Rare Original Autograph / Signature of Famed Illusionist and Escape Artist HARRY HOUDINI (Hungary, 1874–1926, America) | Hand Signed in red ink "Harry Houdini" on the cover of a 1920/21 Playbill Entitled THE VAUDEVILLE BILL B.F. KEITH'S THEATRE WASHINGTON, D.C., with a cover photograph of "Mr. E.F. Albee," an owner with B.F Keith of the Vaudeville Shows | A copy of the document appears to be listed in the Inventory of Harry Houdini's Papers at the Harry Ransom Center, Container 26.34, B.F. Keith Circuit Theaters. Pamphlet, 1921. The B.F. Keith Washington DC Theatre opened 1912 as a vaudeville house known as Chase’s Polite Vaudeville Theatre, and was sold the next year (1913) to B.F. Keith and renamed B.F. Keith’s Theatre.

Display: Professionally displayed with a picture of Houdini and a 1923 Houdini Escape (Houdini Challenge) advertisement; Housed under glass with double matting and a gold beveled wood frame

Approx. Dimensions: Framed: 26" W x 14" H; Playbill / Pamphlet (Signed): 6.5" W x 9" H

Provenance: From the prominent collection of the acclaimed Nashville, Tennessee Songwriter, Producer and Collector Edward "Ed" Joesph Penney, Jr. (Cambridge, MA, 1925-2014, Nashville, Tennessee) (Dad's Old Book Store of Greenhills, Nashville, Tennessee). "[Ed Penney] served on the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for 8 years, and served on the Boards of the Songwriters Guild of America, the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and the Southern Songwriter's Advisory Board for ASCAP. He won National Songwriter's Association Achievement Award in 1980 and SESAC Producer of the Year in 1981. Following his retirement from music, Mr. Penney opened Dad's Old Bookstore in 1984, where he shared his love and knowledge of rare books and autographs with collectors in Nashville and around the world." Tennessean Jan. 1, 201 https://obits.tennessean.com/obituaries/tennessean/obituary.aspx?n=edward-joesph-penney-ed&pid=173678387&fhid=14208; See also Musicrow.com https://musicrow.com/2015/01/lifenotes-songwriterproducer-ed-penney-dies/ and Country Music Television (CMT) http://www.cmt.com/news/1747408/producer-songwriter-and-rare-book-dealer-ed-penney-dead-at-89/

Condition: Mint - Pristine. Excellent Condition. Bold and clear signature in red ink.

Mint - Pristine. Excellent Condition. Bold and clear signature in red ink.

14 x 26 in