WILD ABOUT HARRY: Where Houdini wasn’t

My Houdini mania has taken a strange new turn. I’m now getting excited about finding a city Houdini DIDN’T play. Because he almost did! Let me explain.

Recently, four unusually nice Houdini letters sold at RR auctions online. Among them was a letter to Faber Birren in Chicago in which Houdini included the route for his current vaudeville tour. What stood out to me was that the list showed Houdini playing a split week in Sacramento and Fresno starting March 25, 1923.

That never happened. Houdini pulled a vanishing act and played Oakland this week instead. I don’t know why his route changed, but it’s likely Houdini was happy about it as it involved less travel. Oakland was a short hop over the bay from his previous booking in San Francisco, and a full week is better than a split.

However, this meant Houdini would never play Sacramento. He would have likely done a suspended straitjacket escape in the city as well. You were so close, Sacramento! But at least Sacramentans got to see Hardeen at the Pantages in 1908 and 1910. He even jumped off the Yolo bridge.

The Sacramento Bee, Nov. 9, 1908.

Of course, I wanted to know precisely where Houdini would have appeared had he played these dates. This was a little tricky to find as the Orpheum circuit never built its own theater in either city. They used existing theaters that changed over the years. But with some digging, I discovered that the Clunie Theater on 811 K Street was the home of Orpheum vaudeville in Sacramento at the time of Houdini’s planned appearance. (They would move to the State Theater later that year.) Below is the only photo I could find of the Clunie.

Instead of Houdini, the Clunie featured William Gibson and Regina Connelli in the comedic skit “One Night in Spring” as the headliners starting March 25th. Gibson & Connelli also filled Houdini’s spot in Fresno starting on March 29th. I’m sure they were the cat’s pajamas!

In Fresno, Orpheum vaudeville was featured at the White Theater at 1317 Broadway. Houdini would give his spiritualism lecture at the White Theater on Oct. 26, 1924, so Houdini did eventually make it to Fresno, if only for one day.