FACTS ABOUT HARRY HOUDINI

He was born Erik Weisz in Hungary on March 24, 1874. His family moved to Wisconsin when he was 4. He was nicknamed Harry. As a child he developed a love of magic. In particular, he idolized a French magician named Jean-Eurgene Robert-Houdin. He adopted his name, adding an i (thinking it meant “similar to” in French), as his stage name. Ironically, Houdini later wrote a book accusing Houdin of stealing other magician’s tricks.
He started as an entertainer at age 9 as a trapeze artist. He shifted to magic after a while. His career as a magician was going nowhere as he was nothing special at card tricks. Things changed when it was suggested he concentrate on escapes. He joined the vaudeville circuit and became its highest paid performer. He promoted his act by having himself handcuffed and put in the local jail. He once escaped from the jail cell that had housed the assassin of Pres. Garfield. He confounded the guards at Scotland Yard. His escapes were well-publicized. He became known as the “King of Handcuffs”. A typical escape had him manacled behind his back and thrown in a lake.
He and his brother Theo had an act called “The Brothers Houdini” until Harry met Bess Rohner in 1894 and she replaced Theo. She was her husband’s stage assistant for the rest of his career. Theo created his own act as Hardeen. He performed some of Houdini’s tricks and the brother’s developed a rivalry that was feigned for their mutual benefit. Theo is credited with giving Houdini the idea of escaping from a straitjacket.
In Sept., 1911, some Boston businessmen got Houdini to escape from a 1,500 pound “sea monster” that had washed ashore. Houdini was put in handcuffs and leg irons and wedged into the carcass. He escaped in 15 minutes.
Some of his more famous stunts included:

– being hung upside down from a building in a straitjacket

– placed in a water-filled milk can (the Milk Can Escape) or a barrel full of beer (which failed because the mixture of alcohol and carbon dioxide knocked him out)

– escaping from a packing crate lowered into water

– the Chinese Water Torture Cell – a glass-and-steel cabinet where he would be placed manacled upside down

– he almost died when buried under ground and just barely managing to get a hand above the surface

He was an avid aviator and may have been the first private pilot. He was credited with making the first airplane flight in Australia, in 1910.
Houdini was a patriot and supported American involvement in WWI. He entertained the troops and raised money for the war effort. He taught doughboys how to escape from sinking ships and how to get out of ropes and handcuffs if captured.
He had a brief movie career. In 1919, he starred in “The Master Mystery” which featured the first on-screen robot. The film was big hit, but subsequent ones weren’t and his movie acting soon ended.
In the 1920’s he took on the role of debunker of spiritualists, fortune tellers, psychics, and mediums. He and his friend Arthur Conan Doyle were on opposite ends of the spiritualism debate. He sometimes attended seances in disguise to reveal the sham. He offered $10,000 to anyone who could prove a “physical phenomena” using logic. No one claimed the reward. As President of the Society of American Magicians from 1917-1926, he worked to maintain high standards for the profession and expose fraud. He encouraged people to enter the profession and supported Magician’s Clubs throughout the nation.
The belief that he died from a sucker punch, may not be true. He was already suffering from the effects of appendicitis, and although the punch certainly did not help, he went on to perform several more days before going to the hospital. He died from peritonitis associated with the appendicitis.
Before he died, he made arrangements with his wife to communicate with her from the afterlife, if it could be done. He would communicate “Rosabelle- answer- tell- pray, answer- look- tell- answer, answer- tell.” He was a skeptic and it may have been his way of proving from the grave that it was not possible to communicate after death. She gave up after ten years.