houdini's ghost wrote:And, David, what was that you said about the fact that Houdini's mother always wrote to him on April 6 doesn't prove she actually thought that was his birthday?
When you read the letter, it is absolutely clear that Houdini is saying she did believe his birthday was April 6.
I don't have it in front of me but it says something like "Re the birthday. I shall always celebrate mine April 6. Mother always wrote me on that date."
What did she always write him on that date for? To tell him to have a nice day?
If you mean the one in Gibson,
Original Houdini Scrapbook, p. 174, it says:
Re the Birthdays, I shall celebrate mine? always APRIL 6th.
It hurts me to think I cant talkit over with Darling Mother and as SHE always wrote me on April 6th, that will be my adopted birthdate.
Now, perhaps this means that CSW believed that this was his birthday. But perhaps this means that, whatever she believed/knew, she chose to observe his birthday on this day.
If she truly believed 06 April to be correct, it's rather difficult to account for the existence of documents that precede this letter (from 22 Nov 1913) and use a March birthday. And yet, there they are.
I also find it a bit difficult to believe, though not impossible, that a mother would be off by a year regarding when her child was born-- especially when the memory was fresh.
Perhaps she was simply unusually ill suited to telling one year or one month from another, but I'm not aware of any independent reason to think this of her. So I infer that something else must be in play.
Yes, she observed his birthday in April. Whether this was a matter of her belief or her choice is unclear to me.