Harry Houdini was possibly the most famous magician to have ever lived. He appeared in films and developed a huge audience who was eager to see just what his next trick would be and he was known for his spectacular escape attempts. The magnificence of his career is in contrast to his humble upbringing.
He was born in Budapest in 1874 under the name Erich Weisz. His father was a rabbi, and when Houdini was only four, the family, which included six kids, went to America, starting a new life in New York. This origin story differs from the tale he told publicly, making people believe that he was from Appleton, Wisconsin.
Houdini did not want to enter the labor market where he would be performing intense work, so as an alternative, he took to performing magic, working at Coney Island under the name he would be known as for the rest of his life and afterlife. He got the name from the pathbreaking French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, who he looked up to.
He got to know Wilhelmina Beatrice “Bess” Rahner who was singing and dancing at Coney Island, and he brought her in as part of his act and also got married to her. As Rahner was not Jewish, this caused a scandal in his family, and while she eventually was accepted by the Weisz family, things were never quite normal.
While Houdini could not perform miracles to resolve family drama, he could perform them on stage, and his act took off when he transitioned from classic tricks to his legendary escapes. He cleverly offered anyone in the audience $100 for giving him handcuffs that he was unable to slip out of, and he never had to pay up.
The straitjacket feats were even more dazzling than his handcuff escapes. Even when he was suspended in midair, upside down, and shackled by his ankles, he still managed to get out. Houdini performed wonders up until his death when his appendix ruptured in 1926, possibly as a result of a punch in the stomach from a fan testing how powerful Houdini was.
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