“They’d do magic and they performed.” Handcuffs and a wand “When Bonnie was 7 and Nathaniel was closer to 12, there was a local club for kids where they’d teach them magic,” said Blood’s wife, Debbie, of the two, now adults.

That led to him to pursuing magic as a hobby, which eventually enticed his own children, Bonnie and Nathaniel. Jeff Blood, a retired financial analyst, attended many of those events with his mom.

“She would talk about her life with the Houdinis and her memories,” he said.

She didn’t perform, but throughout her adulthood spoke at magic conventions, from Rochester to Las Vegas. The Houdinis fostered in Hinson Blood a love of magic. Hinson Blood - who grew up in New York City and relocated to Rochester when her husband, Forrest, accepted a job with General Railway Signal - was just 8 when Harry Houdini died and rode in the limousine to his funeral with Bess, who lived another 17 years. “She was as close to the Houdinis as anyone,” Jeff Blood said of his mother, who died in 2004. The couple never had children and formed a bond with Hinson Blood. “The Houdinis are second to none,” he said.īlood’s mother, Marie Hinson Blood, was the niece of Harry Houdini and his wife, Bess. Jeff Blood called it “a huge honor” to be included in the ceremony, which will be held online starting at 8 p.m. Legendary illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini died almost 100 years ago, so this weekend his last remaining descendants will accept the honor of him being inducted into the National Museum of American Jewish History Only in America Hall of Fame.Īnd because there’s always a Rochester connection, one of those descendants is from Greece.

Harry houdini magic