From the February 28th article "Houdini's daring Vancouver escape was 100 years ago this week" by Michelle Gomez and Andrew Kurjata, on the CBC website:
He "furiously struggled" for three minutes and 29 seconds, according to the paper's report, and when he showed he was free, "a cheer arose and swelled into a roar."
And while it may have been showmanship, Houdini had praise for the audience, as well, calling it "the greatest outdoor crowd I have ever seen."
Houdini's final years
The visit was a part of an East-to-West tour through several Canadian cities, according to Pellatt. A few days earlier, the magician had made similar headlines in Winnipeg.
At the time of his Vancouver show, Houdini was 49 years old. He died from a ruptured appendix just three years later.
...
"He was trying to tell us that you can escape the boundaries of your own daily limitations in different ways ... I think, in many ways, it was a metaphor for people's own humdrum lives."
"And I think people then and now still need that kind of hero to look at and to maybe aspire to."
From CBC Radio One Vancouver (On The Coast):
Rod Chow and The Magic Demon speak with Kathryn Marlow about the famous magician's stop 100 years ago.
