BTW, enjoy your breakdown on the movie very much. I put all the keys in the bowl, along with a dozen others, and the first to find the right key and open their cuffs was the winner, lol. So we did the escape contest with Vintage Handcuffs. But finding a bunch of available jackets was impossible. Years ago, when I was President of my local magic assembly, I wanted to recreate the 'Strait Jacket Contest' for our club members. Also loved seeing Bill Larsen on the screen, but did not like how they 'faked' the ending, totally not needed.

The straitjacket stunt is usually attributed to the great escape artist Harry Houdini, but his younger brother, Theodore Hardeen, was the first magician to conceive escaping from a straitjacket in full view of the audience, rather than behind a curtain. It chokes at the collar, blood tends to pool at the elbows after a while, causing extreme and painful swelling. This jacket is quite painful to wear for any length of time. (though Dante hated Houdini, lol) David Copperfield in his Escape From Alcatraz Special did a very similar Strait Jacket Escape by barely moving his body and having his arm peak out from the lower part of the jacket, clearly a tribute to the movie. In the early 1910s, the straitjacket became known in popular culture through escapology. The Houdini Jacket has the extra-long sleeves, making it virtually impossible to utilize the standard techniques of escape. Though Blackstone wasn't the last of the Golden Age, as Dante was still alive. Thanks for pointing out the character who looks like Blackstone, I've always thought the same thing.

Houdini straitjacket escape