The jail interior (upper right) also looks too elaborate to be merely a set). (I’ve never seen images inside the jail, but since they filmed exterior scenes beside the jail (below), and Houdini commonly performed escapes at real jails, it’s reasonable to assume they filmed inside the jail too – a fine example of how cinema often preserves history in real life. The stunt was preceded by his escape from what appears to be the interior of the Los Angeles County Jail. While The Grim Game is noteworthy in part for a real-life plane crash caught on film (no one was hurt, see my prior post), Houdini’s roof-top escape from a straight-jacket (above) may be the most thrilling moment in the picture. See Houdini – Keaton – The Grim Game – Cops. Remarkably (could it be just a coincidence?) Keaton staged three scenes from Cops at places where Houdini had filmed previously. Houdini was able to escape in four minutes and nine seconds.Over the edge – with death below and imprisonment above! Harry Houdini in The Grim Game (1919), taken on the roof of the former Habour Apartments, discussed below.Īfter shooting a 15-part serial The Master Mystery, world famous magician and escape artist Harry Houdini made his feature film debut in 1919 with The Grim Game, screening at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s special A Day of Silents held at the Castro Theater this December 5.īilled as a stirring story of love, mystery, and dare-devil adventure, The Grim Game was scripted to maximize opportunities for Houdini to escape from various traps and shackles on screen.Īs discussed in my previous post, Buster Keaton dedicated his most famous short film Cops (1922) to Houdini, while crediting Houdini in his autobiography for giving Keaton his first name. They had come to view the test,” reported the San Antonio Express. For presently, Harry Houdini, “The Elusive American,”arch mystifier and world’s foremost self-liberator, would risk his life and his reputation just that they might be thrilled. They just snuggled closer in their wraps and maneuvered the while for points of better vantage. They wintry, penetrating wind in its frigid sworling seemingly did not bother them.
They packed the streets converging at The Express Building, men, women, children.
A few speeches were made, light lunches and refreshments were served and an orchestra filled the hall with melody,” reported the Express-News.įebruary 2, 1916: Thousands braved the cold and wind to witness Harry Houdini free himself of a strait-jacket while suspended in the air over the intersection of Crocket and Navarro in downtown San Antonio.
“In the presence of a distinguished assemblage of railway officials, officers of the army and representative citizens, the magnificent passenger depot of the Southern Pacific Railway was formally opened Saturday noon. February 1, 1903: The new Sunset railroad depot opened on Jan.
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