Harry Houdini Biography | Magic Library at MagicTricks.com Birthplace: Hungary Buried: Machpelah Cemetery, NYC There is no question that Houdini is the most famous magician in history. His name is synonymous with escapes; his ability to get out of seemingly impossible situations- and his knack for publicizing these events- made him a legend in his own time. The Houdini myth is about to be examined, and truth really is stranger than fiction! The Houdini Family Houdini was born Erich Weiss on March 24, 1874. Though he claimed throughout his life that Appleton, Wisconsin was his birthplace (and April 6 his birthdate), he was really born in Budapest, Hungary. He was four years old when his family moved to America, sailing into New York on July 3, 1878 on the S.S. Fresia. He had five brothers and a sister. Herman M. (1863-1885), Nathan J.

(1870-1927), Gottfried William (1872-1925), Theodore "Theo" aka "Dash" (1876-1945), Leopold D. (1879-1962) and one sister, Gladys Carrie (born 1882 - unknown year of death). Herman was really Houdini's half brother, from Rev. Weiss' first marriage. Heading the family were Mayer Samuel (1829-1892) and Cecilia (1841-1913), Houdini's mother and father. Rev. Dr. M. Samuel Weiss was a rabbi who died in 1892 of cancer, before his son's magical career got started. Though a lot has been written about Houdini's devotion to his mother, it is clear that he was also close to, and proud of, his father, as can be seen the notes he wrote in the family bible. Houdini Family Scandal Houdini's family had its share of conflicts.

Not only was Houdini's childhood spent in poverty, but the individual family members seemed often to be at odds with each other. Consequently, permanent animosity arose when brother Nathan's wife Sadie divorced him and, within two weeks, married brother Leopold. (Houdini was so angry with Sadie that he specified in his will, "No part either of the principal or income of my estate shall ever directly or indirectly go to SADIE GLANTZ WEISS!") Houdini himself caused friction in his Jewish family when he married Bess (Wilhelmina Rahner), who was Catholic. This choice would have consequences after Houdini's death: though he stipulated in his will that he wanted Bess buried beside him, the Machpelah cemetery would not allow the interment of someone outside the Jewish faith. Bess, who passed away aboard a passenger train traveling cross-country between Los Angeles and New York, instead is buried in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, NY), near Babe Ruth, Jimmy Cagney, Sal Mineo and Dutch Schultz.

Houdini's Traits Houdini was small, standing a mere 5'5", with dark, wavy hair, dark gray eyes and a high-pitched voice. Like many people in his day (especially those from immigrant families), Houdini was poorly educated. He was, however, extremely athletic and highly motivated to succeed. Houdini allowed his brother Leopold, New York's first X-ray specialist, to X-ray him frequently. Most likely this caused sterilization; Houdini had no children. According to an autobiographical pamphlet published by the magician in 1920, Houdini said that his favorite place was Hollywood, California and that his favorite song was Auld Lang Syne (the traditional New Year's Eve tune). Houdini's motto? "And this, too, shall pass". Houdini's Interest in Magic Houdini became fascinated with magic as a young boy after seeing Dr. Lynn, a traveling magician, perform the Linking Rings trick. He did not, as legend has it, run away with a circus, nor was he an apprentice to a locksmith. In reality, he turned to magic at age 17 as an alternative to factory work.

He teamed up with Jack Hayman, a fellow magic enthusiast, to form the Houdini Brothers. (The name "Houdini" was used in tribute to Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, the most famous magician of the era). The team's specialty was the Crate Escape. When Hayman became bored, Houdini's brother Theodore (later known as Hardeen) became his partner. Shortly, Hardeen was replaced by Bess Rahner, the woman who became Houdini's partner both in the act and in his life. Houdini's Career Surprising as it may seem, Houdini was not an instant success. For the first five years, he tried every type of magic, from card manipulations (billed as the "King of Cards") to illusions and run-of-the-mill box escapes. In 1896, ready to give up, he actually ran a newspaper ad offering to sell all of his magic and secrets for $20. There were no takers. His one big success was the Needle Trick, a grisly effect involving the swallowing of dozens of needles and thread, then the regurgitation of the thread with all the needles neatly threaded on.

This effect would be a cornerstone of his act throughout his life. By 1898, Houdini had come up with the Challenge Act, the act that would make him a legend. As the Handcuff King, Houdini would escape from any pair of handcuffs produced by the audience. Generally, this act was well received. By 1904, Houdini was forced to make some modifications in the act, due to repeated attempts by various police officers who tried to spoil his routine by secretly jamming the cuffs offered. Until the success of the Challenge Act, Houdini had even resorted to posing as a "spirit medium", gathering information from cemeteries and town clerks before shows to make his "messages" more convincing. The Challenge Act was the turning point for Houdini. With its success came the development of the spectacular escapes that would make Houdini a legend. Houdini's Escapes During a visit to a psychiatrist friend in Nova Scotia in 1896, Houdini saw his first strait jacket. Rather than be shocked by it, he was inspired to create an act around escaping from it.

And Houdini didn't just escape from a strait jacket- he did it hanging upside down from his ankles, suspended many feet above the ground. Houdini then expanded his Challenge Act to escape not only from any handcuffs offered, but from most any location suggested. Houdini escaped from jail cells, from handcuffed bridge jumps, from padlocked crates thrown into rivers, from locked canvas mailbags- even from a giant paper bag, without making a single tear in it. Possibly his most memorable escapes were the stage illusions he made famous: the Water Torture Cell, the Milk Can Escape and Buried Alive. Houdini was so strongly connected with the idea of escapes that in 1921, Funk and Wagnall's New Dictionary turned his name into a verb, "Houdinize", which was defined as "to release or extricate oneself from confinement, bonds or the like, as by wriggling out." Houdini vs. the Spiritualists The death of Houdini's mother focused his attention on the thriving business of spirit mediumship, or the contacting of the dead.

Whether Houdini was genuinely outraged at the victimization of the bereaved, or whether he simply saw an opportunity to capitalize on public interest, Houdini spent the last 13 years of his life in a highly publicized battle with the spiritualists. Using his knowledge of illusion, Houdini was able to duplicate the ghostly apparitions, noises and mysterious levitations produced by the working mediums and their "spirits". His "exposures" became so popular with his audiences that they took up more than a third of his regular program. Coached by the famous psychic Anna Eva Fay, Houdini cleverly became, in his way, the most famous "spiritualist" of all. Houdini's Other Accomplishments Houdini is credited with the invention or unique improvement of a number of important illusions (the Strait Jacket Escape, Walking Through a Brick Wall, Metamorphosis, Buried Alive, the Hindu Needle Trick, the Chinese Water Torture Cell and the Milk Can Escape). He also owned the Martinka magic shop in New York City for a short while (saving it from bankruptcy); he would spend days on end sitting in the shop, autographing and selling his books to eager magic fans.

He was also president of the Society of American Magicians for several years until his death in 1926. In 1910, he purchased a Voisin biplane in Germany. He had the plane dismantled and shipped to Australia, where he planned an extended tour. His plane was the first controlled-power plane flown in Australia, and on March 10, 1910 he became the first to pilot a plane there. Interestingly, he taught himself how to drive a car during that time, so that he could get out to the airfield. After his Australian tour, Houdini abandoned the plane and coincidentally, also never drove again. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Houdini tried to enlist in the army, but at age 43 was rejected as being too old. Still wishing to show his patriotism, Houdini preformed many free shows for service men, during which he would produce five dollar gold pieces from the air and toss them to the audience as souvenirs. He claimed to have distributed more than $7,000 in that manner. Houdini also organized shows to promote the sale of Liberty Bonds to help finance the war effort.

In 1919, he became a film producer/actor/stunt man, creating the Houdini Pictures Corporation and actively participating in such films as The Grim Game, Terror Island, The Master of Mystery, The Man From Beyond, and Haldane of the Secret Service. He actually performed his own stunts, a very dangerous proposition. Incredibly, Houdini had starred in a very early 1901 experimental film by French cinema pioneer Charles Pathé, so Houdini was actually one of the first true movie stars. Houdini also held a patent for a style of diving suit. The innovation was granted U.S. Patent Number 1,370,316 on March 1, 1921. The improved construction of the suit was a direct result of Houdini's interest in underwater escapes. The patent reads: "The invention relates to deep sea diving suits or armors, and its object is to provide a new and improved diver's suit arranged to permit the diver, in case of danger for any cause whatever, to quickly divest himself of the suit while being submerged and to safely escape and reach the surface of the water.

Another object is to enable the diver to put on or take off the suit without requiring assistance." The trick to the suit was that it was constructed of two separate parts, with a latch for locking the two parts together in the middle. The diver simply had to reach this latch and the two pieces came apart. Obviously this type of suit would have been very useful to Houdini in performing one of his underwater escapes. Houdini never used such a suit, though, in any public perfgormance. In the early 1900's while performing on the vaudeville circuit, Houdini worked with a couple named Keaton. Their young son Joseph was intrigued by Houdini's amazing magic, and Houdini was quite taken with the boy. Houdini nicknamed him "Buster", and the name stuck, explaining how Buster Keaton, the famous film comedian, got his name. Houdini was understandably protective of his position as the World's Most Famous Magician, and he often went to great lengths to distance himself from the other magicians of his day. His strong ego and rather cold relationships with other magic entertainers made him a natural target for their sarcasm.

In fact, Dai Vernon, later to be regarded in the late 20th century as a master close-up magician, was widely regarded as "The Man Who Fooled Houdini". Whether Vernon actually stumped the great magician is irrelevant; the claim was a reputation-maker for Vernon. Paradoxically, Houdini also went out of his way to support the magic community. In 1917, he became the 10th president of the Society of American Magicians, a position he held until his death in 1926. The S.A.M. is still going strong, and Houdini was the only president to serve for more than one year. In 1919, Houdini served as president of the legendary Martinka Magic Co., saving it from financial failure. The Strange Truth About Houdini's Death The 1953 movie Houdini starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh did much to create the commonly-held belief that Houdini died onstage attempting to perform the Water Torture Cell illusion. The sad truth is that Houdini was in the middle of a U.S. tour in the fall of 1926 when he and Bess began to experience severe stomach discomfort.

A performer to the core, Houdini refused medical treatment, because that would have meant missing some shows. Quite possibly Houdini was suffering from the onset of appendicitis, and his own stubborn refusal to see a doctor might have spelled his doom. Houdini was tired, and unusually accident-prone. In Albany, NY, his ankle broke as he was being lifted into the Water Torture Cell. In pain, he continued to perform. A few days later, in Canada, he allegedly was punched in the stomach by J. Gordon Whitehead, a McGill university student who was testing Houdini's well-known ability to withstand blows to the body. That punch may or may not have been the cause of Houdini's ruptured appendix; regardless, Houdini collapsed onstage in Detroit, and was admitted to Grace Hospital, suffering from peritonitis. Bess was also admitted to the hospital to be treated for her stomach ailments. Every day for nearly a week, she was wheeled into Houdini's room to see him. On October 31 , with his brother Hardeen at his side, Houdini passed away. His last words were, "I'm tired of fighting".

Since Houdini was such an important magic personality, the Society of American Magicians honored him with a Broken Wand ceremony. At the ceremony, his fellow magicians broke a wand to symbolize the loss of the magic that came with the death of Houdini. This ritual was so emotionally powerful that the magic fraternity adopted it and still perform it at every magician's funeral today. And, in fact, each year the magic fraternity gathers at Houdini's grave to repeat the ceremony on the anniversary of Houdini's death. Houdini left an estate of about $500,000 to his wife. To his brother Hardeen, he left his show, his equipment and his magic secrets. Houdini's instructions were that Hardeen should use the equipment, but that it should be burned at Hardeen's death. Luckily for magic historians and collectors, Hardeen sold the show and nothing was destroyed.

(Jack Flosso, owner of Flosso-Hornmann Magic Co., remembers seeing Hardeen lining the bottom of his doves' cages with Houdini posters, however.) Though Houdini officially died of peritonitis, Bess was able to collect double indemnity on his insurance policy, claiming the blow was equivalent to "an accident directly causing the premature demise of Harry Houdini". One macabre sidebar: in the summer of 1926, a few months before he died, Houdini heard about a magician who had sealed himself inside a box and had been lowered into water, where he allegedly stayed for over an hour, submerged, before coming up out of the water and the box, triumphant. Houdini purchased a bronze coffin and had himself locked into it and submerged in a hotel swimming pool for an hour and a half before the coffin was pulled out of the water and opened to reveal a smiling, healthy Houdini. Houdini took the coffin on tour with him in the fall, displaying it in the lobbies of the theaters he played and planning it feature the illusion on his tour. (The famous Buried Alive!

poster was designed to promote this very illusion.) He jokingly instructed his wife to use the coffin should anything happen to him while on tour. Sadly, it was in that very coffin that Houdini's body was returned to New York for burial. Houdini Haunted Houses? Both Houdini's New York and Los Angeles homes were said to be haunted by his ghostly spirit. The New York townhouse still stands at 278 W. 113th Street (it was recently offered for sale); Houdini's "HH" initials are set in mosaic tile on the bathroom floor. His Los Angeles home at 2350 Laurel Canyon burned many years after his death, but the site is still rumored to be visited by ghostly apparitions. The Houdini Séances For ten years, Bess presided over annual well-publicized séances held on October 31, the anniversary of Houdini's death. Though she stopped participating in 1938, séances to contact Houdini continued. Houdini's Enduring Fame The word "Houdini" still means "magic" today. It was only fitting that Houdini be honored with a commemorative U.S.

postage stamp , issued on July 3, 2002. By the way, the stamp itself does some magic! In 1960, Harry Houdini was given a star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located at 7001 Hollywood Boulevard, across the street from Grauman's Chinese Theater. His icon is the camera, as he was honored for his contributions to the Motion Picture industry. In 2008, the star was replaced and rededicated. Why is Houdini as famous now as he was more than 85 years ago? Perhaps it was because he was a unique, talented and motivated magician. Perhaps it was because Houdini was a terrific showman and self-promoter. Or perhaps it was because Bess kept a full-time publicist on her payroll for sixteen years after her husband's death, just to keep the Houdini legend alive. She did a great job.

Harry Houdini, 1874-1926: The Great Escape Artist Harry Houdini, 1874-1926: The Great Escape Artist December 18, 2010 Legendary escape artist Harry Houdini is shown in chains in this photo circa 1899. Share Or download MP3 (Right-click or option-click and save link) BARBARA KLEIN: I’m Barbara Klein. STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today we tell about Harry Houdini, the great escape artist and magician. BARBARA KLEIN: It was a hot July day in nineteen twelve. A huge crowd gathered near New York City’s East River. They were there to watch a man whose hands and legs had been locked together. The man was put into a wooden box on a tugboat near the riverbank. The box was nailed shut. Ropes were wrapped around the box. More than ninety kilograms of lead weight were put on top. The box was then lowered into the water. STEVE EMBER: Time seemed to go by slowly. The crowd was sure the man would soon be dead.

But suddenly, there were bubbles in the water. The man swam to the surface, his arms and legs free. When the box was pulled to the surface, it was still nailed shut and the ropes were still wrapped around it. Scientific American magazine later wrote it was “one of the most remarkable tricks ever performed.” The man who had just escaped death was named Harry Houdini. (MUSIC) Harry Houdini prepares to be closed in the crate and lowered into the New York Harbor. BARBARA KLEIN: Harry Houdini’s real name was Ehrich Weisz. He was born in Budapest, Hungary in eighteen seventy-four. His father was a rabbi, a Jewish religious leader. His family moved to the United States two years later. Young Ehrich worked at many different jobs to help earn money for his poor family. But he really wanted to be in show business. STEVE EMBER: When he was nine years old, he performed a trapeze act on a swing high above the audience. He was “Ehrich, the Prince of the Air.” Then he read about a famous French magician named Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. It changed his life.

Erich took Houdin’s last name, changed the pronunciation and added and “i” at the end. He then began learning magic tricks, and called himself Harry Houdini. He took his act to many places in New York State. For a while, he worked in a traveling circus. BARBARA KLEIN: At first, Houdini performed regular magic tricks, using cards, coins, and other objects that he would make disappear. But the audience seemed to like it best when Houdini performed an escape. He soon became famous for being able to free himself from danger. Most of the time, his wrists would be held together by handcuffs. Sometimes chains would be wrapped around his body and locked. At other times, he wore a straightjacket, like the kind used in mental hospitals to restrain patients. He once escaped from a straightjacket while hanging high in the air, upside down, from a crane. Houdini escaped from milk cans. He escaped from the strongest jails in the United States. No one ever found a pair of handcuffs that would hold him. STEVE EMBER: But Houdini’s most famous escape was called “The Chinese Water Torture.” First, his feet were locked together.

Then he was lowered, upside down, into a glass box filled with water. A curtain was placed in front of the box so the audience could not see how the trick was done. Several minutes would go by. Houdini’s helpers on stage acted as if something were wrong. The audience feared that the Great Houdini was drowning. They would yell: “Pull him out. Lift him up. He is dying!” BARBARA KLEIN: But, of course, he was not dying. Finally, the curtain would drop. Houdini would be standing next to the box, free and unharmed. Audiences around the world loved this trick so much, Houdini performed it for the rest of his career. (MUSIC) STEVE EMBER: During Houdini’s lifetime, some people thought it was possible to talk with or somehow communicate with dead people. Houdini hoped this were true. He had loved his mother very much. After she died, he tried to talk with her spirit. But after years of trying, he realized that he was wasting his time. He decided that no one could talk with the dead. Magician Harry Houdini was also well known for his card tricks.

BARBARA KLEIN: But many other people thought Houdini was wrong. They held meetings, or séances, to try to communicate with the “other world.” Usually, people would sit around a table in a darkened room and hold hands. They would close their eyes. The leader of the group, called a medium, would speak out and ask a spirit to come into the room. Sometimes they asked the spirit to speak to them, or to make some kind of sound. Often, the medium would charge money in order to try to contact the spirits. STEVE EMBER: Harry Houdini knew it was all false. He easily discovered that these mediums were using some kind of trick just to make money. He began to give speeches, telling how the mediums were fooling people. He even spoke before the United States Congress. He said: JIM TEDDER: “Please understand that I am not attacking a religion. I respect every genuine believer in spiritualism or any other religion. But this thing, wherein a medium communicates with the dead, is a fraud from start to finish.

In thirty-five years, I have never seen one genuine medium.” BARBARA KLEIN: Houdini was so sure that he was right, he offered ten thousand dollars to anyone who could prove he was wrong. No one ever collected the money. (MUSIC) STEVE EMBER: Harry Houdini had a long career as a magician and an escape artist. He became the most famous magician in the world. He wrote books and acted in movies. He made a lot of money and lived well. He bought a small airplane and flew it himself. His name was always in the newspapers. It seemed the entire world knew the name of Harry Houdini. But Houdini would not live to see old age. His life ended suddenly in nineteen twenty-six. A group of celebrities pose in front of the star for legendary illusionist Harry Houdini on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. BARBARA KLEIN: Houdini was resting in a private room after giving a speech at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He had not felt well for several days. A young college student asked to meet the great magician. Houdini agreed.

The young man asked if it were true that Houdini would not be harmed even if hit very hard in the stomach. Houdini said that was true. The student drew back his fist and hit Houdini in the stomach three times. STEVE EMBER: Houdini had not had time to stiffen his stomach muscles. He fell backward in great pain. Doctors found that Houdini’s appendix had burst. In those days, this almost always caused death. Poisons had been released in Houdini’s body. He lived for a few more days. Then died on October thirty-first -- Halloween. Thousands of people came to New York City for Houdini’s funeral. He was buried next to his parents on Long Island. Under his head lay a pillow, filled with letters his mother had written to him. (MUSIC) BARBARA KLEIN: But the story of Harry Houdini did not end there. He had said that no one could communicate with the dead. Yet he had told his wife, Bess, to try to speak with him after he passed into the spirit world. Harry told her two words that he would say to her so that she would not be fooled by some trick.

Those words were, “Rosabelle, believe.” “Rosabelle” was the name of a song that Bess had sung many years before. No one but Houdini and his wife knew these secret words. STEVE EMBER: Bess tried to talk with Harry’s spirit each year on Halloween night. The years passed. Once, Bess said that she thought that one time she had made contact with Harry. But she then said she was wrong. She had been sick. She had heard nothing. Finally, after ten years of trying, something unexpected did happen. Bess gave up. She said that was long enough to wait for any man. BARBARA KLEIN: Bess was said to have kept a lighted candle by a picture of Harry in her home. Her last attempt at communicating with him was in nineteen thirty-six at the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood, California. She took the candle with her and kept it lit while she called to Harry’s spirit. She tried again and again. When nothing happened, she finally said, almost in a whisper: FAITH LAPIDUS:“I do not think that Harry will come back to me or anyone. I think the dead don’t speak.

I now regretfully turn out the light. This is the end, Harry. Goodnight!” BARBAR KLEIN: Then she blew out the candle. (MUSIC) STEVE EMBER: This program was written by Jim Tedder and produced by Dana Demange. Jim Tedder was the voice of Harry Houdini. Faith Lapidus was the voice of his wife, Bess. I’m Steve Ember. BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein. Our programs are online with transcripts and MP3 files at voaspecialenglish.com. And you can find us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Harry Houdini biography | birthday, trivia | Hungarian Magician | Who2 Harry Houdini Biography Name at birth: Ehrich Weiss Harry Houdini was the most influential magician of the 20th century. His specialty was escapes: slipping out of ropes, chains and handcuffs while locked in trunks and milk cans or submerged underwater.

(He once jumped into San Francisco Bay while handcuffed and shackled to a ball and chain.) In an era before TV, Harry Houdini became world famous by barnstorming across America and around the globe. His skills and showmanship made the single name “Houdini” synonymous with entertaining magic; he is often credited with influencing later magicians from David Copperfield to David Blaine . Houdini died in 1926, reportedly due to peritonitis after his appendix ruptured; the legend that he died during a failed escape is untrue. (Another legend has it that Houdini’s death was caused by an overeager fan, who ruptured Houdini’s appendix with a surprise punch to the stomach. The punch did occur, but scholars think it probably did not cause the appendicitis.) Houdini’s 1924 book A Magician Among the Spirits looked skeptically at the spiritualists of the day.

Extra credit Harry Houdini sometimes claimed his birthplace was Appleton, Wisconsin… Houdini chose his stage name as a tribute to French illusionist Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin… Houdini was known for debunking spiritualists, and once offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could produce a “psychical manifestation” which Houdini could not reproduce by natural means… Actor Tony Curtis played the magician in the 1953 movie Houdini. Harry Houdini - The Life of Harry Houdini Houdini in 1922 The Great Harry Houdini Harry Houdini was born on March 24, 1874 in Budpest, Hungary, with the name of Ehrich Weisz. He was one of six children and the son of Rabbi Mayer Weisz and his second wife, Cecilia Steiner. In 1876, Mayer Weisz immigrated to the United States with the dream of a better life. He found work as a rabbi and changed his last name to Weiss. In 1876, the remainder of the family joined him in the United States.

The family moved to Milwaukee when Ehrich was eight years old. During his early years, Ehrich sold newspapers and shined shoes to help support the family. On October 28, 1883, nine year old Ehrich made his first appearance on stage, performing a trapeze act. He billed himself, "Ehrich, the Prince of the Air." At 12, Ehrich hopped a freight car and ran away from home. A year later her returned to New York and continued to help support his family by working as a messenger, necktie cutter, and photography assistant. Nothing is known of his year away from his family. About this time, Ehrich and his brother Theo began to pursue an interest in magic. As a stage name, Ehrich Weiss became Harry Houdini by adding an ìiî to the last name of his idol, French magician Robert Houdin. Harry is simply an Americanized version of his nickname, Ehrie. At 17, Ehrich, now known as Harry Houdini, left his family to pursue his magic career. By the age of twenty, Harry had been performing small acts throughout New York.

He soon married and joined a circus where he began to develop and perfect his escape tricks. Through the years, Houdini gained fame after repeatedly escaping from police handcuffs and jails. Harry was even given certificates from various wardens for escaping from their prisons. After making his name in America, Harry toured Europe, where he expanded his repertoire by escaping from straitjackets and coffins. Eventually, Harry was able to accomplish his dream of having a full show dedicated to his magic. In his later years, Harry took his talent to the film arena, where he both acted and started his own film laboratory called The Film Development Corporation. Years later, Harry would receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition, Harry showed interest in the field of aviation and was the first person to ever fly over Australian soil. In the 1920s, Harry became interested in the occult, specifically in debunking mediums and psychics. His training in magic helped him expose frauds that scientists and academics could not. He chronicled his time investigating the occult in his book, A Magician Among the Spirits.

In 1926 Houdini died as a result of a ruptured appendix, after suffering a blow to the abdomen by university student J. Gordon Whitehead. Houdini refused to seek medical help and continued to travel, eventually succumbing to periotonitis on October 24, 1926 at the age of 52. ©2013 - 2017 The Great Harry Houdini Harry Houdini - Magic Career Magic Career One of the many milk can escapes Houdini's Magic Career Houdini's early career began in New York beer halls and theaters. Performing for the most part in dime museums, on platforms next to snake charmers, fire-eaters and human oddities, Harry and his brother Theo traveled as far west as Chicago, where the "Brothers Houdini" performed during the 1893 World's Fair. Though word of their talent was spreading, the Houdini's were still struggling financially. As a result, Harry took a job with a traveling medicine show where he pretended to go into a trance and worked as a false medium where he would walk to the front of the stage, close his eyes and pass on messages from the dead.

In his later years, Harry would feel so guilty about this that he dedicated his time to debunking these false mediums and psychics. Harry began his career as a famous escape artist with a trick called "Metamorphosis." In this trick, an assistant, and then later his wife, was placed into a locked box and then switched places with the magician within seconds after a curtain was raised. Harry and his wife Bess played for 26 weeks in 1895 with the Welsh Brothers Circus. Harry also spent his free time pursuing his hobby: handcuffs. He discovered that almost all handcuffs could be opened with a single key or piece of bent metal. He read every piece of information that he could find on locking mechanisms and began collecting different kinds of cuffs and keys, taking them apart and studying their mechanisms. Eventually, Houdini would make go from town to town making a show of escaping not only standard police handcuffs, but also any "trick" handcuffs brought by spectators. At this point, Houdini became known as "The Handcuff King". Houdini continued his career of escape by introducing the straitjacket escape into his routine.

After obtaining a straitjacket and weeks of practice, Houdini was ready to try the trick on stage. He was buckled in, carried to a cabinet and then placed behind curtains. He had gained some slack by holding his crossed arms rigidly as the sleeve straps were fastened. Straining every muscle, a little at a time, he forced one sleeve and then other over his head. Then, he opened the straps with the pressure of his fingers through the canvas. He twisted, turned, and finally squirmed free. He threw off the restraint and burst through the curtains to take a bow. As the Houdini's fame spread throughout the United State, Harry and Bess became eager to travel abroad. Houdini and Bess sailed for England where Harry had to convince a club manager that he could escape from handcuffs at Scotland Yard before the manager would give him his first British contract. Harry was successful in his escape and in July 1900, he opened at the Alhambra Theater in London and then traveled to the Continent, where he set new box-office records in Dresden and Berlin. Within a year, Houdini was the most popular attraction in Europe.

When Houdini returned to America he found that his fame in Europe had been widely told at home and he was soon selling out theaters all over the country. During this time, Houdini introduced his escape from a padlocked water can at the Columbia Theatre in St. Louis in January 1908, now known as the "Chinese Water Torture" trick. On January 7, 1918, Houdini introduced the biggest illusion ever staged at the New York Hippodrome, or anywhere else. He called it the "Vanishing Elephant". As a result of this new trick's popularity, Houdini's engagement was prolonged to 19 weeks, the longest that Houdini had ever played.

©2013 - 2017 The Great Harry Houdini Harry Houdini - Biography - IMDb Harry Houdini Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trivia (19) | Personal Quotes (17) Overview (5) 5' 7" (1.7 m) Mini Bio (1) The great American escape artist and magician Houdini (immortalized by a memorable performance by Tony Curtis in the eponymous 1953 film) was born Erich Weiss on March 24, 1874 in Budapest, Hungary, though he often gave his birthplace as Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was raised. One of five brothers and one daughter born to rabbi Samuel Weiss and his wife Cecilia, the future Houdini was four years old when his parents emigrated to the U.S., where Weiss, as "Harry Houdini", became one of the major celebrities of the first age dominated by the mass media.

His boyhood was spent in poverty and, when he was 17, he conjured up a magic act with his friend Jack Hayman, in order to escape the poverty and anonymity of manual labor which would likely have been his lot in life. Young Erich had been fascinated with magic since he was a young lad, when he was in the audience of a magic show put on by a traveling magician named Dr. Lynch. Billing themselves as the "Houdini Bros." in tribute to French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, Erich Weiss became an entertainer, though it took him some seven years to catch on. Weiss and Hayman specialized in the Crate Escape (eventually known as Metamorphosis or The Substitution Trunk), and Houdini's brother Theodore replaced Hayman when he became uninterested in the act. Eventually, Theodore -- billed as Hardeen -- was replaced by Wilhemina Rahner (known as Bess), the woman "Harry Houdini" would eventually marry. The marriage on June 22, 1894 caused a conflict with his Jewish family as Bess was a Roman Catholic.

They married in secret, then again at a synagogue and in a Catholic church to please both of their families. While developing his act, Houdini was not above the old carny trick of posing as a spirit medium, making the rounds of the town clerk's office and nearby cemeteries in order to provide "messages from beyond". In 1896, while visiting a doctor friend in Nova Scotia, he saw his first strait jacket, which gave him the idea of developing an act in which he would escape from it. Houdini finally hit the big-time when he was 24 years old with his Challenge Act in 1898, while he was making the rounds of vaudeville. Houdini's Challenge Act consisted of him escaping from a pair of handcuffs produced by an audience member. Eventually, this evolved into escapes from strait jackets, boxes, crates, safes, and other instruments and devices (such as his Water Torture Cell), as well as from jail cells. Houdini was also adept at escaping from being "buried alive".

Hand-cuffed and strait-jacketed, he could escape while being hung upside down from a crane, or while lowered from a bridge, or even make his escape from padlocked crates lowered into a river. Houdini also became famous as a debunker of mediums and "experts" of the paranormal, but this was done in hope he could find an actual medium that could communicate with the dead so that he could communicate with his beloved mother Cecilia after she passed away. He became quite famous in the ragtime age of the first quarter of the last century, even appearing in motion pictures produced by his own company. Harry Houdini, the greatest magician ever produced by America, died in Detroit, Michigan during a national tour. The cause of death officially was peritonitis from a ruptured appendix. His death came nine days after having been punched in the stomach during the Canadian leg of the tour by J. Gordon Whitehead, a McGill University student who was testing Houdini's famed ability to take body blows. Always the trouper, Houdini had soldiered on despite stomach pains.

(Early during the tour, he had broken an ankle but did not let it stop him or the tour.) His wife Bess, to whom Houdini left his half-million dollar estate, collected a double indemnity on his life insurance policy, as the blow was considered to have shortened the great magician's life and contributed to his premature death at the age of 52. The date of his death was October 31, 1926 -- Halloween, one of three days (October 31-November 2) of Samhain, the Celtic New Year, when the veil between the living and the dead allegedly is at its thinnest and the living can make contact with the dead. Annually on Halloween from 1927 to 1937, Bess held a séance to try to contact her departed husband. She did not succeed, though she helped keep the memory of her husband alive in the American consciousness. Even today, magicians worldwide conduct séances on Halloween in an effort to contact the late escapologist. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C.

Hopwood Spouse (1) ( 22 June 1894 - 31 October 1926) (his death) Trivia (19) Married to his wife three times; first in secret, and then once in each of their respective religions' churches. Based his stage name on that of the French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, whom he would later denounce as charlatan! In addition to his career as a stage magician and an escape artist, he also had a part time career as a debunker of mediums and other so called experts of the paranormal. However, his reasons for this campaign included a hope he could find an actual medium that could communicate with the dead. His cousin was the wife of Stooge Moe Howard Pictured on a USA 37¢ commemorative postage stamp issued in his honor 3 July 2002. Became the first person to make a successful aircraft flight in Australia. At the time he said he may be forgotton as an escapologist but he would be remembered as an aviation pioneer.

[March 1910] Although born in Budapest, Hungary, he often gave his birthplace as Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was raised. Today, his boyhood home there is maintained as a museum. A common misconception is that his death was caused by a student who tried to test his famously strong stomach muscles by punching him. Although it is true that Houdini was not given sufficient time to prepare himself for the blows, landing him in a hospital, this is not what he died of. He died of diffuse peritonitis, nine days later, despite his appendix being ruptured by the unprovoked assault. Was one of five children of a penniless rabbi who died when Houdini was 18 years old. Was fanatically devoted to his mother, Cecilia. When he died, his casket was adorned with a wreath that spelled, "Mother Love," and his head lay on a pillow of Cecilia's letters. He is mentioned in the song "Ghost Town" by Cat Stevens . His will stated that a bronze bust of himself be placed on his tomb to guide his spirit back from "the other side".

Willed his collection of books on magic to the American Society for Psychical Research, on the condition that J. Malcolm Bird, an ASPR official whom he hated, resign. Bird refused, so the books went to the Library of Congress. His original stage name was Eric the Great. Co-founded (with Arthur B. Reeve , John Grey and Louis Grossman) Supreme Pictures Corp. (1919-20), a film production company. The image of Houdini dying while attempting to escape from a water tank in the popular movies has overshadowed the real cause of death: a fan testing his body-strength when he was unprepared for the blow, as he would have been doing his act, which resulted in peritonitis. Some water-tank escapologist showmen even introduce their trick as "The one that killed Houdini". He was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7001 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 31, 1975.

Houdini traveled in the same same show with The Three Keatons, and after a particularly hard fall down the stairs by the (at the time) youngest Keaton, Houdini supposedly said to Joe Keaton , "That's quite a Buster your kid took", which is how Buster Keaton got his name. Has been portrayed in films by Tony Curtis and Adrien Brody --both, like Houdini, of Hungarian ancestry. Personal Quotes (17) Only one man ever betrayed my confidence, and that only in a minor matter. How the early priests came into possession of these secrets does not appear, and if there were ever any records of this kind the Church would hardly allow them to become public. My professional life has been a constant record of disillusion, and many things that seem wonderful to most men are the everyday commonplaces of my business. No performer should attempt to bite off red-hot iron unless he has a good set of teeth. I think that in a year I may retire. I cannot take my money with me when I die and I wish to enjoy it, with my family, while I live. I should prefer living in Germany to any other country, though I am an American, and am loyal to my country.

It is still an open question, however, as to what extent exposure really injures a performer. Flames from the lips may be produced by holding in the mouth a sponge saturated with the purest gasoline. But then, so far as I know, I am the only performer who ever pledged his assistants to secrecy, honor and allegiance under a notarial oath. Another method of eating burning coals employs small balls of burned cotton in a dish of burning alcohol. Fire has always been and, seemingly, will always remain, the most terrible of the elements. But it must not be thought that I say this out of personal experience: for in the many years that I have been before the public my secret methods have been steadily shielded by the strict integrity of my assistants, most of whom have been with me for years. To cause the face to appear in a mass of flame make use of the following: mix together thoroughly petroleum, lard, mutton tallow and quick lime. Distill this over a charcoal fire, and the liquid which results can be burned on the face without harm. Eating coals of fire has always been one of the sensational feats of the Fire Kings, as it is quite generally known that charcoal burns with an extremely intense heat.

The great day of the Fire-eater--or, should I say, the day of the great Fire-eater--has passed. The eating of burning brimstone is an entirely fake performance. In all feats of fire-eating it should be noted that the head is thrown well back, so that the flame may pass out of the open mouth instead of up into the roof, as it would if the head were held naturally. I make the most money, I think, in Russia and Paris, for the people of those countries are so willing to be amused, so eager to see something new and out of the ordinary. See also

Question: Harry Houdini became famous as what?
Answer: Magician