Houdini Halloween pt.1
What better way to celebrate Halloween than to talk about Harry Houdini, the greatest magician who ever lived. He died on Halloween in 1926 and on that day for nearly 20 years thereafter, his wife tried to contact him by holding seances on the roof of the Knickerboacker Hotel in Hollywood. He starred in a few early movies even -- mostly silent pics and serials. And he lived here for a time, though he was based mostly out of New York.These days, magicians seem somewhat fey, more like societally sanctioned con artists who do their work with funny camera tricks and carefully timed special effects. There was a time where magic actually took skill. And everyone knows, Harry Houdini had mad skillz.
Born Erhich Weiss in Budapest in 1874, his family emigrated to America when he was four years old. His father, a rabbi, settled his family first in Wisconsin and the in New York City. His name Harry, comes from "Ehrie," the diminutive of his name among his family. He became a professional magician at the age of 17, borrowing the name "Houdini" from his hero, French magician, Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin.
In the beginning, he did card tricks, and eventually moved up to escape -- specifically handcuffs, which got him entree into the world of vaudeville. By this time, he had met and married his wife, Bess Rahner. He began to perform all kinds of escapist stunts, including getting out of straitjackets, chains, and, one of his more famous tricks, The Chinese Water Torture Cell, where he was suspended upside down and chained up in a tank filled with water.
Houdini accomplished his daring escapes by dislocating his shoulders (his brother Theo, who had a shadow career as an escape artist, could only dislocate one shoulder, but Harry could do both), expanding his chest, wrists and shoulders (to make more room while he was being bound) and regurgitating strings, keys and other supplies.
In 1900, he toured in Europe and when he returned in 1904, he was a star.
posted by kuaptic. @ 8:08 AM
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