Hiudini & Lovecraft at the Hippodrome

In this blog, we've previosuly discussed Lovecraft and CM Eddy going to see Houdini at the Hipodrome. http://chrisperridas.blogspot.com/2007/01/lovecraft-in-midst-of-controversy.html

Above you'll see a vintage ad for that performance. It clearly discusses that part of the show was exposing fakery by spiritualists and mediums. He'd just had a major, national, and hugely public battle with "Margery". Lovecraft had to know Houdini's whole fiber and being screamed out to do battle with these elements.

Lovecraft and Houdini: A Pause to Reflect

Over the last few months, Chrispy has studied whether Houdini recruited Lovecraft to assist him. I've looked for a "smoking gun" and there is still no hard evidence.

So, time for a little speculation. It seems sure that CM Eddy, Jr. and HP Lovecraft corresponded, and HPL walked over to his house one August night in 1923. Nearly simultaneously, Henneberger through reading a Lovecraft story had a Eureka moment and realized that HPL might be the 20th century reincarnation of his beloved Poe - and might just make Weird Tales viable. Eddy was no doubt saying much the same to Baird, his editor pal at Weird Tales. In fact virtually everyone, everywhere who'd met HPL over the last several years had come to the same conclusion. The only one unconvinced was ol' Ech Pi El himself.

All that being said, it happened that Henneberger was friends with Houdini - a famous magician who was in a crisis state of his own. Having once believed - or wanted to believe in supernaturalism, he became fast friends with the lofty Arthur Conan Doyle. Then. reality hit. Houdini saw the chicanery of supernaturalism, and then upon closer investigation, the criminality. This he could not bear, and blew the top off of it. In doing so, he drove a stake into Doyle's credulous heart and crushed him.

Lovecraft, then runs off to get married and nearly all hell breaks loose in the Brooklyn enclave known as the Kalem Club. While not famous, a caldron heated with future luminaries such as Hart Crane, Frank Belknap Long, and more all fomenting a Weird Tale brew. It was enough to have Henneberger throw Baird overboard, and offer the magazine to HPL. Houdini must have fallen immediately head over heels with the wit and brilliance of Lovecraft. He certainly threw enough money his way - a trait Houdini frequently exhibited to those he found impoverished - and more so those he admired.

This is where Chrispy goes out on a limb. I believe Houdini did cultivate HPL as an ally. He also used CM Eddy and Henneberger - and anyone else he could - to shine the light on the criminal gangs of spiritualism. That Scientific American was infiltrated by spiritualists - and even the US congress and White House made him livid.

So, why didn't the equally furious Lovecraft - a man who often battled astrologers and quacks in newspaper columns and letters tot he editor - walk away from this fight? It would have paid handsomely. He would have achieved overnight success with his quaint way of speaking, his affectations that endeared him to subsequent generations, and saved Sonia from heartbreak. Why? Even a last minute appeal to come to Detroit by Houdini in 1926, when he was past his psychological crisis and happy and homey with his aunts in Providence failed. Why?

Perhpas this passage (*) to Samuel Loveman on 24 March 1923 says much, "I am so detached and emotionless ... I am simply a bland external eye ... I am so much more an analyst than an emotionalist ... I frankly admit that my object in life is merely to keep fed, warm, & amused till death comes ... I am absoluetly without ambition ... the only two things which could ruin life for me are hard work & the necessity of living in an unaesthetic neighborhood."

Great Gods, these are the exact sentiments that wrecked his marriage, split him asunder from an idolatrous Kalem gang that had about annointed him the new Poesque-messiah, and propelled him back to an upper room in Providence.

Houdini must have been flabbergasted, just as Henneberger must have been when HPL shunned first an enormous salary to edit a dream job, and to go on the road to lambast ill-logicked criminal fakers. Lovecraft would have made mincemeat of them on stage, would have written towering exposes with intricately elaborate and articulate exposition, and would have had Houdini's undying respect.

Lovecraft probably thought, "Sigh, must I be burdened by a 9 to 5 job or shackled by a well meaning, but weakly literate magician?"

And so, history turned and it was not to be. Only the unfinished Cancer of Superstition marked the glimmer of what might have been. Perhaps even Houdini's assasination might have been prevented.

Again, this is but idle speculation. Chrispy has more evidence and anecdotes to add to the blog as time goes one.

* HP Lovecraft Letters to Samuel Loveman and Vincent Starrett, ed by Joshi & Schultz, Necronomicon Press, 1994, p. 13.

Houdini: Some Ephemera

^ 11 July 1924^
^15 Jan 1925^
^17 July 1923^

***
From late 1923 to Halloween 1926, Houdini popped in and out of Lovecraft's life. Here are a few items (Envelopes addressed to him) from that time frame - items from over 80 years ago that make Houdini seem more real, I suppose. Houdini was as great a letter writer as Lovecraft - perhaps he wrote as many as 100,000 letters - the same as HPL.

Rare Ticket of Houdini's 18 October 1926 Performance

18 October 1926 Pricess Theater of Montreal ticket. Houdini lectured on spiritualism at McGill University and on 22 October Houdini was attacked with punches in his stomach. Days later he was hospitalized and Passed on halloween, 1926. Lovecraft (according to L Sprague de Camp's biography) was invited to Detroit shortly after the Montreal engagement, but he declined. Is this declined invitation one more clue that HPL was being recruited in Houdini's growing battle against Spiritualists?

Letter to Edwin Baird: Testimony Through Willis Conover

We find these tantalizing bits from: Lovecraft At Last: The Master of Horror in His Own Words, H. P. Lovecraft and Willis Conover, 1972, 2002, Cooper Square Press, NY

{25 January 1936} Dear Ech-Pi-El: ...a friend of mine ... sent me a letter that you write to Edwin Baird in 1924 ... J. C. Henneberger ... sent it to me.

{3 February 1924} My Dear Baird: I was delighted to receive your two communications ... that you like Nemesis ... {but HPL received a} sensation of gastric distress ... that "Arthur Jermyn" is going to press as "The White Ape". I wish I could convert you ... regarding the annoying literalness and flaccidity of the latter title ... Glad that Hypnos is coming. Are you giving me a vacation for March or are the "Rats" to gnaw their uncanny course through that issue?

Yes indeed I have heard from Mr. Henneberger! Cheque? Bless me, no! Such details are so vulgar. ...I am told that the twin ventures Detective and Weird Tales have reduced the Henneberger capital from plus eleven thousand dollars to minus forty thousand dollars ... Henneberger seems determined to hang on to his venture till the last ditch, and shows a rugged pluck I can't but admire. He spoke of coming reorganisation {sic} to include work from the magician Houdini ...At any rate, Henneberger has the right idea in savage unrestraint and departure from the conventional point of view ... I'll bet he'll snap up that Eddy yarn, "The Loved Dead", which is presenting such a doubtful case! But I should hardly say that H. made me any proposition, as he intimated to you that he might. The only part of his letter that brought me in was a request of a novel of 25,000 words or over, which I shall be happy to send when I finish it.

... I experimented a bit with the novel form, and have an idea partly shaped which will probably suit Mr. H's requirements. It is a hideous thing ... "The House of the Worm" ... By the way, I felt complimented when Henneberger expressed his opinion that my "Rats" is the best tale W. T. has ever received.

H's curiosity about my age, habits, and personality is quite interesting ... {a long autobiography follows which is partially a resume}.
***
{Lovecraft replies to Connover} ... Where on earth did you ever run into that chap Henneberger? Don't let him rope you into any professional proposition, for although he means well his ventures always explode and leave not only himslef but his colleagues holding the proverbial bag. If you don;t believe me, ask Long!

Coincidence? Did Lovecraft Describe a Seance In The Strange High House in the Midst?

Read the section just after, "the Elder One were born, and when the other gods came to dance on the peak of Hatheg-Kla in the stony desert near Ulthar, beyond the river Skai (1)."

Lovecraft discusses the use of knocking, candles, a table, prayers, gestures, glances, rapping, code, "horns", and gongs. All of these, especially the use of a trumpet to signal the arrival of the spirit ready to channel through the medium, are as if right out of a seance Houdini might have described.

Houdini's biggest challenge was Margery, a medium known to use nudity for distraction, and even hiding items in her body cavity, to produce eerie effects.

"Then the shadows began to gather ... under the table ... in the dark [panelled corners ... the bearded man made enigmatical gestures {perhaps indication of an alchemist, perhaps a medium} ... lit candles ... wrought brass candlesticks {again perhaps qabbalist, perhpas a medium} ... glance at the door ... a singular rapping {a clear buzz word in seances} ... a very ancient a secret code {while 'code' can be qabbalist, it is also an allusion to mediums} ... the sound ...conches gave weird blasts ...conches ... gongs set up a clamour ...".

On 9 November 1926, only a month after meeting with C M Eddy, Houdini, and Bess, and only days after Houdini's death, Lovecraft wrote this tale. He was deep in the midst of writing the Cancer of Superstition - and thus deeply in contemplation about it prior to Houdini's death.

You decide. the significance.

(1) This sentence is clearly recycled at the end of The Silver Key, "It is rumoured in Ulthar, beyond the river Skai, that a new king reigns ...". Ulthar was resurrected from The Cats of Ulthar.

New Clue: Could HPL Have Ever Been a Spy?

The answer apparently is yes. However, not between 1923 and 1926 with Houdini (we are still searching for THAT smoking gun) but in 1917 !!

Faig (1) reports in his 1999 essay that a 1948 memoir by Michael White (d. 1960) entitled "Fond Memories that Linger On" (The Fossil, January 1948) states Lovecraft collaborated with a paid British agent to exacerbate an Irish enclave of activists. Lovecraft presented the United Amateur Press Association at a Boston literary club in 1917 to which White was in attendance. White states that he knew of Demarest Loyd, a dandy-dressed English sympathizer was paid to out Irish (IRA) sympathizers. He enlisted Lovecraft's help - or they at least stumbled into one another's arms.

As usual, HPL was inconsistent in his vehemence, though. He adored Lord Dunsany, and probably did not know he was an IRA sympathizer. He attacked (2), though a series of published letters, John T. Dunn - a freind - and some of HPL's vitriolic spume spilled into the pages of The Conservative. White, himself, was a sympathizer. White was a close friend to Edith Miniter after HPL introduced the two of them. (Miniter once fancied by Lovecraft - see blog entry). Miniter's mother was keen on writing verse in Irish fashion.

This tantalizing bit of "historicical" gossip shows that Lovecraft was quite capable of espionage leanings. He was never shy about berating those he keenly felt were wrong-headed and dangerous to his personal belief systems.

Loyd had a Kentucky connection, having been stationed at Camp Zachary taylor in Oct 1918. He was born in Chicago in 1883 making him older than HPL - always a plus, since Lovecraft gravitated to older men. Both of his degrees were from Harvard making him a Boston mainstay. Lovecraft's Uncle lived in Boston. Loyd's British airs probably (?) reminded him of HPL's father.

1. Kenneth W Faig, Jr, The Unknown Lovecraft I: Political Operative, Crypt of Cthulhu 103, Vol. 19, No.,1, 1999
2. S T Joshi, "H P Lovecraft: Letters to John T Dunn", Books at Brown, Vol. 38&39, 1991-1992, published 1995, Providence, RI.

Lovecraft's Brilliance: Annecdote Submitted by Casper Kelly

In search of more clues as to why (if at all) HPL might have been selected by Houdini to assisst in battle against the Spiritualists, we have this gem. From Sonia's memoir, this quote is submitted by Casper Kelly.

"H.P. never called himself an American; he insisted that he was still an Englishman. Not only that, he regarded himself as a displaced Englishman, although he had never been in England. Apropos of this, he could describe thoroughly every part of London, Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon, and many other places in England. In fact when he had ghost-written the story for Houdini he described Gaza so accurately that one would think he had been there."

It shows how impressive he was among his peers. In New York he associated with Hart Crane and other struggling artists luminaries, who were stunned by his affability on one hand and brilliance on the other. Recall elsewhere on the blog we mentioned that Houdini autographed his book to HPL "To my friend, Howard Lovecraft / Best Wishes, / Houdini / "My brain is the key that sets me free."

Henneberger, Weird Tales, Lovecraft, and Houdini?

As frequent HPLblog readers know, I've been slowly exporing whether Lovecraft was explicitly being watched and recruited by Houdini. Yes, Chrispy knows there is no smoking gun, and ... yet ... the circumstantial evidence is tantalizing.

As I uncover more "clues" I will post them. One must still diligently sort through annecdotes and memories and apocryphal stories !

This excellent site via Lars Klores, has some interesting new points of consideration.

J.C. Henneberger began Weird Tales in March of 1923 "to give the writer free rein to express his innermost feelings in a manner befitting great literature". From the beginning, it was clear that the magazine existed in its own abyss ... Poets and authors who favored the darker side, dream-spinners and troubled souls seeking an outlet, found one in its pages.

Henneberger, a journalist who had steeped himself in the dark, southern fantasies of Poe for much of his life, began by hiring well-known Chicago author Edwin Baird to serve as Weird Tales’ editor, assisted by Farnsworth Wright and Otis Adelbert Kline.

The pulp (cheap pulpwood paper it was printed on) struggled under Baird’s editorship and was uneven, and uninspired.

A discovery under Baird’s editorship was ... H.P. Lovecraft. While Baird purchased almost everything Lovecraft submitted, Henneberger has claimed that Baird disliked Lovecraft’s fiction and only purchased the stories under Henneberger’s orders. Baird’s rejection of similarly promising material (such as Greye La Spina’s classic, "Invaders from the Dark") would seem to bear this out. According to author E. Hoffmann Price, "Baird was an idea man. Once the idea was going, he swiftly lost interest in it."

{Elsewhere - search blog - we learn that Henneberger desperately wanted HPL to replace Baird as editor}

After 14 issues of uneven quality, Henneberger replaced Baird with Farnsworth Wright, who until then had served as the pulp’s chief reader of manuscripts. Wright, was a tall, gaunt man afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease.

So, here are two "clues". Henneberger quickly decided baird was not his man. Wright had Parkinson's - though he lasted for years as editor - and perhaps Henneberger was concerned over this issue?

The bigger element is the annecdote that Henneberger forced Lovecraft onto Baird. From all historical perspectives, Henneberger and Lovecraft were not close, but starting shortly after the magazine's inception, Henneberger desperately grasped for Lovecraft.

Weird Tales starts in 1923.

Houdini is a major player (but how? Just writing stories or more?) in Weird Tales from almost the inception.

C M Eddy meets HPL in August {much much more about this in future blogs posts}.
Henneberger/Houdini contracts a ghost-writing assignment for an astounding sum of cash.
Then, Henneberger decides he wants HPL as editor and woos him.
Frank Belknap Long is a witness to this.
Houdini invites HPL to his house, and then to a performance.
Houdini writes HPL that he will make intorductions for him to get jobs.
C M Eddy makes a few trips to NY - to see Houdini and to see HPL.
HPL does turn down editorship of Weird Tales.
More Houdini work comes to C M Eddy and Lovecraft including Cancer of Superstition.
Prior to Houdini's death, C M Eddy, HPL, and the Houdinis have dinner and Bess is poisoned.
HPL is invited to come with Houdini to be on stage - declines.
Houdini dies - or is he assasinated?

Again, very tantalizing coincidences.

However, contra we have devilishly little evidence to connect the dots from the writings of Muriel Eddy and Lovecraft's correspondents or research from S T Joshi, or L Sprague de Camp.

Stay tuned!

10 November 1926: A Day In The Life of HPL

Lovecraft finished The Strange High House in the Midst* on 9 November. He was simultaneously writing and editing The Silver Key and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. Only days before, he had beem stunned by the death of Houdini (31 October) which dashed the hopes he and C M Eddy, Jr. had of completing The Cancer of Superstition.

The previous month of October had been very busy. He took a trip with Aunt Annie Gamwell to the "ancestral home" and met many who still recalled stories of his grandfather Whipple Phillips.

Here is a copy (from ebay) of the newspaper he would have read upon rising the day after he finished writing *TSHHITM - The Providence Journal of November 10, 1926 - (24 Pages)

Dunne's Vote Cut 161; Leads Hughes by 166

Eight Injured as Fierce Storm Sweeps Over State

Deputies Approve Execution of Foes of Fascists' Chief -- Mussolini Consents to Measure and to Second Unseating All Recalcitrant Assemblymen

11 Children Killed; Storm Razes School -- Twisting Wind Strikes Suddenly Out of Sultry

Maryland Sky -- Twenty Pupils Injured; Two Negroes Dead (La Plata, Md.) {Maryland's deadliest tornado occurred at a school in La Plata on November 9, 1926. Fourteen students died at the school, and three people were killed in nearby homes. -Chrispy}

Army - Notre Dame Game Tops Saturday's Card

Providence And Brown To Join Hockey League

Canton And Roller Versatile Elevens -- Players on National League Teams Which Clash Here Armistice Day Are Accustomed to Being Shuffled About Lineup - Many Are Stars (Canton Bulldogs and Steam Rollers will play tomorrow afternoon at Providence Cycledrome)

Ads for RED GRANGE in One Minute To Play .... and other ads on Vaudeville, movies, theatre.