August 2009 marks 100 years since Harry Houdini jumped off Stonehouse Bridge. The event took place on August 18th, 1909. Unfortunately, there seems to be no photos of the event or any of his appearance in the town or within the Palace Theatre. The Western Morning News covered the jump and it is probable that photos were taken at the time, however, many photos were lost and destroyed during the Blitz of 1941 and perhaps these were amongst them. If anyone knows of any photos of his visit to Plymouth, I'd love to hear about them. Between 1900 and 1914, Houdini played at over a hundred venues within the UK. Houdini was a very generous man, When he performed his show in Edinburgh, he noticed how many children were without shoes. He performed a special show for the Scottish youngsters and made sure there were three hundred pairs of shoes so none would go away bare foot. There wasn't nearly enough shoes for the children that turned up so Houdini took them all to the nearest cobbler and made sure that everyone was fitted for shoes.
His appearance in Plymouth must have drawn huge crowds also. In a time when television was non-existant, someone like Houdini must have attracted people in their thousands.
It's amazing to think how Plymouth, and the world, have changed over the last 100 years. It's amazing that the Palace Theatre still stands though Stonehouse Bridge has seen many changes apart from being bombed in the Second World War.
Houdini went on to perform many more shows after he left Plymouth and he died on October 31st, 1926, aged 52.
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