Bess was working at Coney Island in a song and dance act called The Floral Sisters when she was first courted by Houdini's younger brother, Theo (a.k.a.

Bess also looked after their menagerie of pets, collected dolls, and made the costumes for Houdini's full evening roadshow.

[4] After Houdini died on October 31, 1926, Bess opened a tea house in New York, and briefly performed a vaudeville act in which she froze a man in ice.

The other words correspond to elements of the secret spelling code they had devised to pass information during a mentalism act, with suitable pauses between cues.

"[9] After the 1936 séance, Bess asked Walter B. Gibson—writer of the mystery series The Shadow and a friend, confidant, publicist and ghostwriter for Houdini—to carry on the yearly tribute.

[11] Bess Houdini died from a heart attack on February 11, 1943, while in Needles, California, aboard an eastbound train traveling from Los Angeles to New York City.

[19] The My Chemical Romance song "This Is How I Disappear" was inspired by the séance performed by Houdini to contact her dead husband, Harry.

[20] Bálint Varga and Lia Barcellona Tamborra's 2020 album musical/audiobook d'Illusion: The Houdini Musical depicts Harry and Bess's relationship as part of the plot.