Sold on eBay last week, a ‘Houdini in Providence’ photo-postcard. He is seen here in Exchange Place hanging in a straightjacket from the Evening News building, before a vast crowd. He is identified by the faint red circle on the card. An unreadable date, March 7th 19??, but Houdini scholars who read this blog may be able to supply the year.

In one 1920s letter to his aunts Lovecraft remarks that he never saw a “whole” show by Houdini, so perhaps this outdoor show was what he had seen at this point? Or perhaps he refers to the time of the “Pyramids” story, when he might have been talking with Houdini in his dressing-room while the warm-up acts of the show were happening on stage? Than he would presumably have gone out front into the audience to see the finale?

Update: Thanks to The Joey Zone for supplying the date. 1917, H.P. Lovecraft being then about age 26.