Houdini spiritualist debunking show. Poster titled 'Do Spirits Return?',advertising an anti-spiritualist show performed by Hungarian-born US stunt performer Harry Houdini (1874-1926). Houdini began a career in magic in 1891,moving into escapology and achieving great success and fame from 1899. His debunking of spirit mediums,psychics and other paranormal claims dated from the 1920s. In this show,he performed magic,illusions and escapes,and exposed fraudulent mediums. This poster dates from after 1909,and probably dates from 1926,less than two months before his early death from peritonitis after a ruptured appendix. This show was performed 2-4 September at the Lyceum Theatre in Paterson,New Jersey,USA |