HARRY HOUDINI
Name: Harry Houdini
Born: 24 March 1874 Budapest, Hungary
Died: 31 October 1926 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation magician, escapologist, stunt performer, actor, historian, pilot, and
paranormal investigator
Harry Houdini (March 24, 1874 - October 31, 1926) whose birth name in Hungary
was Erik Weisz (which was changed to Ehrich Weiss when he immigrated to
the United States), was a Hungarian American magician, escapologist (widely
regarded as one of the greatest ever), stunt performer, as well as a skeptic and
investigator of spiritualists, film producer, and actor.
Harry was born in Budapest, Hungary. A copy of his birth certificate was found
and published in The Houdini Birth Research Committee's Report (1972). His
family name is German, means "White" in English, and can be written Weiß. The "ß"
is a ligature originally for "sz" but now more often rendered "ss", making the "Weisz"
and "Weiss" spellings functionally interchangeable. As to his birth date, from
1907 onwards, Houdini claimed in interviews to have been born in Appleton,
Wisconsin, on April 6, 1874.
Houdini's father, Mayer (Mayo) Samuel Weiss (1829-1892). Weisz, was a rabbi; his
mother was Cecilia Steiner (1841-1913). Ehrich had six siblings: Herman M. Weiss
(half-brother) (1863-1885); Nathan J. Weiss (1870-1927); Gottfried William Weiss
(1872-1925); Theodore Weiss (Dash) (1876-1945); Leopold D. Weiss (1879-1962);
and Gladys Carrie Weiss (1882-?).
He immigrated with his family to the United States on July 3, 1878, at the age
of four on the SS Fresia with his mother (who was pregnant) and his four
brothers. Houdini's name was listed as Ehrich Weiss. Friends called him "Ehrie"
or "Harry".
At first, they lived in Appleton, where his father served as rabbi of the Zion
Reform Jewish Congregation. In 1880, the family was living on Appleton Street.
On June 6, 1882, Rabbi Weiss became an American citizen. After losing his tenure,
he moved to New York City with Ehrich in 1887. They lived in a boarding house on
East 79th Street. Rabbi Weiss later was joined by the rest of the family once he
found more permanent housing. As a child, Ehrich took several jobs, then became
a champion cross country runner. He made his public debut as a 10-year-old
trapeze artist, calling himself, "Ehrich, the prince of the air.", Weiss became
a professional magician and began calling himself "Harry Houdini" because he was
heavily influenced by French magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, and his friend
Jack Hayman told him that in French, adding an "i" to Houdin would mean "like
Houdin" the great magician. In later life, Houdini would claim that the first
part of his new name, Harry, was a homage to Harry Kellar, whom Houdini admired
a great deal. However, it's more likely Harry derived naturally from his
nickname "Ehrie."
Initially, Houdini's magic career resulted in little success. He performed in
Dime Museums and sideshows, and even doubled as "the Wild Man" at a circus.
Houdini initially focused on traditional card tricks. At one point, he billed
himself as the "King of Cards." But he soon began experimenting with escape acts.
In 1893, while performing with his brother "Dash" in Coney Island as "The
Brothers Houdini," Harry met and married fellow performer Wilhelmina Beatrice (Bess)
Rahner. Bess replaced Dash in the act, which became known as "The Houdinis." For
the rest of Houdini's performing career, Bess would work as his stage assistant.
"My Two Sweethearts". Houdini with his wife and mother, ca. 1907.
Harry Houdini's "big break" came in 1899 when he met manager Martin Beck.
Impressed by Houdini's handcuffs act, Beck advised him to concentrate on escape
acts and booked him on the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Within months, he was
performing at the top vaudeville houses in the country. In 1900, Beck arranged
for Houdini to tour Europe.
Houdini was a sensation in Europe, where he became widely known as "The Handcuff
King." He toured England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Russia.
In each city, Houdini would challenge local police to restrain him with shackles
and lock him in their jails. In many of these challenge escapes, Houdini would
first be stripped nude and searched. In Moscow, Houdini escaped from a Siberian
prison transport van. Houdini publicly stated that, had he been unable to free
himself, he would have had to travel to Siberia, where the only key was kept. In
Cologne, he sued a police officer, Werner Graff, who claimed he made his escapes
via bribery. Houdini won the case when he opened the judge's safe (he would
later say the judge had forgotten to lock it). With his new-found wealth and
success, Houdini purchased a dress said to have been made for Queen Victoria. He
then arranged a grand reception where he presented his mother in the dress to
all their relatives. Houdini said it was the happiest day of his life. In 1904,
Houdini returned to the U.S. and purchased a house for $25,000, a brownstone at
278 W. 113th Street in Harlem, New York. The house still stands today.
Poster promoting Houdini taking up the challenge of escaping an "extra strong
and large traveling basket".
From 1907 and throughout the 1910s, Houdini performed with great success in the
United States. He would free himself from jails, handcuffs, chains, ropes, and
straitjackets, often while hanging from a rope in plain sight of street
audiences. Because of imitators and a dwindling audience, on January 25, 1908,
Houdini put his "handcuff act" behind him and began escaping from a locked,
water-filled milk can. The possibility of failure and death thrilled his
audiences. Houdini also expanded his challenge escape act - in which he invited
the public to devise contraptions to hold him - to included nailed packing
crates (sometimes lowered into the water), riveted boilers, wet-sheets, mailbags,
and even the belly of a whale that washed ashore in Boston. At one point,
brewers challenged Houdini to escape from his Milk Can after they filled it with
beer. Many of these challenges were prearranged with local merchants in what is
certainly one of the first uses of mass tie-in marketing. Rather than promote
the idea that he was assisted by spirits, as did the Davenport Brothers and
others, Houdini's advertisements showed him making his escapes via
dematerializing, although Houdini himself never claimed to have supernatural
powers.
In 1912, Houdini introduced perhaps his most famous act, the Chinese Water
Torture Cell, in which he was suspended upside-down in a locked glass-and-steel
cabinet full to overflowing with water. The act required that Houdini hold his
breath for more than three minutes. Houdini performed the escape for the rest of
his career. Despite two Hollywood movies depicting Houdini dying in the Torture
Cell, the escape had nothing to do with his demise.
Houdini explained some of his tricks in books written for the magic brotherhood
throughout his career. In Handcuff Secrets (1909), he revealed how many locks
and handcuffs could be opened with properly applied force, others with
shoestrings. Other times, he carried concealed lockpicks or keys, being able to
regurgitate small keys at will. When tied down in ropes or straitjackets, he
gained wiggle room by enlarging his shoulders and chest, moving his arms
slightly away from his body, and then dislocating his shoulders. His
straitjacket escape was originally performed behind curtains, with him popping
out free at the end. However, Houdini's brother, who was also an escape artist
billing himself as Theodore Hardeen, after being accused of having someone sneak
in and let him out and being challenged to escape without the curtain,
discovered that audiences were more impressed and entertained when the curtains
were eliminated so they could watch him struggle to get out. They both performed
straitjacket escapes dangling upside-down from the roof of a building for
publicity on more than one occasion. It is said that Hardeen once handed out
bills for his show while Houdini was doing his suspended straitjacket escape;
Houdini became upset because people thought it was Hardeen up there escaping,
not Houdini. Many people imitate some of Houdini's tricks to this day.
For the majority of his career, Houdini performed his act as a headliner in
vaudeville. For many years, he was the highest-paid performer in American
vaudeville. One of Houdini's most notable non-escape stage illusions was
performed at New York's Hippodrome Theater when he vanished a full-grown
elephant (with its trainer) from a stage, beneath which was a swimming pool. In
1923, Houdini became president of Martinka & Co., America's oldest magic company.
The business is still in operation today. He also served as President of the
Society of American Magicians (aka S.A.M.) from 1917 until his death in 1926. In
the final years of his life (1925/26), Houdini launched his own full-evening
show, which he billed as "3 Shows in One: Magic, Escapes, and Fraud Mediums
Exposed."
Name: Harry Houdini
Born: 24 March 1874 Budapest, Hungary
Died: 31 October 1926 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation magician, escapologist, stunt performer, actor, historian, pilot, and
paranormal investigator
Harry Houdini (March 24, 1874 - October 31, 1926) whose birth name in Hungary
was Erik Weisz (which was changed to Ehrich Weiss when he immigrated to
the United States), was a Hungarian American magician, escapologist (widely
regarded as one of the greatest ever), stunt performer, as well as a skeptic and
investigator of spiritualists, film producer, and actor.
Harry was born in Budapest, Hungary. A copy of his birth certificate was found
and published in The Houdini Birth Research Committee's Report (1972). His
family name is German, means "White" in English, and can be written Weiß. The "ß"
is a ligature originally for "sz" but now more often rendered "ss", making the "Weisz"
and "Weiss" spellings functionally interchangeable. As to his birth date, from
1907 onwards, Houdini claimed in interviews to have been born in Appleton,
Wisconsin, on April 6, 1874.
Houdini's father, Mayer (Mayo) Samuel Weiss (1829-1892). Weisz, was a rabbi; his
mother was Cecilia Steiner (1841-1913). Ehrich had six siblings: Herman M. Weiss
(half-brother) (1863-1885); Nathan J. Weiss (1870-1927); Gottfried William Weiss
(1872-1925); Theodore Weiss (Dash) (1876-1945); Leopold D. Weiss (1879-1962);
and Gladys Carrie Weiss (1882-?).
He immigrated with his family to the United States on July 3, 1878, at the age
of four on the SS Fresia with his mother (who was pregnant) and his four
brothers. Houdini's name was listed as Ehrich Weiss. Friends called him "Ehrie"
or "Harry".
At first, they lived in Appleton, where his father served as rabbi of the Zion
Reform Jewish Congregation. In 1880, the family was living on Appleton Street.
On June 6, 1882, Rabbi Weiss became an American citizen. After losing his tenure,
he moved to New York City with Ehrich in 1887. They lived in a boarding house on
East 79th Street. Rabbi Weiss later was joined by the rest of the family once he
found more permanent housing. As a child, Ehrich took several jobs, then became
a champion cross country runner. He made his public debut as a 10-year-old
trapeze artist, calling himself, "Ehrich, the prince of the air.", Weiss became
a professional magician and began calling himself "Harry Houdini" because he was
heavily influenced by French magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, and his friend
Jack Hayman told him that in French, adding an "i" to Houdin would mean "like
Houdin" the great magician. In later life, Houdini would claim that the first
part of his new name, Harry, was a homage to Harry Kellar, whom Houdini admired
a great deal. However, it's more likely Harry derived naturally from his
nickname "Ehrie."
Initially, Houdini's magic career resulted in little success. He performed in
Dime Museums and sideshows, and even doubled as "the Wild Man" at a circus.
Houdini initially focused on traditional card tricks. At one point, he billed
himself as the "King of Cards." But he soon began experimenting with escape acts.
In 1893, while performing with his brother "Dash" in Coney Island as "The
Brothers Houdini," Harry met and married fellow performer Wilhelmina Beatrice (Bess)
Rahner. Bess replaced Dash in the act, which became known as "The Houdinis." For
the rest of Houdini's performing career, Bess would work as his stage assistant.
"My Two Sweethearts". Houdini with his wife and mother, ca. 1907.
Harry Houdini's "big break" came in 1899 when he met manager Martin Beck.
Impressed by Houdini's handcuffs act, Beck advised him to concentrate on escape
acts and booked him on the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Within months, he was
performing at the top vaudeville houses in the country. In 1900, Beck arranged
for Houdini to tour Europe.
Houdini was a sensation in Europe, where he became widely known as "The Handcuff
King." He toured England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Russia.
In each city, Houdini would challenge local police to restrain him with shackles
and lock him in their jails. In many of these challenge escapes, Houdini would
first be stripped nude and searched. In Moscow, Houdini escaped from a Siberian
prison transport van. Houdini publicly stated that, had he been unable to free
himself, he would have had to travel to Siberia, where the only key was kept. In
Cologne, he sued a police officer, Werner Graff, who claimed he made his escapes
via bribery. Houdini won the case when he opened the judge's safe (he would
later say the judge had forgotten to lock it). With his new-found wealth and
success, Houdini purchased a dress said to have been made for Queen Victoria. He
then arranged a grand reception where he presented his mother in the dress to
all their relatives. Houdini said it was the happiest day of his life. In 1904,
Houdini returned to the U.S. and purchased a house for $25,000, a brownstone at
278 W. 113th Street in Harlem, New York. The house still stands today.
Poster promoting Houdini taking up the challenge of escaping an "extra strong
and large traveling basket".
From 1907 and throughout the 1910s, Houdini performed with great success in the
United States. He would free himself from jails, handcuffs, chains, ropes, and
straitjackets, often while hanging from a rope in plain sight of street
audiences. Because of imitators and a dwindling audience, on January 25, 1908,
Houdini put his "handcuff act" behind him and began escaping from a locked,
water-filled milk can. The possibility of failure and death thrilled his
audiences. Houdini also expanded his challenge escape act - in which he invited
the public to devise contraptions to hold him - to included nailed packing
crates (sometimes lowered into the water), riveted boilers, wet-sheets, mailbags,
and even the belly of a whale that washed ashore in Boston. At one point,
brewers challenged Houdini to escape from his Milk Can after they filled it with
beer. Many of these challenges were prearranged with local merchants in what is
certainly one of the first uses of mass tie-in marketing. Rather than promote
the idea that he was assisted by spirits, as did the Davenport Brothers and
others, Houdini's advertisements showed him making his escapes via
dematerializing, although Houdini himself never claimed to have supernatural
powers.
In 1912, Houdini introduced perhaps his most famous act, the Chinese Water
Torture Cell, in which he was suspended upside-down in a locked glass-and-steel
cabinet full to overflowing with water. The act required that Houdini hold his
breath for more than three minutes. Houdini performed the escape for the rest of
his career. Despite two Hollywood movies depicting Houdini dying in the Torture
Cell, the escape had nothing to do with his demise.
Houdini explained some of his tricks in books written for the magic brotherhood
throughout his career. In Handcuff Secrets (1909), he revealed how many locks
and handcuffs could be opened with properly applied force, others with
shoestrings. Other times, he carried concealed lockpicks or keys, being able to
regurgitate small keys at will. When tied down in ropes or straitjackets, he
gained wiggle room by enlarging his shoulders and chest, moving his arms
slightly away from his body, and then dislocating his shoulders. His
straitjacket escape was originally performed behind curtains, with him popping
out free at the end. However, Houdini's brother, who was also an escape artist
billing himself as Theodore Hardeen, after being accused of having someone sneak
in and let him out and being challenged to escape without the curtain,
discovered that audiences were more impressed and entertained when the curtains
were eliminated so they could watch him struggle to get out. They both performed
straitjacket escapes dangling upside-down from the roof of a building for
publicity on more than one occasion. It is said that Hardeen once handed out
bills for his show while Houdini was doing his suspended straitjacket escape;
Houdini became upset because people thought it was Hardeen up there escaping,
not Houdini. Many people imitate some of Houdini's tricks to this day.
For the majority of his career, Houdini performed his act as a headliner in
vaudeville. For many years, he was the highest-paid performer in American
vaudeville. One of Houdini's most notable non-escape stage illusions was
performed at New York's Hippodrome Theater when he vanished a full-grown
elephant (with its trainer) from a stage, beneath which was a swimming pool. In
1923, Houdini became president of Martinka & Co., America's oldest magic company.
The business is still in operation today. He also served as President of the
Society of American Magicians (aka S.A.M.) from 1917 until his death in 1926. In
the final years of his life (1925/26), Houdini launched his own full-evening
show, which he billed as "3 Shows in One: Magic, Escapes, and Fraud Mediums
Exposed."