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Read it. Know it.™
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Foreword
From the Publisher
Houdini was a man of magic and mystery. He was also a pilot, an author, an actor, and a rabid opponent of the Spiritualist movement. He was impatient of charlatans and imitators and loving to his family. He had an impressive ego. If any of these facts are new to you, then Houdini: A Life Worth Reading is the perfect primer on the man who was, by the end of his life, known only as Houdini.
From his Nude Cell Escape (yes, that is exactly like it sounds) to his methodical debunking of mediums, Houdini orchestrated his talent, persona, and career with care, enthusiasm, and determination.
With an easy-to-read biography, writings from Houdini himself, and quick-fact introductions to each chapter, Houdini: A Life Worth Reading will tell you what you want most to know about the King of Handcuffs, also known as Ehrich Weisz, also known as the great Houdini.
Foreword How This eBook Is Organized
What You Will Find in Every Part
Introduction: Houdini, The Legend
I. Ehrich Weiss, the Child who Became Houdini Read It and Know It
First Escape and Establishment in New York City
Origins of Interest in Magic
Know More About: Houdini’s Names
In Houdini’s Words
II. Houdini, the Struggling Magician Read It and Know It
Police Escape Publicity Stunts
Houdini’s First Year of Fame
Know More About: Vaudeville
III. Houdini, the King of Handcuffs Read It and Know It
Germany and Paris
Russia
Know More About: Robert-Houdin
In Houdini’s Words
IV. Houdini, Back in the United States Read It and Know It
V. Houdini, the Aviator Read It and Know It
In Houdini’s Words
VI. Houdini, the Evolving Magician and Illusionist Read It and Know It
Illusions
VII. Houdini, the Man Read It and Know It
Houdini’s Inner Self
Houdini and Bess
Family Life
VIII. Houdini, the Writer Read It and Know It
In Houdini’s Words
IX. Houdini, the Movie Star and Producer Read It and Know It
X. Houdini, the Collector Read It and Know It
In Houdini’s Words
XI. Houdini, the Crusader against Spiritualism Read It and Know It
Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Houdini, the Lecturer and Investigator
The Scientific American Committee
Houdini’s Anti-Spiritualist Campaign
In Houdini’s Words
XII. Houdini, the Developer and the Patriot Read It and Know It
Houdini and the Clubs
Houdini the Patriot
In Houdini’s Words
XIII. Houdini, the Proud Read It and Know It
XIV. Houdini’s Last Days and Death Read It and Know It
In Houdini’s Words
XV. After Houdini’s Death Read It and Know It
Know More About: Rosabelle
Test Your Knowledge I. Ehrich Weiss, the Child Who Became Houdini
II. Houdini, the Struggling Magician
III. Houdini, the King of Handcuffs
IV. Houdini, Back in the United States
V. Houdini, the Aviator
VI. Houdini, the Evolving Magician and Illusionist
VII. Houdini, the Man
VIII. Houdini, the Writer
IX. Houdini, the Movie Star and Producer
X. Houdini, the Collector
XI. Houdini, the Crusader against Spiritualism
XII. Houdini, the Developer and the Patriot
XIII. Houdini, the Proud
XIV. Houdini’s Last Days and Death
XV. After Houdini’s Death
Test Your Knowledge Answer Key I. Ehrich Weiss, the Child Who Became Houdini
II. Houdini, the Struggling Magician
III. Houdini, the King of Handcuffs
IV. Houdini, Back in the United States
V. Houdini, the Aviator
VI. Houdini, the Evolving Magician and Illusionist
VII. Houdini, the Man
VIII. Houdini, the Writer
IX. Houdini, the Movie Star and Producer
X. Houdini, the Collector
XI. Houdini, the Crusader against Spiritualism
XII. Houdini, the Developer and the Patriot
XIII. Houdini, the Proud
XIV. Houdini’s Last Days and Death
XV. After Houdini’s Death
How This eBook Is Organized
What You Will Find in Every Part
“Read It and Know It” sections appear at the beginning of each chapter. These features include brief facts to help you remember important details about the life of Houdini. Use this knowledge at cocktail parties or when you finally land that spot on Jeopardy.
“Know More About” sections appear throughout the text. These are quick and simple summaries of key concepts. Get to know these and you'll be sure to impress your friends or that know-it-all at work. You can read the book from front to end or you can skip to areas you think sound interesting; there's no wrong way to read this book.
“In Houdini’s Words” also appear throughout the text. These sections take Houdini’s words as he wrote them and put them in context for you. By reading Houdini’s words alongside his biography, you will increase your understanding of these primary sources.
“Test Your Knowledge” sections appear at the end of the book. These questions test you on key ideas for each chapter and help you remember main points. Use the Answer Key to check your knowledge. Take the quizzes right after reading the chapter or at the end of the book to discover what you remember of Houdini’s life and times.
Introduction: Houdini, The Legend
The name Houdini is synonymous with intrigue, magic, and delight. In the history of magic, many performers have amazed, but only
Houdini seems to have become the legend that symbolizes the very essence of what it means to be mystified and enthralled.
Magicians notoriously guard their secrets carefully, revealing them to very few outside of the trade, and Houdini was no exception. Some of those secrets he took to his grave. Many of Houdini’s tricks and illusions are still sought after by young and experienced magicians alike.
But Houdini was much more than a mere stage presence; he was a driven, dedicated, death-defying artist who changed the field of magic forever. His many faces, including that of writer, actor, movie producer, collector of literature, and aviator, reveal a man who refused to accept any limits on his capacity to learn, evolve, and amaze.
I. Ehrich Weiss, the Child who Became Houdini
Read It and Know It
After reading this chapter, you will know more about
Houdini’s birth: The famous magician was born in Hungary on March 24, 1874.
Houdini’s father: Mayer Samuel Weisz was a rabbi and passed his love of learning on to his son.
The early years: The Weisz family was poor, and their later-famous son ran away to ease their financial burden.
An early interest in performing: In addition to performing for his family as early as nine years old, Houdini learned about magic from his friend Jacob Hyman.
The man who later became known as Houdini was born on March 24, 1874 in Budapest, Hungary. The name given to him at birth was Ehrich Weisz. Ehrich was the third child born to Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weisz and Cecilia Steiner.
Mayer Weisz was a rabbi with several advanced degrees. A scholar and poet, he practiced German Reform Judaism and spoke German and Hebrew in addition to his native language, Hungarian. Mayer had been married once before he married Ehrich’s mother and had a fourteen-year-old son named Herman at the time of his marriage to Cecilia.
Cecilia Steiner was twelve years younger than her husband. She and Mayer had five boys and one girl together: Nathan, William, Ehrich, Theodore, Leopold, and Gladys, each between two and three years apart in age.
When Mayer was forty-seven years old, he came on his own to the United States, seeking a better life for his family. He changed the spelling of his name from Weisz to Weiss. Despite his inability to speak English, Mayer found a job as a rabbi in Appleton, Wisconsin, which had a small Jewish community. After two years, he saved enough money to send for his wife and four young children, including Ehrich. While the position in Appleton had seemed promising, Mayer made very little money at this job. Soon the congregation wanted a rabbi who was more modern and who spoke English. Mayer was fired after only four years. During that time, two more children were born to the family.
Desperate to make a living for his family, Mayer moved the Weisses to Milwaukee, which had a growing Jewish population due to the arrival of families fleeing anti-Semitic violence in Russia. However, the Jewish families in Milwaukee did not practice a strict form of Judaism, and there was no demand for Mayer’s services as a rabbi. Mayer tried to earn money by conducting private religious services and by opening a school, but was unable to provide for his family. The poverty-stricken Weisses moved from one address to another, and Ehrich worked at odd jobs such as shoe-shining and selling newspapers to make money to support the family.
Ehrich’s older half-brother Herman did not live long after the move to Milwaukee. He married (a woman who was not Jewish), and Mayer sent Herman to New York City to get him away from what he felt were bad influences in Milwaukee. Herman died there of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-two.
First Escape and Establishment in New York City
Ehrich ran away from home at the age of twelve, hoping to spare his parents the expense of providing for him and planning to earn money to send home. He left home without a change of clothes or food, and took a train that he believed was headed to Galveston, Texas. The train was actually bound for Kansas City, Missouri. When Ehrich arrived, he followed a rural road to a town called Delavan on the Wisconsin border. A kindly middle-aged couple, the Flitcrofts, gave Ehrich a place to live while he earned a living shining shoes and selling newspapers on the streets. Ehrich was able to send a small amount of money home. Ehrich always remembered Mrs. Flitcroft and gave her expensive gifts later on in his life.
While living in Delavan, Ehrich learned that his father had gone to New York City to seek a better fortune, temporarily leaving his family behind in Milwaukee. Ehrich traveled to New York City to join his father sometime in 1887, when he was merely thirteen years old. He and Mayer lived in a boarding house in the city until the rest of the family came to New York the following year. The family moved into an apartment in a four-story tenement house.
Mayer tried to earn money as a Hebrew teacher and by performing rabbinical services, but was again unable to make a living wage. Mayer sold his collection of Hebrew books to a local rabbi, and some accounts indicate he went to work at a clothing factory. Ehrich also worked at the clothing factory, as well as at various other jobs, including as a messenger-boy for large companies and at a tool-and-die shop. Even though he was technically enrolled at a local Jewish school, Ehrich did not have very much time to attend classes, and the son of educated Rabbi Weiss grew up with little formal education. Later in life, Houdini worked hard to establish himself as an educated man through his literary forays and many efforts to engage with academics.
Mayer Weiss died in New York City in 1892 following complications from surgery performed to treat tongue cancer. Houdini later reported that as Mayer lay dying, he made Ehrich promise to provide for his mother for the rest of her life.
Origins of Interest in Magic
When Ehrich was very young, he saw a trapeze artist in Appleton, Wisconsin and became obsessed. At the age of nine, Ehrich put on red stockings and performed his own trapeze act in his backyard, charging five cents and calling himself Eric, Prince of the Air. In this act, he hung from a trapeze and picked up pins from the ground with his teeth.
Ehrich was obsessed with physical abilities and taught himself how to do acrobatics and contortionist stunts. As a teenager in New York City, Ehrich became an avid runner and joined the Pastime Athletic Club. He reportedly trained by running ten miles a day in Central Park. He won a race organized by the Amateur Athletic Union even though he was not technically old enough to have entered. A famous picture of young Houdini shows him in his running uniform, his top covered with medals, some of them actually earned, and some of them put there by Ehrich for show. At seventeen, Ehrich was already as tall as he would ever become, only five feet four inches, with a muscular, stocky build.
Ehrich met his friend Jacob Hyman while working at the clothing factory in New York. Jacob was a young coworker and also an amateur magician, and he began to show Ehrich some of his tricks. Around that time, Ehrich bought a cheap copy of the biography of the famous French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. According to Houdini’s later writings, Ehrich was fascinated with Robert-Houdin, whom he then regarded as his hero.
Know More About: Houdini’s Names
Although he eventually settled on “Houdini” alone, the King of Handcuffs had a plethora of names, not just a stage name and a birth name.
As a young child he was Ehrich Weisz. There are other spellings of this name: Erich Weisz and Erik Weiss. Erik is the name on his Hungarian birth certificate, but the name he and his family used while he was growing up was Ehrich.
When he moved to America his last name, and the name of his entire family, became Weiss. His nickname amongst friends and family was Ehrie. Ehrie then changed to Harry when he became Harry Houdini. Later he dropped the “Harry” and became Houdini.
He wasn’t just Houdini on stage, either. Houdini’s name changes were often all encompassing, and friends and family had to adapt to the different names in his personal life as well as his professional one.
In Houdini’s Words
In The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin, Houdini remembers his early love of Robert-Houdin and describes it to the reader.
&nbs
p; When it became necessary for me to take a stage-name, and a fellow-player, possessing a veneer of culture, told me that if I would add the letter “i” to Houdin’s name, it would mean, in the French language, “like Houdin,” I adopted the suggestion with enthusiasm. I asked nothing more of life than to become in my profession “like Robert-Houdin.”
II. Houdini, the Struggling Magician
Read It and Know It
After reading this chapter, you will know more about
The Brothers Houdini: Houdini and his friend Jacob Hyman performed together in an early magic act with this name, although more than one person would partner with Houdini in the act.
Houdini’s early tricks: “Metamorphosis” was an early escape trick of the type that would later make Houdini famous.
Houdini’s wife: Bess and the struggling magician married after only a few weeks of courtship.
