Houdini The Genius of Escape Orpheum vaudeville poster

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Houdini's name leads this poster, which bills him as "The Genius of Escape," a title that tells you the act was built on his escapes from locks, chains and straitjackets rather than on illusions. Orpheum was among the largest vaudeville circuits in the United States, so a poster like this would have been printed in quantity and pasted on theater fronts and city billboards to draw crowds to his performances. Houdini became one of the best-known performers of his era, and his escape acts helped define the public image of the magician as a daring showman. Posters of this kind are useful records of how vaudeville sold its headliners to the public.

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