Harry Houdini

From MagicHistorian

Harry Houdini (Erich Weiss) became world-renowned for his stunts and feats of escapology even more so than his magical illusions.

Born: March 24, 1874 Budapest, Hungary

Died: October 31, 1926 Detroit, Michigan, USA from and enfection caused by a bursted apendix

Occupation: magician, escapologist, stunt performer, actor, historian, pilot and amateur paranormal investigator. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/houdini/peopleevents/images/houdini.jpg

Harry Houdini (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was born as Ehrich Weiss and was one of the most famous magicians, escapologists, and stunt performers of all time as well as an investigator of spiritualists. He legally changed his name to "Harry Houdini" in 1913.

Early life

Houdini was born on March 24, 1874 in Budapest, Hungary, to Jewish parents: his father was Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss (?-1892) and his mother was Cecilia Steiner (-1913). In 1878, his family moved to the United States, where he spelled his name as Erich Weiss. At first, they lived in Appleton, Wisconsin, where his father, served as rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation. On June 6, 1882, Rabbi Weiss became a United States citizen, then after losing his tenure, Mayer moved to New York City with Ehrich in 1887, where they lived in a boarding-house on East Seventy-ninth Street. Mayer later was joined by the rest of the family once he found more permanent housing.

Career

In 1891, Ehrich became a professional magician, and began calling himself Harry Houdini because he was influenced by French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin and his friend Jack Hayman (his first partner in magic) told him that in French adding an "i" to Houdin would mean "like Houdin". Initially, his magical career met with little success, though he met fellow performer Wilhelmina Beatrice (Bess) Rahner in 1893, and married her three weeks later. For the rest of his performing career, Bess would work as his stage assistant.

Houdini initially focused on cards and other traditional card acts. At one point he billed himself as the King of Cards. One of his most notable non-escape stage illusions was performed in London's hippodrome: he vanished a full-grown elephant (with its trainer) from a stage, beneath which was a swimming pool.

He soon began experimenting with escape acts, however. Harry Houdini's "big break" came in 1899, when he met the showman 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, Houdini travelled to Europe to perform. By the time he returned in 1904, he had become a sensation.

From 1904 and throughout the 1910s, Houdini usually performed with great success in the United States. He would free himself from handcuffs, chains, ropes and straitjackets, often while hanging from a rope or suspended in water, sometimes in plain sight of the audience. In 1913, he 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.

He explained some of his tricks in books written in the 1920s. 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. He was able to escape from a milk can which had its top fastened to its collar because the collar could be separated from the rest of the can from the inside. When tied down in ropes or straitjackets, he gained wiggle room by enlarging his shoulders and chest, and 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 Theo 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 that 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 strightjacket escape and Houdini became upset because people thought it was Hardeen up there escaping, not Houdini.

Difficult though it was, Houdini's entire act, including escapes, was also performed on a coordinated but separate tour schedule by his brother, Theo Weiss ("Dash" to the Weiss family), under the name "Hardeen". The major difference between the two was in the straitjacket escape; Houdini dislocated both his shoulders to get out, but Hardeen could dislocate only one, giving Theo the disadvantage, since he had to always cross one arm on top of the other, whereas Houdini could cross them either way.

In 1910, while on a tour of Australia, Houdini brought with him a primitive bi-plane with which he made the first controlled powered aeroplane flight in Australia, at Diggers Rest, Victoria. History records that there were several competitors for the record-making flight, but they narrowly missed out.

Debunking spiritualists

In the 1920s, after the death of his beloved mother, he turned his energies toward debunking self-proclaimed psychics and mediums, a pursuit that would inspire and be followed by latter-day magicians James Randi and P. C. Sorcar, and even Penn and Teller. Houdini's magical training allowed him to expose frauds who had successfully fooled many scientists and academics. He was a member of a Scientific American committee which offered a cash prize to any medium who could successfully demonstrate supernatural abilities. Thanks to Houdini's contributions, the prize was never collected. As his fame as a "ghostbuster" grew, Houdini took to attending séances in disguise, accompanied by a reporter and police officer. Possibly the most famous medium whom he debunked was the Boston medium Mina Crandon, a.k.a. Margery.

These activities cost Houdini the friendship of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle, a firm believer in spiritualism during his latter years, refused to believe any of Houdini's exposés. Doyle actually came to believe that Houdini was a powerful spiritualist medium, had performed many of his stunts by means of paranormal abilities, and was using these abilities to block those of other mediums that he was 'debunking' (see Doyle's The Edge of The Unknown, published in 1931 after Houdini's death). This disagreement led to the two men becoming public antagonists.

Death

Houdini's last performance was at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan on October 24, 1926. The next day he was hospitalized at Detroit's Grace Hospital.

Houdini died of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix at 1:26 pm on Halloween, October 31, 1926, at the age of 52. Houdini had sustained multiple blows to his abdomen from McGill University boxing student J. Gordon Whitehead in Montreal two weeks earlier. A long-standing part of Houdini's act was to ask a member of the audience to punch him in the abdomen in order to demonstrate the strength of his abs, but Houdini was reclining on his couch after his performance, having an art student sketch him. When the student's friend came in and asked if it was true Houdini could take any blow to the stomach, Houdini saying it was true. In this instance, he was struck several times, without the opportunity to prepare himself for the blows. Despite popular belief, the appendicitis and not the blow was the cause of his death. He knew something was wrong, but taking the phrase "the show must go on" to its full extent, he refused to be hospialized until he collapsed in the middle of a show, where his wife immediately rushed him to the hospital.

Houdini's funeral was held on November 4 in New York, with over two thousand mourners in attendance. He was interred in the Machpelah Cemetery Queens, New York, with the crest of the Society of American Magicians inscribed on his gravesite. The Society holds their "Broken Wand" ceremony at the gravesite on the anniversary of his death to this day.

Legacy

Houdini left a final sting for his spiritualist opponents: shortly before his death, he had made a pact with his wife, Bess Houdini, to contact her from the other side if possible and deliver a pre-arranged coded message. Every Halloween for the next 10 years, Bess held a séance to test the pact. In 1936, after a last unsuccessful seance on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel, she put out the candle that she had kept burning beside a photograph of Houdini since his death, later (1943) saying "ten years is long enough to wait for any man.

In 1919, Houdini signed a contract with film producer B.A. Rolfe to star in his fifteen part serial The Master Mystery. As was common at the time, the film serial was released simultaneously with a novel. However, financial difficulties resulted in B.A. Rolfe Productions going out of business and Houdini was signed by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation for whom he made two pictures before setting up his own film production company. Called the "Houdini Picture Corporation," he produced and starred in three films, writing the screenplay for one and directing two others. Although success in film eluded him and he gave up on the business in 1923, his celebrity became such that years later he would be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7001 Hollywood Blvd. A mostly fictionalized version of Houdini's life was made in a film in 1953 starring Tony Curtis. Most of the misconceptions about Houdini's life are due in part to this film. For example, it portrayed him dying from the Chinese Water Torture Cell, instead of the less spectacular peritonitis. The Tony award-winning musical "Ragtime", based on E. L. Doctorow's novel of the same name features Houdini as one of the numerous historical supporting characters. Houdini appears as a supporting character in Glen David Gold's novel "Carter Beats The Devil" concerning the rise of American magician Charles Joseph Carter during the Golden Age of magic. British singer Kate Bush recorded a song about Houdini's wife visiting mediums to see if his soul had survived which was included on her 1982 album The Dreaming, the cover of which showed Bush as Mrs Houdini, passing a small key to her husband via a kiss. Experiment 604 in Lilo and Stitch: The Series was named Houdini, in his honor. Houdini appears in the DC Comics graphic novel "Batman/Houdini: The Devil's Workshop", published in 1993 as part of the Elseworlds series. Harry Houdini also appeared in the Image Comics title Spawn. In the two issue story-arc, (issues #19-#20) Houdini reveals to Spawn that he is actually a dimension-traveling hyper mage, ten times more powerful than his early 20th century stage act let on. Both Spawn and Houdini worked together to protect New York from extortion at the hands of physicists from the former Soviet Union who possessed a nuclear bomb. The disaster averted, Houdini again resumed his dimensional travels. Controversy surrounds the decision by the Outagamie Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin to reveal the details of how Houdini performed his Metamorphosis trick. On November 2, 2004, Houdini's last remaining niece, Marie H. Blood, passed away. Until shortly before her death, Ms. Blood attended magic conventions (including the Society of American Magicians's in New York, June 2002), signing autographs. Ironically, Houdini is often called upon in seances by "psychics", and other charlatans he sought to debunk.

Trivia

The name "Harry" came from a family pet name for Ehrich, because people would often mispronounce Ehrich as Ehrie (rhymes with 'Harry').

A famous story goes.. A police officer walked up to Houdini and asked him "can you escape from anything?". And of course he sayed yes and before you can say traped the officer locked a pair of handcuffs on Harry. But he could not escape! The officer tricked him though. The handcuffs could not be opened. They had to be cut off. Houdini was fooled!

Houdini’s Family

Ferencz Deszo Weiss (Houdini's Brother) was born in Hungary on March 4th, 1876. His family called him Deshi and later Dash. When the family immigrated to the United States New York immigration officers changed his first name to Theodore. Later in his life he changed his last name to Hardeen. Hardeen performed as Houdini’s first partner as the Houdini Broothers and helped develop the substitution trunk that lead to much of Houdini’s popularity. Their partnership ended when Houdini bough out Theodore and started doing the act with his new wife Bess. Hardeen became an accomplished escape artist and the heir to Houdini’s apparatus. Hardeen died in 1945.

Leopold Weiss (Houdini's Brother) was born in 1879 and was New York’s first X-ray specialist. Houdini permitted Leopold to X-ray him regularly which is believed to have made Houdini sterile and explain why he had no children. Later in their relationship Harry gained great animosity toward Leopold. It is speculated that Houdini contributed a portion of their mothers death to the stress Leopold and his wife Sadie inflicted on the family. Leopold married Sadie (Glantz) Weiss in 1916 just ten days after her divorce to Leopold’s older brother Nathan. Wile their mother died three years prior to Leopold’s marriage it is believed that an ongoing affair was known by the entire family. Houdini invited the rest of family to share a funeral plot with the exception of Leopold.

Nathan J. Weiss (Houdini's Brother) was born in 1868. A passionate business man and fond brother of Houdini. Nathan was responsible for bringing Sadie Glantz into the family when he married her. The marriage was broken by an affair between Sadie and Nathan’s brother Leopold. When Nathan and Sadie divorced in 1916 she remarried Leopold in just ten days. Houdini left Nathan six percent of his estate and Nathan accompanied Houdini’s coffin along with his brother Thodore and Houdini’s wife, Bess to his grave.

William Weiss (Houdini's Brother) was born in 1870. When the family moved to Milwaukee in 1883 the hard times forced William to shine shoes with his brother Nathan and Houdini. William worked as a paper boy for the Milwaukee Journal. When Wiliam died Houdini placed his body by that of his mother. William died of tuberculosis in 1924.

Herman was Houdini’s half brother. He was born in 1863. Little is known about Herman. We do know that he died of tuberculosis just as Houdini’s brother William had. Herman died in 1885. Houdini purchased a family plot in 1904 and had Herman’s remains moved to the plot along with his fathers.

Cari Gladys Weiss was Houdini’s only sister. She was born in the United States in New York on 1891. After the death their father in 1892 Houdini and brother Herman became the breadwinner for the family. Cari was the youngest of the seven siblings. Cari died in 1943.

Mayer Samuel Weiss (Houdini's Father) was responsible for brining his family to the United States. They lived in Appleton, Wisconsin, where Samuel served as Rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation. After 4 years of service the Appleton Jewish community fire Rabbi Weiss due to the fact that he could not speak english. Samuel become a US citizen on June 6th, 1882. After his layoff he moved the family Milwaukee and then New York in search of work. During this moving period the 12 year old Houdini left home to find work to support his family. One year later he rejoined his father in New York where Samuel could only find work in sweatshops and later as a butcher. Samuel died of cancer on October 5th, 1892. Houdini moved his fathers remains to a family plot two years later.

Cecillia Steiner Weiss (Houdini's Mother) was a very beloved mother of Houdini. After Houdini’s father, Samuel lost his job Cecillia appealed to the Hebrew Relief Society for coal and food. His mother was ever supportive of her sons and took Harry back in during low moments in the beginning of his carrier. Cecillia and Harry kept in contact throughout his carrier by mail. Houdini was documented as calling himself a Mothers-boy to the press and was crushed when Cecillia died of a stroke in 1913. Houdini tried to contact his mother with the help of spiritualist mediums only to find out they where frauds. This began a faze in his life where he spent his time debunking spiritualists.

Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner (Houdini's Wife) performed under the name Bess Raymond. She met Houdini as a coworker at Coney Island. Bess was in a song and dance sister act there called the Floral Sisters. After only two weeks of knowing each other they married on June 22, 1894. Bess began performing with Houdini in place of his brother. Together they joined the Welsh Brothers Circus in 1895. Bess continued to travel and work with Houdini throughout the world as his popularity grew. After Houdini’s mother died he entrusted Bess with a code. If there was a way back from the dead he would find it and confirm it to her by giving her the code. When Houdini died Bess began holding seance every halloween in hopes Houdini would come back. After ten years of seances Bess gave up hope of Houdinis return. After Houdini’s death Bess paid a publicist to keep Houdini in the spotlight. Bess died in 1943.

Additional Houdini References

Hiding the Elephant: Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear By Jim Steinmeyer Who was Harry Houdini? By Tui T. Sutherland