|
The
name Houdini still means magic. No lock, straitjacket or shackle
could hold him. Born Erich Weiss in Hungary, in 1874, he came
to the United States with his family as an infant. He created
the stage name Harry Houdini, after famed magician Robert-Houdin.
He turned pro at age 17.
His
death-defying escapes in the early 20th century fascinated
audiences, particularly the many European immigrants. They
saw this small immigrant beat impossible odds. Seeing him
gave them hope for their own lives.
 |
 |
| Houdini's
milk can escape |
|
Houdini
is shown here performing his famous milk can escape. Stagehands
filled the can with water. A handcuffed Houdini tucked his
body inside the can. The steel cover went on, locked with
padlocks. Then the crew pulled a screen forward and around
the can. After an endless two minutes, Houdini appeared from
behind the screen soaking wet and out of breath.
Houdini
devoted a large chunk of his time and effort towards discrediting
mediums, who claimed to contact the dead. In the 1920s, spiritualism
was quite popular, and people spent a lot of money paying
for messages from loved ones who had died.
Some
say he worked against mediums because he wanted to contact
his dead mother and several mediums had claimed that they
had reached her, only to disappoint him when they did things
like give Houdini her message in English, when his mother
spoke to him only in German.
|
 |
| "I
saw his show twice while in Chicago. To say I was astounded,
surprised and delighted is putting it too faint." -Dr.
A.M. Wilson in the magicians' magazine,"The Sphinx," May
1926 |
|
Houdini
searched for (and failed to find) a medium who could do something
under test conditions that he could not duplicate. He studied
their methods and the tools they used. He wore disguises to
attend seances anonymously.
The
magazine Scientific American offered a prize of $2,500 to
a medium who could produce evidence of ghosts under controlled
conditions. Houdini was one of the investigators on the team,
and one of the most skeptical. It was partly due to his expertise
as an escape artist that no one ever took the prize.
Houdini
died in 1926 on Halloween.
|
