HOUDINI & SMOKING

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Our friend Joe Notaro, at HarryHoudiniCircumstantialEvidence, has stirred up the blogosphere with revelations about Houdini's very occasional smoking.

We're sure Harry was never a serious smoker. But the above letter to his friend Quincy Kilby shows he had no problem posing for "cigarette cards," thus pushing cigarettes for the tobacco industry. 

Next time: "Houdini & God," new insights from the remarkable Kilby scrapbook.





(Letter courtesy Boston Public Library rare book collection.)