Houdini's daring Vancouver escape was 100 years ago this week

One hundred years ago, world-famous magician Harry Houdini arrived in Vancouver to pull a daring stunt: Freeing himself from a straitjacket while suspended upside down in front of thousands of Vancouverites. 

He performed the signature act, which usually took him between five and 10 minutes, on March 1, 1923, in front of the former Vancouver Sun building located on Pender Street. 

The escape — a version of which he pulled off in other major cities  — was to drum up attention for his performance at the city's Orpheum Theatre, a predecessor to the building which continues to bear the same name.

"Houdini was not just a magician, not just an escape artist, but he was perhaps the world's first superhero. And people really couldn't get enough of him," said Vancouver-based writer and magic historian John Pellatt, who researched the visit for a series of articles on the website Canada's Magic.

"If he was alive today, he would be the master of social media. This guy knew how to promote himself." 

Master of escape joins Vancouver vaudeville circuit

Houdini was a prominent performer in the early 1900s, known for his escape artistry. He toured across Europe, the United States and Canada, performing vaudeville ⁠— popular live entertainment shows that featured acts such as comedy, music or stunts.

Aside from Houdini, other well-known vaudeville names to perform in the city include Charlie Chaplin, silent film actor Fatty Arbuckle and comedian Jack Benny, who opened for Houdini playing the violin before making his switch to comedy and eventually a long career in radio and television.

Civic historian John Atkin said Vancouver was a bustling hub for vaudeville at the time, with trains from the American midwest travelling through B.C. before heading down to Seattle. He estimates the city had around 20,000 audience seats in total for live vaudeville theatre, which was a huge attraction.

"You had everybody here."

Born in Budapest, Houdini's career started in the 1890s and broke through in the 1900s when he began performing throughout Europe. By 1923, he was one of the biggest stars in the world.

During his three-day visit in 1923, from Feb. 28 to Mar. 3, Houdini performed seven matinees and evening shows at the former Orpheum Theatre ⁠at 796 Granville St., where the present-day Pacific Centre mall stands.

At these theatre performances, according to Pellatt's research, Houdini's big stunt was known as the "water torture cell." It involved him being suspended upside down in a locked glass cabinet full of water, holding his breath for more than three minutes while he escaped, a performance a reviewer in The Province described as "undoubtedly one of the best of the season."

But the biggest audience was for his public performance suspended upside down in front of the Vancouver Sun.

'A cheer arose and swelled into a roar'

In the week leading up to Houdini's public performance, the Sun published a series of articles promoting the stunt, which it described as "unique" despite being an established part of the magician's routine.

The paper reported that a pair of Vancouver police detectives had promised to lock Houdini up in a "burglar-proof" escape jacket, with monetary awards offered for anyone who could figure out how he managed to pull off his escape.

As Houdini was hung upside down, police estimated that between 5,000 and 10,000 people showed up to see if he could get free.

He "furiously struggled" for three minutes and 29 seconds, according to the paper's report, and when he showed he was free, "a cheer arose and swelled into a roar."

And while it may have been showmanship, Houdini had praise for the audience, as well, calling it "the greatest outdoor crowd I have ever seen."

Houdini's final years

The visit was a part of an East-to-West tour through several Canadian cities, according to Pellatt. A few days earlier, the magician had made similar headlines in Winnipeg.

At the time of his Vancouver show, Houdini was 49 years old. He died from a ruptured appendix just three years later.

Pellatt said his work continues to resonate. 

"He was trying to tell us that you can escape the boundaries of your own daily limitations in different ways ... I think, in many ways, it was a metaphor for people's own humdrum lives."

"And I think people then and now still need that kind of hero to look at and to maybe aspire to."