HOLYOKE
– Sidney H. Radner, an amateur magician who built one of the world’s
largest collections of Harry Houdini memorabilia died Sunday at the age
of 91. The New York Times is reporting the cause of death was cancer. He died in his hometown of Holyoke.
Radner was the president of the American Rug Company of Holyoke, which
was started by his father and is being operated by his son today. He became fascinated with magic at the age of 9 when he read a book
about it. He later became proficient at escaping from handcuffs and
straight jackets. He also became an expert on gambling and cheating and
often lectured on how to identify crooked gamblers.
By the time Radner was 16, the Holyoke boy was billing himself as
“America’s Foremost Juvenile Escape Artist.” That same year, 1935,
Sidney met Harry Houdini’s brother Hardeen at the Kimball Hotel in
downtown Springfield.
Republican file photoThis device used to pick locks by Harry Houdini was part of Radner's collection. Hardeen took him under his wing and he either gave or sold Radner some of
Houdini’s equipment including the famous Chinese water torture cell, several straitjackets, handcuffs, letters and photographs.
One of Radner’s more recent projects was
to create an interactive museum at 147 High Street in Holyoke. About
four years ago Radner started working with a Mount Holyoke College
student on the project. Radner had sold much of his about 1,000-piece collection at auction for
about $1 million, but he did keep some of the items that he had
acquired.
He had been married to Helen Cohen Radner for 64 years until she died in March. The couple had two sons.
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