Harry Houdini And The Princess | Montreal In The Time Of Tramways
Historic views of Montreal’s trams in the early 20th century (3/12)
This vintage postcard (1910-1920) features a tram between two Montreal theaters: the Orpheum and the Princess. Both were located on St-Catherine Street and neither exist today.
The Princess is the Montreal theatre where the incident occurred that led to the death of wold-famous magician. As the story goes, Houdini had invited a McGill University student to do his portrait after his show at the Princess. At a certain point – in a test of Houdini’s strength – the student punched him in the stomach. Houdini left soon after for his next show in Detroit, and died there a few days later. After the Princess was torn down, the site was used for Wesley Congregational Church.
The Orpheum was originally called Bennett’s Theatre. this helped me date the card since the change took place in 1910.
Related Posts:
Montreal In The Time Of Tramways | Introduction
Windsor Station – Traditional Transportation Making A Comeback?
Further Reading:
Orpheum Theatre/Théâtre Orpheum
Silent Cinema in Quebec, 1896-1930 – Cinema’s Exhibition Venues
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Houdini had performed the “Punch in the stomach” trick successfully, several times on stage, however, he had always asked the puncher to give him time to set up for the punch (Time to steel his stomach muscles); however, the boy who hit him wasn’t aware that Houdini needed to prepare for the blow and hit him without any warning!
(A tragic accident)
The “Princess” shown on the postcard was never torn down. It was renamed “Le Parisien” in the early 1960′s (I saw “Goldfinger” there), and was “multiplexed” in the late 1970′s. It closed for movies about 5 years ago, and has been used for various purposes since. It is now a temporary Moore’s (men’s clothing store). This Google Streetview shows the area (probably about 2 years old):
http://g.co/maps/m5a8k
You can still barely make out the words “Le Parisien” on the building. The buildings on either side of it still exist – although the one further away looks like a couple of floors were added to it.
Note the arch of the former “System” theatre on the left of the postcard. The building is still there – with the arch.