Houdini(15)
Houdini and Bess continued to enjoy each other’s company, although some of Houdini’s diary entries reflect that he treated her at times more like a griping mother than like a wife. He also made it clear to her that his devotion would have to be shared with his mother, and then the memory of his mother when Cecilia passed away. Houdini obsessed about another man benefiting from his hard work and savings. He repeatedly made Bess promise that if she should remarry after he died, that she insist that her second husband sign a prenuptial agreement agreeing to not pursue any part of Bess’s estate that came out of her marriage to Houdini. Houdini took out a large life insurance policy naming Bess as his beneficiary and put the Harlem brownstone in her name.
As many opportunities as Houdini must have had to cheat on Bess, there is only evidence of one affair: with the widow of his famous friend Jack London, Charmian London. In 1918, after Jack had passed away, Charmian spent a winter in New York City. Houdini invited her to come see his show “Cheer Up” in January, and diary entries on her part reflect that soon thereafter he and she started a love affair. Houdini’s own records reflect that he felt troubled by his infidelity, and the physical aspect of their affair seems to have died out relatively quickly, even before Charmian returned to California. Houdini and Charmian continued to exchange amorous letters, however. It is unclear if Bess ever knew of the affair; she did speak of discovering love letters from several women to her husband after Houdini’s death, one of which she said came from a widow whom she had trusted, possibly Charmian. Bess also complained when Houdini played the lover of younger female actresses during his film career. Charmian and Houdini met up again in 1924 when Houdini was performing in California, but there is no evidence that their love affair continued at that time.
Normally Houdini and Bess made an event out of their anniversary; for several years they took trips out to Coney Island in New York City, the site of their honeymoon. For their twenty-fifth anniversary, in June of 1919, Houdini threw an elaborate banquet at a Los Angeles hotel (the pair was living in Los Angeles at the time in order to accommodate Houdini’s acting career, see Chapter VIX). Two hundred guests attended and gourmet food was served. The couple made an entrance and Bess reportedly nearly fainted. A letter from Houdini from that night reflects his genuine affection for Bess and for the life they had built together. From their thirtieth anniversary, in 1924, there remains a photo of them tied together, kissing.
Family Life
Houdini’s devotion to his mother Cecilia is extensively documented; he regarded her as a saint and took great pride in providing for her as his father had asked him to do on his deathbed. Houdini lavished gifts on Cecilia and moved her into 278. Biographers speculate that Houdini viewed Cecilia as one of the only people in his life that was entirely loyal to him, and with whom he did not have to compete with anyone to earn love and acceptance. In return, he worshipped her and craved her happiness. A famous picture of Houdini shows him posing between Cecilia and his wife Bess, eyebrows raised, very content with position between what he called the two women in his life.
In July of 1913, Houdini set sail for a tour in Europe. His mother and some other family members came to the dock as usual to see him off, and Houdini made a big show of running off the boat several times to give his mother another last kiss. His mother said to him, as she always did before he left on a big trip, that perhaps she wouldn’t be there when he got back. Houdini tried to cheer her up, and she told him to get her some slippers. Shortly thereafter, Cecilia suffered a stroke from which she would not recover. Houdini received the news that she was gravely ill and hurried back to the States, but too late: Cecilia died on July 17, 1913. Houdini begged the family to postpone the funeral, which they defied Jewish tradition to do. Houdini finally arrived in New York and sat with his mother’s body all night.
At the age of thirty-nine, Houdini suffered the loss of his mother with great despair. He returned to performing but continued to have spells of loneliness and grief over Cecilia’s death. Houdini also missed his father, attending rabbinical services every year on the anniversary of Meyer’s death. He visited his mother Cecilia’s grave often and on all anniversaries of her death and his birthday. He even had Cecilia’s mother unburied from her grave and buried next to Cecilia. He arranged for a huge monument known as an exedra to be placed on his family plot, which he dedicated on October 1, 1916, even though large gravesite monuments are frowned upon in the Jewish cultural tradition.