atelier J. Zier, [after 1903]

Color lithograph poster (28 x 39 1/4 in.; 711 x 1000 mm). Laid down on linen, significant, but marginal, restoration at upper left corner.

This poster commemorates, rather than promotes, a performance by Houdini. The celebrated escape from a Siberian Transport Cell, which has been described as a "cell on wheels," took place at Moscow's Butyrka prison during Houdini's 1903 travels through Russia. The poster text summarizes the event: "Chief of the Secret Russian Police Lebedoeff had Harry Houdini stripped stark naked and searched then locked up in the Siberian Transport Cell or Carette, May 10/1903 in Moscow and in 28 minutes Houdini had made his escape to the unspeakable astonishment of the Russian Police." There is still no consensus on how the escape was accomplished.

The backward N in Houdini in the title gives the poster an appropriately "Cyrillic" aspect. The identification on the carette reads Police Department or City Police.

REFERENCE:

Magic, p. 435; Exemplars, pp. 52–53