Question: What was the birth name of the dead magician who Frances Farmer was trying to contact?

Context paragraphs:
Among the Living (1941 film): Among the Living is a 1941 film noir directed by Stuart Heisler, and starring Albert Dekker, Susan Hayward, Harry Carey and Frances Farmer.  The film is a mix of social drama, horror film, and suspense thriller.

Frances (film): Frances is a 1982 American biographical film starring Jessica Lange as actress Frances Farmer.  Kim Stanley and Sam Shepard appeared in supporting roles.

Ebb Tide (1937 film): Ebb Tide is a 1937 American Technicolor drama film directed by James P. Hogan and starring Oskar Homolka, Frances Farmer and Ray Milland.  Much of the film is set in the South Seas and is based on the novel "The Ebb-Tide" by Robert Louis Stevenson and his stepson Lloyd Osbourne.

Shadowland (Arnold novel): "Shadowland: Search for Frances Farmer" is a 1978 biographical novel by William Arnold, ostensibly about the life of actress Frances Farmer.  The book is a fictionalized account which was further distorted when adapted as the film "Frances" in 1982.  Arnold sued for copyright infringement, claiming the film's screenplay writers appropriated several of his "fictionalized" elements, but eventually lost.

Badlands of Dakota: Badlands of Dakota is a 1941 American romantic Western film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Robert Stack, Ann Rutherford, Frances Farmer, and Lon Chaney Jr. Its plot follows a sheriff and his girlfriend who cross paths with Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane.

Harry Houdini: Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz, later Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American stage magician and stunt performer, noted for his sensational escape acts.  He first attracted notice in vaudeville in the US and then as "Harry Handcuff Houdini" on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up.  Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can with water in it.

South of Pago Pago: South of Pago Pago is a 1940 American South Seas adventure film directed by Alfred E. Green starring Victor McLaglen, Jon Hall and Frances Farmer.

Knickerbocker Hotel (Los Angeles): The Hollywood Knickerbocker Apartments, formerly the Knickerbocker Hotel, is a retirement home located at 1714 Ivar Avenue in Los Angeles, California.  Designed by architect E.M. Frasier in Spanish Colonial Revival style, the historic hotel opened in June 1929.  It catered to the region's nascent film industry, and is the site for some of Hollywood’s most famous dramatic moments.  On Halloween 1936, Harry Houdini's widow held her tenth séance to contact the magician on the roof of the hotel.  On January 13, 1943, Frances Farmer was arrested in her room at the hotel after failing to visit her probation officer when scheduled.  On July 23, 1948, filmmaker D. W. Griffith died of a cerebral hemorrhage on the way to a Hollywood hospital, after being discovered unconscious in the lobby of the hotel.

Flowing Gold: Flowing Gold is a 1940 adventure film starring John Garfield, Frances Farmer, and Pat O'Brien.  It was based on the novel of the same name by Rex Beach.  The film is set in the American oilfields and the title refers to oil.

Mental As Anything: Mental As Anything are an Australian new wave/pop-rock band that formed in Sydney in 1976.  Its most popular line-up (which lasted from 1977-1999) was Martin Plaza (birth name Martin Murphy) on vocals and guitar; Reg Mombassa (birth name Chris O'Doherty) on lead guitar and vocals; his brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty on bass guitar and vocals; Wayne de Lisle (birth name David Twohill) on drums; and Andrew "Greedy" Smith on vocals, keyboards and harmonica.  Their original hit songs were generated by Mombassa, O'Doherty, Plaza and Smith, either individually or collectively; they also hit the Australian charts with covers of songs by Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry.

Supporting paragraphs: Knickerbocker Hotel (Los Angeles) Harry Houdini
Answer: Erik Weisz