Harry Houdini - Happy Birthday!
Mar 24, 2017 12:14:36 #
On March 24, 1874, Erik Weisz, was born. The world remembers him as the 'Master of Escape', Harry Houdini. Born in Budapest, he was one of seven children. His family emigrated to America in 1878, where he was renamed Ehrich Weiss. By 1887, at the age of thirteen, Ehrich; had started working as an entertainer, as a trapeze artist who called himself "The Prince of the Air." In 1890, after apprenticing under Joseph Rinn, he started working as a professional magician, taking the name "Harry Houdini" from the magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin.
Houdini's first successful act was the "handcuffs" act. He would go to the local police station, put on their handcuffs, and just as easily slip out of them. Martin Beck, a theatrical manager, saw this, and told him if he'd focus on escape tricks, he'd book him on the lucrative Orpheum circuit. He quickly stepped up his tricks as handcuff escapes caught on, escaping from ropes, chains, jails, straitjackets, mail bags, riveted boilers, and, most famously, a milk can filled with water. He often arranged these escapes with local merchants as an early form of marketing.
Houdini was more than just an escape artist, however. One of his most famous stunts had him vanish an elephant at the New York Hippodrome.
Houdini' s last performance was in Detroit on Oct. 24, 1926, at the Garrick Theater. After the show, he complained of abdominal pain, and doctors diagnosed him with appendicitis. His condition quickly deteriorated and the magician was taken to Grace Hospital in downtown Detroit. Houdini remained in the hospital for a week where he had two operations to repair his ruptured appendix. Unfortunately, he developed peritonitis, an infection of the abdominal cavity caused by a ruptured appendix. Houdini died in room 401 of Grace Hospital on Halloween 1926.
Houdini's first successful act was the "handcuffs" act. He would go to the local police station, put on their handcuffs, and just as easily slip out of them. Martin Beck, a theatrical manager, saw this, and told him if he'd focus on escape tricks, he'd book him on the lucrative Orpheum circuit. He quickly stepped up his tricks as handcuff escapes caught on, escaping from ropes, chains, jails, straitjackets, mail bags, riveted boilers, and, most famously, a milk can filled with water. He often arranged these escapes with local merchants as an early form of marketing.
Houdini was more than just an escape artist, however. One of his most famous stunts had him vanish an elephant at the New York Hippodrome.
Houdini' s last performance was in Detroit on Oct. 24, 1926, at the Garrick Theater. After the show, he complained of abdominal pain, and doctors diagnosed him with appendicitis. His condition quickly deteriorated and the magician was taken to Grace Hospital in downtown Detroit. Houdini remained in the hospital for a week where he had two operations to repair his ruptured appendix. Unfortunately, he developed peritonitis, an infection of the abdominal cavity caused by a ruptured appendix. Houdini died in room 401 of Grace Hospital on Halloween 1926.
Mar 24, 2017 12:42:41 #
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