Help us get to over 8,750 articles in 2024.
If you know of a magician not listed in MagicPedia, start a New Biography for them. Contact us at magicpediahelp@gmail.com
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini | |
Born | Erik Weisz March 24, 1874 Budapest, Hungary |
---|---|
Died | October 31, 1926 (age 52) Detroit, Michigan |
Categories | Books by Harry Houdini |
Initially, Houdini's magic career resulted in little success. He performed in dime museums and sideshows, and even doubled as "the Wild Man" at a circus. Houdini initially focused on traditional card tricks. At one point, he billed himself as the "King of Cards". But he soon began experimenting with escape acts. In 1893, while performing with his brother "Dash" at Coney Island as "The Brothers Houdini", Harry met and married fellow performer Bess (Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner). Bess replaced Dash in the act, which became known as "The Houdinis". For the rest of Houdini's performing career, Bess would work as his stage assistant as well as get married.
Harry Houdini is the one of the most famous escape artists/magicians who has ever lived. He changed it to Harry Houdini because Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin was one of his biggest inspirations.
Houdini escaped from many unique situations and invented some of the most memorable escapes in the history of magic like the "Chinese Torture Cell", "Metamorphosis" and much more.
During his career, Houdini inspired many imitators, men and women. Some duplicated his escapes and others during the height of his fame were just trying to capitalize on his name. Houdini often ruthlessly defended his domain by challenging these imitators, advertising that his act was "patented" with threats to sue them, exposing them, or training someone of his own liking (including his brother Hardeen). [1]
Quotes
"It's not the trick. It's the magician." --Harry Houdini
Books
- The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin (1908)
- Miracle Mongers and Their Methods (1920)
- Houdini's Paper Magic (1922)
External links and references
This page incorporated content from Harry Houdini,
a page hosted on Wikipedia. Please consult the history of the original page to see a list of its authors. Therefor, this article is also available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License |
- Cover Genii 1936 October
- Cover Genii 1938 October
- Cover Genii 1941 October
- Cover Genii 1955 October
- Cover Genii 1956 October
- Cover Genii 1962 October
- Cover Genii 1972 October
- Cover Genii 1975 November
- Cover Genii 1999 December
- Cover Genii 2011 January
- Brief Biography at The Magic Nook
- Houdini Collection catalog at Library of Congress
- John Cox's Houdini Site
- biography by John Cox
- Kevin Connolly's Houdini site
- Wild About Houdini Blog