Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner was born in Brooklyn, New York to Gebhard and Balbina. I do not have any information as to her early childhood, what I can tell you of course is the rest of the story. She started out working at Coney Island in a song and dance act. He caught the attention of Theodore, but as fate would call it she fell for Harry, Theodore’s brother.
Harry and Wilhelmina were married in 1894, they remained childless due to a medical condition that prevented her from bearing children. Sadly, Harry died in 1936. She appeared as herself in a 1938 film Religious Racketeers. The film was rereleased in 2006 on a DVD. She died in 1943 from a heart attack.
What you may not know about Wilhelmina “Bess” Houdini, yep she married Harry Houdini she was his stage assistant during his rise to stardom and beyond. Because she had been raised a Roman Catholic and Houdini was a Jew, her family refused to have her buried beside her husband. She is interred at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.
Until tomorrow give someone the free gift of a smile.
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