I loved that book so much and found myself wondering if Houdini had leapt from bridges and dangled high over city streets in Pittsburgh, where I lived. Since I was a college history teacher, I got to work researching and uncovered an amazing photo that the Pittsburgh Historical Society didn’t even know about.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/claywrites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Houdini-photo-PGH-1024x480.png\")
Photo courtesy of Bruce Averbook<\/p><\/div>\n
Then I went all in on every old newspaper I could find (The Jewish Criterion was an especially rich resource), and crafted a story about every recorded visit Houdini ever made to the Burgh over a quarter century.<\/p>\n
I finished the piece and knew it was good. That same year, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had been running features about the 150th anniversary of Pittsburgh. I picked an editor off their website and made a cold call pitching my story. He told me to send it over.<\/p>\n
Later that week, on a Sunday afternoon, I received a message from John Allison at the PPG, who asked if I was the guy who wrote the “absolutely marvelous piece on Houdini.” That made my year.<\/p>\n
John made the piece even better with expert edits, I got paid, and my 2,000 word feature ran in a full page weekly segment called The Next Page. It was one of the most read articles that week.<\/p>\n
The Post-Gazette has changed their website over the years, but you can still read it if you like. I hope you enjoy…<\/p>\n
The Next Page: Harry Houdini and Pittsburgh — the ties that bind<\/a><\/p>\n