Meet Harry Houdini
The Master of Escape Illusion

Who Was Harry Houdini?
Let Him Tell You Himself - From Houdini On Houdini

My birth occurred April 6th, 1874, in the small town of Appleton, in the State of Wisconsin, U.S.A. My father, the Rev. Dr. Mayer Samuel Weiss, at that time received an annual salary of $750 (£150). Some of the leading actors in the congregation, thinking he had grown too old to hold his position, supplanted him for a younger man, and one morning my father awoke to find himself thrown upon the world, his long locks of hair having silvered in service, with seven children to feed, without a position, and without any visible means of support.
We thereon moved to Milwaukee, Wis., where such hardships and hunger became our lot that the less said on the subject the better.

October 28, 1883, was the date of my first appearance before an audience. I appeared as a contortionist and trapeze performer, being advertised by the manager, Jack Hoeffler (now proprietor and manager of a circuit of theatres in the Middle West of the United States), as "Ehrich, The Prince of the Air."

Later in life I worked at a number of trades, such as locksmith, electrical driller, photographer, cutter, etc., etc.: but I prefer to pass rapidly by those hard and cruel years when I rarely had the bare necessities of life and speak of the time when I first started to do handcuff tricks -- the tricks which eventually brought me to the notice of the world.

One day whilst working as an apprentice in a locksmith's close by the police station, one of the young bloods of the town was arrested for some trivial offense. He tried to open his handcuffs with some keys he had on his person, and in the attempt broke off one of the keys in the lock of the handcuff. He was brought to the shop to have the cuff opened or cut off his wrist, and this incident, trivial as it may seem, in after years changed my entire career.

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While the master locksmith was trying to open the handcuff the whistle blew for the dinner hour. Being a loyal union man, and incidentally, perhaps, having a sharpened appetite, he called me to his side and said, "Harry, get a hack-saw and cut off this handcuff," and then went out with the police officer to dine.

I tried to cut off the cuff, but the steel was too hard, and after breaking half-a-dozen saw-blades, the thought struck me to attempt to pick the lock. I succeeded in doing it, and the very manner in which I then picked the lock of the handcuff contained the basic principle which I employed in opening handcuffs all over the world. Not with a duplicate key, which seems to have been the only way others had of duplicating my performance.

The year 1893 found me as an actor! I played the part of an old man in a play entitled "My Uncle." During rehearsal I seemed unable to remember a single line, in fact would have spoilt the entire rehearsal had I not been allowed to read my part from the script. Notwithstanding this, the show opened up in a small town near St. Louis, Mo., and strange to relate, I was the only one who knew his part perfectly! The show as such a success that the only way possible for me to get back to St. Louis was to deposit my trick trunk as security for railroad fares.

It was while in St. Louis that I formulated the basis of the method for performing my packing-case escape, and it happened in this wise: The winter was a bitterly cold one, and I had no money with which to purchase wood to start a fire to warm my room. So seeing a discarded packing-case in front of one of the large drygoods' shops, I thought I would take it home for firewood. I knew I would make myself too conspicuous by carrying so large a case through the streets, and further knew that no police officer would permit me to break it apart in so crowded a thoroughfare, so I conceived a method of taking it noiselessly apart, and used this same method when I presented the packing-case mystery for the first time in Essen Rhur, Germany.

The presentation of this mystery resulted from a challenge issue to me, more in jest than earnest, by one of the employees of a large linen factory which I visited while in that city. It happened that during my visit, one of the men, engaged in packing a case of linens to send to America, recognized me, and knowing I had just escaped from the local jail, laughingly said, "If we nail you in this packing case like we do linens you never would be able to get out." Jokingly I replied, "Oh! that would be easy," and proceeded on my way, thinking the incident was closed.

Next day, on reading the morning newspaper, to my astonishment I found that the packers had publicly challenged me to escape from one of their packing cases, into which they purposed to nail and rope me. My thoughts flew back to the year long gone by when I secured firewood to heat my room, and I determined to accept their challenge, meaning to escape by using as a basis the method I had employed in securing my firewood years ago.

It was a sensation, and has been the means of putting a few solid stones in the foundation of my reputation.

In 1895 I was engaged by the Welsh Brothers' Circus, a circus which traveled almost exclusively through the State of Pennsylvania, and for the services of Mrs. Houdini and myself I received the sum of £4 weekly, railroad fares and board.

The amount was small, but I still look back with pleasure upon that season's work as being one in which we had an abundance of clothes to wear and good food to eat, for the Welsh Brothers certainly fed their artists extra well.

For this £4 weekly Mrs. Houdini and myself first of all had to give a free performance in front of the side show to attract the crowds. Inside, I then lectured upon the curiosities, gave a magic show, worked the Punch and Judy show, and with the assistance of Mrs. Houdini finally presented a second sight act. In the main concert Mrs. Houdini acted as a singing clown, while later on we presented our specialty, which consisted of the trunk trick in connection with the braid trick. With this same performance we created a big sensation at the Alhambra Music Hall in London in July, 1900, as many of the readers will undoubtedly recall.

I offered my handcuff act to the Welsh Brothers for L1 extra per week, and it was rejected. Eventually I offered to clown the bars, collect lithographs, and do my handcuff show for 12s. extra per week, and it was also refused. In fact, several managers later on refused to allow me to do handcuffs, and it was only after persistently presenting it every once in a while like a trick in several museums that I eventually was allowed to do the act steadily, and only after I had become known to the managers.

In 1897 I appeared with a medicine show in the Indian Territory with Drs. Hill and Pratt, the former from San Francisco, and the latter from Denver, Colorado.

I had to sell medicine on the streets from the carriage, and exhibited my prowess to the gaping public, free of charge. We received as salary £5 weekly, board and traveling expenses, and from this engagement we managed to save our first $100 (£20). As I dwell on thoughts of the past I can realise how important an item the board must have been, as I always was blessed with a good appetite. In fact, it is now no longer a puzzle to me why my parents remained in adverse circumstances, feeding a family of six boys and one girl, who ate as much as a small army. The only wonder still is how did we grow up at all?

In 1898 things became so bad that I contemplated quitting the show business, and retired to private life, meaning to work by day at one of my trades (being really proficient in several) and open a school of magic, which with entertainments would occupy my evenings. I therefore started to play one more tour of the Dime Museums to fulfill my expiring contracts, and it was this trip which made Houdini, The Handcuff King, famous.

When working at a small hall in St. Paul, a party of managers, while sight-seeing, happened to come in. They saw my performance, became impressed with the manner in which I presented it, and one of them, Mr. Martin Beck, perhaps more in a joke than sincerity, challenged me to escape from one of his handcuffs. He had none with him, but next day purchased a few pairs and sent them on the stage. I escaped! He then booked me for one week, and it was the first chance I ever had had, and my act in a first-class theatre created a sensation. My salary for this week's engagement was $60 (£12). In those days I opened my performance with fifteen minutes of magic, but gradually dropped it out until handcuffs were exclusively presented in connection with the trunk trick. We have never looked back since, but have kept on going forward, hoping in a few years to retire to private life and enjoy the harvests of my successes.

My largest income derived from a season's work was from the summer season in Russia in 1903. America ranks second as the payer of salaries, and, although strange as it may seem to the readers, in Great Britain I receive my smallest salaries. However, having made so many friends in this country I like to be among them. Of course, I also must have made a few enemies, but that is part of life.

After working contracts which I have signed for Great Britain I expect to accept no more, as two performances a night of the work I do is too trying for my physique.

When I retire, perhaps I shall reside half the year in Great Britain and the other half of the year in America.

Writing my latest book, "The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin," I consider my greatest and most gratifying achievement. This is the only book in the annals of magic which contains original research and material.

"Robert-Houdin Unmasked" is a book that will live long after we are all dead, will stand as a monument of years of diligent research and endeavor, and will bring me back to the minds of the public when I am long forgotten as a public performer.

Harry Houdini By Harry Houdini appeared in The Magician Annual, 1909-10 published in London.

Chronological Look At Houdini's Life

1878-1898: From Hungary To America, The First Stage

The future "Genius of Escape Who Will Startle and Amaze" ran away from home when he was twelve. A postcard from "Your truant son, Ehrich Weiss," to the mother he adored is the earliest example of Houdini's handwriting in the collections of the Library of Congress, relic of the early evasion by the young man who had been born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary, on March 24, 1874. When this postcard was written, Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss was father and husband to the impoverished immigrant family struggling to become established in America while communicating primarily in German, Hungarian, and Yiddish. Their name had been changed from Weisz to Weiss by immigration officials upon their arrival in the United States c. 1878. Mayer Weiss was to serve as rabbi of the German-speaking Zion Reform Jewish Congregation in Appleton, Wisconsin. His tenure proved short, however, and after a life of hardship he died on October 5, 1892. Having lost his father at an early age, Houdini sustained an exceptionally strong relationship with his mother, Cecilia Steiner Weiss, both as a child and as an adult.

Images from the early years show a determined young man adapting to a country radically different from his parents' homeland. They depict him working to develop the physical stamina, dexterity, showmanship and persona that would take him from the bottom of performance venues to the top of the vaudeville stage. At his side emerges a figure of intelligence, spirit and resolve: his wife, Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner Houdini. Among Houdini's siblings one brother would follow him into magic. This was Theodore Hardeen, born Ferencz Deszo Weisz on March 4, 1876. The lives of these three young people would be devoted to the illusion arts. Always engaged intellectually with ancestor figures, Ehrich Weiss looked to the past for inspiration. By taking the name "Houdini," he likened himself to Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin, the father of modern magic. Techniques and deceptions of fraudulent spiritualism that would influence Houdini's entire life emerge also in the images of these early years.

1899-1907: Vaudeville and Fame
The year 1899 was a watershed in Houdini's life. The great impresario Martin Beck advised the struggling performer to shed traditional magic and to concentrate upon escapes. Beck then booked Houdini on vaudeville's Orpheum Circuit. The dime museum days were over; the King of Handcuffs came to the fore. The Houdinis were on the brink of prosperity. In 1900, Houdini left for Europe, emerging as a star and carefully promoting his persona through letterhead, photographs, and early film. His brother Theodore Hardeen joined him abroad. A vibrant poster from the Berlin Wintergarten documents the international context within which a triumphant Houdini now performed.

In 1904, Houdini bought a brownstone home in the German section of Harlem, New York. In 1905, he returned to America, flourishing his chains. His brother Hardeen continued to perform. When, on January 7, 1906, Houdini escaped from the Washington, D.C. jail cell of Charles Guiteau--the assassin of President Garfield--the magician's reputation as both a jail breaker and handcuff king was assured. Now an established performer, he could reflect in depth upon the history of magic and undertake his own publications. The happiness of this period is manifest in family photographs.

1908-1918: The World Stage
In 1908, Houdini published The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin, a sweeping history of the art of magic. It included references to spiritualism that he subsequently developed in A Magician Among the Spirits. Houdini began the year in Indianapolis. On January 27, 1908, he introduced the milk can escape in St. Louis. Then, later in the year, he took it on tour in Europe, where he appeared, in Germany, as the star of Circus Busch. From March 30 to April 4 of 1908, Houdini performed at Hammerstein's Theatre in New York in the famous Weed Tire Grip Chain Escape. Later in April he made one of his stunning manacled jumps from Boston's Harvard Bridge.

In 1910, positioning himself as a pioneer aviator, Houdini was proclaimed the first person to sustain flight over Australia. In 1913, he introduced his celebrated Upside-Down Water Torture Cell, and soon undertook upside-down straitjacket escapes. Photographs now captured the image of a hero on the world stage who had also become a mature statesman of magic. In 1913, however, even the magician's letterhead reflected his intense grief at his mother's death. The Weiss gravesite gained new importance for him, as did the family that remained.

In 1914, the Houdinis met Theodore Roosevelt when they sailed aboard the Hamburg-American Line from Europe to New York. It was another year of great escapes. The year 1915 brought classic magic, reunions, and participation in the community of magic, preoccupations that shaped 1916 and 1917 also. In 1918, Houdini performed his largest stage illusion, vanishing Jenny the elephant at New York's Hippodrome . Always ready to enhance a sensation, he claimed that she weighed ten thousand pounds.

1919-1922: Silent Film
Beatrice and Harry Houdini celebrated their silver anniversary in 1919. One year later, Funk and Wagnall's dictionary turned their surname into a verb. The couple was as involved as ever in new adventures: Houdini began to star in silent films. First there was The Master Mystery. Then, The Grim Game. In 1921, the magician founded The Houdini Picture Corporation. Its first film was The Man From Beyond.

1920-1926: Mediums and Magic
Houdini's formal education was slight; his self education, immense. "My mind," he is often quoted as having said, "is the key that sets me free." The magician informed and developed that mind through intensive reading; as he did so, he built a formidable library. When, in the 1920s, Houdini strode into the public arena to confront fraudulent mediums, he proceeded from an inner fortress lined with books and manuscripts. His attacks emanated both from shameless self-promotion and sincere commitment to the public good. His exposures covered a rich panoply of psychic fraud, including slate writing, spirit photographs, "finger printing a spirit," and trumpet mediums. His greatest challenge was Mina Crandon, the medium known as Margery. Like Houdini, Margery was brilliant at what she did and what she did was seance magic. A woman who confounded and fooled one established academic mind after another, she found her greatest champion in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a staunch defender of spiritualism. The major battle was between two master tricksters, but it also set Houdini and Sir Arthur at each others' throats. Fallout in the press pumped extra energy into Houdini's career and he took his show to the Hippodrome. He also left a legacy of healthy skepticism to succeeding generations.

Houdini's love of children shines through in photographs. He was capable of combining great empathy with exposes and showmanship. This was apparent in his celebrated 1926 submersion in a sealed coffin. "The Genius of Escape" had become the icon of magic and, within his culture, a seminal creative force.

1926 : Change of Venues
Houdini died on October 31, 1926.  Houdini died of peritonitis resulting from appendicitis on October 31, 1926, in Detroit, Michigan. Newspapers throughout the country carried the news of his death in articles whose length attested to the breadth of his fame.

Newspaper Account Of Houdini's Death

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