Houdini’s Pittsburgh moment.
On November 6, 1916, Harry Houdini brought his escape artistry into the streets of Pittsburgh. He was appearing at the New Davis Theatre, and an upside-down straitjacket escape at Wood Street and Liberty Avenue turned the downtown intersection into a public stage. Thousands gathered to see the famous escape artist suspended above them.
It was a striking example of Houdini’s instinct for publicity: bring the spectacle to the people, make it visible from the street, and give the city something to talk about before the theatre curtain rose. A photograph preserved the scene. A century later, that image would give another Pittsburgh magician a direction.
Read the contemporary account of the anniversary and its history ↗
A gift. A date. An idea.
The project began years before anyone closed a street or brought in a crane. During a trip to New York City, Lee’s mentor, Pittsburgh magician Paul Gertner, gave him the book Passion Magic. Inside was the photograph of Houdini suspended over Pittsburgh. The caption identified the date: November 6, 1916.
With the hundredth anniversary approaching, Lee saw an opportunity to bring that moment back to the same corner. In his pre-event interview with Positively Pittsburgh, he traced the idea back about four and a half years. The anniversary gave the dream a deadline—and the photograph gave it a place.
Years behind a few minutes.
In a later interview with Commonwealth Proper, Lee described working and training for a little over five years. The public would see one performance. Behind it were years spent preparing to perform an escape while hanging upside down above his hometown.
Before the event, Pittsburgh Magazine reported that preparations included training while suspended from a crane, a harness at the feet, and a safety team. This was a different physical environment from an escape performed on the ground. Height, movement and the inverted position all mattered.
The anniversary also fell during Pittsburgh’s bicentennial year. The plan made the tribute accessible: a free public event in the middle of downtown, with Rick Sebak serving as emcee and a celebration afterward at Ten Penny.
Pittsburgh arrives.
The original event announcement invited spectators to gather from 10:30 a.m., with DJ Scottro providing entertainment ahead of the noon escape. By performance time, the turnout had transformed the intersection. Pittsburgh Magazine’s eyewitness account described spectators filling several blocks of closed Liberty Avenue on a clear November afternoon.
Rick Sebak connected the gathering to Houdini’s history. Pittsburgh’s own Rocky Bleier, Franco Harris and Tom Savini helped strap Lee into the straitjacket. A city proclamation was read before the ascent; Mayor Bill Peduto had proclaimed November 6, 2016, Lee Terbosic Day.
Then the crane began lifting. Cameras and phones pointed upward. A photograph from 1916 had become a living scene in 2016.
The city holds its breath.
Same-day reporting and the Post-Gazette’s photographic record put Lee approximately 90 feet above the street. Suspended by his feet, he worked to free himself from the straitjacket while the crowd watched below.
In his interview with WTAE afterward, Lee described the importance of staying calm through the height and adrenaline. Without the leverage available on the ground, the suspended escape required strength and movement through the upper body. The audience could see the effort in every turn.
At last, the jacket came free and fell away. Lee was still hanging high above Pittsburgh when he raised a Terrible Towel. The Jewish Chronicle’s eyewitness account records AC/DC’s “Back in Black” accompanying the celebration: a Houdini tribute ending with unmistakable Pittsburgh pride.
How long did it take?
Pittsburgh Magazine described less than seven minutes from the start of the crane’s ascent to the release of the jacket. The Chronicle reported nearly seven minutes. In his later retrospective, Lee described the full performance as about fifteen minutes. Those accounts measure different parts of the event.
The “100” in Houdini 100 marks the hundredth anniversary. It does not describe the reported height of the 2016 escape.
An escape—and a homecoming.
Once lowered to the ground, Lee was met by hugs and reporters. The Chronicle described his mother Kathy’s mixture of support and nerves, and the emotions surrounding the return to the street. The event had been a public spectacle, but it was also deeply personal.
The audience connected generations, too. Contemporary coverage by Houdini historian John Cox recounted Richard Mehrenberg attending with his son and grandson, bringing a family connection to the original 1916 event: Mehrenberg’s father had witnessed Houdini’s escape a century earlier.
There was a Facebook livestream for people watching remotely, an extensive photographic record, and a post-event gathering at Ten Penny to watch the Steelers. Lee’s words to the crowd expressed what the occasion meant:
“Always, always, always follow your dreams, but today, thank you so very much for believing in mine.”— Lee Terbosic, recorded in Positively Pittsburgh’s event update
Looking back in his 2022 Commonwealth Proper interview, Lee described the day as a career-defining performance. The final photograph brought the project full circle: the same intersection, the anniversary date, and Lee’s own image above the city that had inspired him.
Watch the original event video.
This archival video preserves a glimpse of Houdini 100 on November 6, 2016. It is an event highlight, rather than a recording of the entire performance.
Open the archival video on Facebook ↗The beginning of a larger story.
Houdini 100 became a landmark in Lee’s ongoing connection with Houdini’s history. His later work included the television series Houdini’s Last Secrets and the theatrical production The Life and Death of Harry Houdini. The 2016 tribute remains its own chapter: a hometown escape at the place that first sparked the idea.
Ten years later, Houdini 100 returns with a different event—the Great Firetruck Ladder Escape in 2026. That new chapter has its own location, schedule and dedicated website.
Explore TV & HoudiniThe 2026 event website ↗