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| Big men in Houdini's life (from left): Hardeen, his son, Joe Hyman, Harry Day, Lord Northcliffe, Dundas Slater |
Houdini's first agent's name was also Harry - Harry Day. Like his first and best client, Harry Houdini, he had been born with another much more Jewish-sounding name: Edward Lewis Levy. We learn from his obit that he once sold tickets for Barnum & Bailey’s traveling circus - could he and Houdini have crossed paths on the circus circuit, perhaps while the elephants were wintering in Wisconsin?
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| Street scene, Delavan, Wisconsin, c. 1889 |
(Did you ever wonder why Wisconsin, of all places, was the preferred winter home for America’s circuses? There’s a good reason: nowhere else had the huge supplies of grain and hay necessary to feed all those animals!)
Day changed his name and became a London theatrical agent after getting a divorce from the actress “Kitty Collyer,” on grounds that he had beaten her and committed adultery.
We’ve previously told the story of how Day got Houdini his first job in London - the first big break on his trip to super-stardom.
What we didn’t know until recently was that Harry Day left the theatrical world to become a Colonel in the Royal Army. He distinguished himself in World War One. After the War he ran for Parliament, and won, serving as Labour MP for Southwark for more than ten years. His very first speech in the House of Commons caused an uncomfortable stir, and showed him to be a very disillusioned anti-war hero:
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| Col. Harry Day's first speech in Parliament. Click to enlarge. |
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