![]() ![]() Just in case he failed, an assistant stood by with an axe. A curtain would cover the front while Houdini worked his escape. His feet were chained with locks to a lid that was then locked to the tank. Water Torture Cell - In this trick, Harry was lowered head first into a glass tank filled with water.These escapes made him the most famous magician in the world. ![]() Harry traveled around Europe and then returned to the United States performing all sorts of dangerous escapes and amazing illusions. They couldn't believe it! Now Harry was famous and everyone wanted to see his amazing escapes. However, Houdini escaped in a matter of a few minutes. The police searched Harry thoroughly and handcuffed him inside a cell. Then he challenged the English police at Scotland Yard to an escape. He would escape from all sorts of things like handcuffs, straitjackets, and ropes. Upon the advice of his manager, Martin Beck, Harry began to focus his act on escapes. Bess and Harry started their own magic act called "The Houdinis." For the rest of his career, Bess would act as Harry's assistant. They fell in love and married a year later. While Harry and his brother were working at Coney Island, Harry met a dancer named Bess. Around the age of seventeen he began doing a magic show with his brother "Dash" called "The Brothers Houdini." Harry would spend hours working on magic tricks and practicing quick hand movements. Young Harry always had an interest in magic and performing. He worked as a locksmith for a time where he became an expert at picking locks (this skill would come in handy later). See more images, essays, newspapers and records about Harry Houdini.Įxplore more than 1,600 people, places and events in Wisconsin history.Harry worked various odd jobs to help out the family while growing up. Houdini Museum, Appleton Internet Movie Data Base "The Bonds He Did Not Break: Harry Houdini and Wisconsin," by Kimberly Louagie, Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. Houdini died in a Detroit hospital on October 31 of peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix, though whether the blow was the cause of the rupture remains in doubt.įor more information on Houdini's Wisconsin ties, see ""The Bonds He Did Not Break: Harry Houdini and Wisconsin," by Kimberly Louagie in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. While performing in Montreal in October 1926 Houdini was unexpectedly struck in the abdomen by a college student testing his claim to be able to withstand any blow. In the 1920s he turned his attention to debunking spiritualism, the belief that the dead can contact the living. ![]() Besides escaping from handcuffs, shackles, straitjackets and other constraints, Houdini added danger and excitement to his acts by escaping from water-filled containers.īetween 19 Houdini expanded his career by making six motion pictures, though none were particularly successful. Beck sent Houdini to England where he performed with great success until his return to the U.S. They had little success until Martin Beck, a major figure in vaudeville spotted the act and offered Houdini a place on his Orpheum circuit in 1897. In 1893 Houdini married Wilhelmina (Bess) Rahner and together the two undertook a music hall career with an escape act. Young Erich was fascinated by magic and circuses from an early age, and began his career as a magician in 1891 with Jacob Hyman as one of "The Brothers Houdini," a name inspired by the French magician Houdin. Samuel Weiss was dismissed by his congregation in 1883 and moved first to Milwaukee and finally to New York, where he and his family struggled to make a living. Although Harry Houdini claimed Appleton as his home town, he was born Erich Weiss in Budapest, Hungary, and only came to Appleton in 1878 when his father Samuel accepted a post as the city's first rabbi. ![]()
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