Harry Houdini

On March 24 1874 Ehrich Weiss was born in Budapest Hungary, and only one year later, he and his family moved to America. He lived with his family in Wisconsin, where he made backyard trapeze shows with his siblings and called himself prince of the air. In 1887 he moved to New York where he read “The Memoirs of Robert Houdin” and was inspired to become a magician. For his stage name, he used the last name Houdin that was already associated with magic, but added an “I” to give it some pizzazz, And then used the American version of his nickname Ehri, Harry. In 1892 he and his brother Theo began to perform magic tricks. In 1894 Houdini met Bess Raymond and he proposed on the 1st date. In 1899 Houdini was discovered by Martin Beck and began to perform in Vaudeville houses. In 1900, Harry and Bess began to tours. He became famous when he escaped from the handcuffs of London’s top police force. Houdini offered 25 pounds to anyone whose handcuffs he couldn’t escape. On October 24 1902 he broke out of the most difficult cuffs, and also broke out of the famous mirror cuffs. In 1908, Houdini premiered his milk can escape trick, and in 1910 his vanishing elephant trick. In 1919 he starred in his first movie of many, “The Mystery Man”. His book “A magician among the Spirits” was published in 1923. And on Halloween of 1926, while performing a trick where someone punches him and it doesn’t hurt, he was not prepared and was punched in the appendix and died after the show.