Show Biz 1916 Style

[Towntalk]

It was cold and snowing that day of March 21, 1916 when a huge crowd gathered in front of Front Street School, and all eyes were turned upward to the roof, for at high noon, they would see The Great Houdini perform one of his great escapes.
In every city that he appeared, he would perform this stunt as a promotion for his show, and in the case of Youngstown it was at the Hippodrome Theatre on West Federal Street that he was appearing at.
For this stunt, wearing a streight jacket, members of the Youngstown Police Department would tie and handcuff Houdini, then he would be lowered off the roof upside down, and the show would begin.
Now we all know that when bound into a streight jacket properly, escape is impossable, impossable that is if the person wearing it was dangled while right side up, but Houdini was not streight up, he was upside down, and this was the position that allowed him to make his escape. The streight jacket is looser when the person is upside down than when he is right side up. The audience was unaware of this, so when he made his escape they were thrilled to the bone, and his appearance was a sell out succcess, and that is what he wanted.