question about Uncle Sam & Houdini

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marselmarsel
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question about Uncle Sam & Houdini

Postby marselmarsel » August 12th, 2017, 7:30 pm

Hi i have read the tipical draw of Uncle Sam is draw in 1916, and i have see pics of Houdini doing the pointing action like Uncle Sam, nowbody know is Houdini´s imagen is before Uncle Sam tipical draw?
regarts

Leonard Hevia
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Re: question about Uncle Sam & Houdini

Postby Leonard Hevia » August 12th, 2017, 11:13 pm

An interesting comparison of Flagg's illustration to HH. John Cox at Wild About Harry might know the date of the HH photo. I'm guessing 1917 or 18.


Image


Image

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Bill Marquardt
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Re: question about Uncle Sam & Houdini

Postby Bill Marquardt » August 13th, 2017, 9:41 am

It looks like Uncle Sam is wearing a thumb tip.

MagicbyAlfred
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Re: question about Uncle Sam & Houdini

Postby MagicbyAlfred » August 13th, 2017, 10:59 am

Bill Marquardt wrote:It looks like Uncle Sam is wearing a thumb tip.


Ha ha! It really does.

Maybe he produced a silk bearing the stars and stripes, or more likely, used it for a bill switch to turn taxpayers' 10 dollar bills into fives...

observer
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Re: question about Uncle Sam & Houdini

Postby observer » August 13th, 2017, 4:47 pm

The Flagg poster derives from a 1914 British poster by Alfred Leete:

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view ... ajaxhist=0

This was also the inspiration for the "Big Brother is watching YOU" posters mentioned in Orwell's 1984.

Leonard Hevia
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Re: question about Uncle Sam & Houdini

Postby Leonard Hevia » August 13th, 2017, 6:01 pm

observer wrote:The Flagg poster derives from a 1914 British poster by Alfred Leete

That's an interesting observation, Observer. Flagg modeled Uncle Sam's face after his own, but with older features. He didn't want to hassle with a model for this job. Marsel suspects that Harry was inspired by the Flagg poster for his photo pose. I think so too. That poster must have been plastered everywhere in NYC and Harry must have walked by it many times.

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JohnCox
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Re: question about Uncle Sam & Houdini

Postby JohnCox » August 14th, 2017, 2:45 pm

I believe the Houdini pic is 1918/19.
Visit my blog Wild About Harry

Leonard Hevia
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Re: question about Uncle Sam & Houdini

Postby Leonard Hevia » August 14th, 2017, 8:04 pm

JohnCox wrote:I believe the Houdini pic is 1918/19.


Great John! Thanks for the input. It appears Harry was doing his best Uncle Sam imitation.


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