Background
Originally named Ehrich Weiss, he was only a few weeks old when his parents emigrated to the United States from their native Budapest. He grew up in Appleton. Wisconsin, where his father became the rabbi of a small Orthodox congregation.
Originally named Ehrich Weiss, he was only a few weeks old when his parents emigrated to the United States from their native Budapest. He grew up in Appleton. Wisconsin, where his father became the rabbi of a small Orthodox congregation.
To earn much-needed cash, he started work as a boy trapeze artist and eventually his family joined him in New York. There he had begun performing as an illusionist under the stage name of Houdini, which reminded audiences of the great French magician, Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805-1871). After marrying Beatrice Rahner in 1894, Houdini trained her as his stage assistant and they appeared together in dime museums, circuses, and vaudeville, where he made a specialty of baffling escapes from every type of restraint. During his early career, for a mere twenty dollars, he offered to explain these “tricks” to four separate New York dailies, but they showed no interest; later, when Houdini gained renown, he refused to divulge his secrets and they went with him to the grave. He once attributed his success to his great strength and to his being bowlegged.
A dramatic turning point came in 1900, when Houdini (beginning his four-year tour of Europe) packed London’s Alhambra Theater night after night following a well-publicized demonstration of his abilities at Scotland Yard. Another exploit, involving an “escape-proof’ police van in Russia (1903), also boosted Houdini’s fame. Hailed as “The World’s Greatest Magician” he became the highest-paid celebrity in the field of entertainment. Crowds flocked to see him walk through a wall, escape from a water torture cell, or make an elephant disappear from the stage of New York’s Hippodrome (1918).
While relying on mechanical knowledge and sensational effects, Houdini kept himself at the peak of physical fitness in order to show that Jews were capable of muscular (as well as intellectual) achievement. He debunked his one-time idol in The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin (1908) and then devoted much effort to the exposure of fake mediums and mind readers. In order to brand such charlatans and forewarn gullible members of the public, Houdini offered a substantial reward to anyone demonstrating “supernatural phenomena” which he could not reproduce.
He also published two detailed accounts of his investigations: "Miracle Mongers and Their Methods" (1920) and "A Magician among the Spirits" (1924).
A volume entitled "Houdini’s Magic" (1932) was later compiled from his notebooks. The Paramount motion picture "Houdini", starring Tony Curtis, was released in 1953.
Within the American Jewish community, he helped to organize the Rabbis’ Sons Theatrical Benevolent Association.