Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz , later Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss ; March 24, 1874 - October 31, 1926) is a Hungarian-born illusionist and Hungarian acrobat, famous for his sensational escape. He first attracted attention in vaudeville in the US and later as "Harry Handcuff Houdini" on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked. Soon he extended his repertoire to insert chains, ropes hung from skyscrapers, underwater straitjackets, and had to escape from and hold his breath in a tin of milk covered with water in it.
In 1904, thousands watched as he tried to escape the special handcuffs commissioned by London Daily Mirror, keeping them in suspense for an hour. Another action saw him buried alive and was only able to scratch himself to the surface, appearing in an almost defective state. While many suspect that this escape was forged, Houdini presented himself as a whip of false spiritualists. As President of the Society of American Magicians, he wants to uphold professional standards and expose fraudulent artists. He is also quick to sue anyone who imitates his escape action.
Houdini made some movies, but stopped acting when it failed to bring in money. He is also a keen pilot, and aims to be the first person to fly a plane in Australia.
Video Harry Houdini
Kehidupan awal
Erik Weisz was born in Budapest for a Jewish family. His parents are Rabbi Mayer SÃÆ'¡muel Weisz (1829-1892) and CecÃÆ'lia Steiner (1841-1913). Houdini is one of seven children: Herman M. (1863-1885) who is Houdini's half brother, by the first marriage of Rabbi Weisz; Nathan J. (1870-1927); Gottfried William (1872-1925); Theodore (1876-1945); Leopold D. (1879-1962); and Carrie Gladys (1882-1959), who were left almost blind after a childhood accident.
Weisz arrived in the United States on July 3, 1878, at SS Fresia with his mother (who was pregnant) and four brothers. The family changed their name to German spelling Weiss, and Erik became Ehrich. The family lives in Appleton, Wisconsin, where his father serves as the Rabbi of the Reform Sessions, the Jewish Assembly.
According to the 1880 census, the family lives on Appleton Street. On June 6, 1882, Rabbi Weiss became an American citizen. Losing his work in Zion in 1882, Rabbi Weiss and his family moved to Milwaukee and fell into terrible poverty. In 1887, Rabbi Weiss moved with Ehrich to New York City, where they lived in a boarding house on East 79th Street. He joined another family member when Rabbi Weiss found a permanent home. As a child, Ehrich Weiss took some work, making his public dà © Å but as a 9-year-old trapeze artist, calling himself "Ehrich, Prince of the Air". He was also a runner-on champion champion in his youth. When Weiss became a professional magician, he began to call himself "Harry Houdini", after the French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, after reading Robert-Houdin's autobiography in 1890. Weiss wrongly believed that an i in the end of a name means "like" in French. In later life, Houdini claims that the first part of his new name, Harry, is a tribute to Harry Kellar, whom he also admired, although it is more likely to be adapted from "Ehri," the nickname for "Ehrich," which is how he is known by his family. When he was a teenager, Houdini was trained by witch Joseph Rinn in the Athletics Club of the Past.
Houdini became an active Freemason and became a member of St Cecile Lodge # 568 in New York City. In 1918, he signed up for a selective service as Harry Handcuff Houdini.
Maps Harry Houdini
Witchcraft career
Houdini started his magic career in 1891, but had little success. He appears in a tent action with strong man Emil Jarrow. He performed in museums and short shows, and even duplicated as "The Wild Man" at the circus. Houdini initially focused on traditional card tricks. At one point, he calls himself the "King of Cards". Some - but not all - professional magicians will regard Houdini as a skilled but not highly skilled artist, lacking the elegance and skills needed to achieve excellence in that skill. He immediately began experimenting with the escape act.
In 1893, while performing with his brother "Dash" (Theodore) on Coney Island as "The Brothers Houdini", Houdini met with fellow player, Wilhelmina Beatrice "Bess" Rahner. Bess was initially approached by Dash, but he and Houdini married in 1894, with Bess replacing the Dash in acting, later known as "The Houdinis". For the rest of Houdini's career, Bess worked as his stage assistant.
Houdini got a great pause in 1899 when he met with manager Martin Beck at St. Paul, Minnesota. Impressed by Houdini's handcuff action, Beck advised him to concentrate on escaping and ordering it on the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Within months, he appeared in the top vaudeville houses of the country. In 1900, Beck arranged for Houdini to tour Europe. After a few days of failed interviews in London, Houdini's British agent, Harry Day, helped him to get an interview with C. Dundas Slater, then the manager of the Alhambra Theater. He was introduced to William Melville and gave a demonstration of escaping from the handcuffs at Scotland Yard. He managed to confuse the police so effectively that he was booked in the Alhambra for six months. The show is a direct hit and his salary goes up to $ 300 a week.
Houdini is widely known as "The Handcuff King." He toured in England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Russia. In every town, Houdini challenged local police to detain him with fetters and lock him in prison. In many of the escapees of this challenge, he was first stripped naked and sought. In Moscow, he escaped from a Siberian prison transport van, claiming that, if he could not break free, he had to go to Siberia, where the only key was kept. In Cologne, he sued a police officer, Werner Graff, who alleges that he made his escape through bribery. Houdini won the case when he opened the vault of the judge (he later said the judge forgot to lock it). With his newfound wealth, Houdini buys a dress that is said to have been made for Queen Victoria. She then arranges a great reception where she presents her mother with the dress to all their relatives. Houdini said it was the happiest day of his life. In 1904, Houdini returned to the United States and bought a house for $ 25,000 (equivalent to $ 680,926 in 2017), a brownstone at 278 W. 113th Street in Harlem, New York City.
During a tour of Europe in 1902, Houdini visited Blois in order to meet the widow of Emile Houdin, son of Jean EugÃÆ'¨ne Robert-Houdin, for interviews and permission to visit his tomb. He did not receive permission but still visited the tomb. Houdini believed that he had been treated unfairly and then wrote a negative report about the incident in his magazine, claiming that he was "treated with great disrespect by Madame W. Emile Robert-Houdin." In 1906, he sent a letter to the French magazine L'Illusionniste stating: "You will definitely enjoy an article about Robert Houdin that I will publish in my magazine Yes, my friend, I think I can finally destroy the idol You, who have been so long placed on a pedestal he does not deserve. "
In 1906, Houdini made his own publication, the monthly magazine of the magician . It was a contender for The Sphinx, but was short-lived and only two volumes were released until August 1908. The magic historian Jim Steinmeyer has noted that: "Houdini could not help but use the journal for himself Crusades, attacking his rival, praising his own performance, and subtly rewriting history to support his view of magic. "
From 1907 and throughout 1910, Houdini performed with great success in the United States. He freed himself from prison, handcuffs, chains, ropes, and saddle jackets, often hanging on the ropes seen by street viewers. Because of the impersonator, Houdini put the "handcuff action" behind him on January 25, 1908, and began to escape from a locked and water-filled milk can. The possibility of failure and death shakes the listener. Houdini also expanded his repertoire with the escape challenge, in which he invited the public to devise a tool to contain him. These include packing crates that are nailed (sometimes lowered into the water), spiked boilers, wet sheets, letter bags, and even belly whales stranded in Boston. Brewers in Scranton, Pennsylvania and other cities challenged Houdini to escape from a barrel after they filled it with beer.
Many of these challenges are governed by local merchants in one of the first tie-in mass marketing uses. Rather than promoting the idea that he was aided by spirits, as did Davenport Brothers and others, Houdini's ad shows he made his escape through dematerialization, although Houdini himself never claimed to have supernatural powers.
After much research, Houdini wrote a collection of articles on the history of magic, expanded to The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin published in 1908. In this book he attacked his former idol Robert-Houdin as a liar and fraud for claiming invention of automata and effects such as air suspension, which has been around for years. Many of the allegations in the book were rejected by magicians and researchers who defended Robert-Houdin. Witch Jean Hugard then wrote a full rebuttal to Houdini's book.
In 1913, Houdini introduced the Chinese Water Purifier Cell, where he was hung upside down in a glass-and-steel cabinet that was locked full to the water, holding his breath for more than three minutes. He will continue to do this escape for the rest of his life.
During his career, Houdini explained some of his tricks in a book written for the fraternal fraternity. In The Secret of the Cuffs (1909), he reveals how many keys and handcuffs can be opened with properly applied power, others with shoelaces. At other times, he brings a hidden key or key. When tied in a rope or straitjackets, he gets the space by enlarging his shoulders and chest, moving his arm slightly away from his body.
His running escape was originally done behind a curtain, with him appearing freely at the end. Houdini's brother (who is also an escapist, collecting himself as Theodore Hardeen), found that the audience was more impressed when the curtains were removed so they could see him struggling to get out. On more than one occasion, they both carried out rocket attacks while hanging upside down from the roof of a building in the same city.
For most of his career, Houdini is the main deed in vaudeville. For years, he was the highest paid player in vaudeville America. One of the illusions of Houdini's most famous non-escape stage was performed in the New York Hippodrome, when he disappeared an adult elephant from the stage. He had bought this trick from the wizard Charles Morritt. In 1923, Houdini became president of Martinka & amp; Co., the oldest magic company in America. Business is still operating today.
He also served as President of the Society of American Magicians (SAM) from 1917 until his death in 1926. Founded on May 10, 1902, in Martinka's back room magic shop in New York, the Society expanded under the leadership of Harry Houdini during his tenure as National President from 1917 to 1926. Houdini was the greatest visionary in magic. He sought to create a large national network of professional and amateur magicians. Wherever he goes, he gives a long official address to a local magic club, speeches, and usually presents parties for his members at his own expense. He says "Witch Club is a small rule: they are weak... but if we are put together into one big body, society will become stronger, and that means making small clubs strong and valuable." Members will find a welcome wherever they are are located and, on the other hand, the protection of city-to-city hotlines to track exposures and other undesirable things. "
For much of 1916, during his vaudeville tour, Houdini had recruited - at his own expense - a local magic club to join S.A.M. in an effort to revitalize what he feels as a weak organization. Houdini persuaded groups in Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City to join. As happened in London, he persuaded magicians to join. The Buffalo Club joins as the first branch, (then assembly) of the Society. Chicago Assembly No. 3 is, as the name implies, the third regional club founded by S.A.M., whose assemblies now number in the hundreds. In 1917, he signed the Charter of the Number Three to be there, and the charter and the club continued to provide the Chicago wizards with connections with each other and into their past. Houdini eats together, speaks, and gets appointments from similar clubs in Detroit, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Cincinnati, and elsewhere. This is the greatest movement ever in the history of magic. In places where there are no clubs, he gathers individual magicians, introduces them to each other, and urges them into groups.
At the end of 1916, wizarding clubs in San Francisco and other cities that Houdini did not visit offered to become an assembly. He has created the world's richest and oldest magic organization in the world. Today it includes nearly 6,000 paying members and nearly 300 assemblies worldwide. In July 1926, Houdini was elected for the ninth time the President of the Society of American Magicians. Every other president only serves for one year. He is also the President of the London Witch Club.
In the last years of his life (1925/26), Houdini launched his own full night show, which he described as "Three Performances in One: Magic, Escape, and Mediums Involved Fraud".
Important escape
Mirror challenge
In 1904, the London Daily Mirror newspaper challenged Houdini to escape from the special handcuffs that were claimed to have taken Nathaniel Hart, a locksmith from Birmingham, five years to make. Houdini received the challenge for March 17 during the matinÃÆ'Â © e performance at the London Hippodrome theater. It was reported that 4000 people and more than 100 journalists appeared for a much hypnotized event. The escape attempt lasted for over an hour, in which Houdini emerged from his "haunted house" (a small screen used to hide his escape method) several times. On one occasion he asked if his handcuffs could be removed so he could take off his coat. Representative of the Mirror , Frank Parker, refused, saying Houdini could benefit if he saw how the cuffs were opened. Houdini immediately took out a knife and, holding a knife in his teeth, used it to cut his mantle from his body. About 56 minutes later, Houdini's wife appeared on stage and gave her a kiss. Many think that in his mouth is the key to unlocking the special handcuffs. However, it has since been suggested that Bess did not actually enter the stage at all, and that this theory is not possible because of Houdini's 6-inch key size then back behind the curtain. After an hour and ten minutes, Houdini appeared free. As he was paraded through the cheering crowd, he cried and cried. Houdini later said it was the most difficult escape of his career.
After the death of Houdini, his friend Martin Beck was quoted in the book Will Goldston, Sensational Tales of Mystery Men, such as admitting that Houdini was defeated that day and had asked his wife, Bess, to ask for help. Goldston went on to claim that Bess begged the key from the Mirror Representative, then slipped it into Houdini in a glass of water. It's stated in The Secret Life of Houdini book that the key needed to unlock the specially designed Mirror handcuff is 6 inches long, and can not be smuggled into Houdini in a glass of water. Goldston did not offer any evidence of his account, and many modern biographers have found evidence (especially in the design of handcuffs) that the Mirror challenge may have been set by Houdini and that his long struggle for escape was pure showmanship.
This escape has been discussed in depth about the Mystery Travel in the Museum in an interview with Houdini expert, magician and runaway artist Dorothy Dietrich of Scranton's Houdini Museum.
A full-sized design of the same Borgol Mirror, as well as a Bramah style key replica for it, is on display for public at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This set of cuffs is believed to be one of only six in the world, some of which are not on display.
Milk Can Escape
In 1908, Houdini introduced his original action, Milk Can Escape. In this action, Houdini is handcuffed and sealed in a large milk that can be filled with water and runs away behind a curtain. As part of the effect, Houdini invites the members of the audience to hold their breath with him while he is in the can. Advertised with dramatic posters proclaiming "Failure of Meiring A Drowning Death", the escape proved to be a sensation. Houdini immediately modified the escape to include milk that could be locked inside a chest, which was chained or padlocked. Houdini did milk can run away as a regular part of his actions for four years, but remains one of the most associated actions with him. Houdini's brother, Theodore Hardeen, continued to do the escaping milk and wooden chest variants into the 1940s.
The American Magic Museum has a can of milk and a box used by Houdini.
Chinese torture cells
Around 1912, a large number of imitators asked Houdini to replace his milk with Chinese water torture cells. In this escape, Houdini's feet are locked in stock, and he is lowered upside down into a tank filled with water. The mahogany and metal cells feature a windshield, where the audience can see Houdini clearly. The stocks were locked at the top of the cell, and a curtain covered the escape. In the earliest version of the torture cells, the metal enclosure is lowered into the cell, and Houdini is flanked in it. While making the escape more difficult - the cage prevents Houdini from behind - the cage bars also offer protection if the windshield breaks. The original cell was built in England, where Houdini first made his escape for a one-man audience as part of a one-act drama called "Houdini Upside Down". This is so he can copyright the effect and have a reason to sue a copycat, which he did. While the escape was advertised as "China Water Torture Cells" or "Water Torture Cells," Houdini always referred to them as "The Upside" or "USD". The first public performance of the USD was at Circus Busch in Berlin, on 21 September 1912. Houdini continued his escape until his death in 1926.
Stopping escaping from a rocket
One of Houdini's most popular publicity stunts is letting himself be tied into a tight regulation jacket and hung by his ankle from a tall building or crane. Houdini would then escape from the gathering crowd. In many cases, Houdini attracted tens of thousands of spectators who drove city traffic. Houdini sometimes ensured press coverage by fleeing from the local newspaper office building. In New York City, Houdini carried a straitjacket escape that was suspended from a crane used to build the New York subway. After throwing her body into the air, she escaped from a tight jacket. Starting from when he was lifted into the air by a crane, when the straitjacket was completely dead, it took two minutes and thirty-seven seconds. There is a movie trailer at the Houdini Congress Library which is on the run. The runaway film was also featured at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, PA. After being beaten in a building with high winds during a single escape, Houdini runs away with a safety wire visible on his ankle so he can be pulled from the building if necessary. The idea for an inverted flight was given to Houdini by a young boy named Randolph Osborne Douglas (March 31, 1895 - December 5, 1956), when the two met at a show at Sheffield's Empire Theater.
Exit outbox
One of Houdini's most famous publicity stunts is to escape from the nailed containers and laid out after being thrown into the water. He first fled on the East River of New York on July 7, 1912. The police forbade him to use one of the docks, so he rented a tugboat and invited the press aboard. Houdini was locked with handcuffs and an iron leg, then nailed to a tied casket and weighed with two hundred pounds of lead. The casket was then lowered into the water. He escaped in 57 seconds. The chest was pulled to the surface and found still intact, with a bend in it.
Houdini performed this escape many times, and even featured on stage versions, first at Hamerstein's Roof Garden where a 5,500-US-gallon (21,000 liter) tank built specifically, and then at the New York Hippodrome.
Buried live action
Houdini did at least three variations on the live action buried during his career. The first was near Santa Ana, California in 1915, and nearly made Houdini lose his life. Houdini is buried, without a coffin, in a six foot hole. He became tired and panicked as he tried to dig the way to the surface and asked for help. When his hands finally break the surface, he falls unconscious and must be pulled from the grave by his assistants. Houdini wrote in his diary that the escape was "very dangerous" and that "the burden of the earth is murder."
The second variation of Houdini buried alive is an endurance test designed to expose mystical Egyptian player Rahman Bey, who claims to use supernatural powers to remain in closed coffins for an hour. Houdini repaired Bey on August 5, 1926, by staying in a sealed coffin, or coffin, submerged in New York's Hotel Shelton pool for an hour and a half. Houdini claims he does not use deceit or supernatural powers to achieve this feat, only controlling breathing. He repeated his achievements at YMCA in Worcester, Massachusetts on September 28, 1926, this time sealed for an hour and eleven minutes.
Final Houdini who was buried alive was an elaborate stage escape performed in his full night show. Houdini will escape after being tied up in a tight jacket, sealed in a coffin, and then buried in a large tank filled with sand. While the runaway ad posters are there (playing off Bey's challenge by boasting "Egyptian Fakirs Outdone!"), It is unclear whether Houdini ever performs to be buried alive on stage. The action became an escape feature of the 1927 season, but Houdini died on October 31, 1926. Houdini's bronze coffin was created to be buried alive used to transport Houdini's body from Detroit to New York after his death on Halloween.
Movie careers
In 1906, Houdini began displaying films from his outer escape as part of his vaudeville act. In Boston, he presents a short movie called Houdini Defeats Hackenschmidt. Georg Hackenschmidt is a famous wrestler today, but the nature of their contest is unknown because the movie is gone. In 1909, Houdini filmed in Paris for Cinema Lux entitled Merveilleux Exploits du CÃ © lÃÆ'Ã… © bre Houdini ÃÆ' Paris (Extraordinary Utilization of the Famous Houdini in Paris). It featured a loose narrative designed to showcase some of Houdini's famous escapes, including his dagger jacket and a cogs runaway underwater. In the same year Houdini received an offer to star as Captain Nemo in a mute version of <20,000 Leagues Under the Sea , but the project never succeeded in production. It is often reported that Houdini served as a special effects consultant on the Wharton/International cliffhanger series, The Mysteries of Myra, shot in Ithaca, New York, because Harry Grossman, also filming the series in Ithaca at about the same time. The consultants in the series spearheaded Hereward Carrington and Aleister Crowley.
In 1918, Houdini signed a contract with film producer B. A. Rolfe to star in the 15-part series, The Master Mystery (released in November 1918). As usual at the time, the movie series was released simultaneously with a novel. Financial difficulties resulted in BA Rolfe Productions leaving the business, but The Master Mystery caused Houdini to be signed by Famous Player-Lasky Corporation/Paramount Pictures, for whom he made two pictures, The Grim Game > (1919) and Terror Island (1920).
The Grim Game is Houdini's first full-length film and is considered the best. Due to the combustible nature of the nitrate film and the chemical instability attached to the acetic "safety" film that replaces it, only 10 percent of the old silent films exist. Film historians consider the film to be missing. One copy is hidden in a collection of private collectors only known by a small group of magicians who see it. Dick Brookz and Dorothy Dietrich of The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania have seen it twice at the invitation of the collector. After years of trying, they finally made him agree to sell the film to Turner Classic Movies that restored the full movie for 71 minutes. The film, not seen by the general public for 96 years, was shown by TCM on March 29, 2015, as the culmination of their annual 4-day festival in Hollywood.
While filming the air action for The Grim Game, two biplanes collided in the air with a stuntman doubling Houdini hung on a rope from one of the planes. Publicity is directed at promoting this dramatic "caught" movie moment, claiming that Houdini himself hangs on the plane. While filming these films in Los Angeles, Houdini rented a house in Laurel Canyon. After the two-picture task in Hollywood, Houdini returned to New York and started his own film production company called "Houdini Picture Corporation". He produced and starred in two films, The Man from Beyond (1921) and Haldane of the Secret Service (1923). He also set up his own film lab business called The Film Development Corporation (FDC), gambling on new processes to develop film films. Houdini's brother, Theodore Hardeen, left his own career as a magician and runaway artist to run the company. Magician Harry Kellar is a big investor.
Both Houdini and FDC's acting career found success, and he succumbed to the film business in 1923, complaining that "the benefits are too little".
In April 2008, Kino International released a set of DVD boxes from the surviving Houdini silent film, including Main Mystery , Terror Island , The Man From Beyond , Haldane from Secret Service , and five minutes from The Grim Game . The set also includes a newsreel recording of Houdini's flight from 1907 to 1923, and part of Merveilleux Exploits du CÃ © lÃÆ'Ã… © bre Houdini ÃÆ' Paris, although not identified as such.
Aviator
In 1909, Houdini became fascinated with the flight. He bought a Voisin French biplan for $ 5,000 and hired a full-time mechanic, Antonio Brassac. After bumping once, he made his first successful flight on November 26 in Hamburg, Germany. The following year, Houdini toured Australia. He brought his Voisin biplane with the intention of being the first person in flying Australia.
Reported incorrectly as a pioneer
On March 18, 1910, he made three flights at Diggers Rest, Victoria, near Melbourne. It was reported at the time that this was the first air flight in Australia, and a century later, some of the major news outlets still praised him for this achievement.
Wing commander Harry Cobby wrote in Aircraft in March 1938 that "the first plane flight in the Southern Hemisphere was made on December 9, 1909 by Colin Defries, a London resident, at Victoria Park Racecourse, Sydney, Wilbur Wright ". Colin Defries is a trained pilot, having learned to fly in Cannes, France. By modern standards, the flight time was minimal, but by 1909, it had accumulated enough to become an instructor. On his first flight he flew, maintaining a straight and level flight, albeit briefly, and landed safely. His anger landed on the second flight, as he tried to retrieve his exploding cap, pointing out what a moment's lack of attention could cause when flying Wright Model A.
It is accepted by Australian historians and the Australian Aviation History Society that the definition of aviation established by the Gorell Committee on behalf of the Aero Club of Britain gives orders for flight acceptance or rejection, to grant Colin Defries credit as the first to make airplanes in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere.
In addition, aviation pioneer Richard Pearse is trusted by many New Zealand historians to make his first flight as early as 1902, which will give him not only the Southern Hemisphere but also the World record, although this is disputed.
In 1965, aviation journalist Stanley Brogden formed the view that the first flight in Australia took place in Bolivar in South Australia; the plane was a Blairot monoplane plane with Fred Custance as its pilot. The flight took place on March 17, 1910. The next day when Houdini took to the air, the Herald newspaper reported the Custance flight, stating that the plane had lasted 5 minutes 25 seconds at an altitude between 12 and 15 feet.
In 2010, the Australian Post published stamps to commemorate Colin Defries, Houdini and John Robertson Duigan, simply crediting Defries and Duigan with the first experience of history. Duigan is an Australian pioneer officer who built and flew the first Australian aircraft. The Australian Post admits the part played by Houdini ( Harry Houdini can not escape being a part of Australian history ) but does not give any note to him.
After Australia
After completing his Australian tour, Houdini placed Voisin into storage in England. He announced he would use it to fly from city to city during the next Music Hall tour, and even promised to jump from there with his handcuffed, but he never flew again.
Dismantle the spiritualist
In the 1920s, Houdini changed his energy to dismantle the paranormal and medium, the pursuit that inspired and followed by the late-stage magicians.
Houdini's magic training allows him to expose scams that have managed to fool many scientists and academics. He is a member of the Scientific American committee offering cash prizes for any media that can demonstrate supernatural abilities successfully. No one can do it, and the prize is never collected. The first tested was the medium of George Valiantine from Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. As his fame as a "ghost" grew, Houdini took to attend an ances in disguise, accompanied by a reporter and police officer. Probably the most famous medium he insists on is Mina Crandon, also known as "Margery".
JoaquÃÆ'n Argamasilla, known as the "Spaniard with an X-ray Eye", claims to be able to read handwriting or numbers on the dice through a closed metal box. In 1924, he was exposed by Houdini as a fraud. Argamasilla peered through his simple blindfold and raised the edge of the box so that he could see inside without anyone noticing. Houdini also investigated Italian media Nino Pecoraro, which he deemed cheating.
Houdini who exposes the fake media has inspired other wizards to follow him, including The Amazing Randi, Dorothy Dietrich, Penn & amp; Teller, and Dick Brookz.
Houdini notes the exploitation of his defection in his book, A Magician Among the Spirits , co-written with C. M. Eddy, Jr., which is not credited. These activities made Houdini friends with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle, a strong adherent of spiritualism during his final years, refuses to believe any of Houdini's exposure. Doyle comes to believe that Houdini is a powerful spiritualist medium, and has done many acts with paranormal abilities and uses this ability to block people from other media he "denies." This disagreement caused the two men to be public antagonists, and Sir Arthur came to see Houdini as a dangerous enemy.
Before Houdini died, he and his wife agreed that if Houdini found the possibility to communicate after death, he would communicate the message "Rosabelle believes", a secret code they agree to use. Rosabelle is their favorite song. Bess held annual ances on Halloween for ten years after Houdini's death. He claimed to have contact through Arthur Ford in 1929 when Ford passed a secret code, but Bess later said that the incident had been falsified. It seems that the code can be solved by Ford or colleagues using the instructions. The evidence for this effect was discovered by Ford's biographer after he died in 1971. In 1936, after failing to last ance on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel, he took out a candle that he kept burning beside Houdini's photo since death. In 1943, Bess said that "ten years long enough to wait for anyone."
The tradition of holding sà © Ã… ance for Houdini continues, held by magicians all over the world. The Official Houdini Sà © ance was held in the 1940s by Sidney Hollis Radner, a Houdini lover from Holyoke, Massachusetts. The Houdini year sÃÆ'  © ances was also performed in Chicago at the Excalibur nightclub by "astrologer" Neil Tobin on behalf of the Chicago Society of American Magicians Assembly; and at the Houdini Museum in Scranton by witch Dorothy Dietrich, who previously held them in the New York Magic Towne House with magical characters such as Houdini biographer Walter B. Gibson and Milbourne Christopher. Gibson was asked by Bess Houdini to continue the original spirit tradition. After doing so for years at the Magic Towne House of New York, before he died, Walter went on the tradition of doing the Original Allowance to Dorothy Dietrich.
In 1926, Harry Houdini hired HP Lovecraft and his friend CM Eddy, Jr., to write an entire book about denouncing religious miracles, to be called The Cancer of Superstition. Houdini had previously asked Lovecraft to write an article about astrology, which he paid $ 75. The article did not last. The detailed synopsis of Lovecraft for Cancer survived, as did three chapters of the treatise written by Eddy. Houdini's death hindered the plan, because the widow did not want to continue the project.
Appearance and sound recording
Unlike the classic magician's image, Houdini is short and stocky and usually appears on stage with a long tie and tie. Most biographers give their height as 5Ã, ft 5 in , but the description varies. Houdini is also said to be a little legged, which helps in his ability to gain slack during the runaway rope. In the 1997 biography Houdini !!!: The career of Ehrich Weiss , author Kenneth Silverman summarizes how journalists describe Houdini's appearance during his early career:
They emphasized his smallness - "a bit too small" - and sharp, distinct features: "He was shaved smooth with a sharp, sharp face, sharp cheeks, bright blue eyes and thick, curly black hair." Some people feel how expressive his expressive smile is the discharge of his charismatic stage. It is communicated to audiences as well as warm hospitality, pleasure in doing, and, more subtly, arrogant self-assurance. Some journalists try to capture a dazzling effect, describing it as "happy-looking person", "pleasant face", "good-hearted all the time", "young Hungarian witch with a pleasant smile and easy confidence".
Houdini made the only known recording of his voice on the candle cylinder Edison on October 29, 1914, in Flatbush, New York. On them, Houdini practiced several different introductory speeches for his famous Chinese water torture cells. He also invited his sister, Gladys, to recite a poem. Houdini later recited the same poem in German. Six wax cylinders are found in the magician's collection of John Mulholland after his death in 1970. They are part of David Copperfield's collection.
Death
Harry Houdini died of peritonitis, secondary to a ruptured appendix, at 1:26. On October 31, 1926, in Room 401 at Grace Hospital in Detroit, aged 52 years. In his final days, he optimistically clings to the firm belief that he will recover, but his last words before death are reported, "I'm tired of fighting." Witnesses to the incident in Houdini's dressing room at the Princess Theater in Montreal sparked speculation that Houdini's death was caused by a McGill University student, Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead (born 1895 - d 1954), who delivered a surprise attack from several blows to Houdini's stomach.
Eyewitnesses, students named Jacques Price and Sam Smilovitz (sometimes called Jack Price and Sam Smiley), offered stories about incidents that generally corroborate each other. Price describes Whitehead asking Houdini "if he believes in the miracles of the Bible" and "is it true that the punch in the stomach does not hurt him". He then delivered "some punch like a hammer under the belt". Houdini was lying on the couch at that moment, broke his ankle while doing a few days earlier. Price states that Houdini grimaces at every blow and stops Whitehead suddenly in the middle of the blow, cues that he is enough, and adds that he has no chance to prepare himself against the blow, as he does not expect Whitehead to attack him so suddenly, arrived and by force. If his ankle is not broken, he will rise from the sofa to a better position to strengthen himself.
Throughout the night, Houdini appeared in pain. She could not sleep and remained in pain for the next two days, but did not seek medical help. When he finally saw the doctor, he found a fever of 102 Â ° F (39 Â ° C) and an acute appendix, and was advised for immediate surgery. He ignored the suggestion and decided to continue the show. When Houdini arrived at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, Michigan, on October 24, 1926, for what would be his final appearance, he suffered a fever of 104Ã, Â ° F (40Ã, Â ° C). Despite the diagnosis, Houdini takes the stage. He was reported to have collapsed during the show, but was revived and continued. After that, he was hospitalized at Grace Hospital in Detroit.
It is not entirely clear what the meeting relationship in the dressing room is at Houdini's death, because the relationship between blunt trauma and appendicitis is uncertain. One theory shows that Houdini is unaware that he is suffering from appendicitis, which will become clearer to him if he does not receive a blow to the stomach.
After taking statements from Price and Smilovitz, Houdini's insurance company concluded that the death was due to a dressing room incident and paying double compensation.
Houdini's grave site
Houdini's funeral was held on November 4, 1926, in New York City, with more than 2,000 mourners attending. He was buried at the Machpelah Tomb in Glendale, Queens, with the peak of the Society of American Magicians written on his grave site. The sculpture statue was added to the exedra in 1927, an oddity, because the sculptures of the shrines in the Jewish cemetery were forbidden. In 1975, the statue was destroyed by the troublemakers. The temporary sculpture was placed in a grave until 2011 when a group later called Houdini Command of the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania placed a permanent statue with the permission of the Houdini family and the cemetery. The Society of American Magicians is responsible for the maintenance of this site, as Houdini has wanted large sums of money for the organization he has developed from one club to 5,000-6,000 membership dues worldwide. The maintenance payments were left by community dean George Schindler, who said "Houdini is paid for perpetual care, but no one is in the cemetery to provide it," adding that funeral operator David Jacobson "sends bills for maintenance each year but we never pay for it he never gives any treatment. "Community Members clean up the grave itself.
Jacpson's funeral operator Jacobson said they had "never paid a funeral for the Houdini family's funeral restoration in my tenure since 1988", claiming that the money came from a burgeoning cemetery fund. The granite monument of Houdini's sister, Gladys, and her brother, Leopold was also destroyed by rioters. For years, until now, Houdini's grave site was treated only by Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz of the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Society of American Magicians, at the National Council Meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2013, under the encouragement of Dorothy Dietrich of the Houdini Museum and Dick Brookz, opted to take on financial responsibility for the care and maintenance of Houdini Gravesite. In MUM Magazine, the official magazine of the Institute, President Dal Sanders announced "Harry Houdini is a respected icon like Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe.He is not just a magical icon, his grave bearing the seal of The Society of American Magicians.The seal is our brand and we should be proud to protect it.This grave is clearly our responsibility and I am proud to report that the National Council unanimously voted to defend Houdini's final resting place. "
The Gravesite Houdini Restoration Committee under President David Bowers, in collaboration with President Kenrick "Ice" McDonald to see the project finish. Bowers said it was a foregone conclusion that the Society would approve funding requests, because "Houdini is responsible for the Society of American Magicians being what it is today." We are indebted to him. Like Bowers, McDonald says the motivation behind the improvement is to honor the grave of "Babe Ruth of magicians". "This is a holy land," he said. "When you ask people about witches, the first thing they say is Harry Houdini." While the actual plot will remain under the control of the Machpelah Cemetery management, the Society of American Magicians, with the help of the Houdini Museum in Pennsylvania, will be responsible for the restoration.
Wizards Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz have been treating the Queens tomb of runaway artists for years. "This is a monument where people go and visit every day," says Dietrich, who spearheads the restoration effort. "The popular 80-year-old plot at the Machpelah Tomb has been damaged for years." "The Houdini Museum has teamed up with The Society of American Magicians, one of the world's oldest fraternal magic organizations, to deliver its beloved site." The organization has a special Houdini cemetery committee composed of nine members led by elected President David Bowers who brought the project to the attention of the Union. Kennedy "Ice" McDonald, President of the Society of American Magicians today says "You must know history Houdini served as President from 1917 until his death in 1926. Houdini's burial site requires a cash injection to return it to former glory." Magician Dietrich says improvements could cost tens of thousands of dollars, after consulting with glass experts and grave craftsmen. "It's a great project, but it takes a lifetime to get people interested," he said. "It's long overdue, and it would be great if that happened." Houdini is a living superhero, "Dietrich said. He is not only a magician and a fugitive artist, he is a great humanity. "To this day, the Society holds a broken rod ceremony at the tomb every November.
Houdini's widow, Bess, died of a heart attack on February 11, 1943, aged 67, in Needles, California while on a train trip from Los Angeles to New York City. She had expressed a desire to be buried beside her husband, but instead was buried 35 miles due north at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Westchester County, New York, because her Catholic family refused to allow her to be buried in a Jewish cemetery.
Proposed excavation
On March 22, 2007, Houdini's nephew (grandson of Theo's brother), George Hardeen, announced that the court would be asked to allow the excavation of Houdini's body, to investigate the possibility of Houdini being murdered by the spiritualists, as suggested in The Life Life's biography Houdini . In a statement given to the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Bess Houdini's family opposed the request and suggested it was a publicity way for the book. The Washington Post stated that the press conference was not governed by the Houdini family. Instead, The Post is reported, it is governed by Kalush and Sloman writers, who hire PR companies Dan Klores Communications to promote their book.
In 2008, it was revealed that the parties involved never filed legal documents to conduct excavation.
Legacy
Houdini's brother Theodore Hardeen, who returned after Houdini's death, inherited the effects and equipment of his brother. Houdini will establish that all effects must be "burned and destroyed" after Hardeen's death. Hardeen sold many collections to magicians and Houdini fans of Sidney Hollis Radner during the 1940s, including water torture cells. Radner allows a selection of collection pieces to be featured at The Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Ontario. In 1995, a fire destroyed the museum. The metal frame of the water torture cells remains, and it is restored by the illusion of builder John Gaughan. Many props contained in museums such as mirror cuffs, Houdini's original containers, milk cans, and life jackets, survived the fires and auctioned off in 1999 and 2008.
Radner borrowed most of his collection for archiving to the Outagamie Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin but reclaimed it in 2003 and auctioned it in Las Vegas, on October 30, 2004.
Houdini is a "tough collector", and inherits much of his paper ownership and archives of magic and spiritualism into the Library of Congress, which became the basis for Houdini's collection in cyberspace.
In 1934, most of Houdini's collection of theatrical material of America and Britain, along with most of his business and personal letters, and some of his other witches' collections were sold to pay off the estate debts to the theater king, Messmore Kendall. In 1958, Kendall donated his collection to the Hoblitzelle Theater Library at the University of Texas at Austin. In the 1960s, the Hoblitzelle Library became part of the Harry Ransom Center. Houdini's extensive collection includes the first 1568 Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft and David Garrick's travel diary to Paris from 1751. Several scrapbooks in Houdini's collection have been digitized. This collection is exclusively paper-based until April 2016, when the Ransom Center acquired one of Houdini's ball weights with chains and ankles. In October 2016, along with the 90th anniversary of Houdini's death, the Ransom Center started a massive catalog of Houdini collections to make it more visible and accessible to researchers. The collection is expected to reopen within a year with the help of fully indexed digital findings.
Most of Houdini's wealth and memorabilia were called to his fellow magicians and friends, John Mulholland (1898-1970). In 1991, illusionist and television player David Copperfield bought all of Mulholland's Houdini holdings from Mulholland's property. It's now archived and stored in the Copperfield warehouse at its headquarters in Las Vegas. It contains the largest collection of Houdini memorabilia in the world, and stores about 80,000 Houdini memorabilia items and other magicians, including Houdini stage props and materials, rebuilt water closet cabinets, and metamorphosis rods. It is not open to the public, but the tour is available with an invitation to magicians, scholars, researchers, journalists and serious collectors.
In the posthumous ceremony on October 31, 1975, Houdini was starred in the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7001 Hollywood Blvd.
The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, calls itself "the only building in the world that is completely dedicated to Houdini". It is open to the public throughout the year by reservation. These include Houdini movies, a tour of Houdini's life and a stage magic show. Magicians Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz opened this facility in 1991.
The Magic Castle in Los Angeles, California, a nightclub for witches and magic enthusiasts, and a club for the Magic Arts Academy, featuring Houdini ances performed by Misty Lee magician.
House of Houdini is a museum and venue located at 11, DÃÆ'sz square in Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. It claims to house the largest collection of original Houdini artifacts in Europe.
The Houdini Museum of New York is located in Fantasma Magic, a manufacturer and retail magic seller located in Manhattan. The museum contains several hundred ephemera pieces, most of which belong to Harry Houdini.
In popular culture
- Houdini (1953) - played by Tony Curtis The Great Houdini The Great Houdinis (1976) - played by Paul Michael Glaser (TV movie )
- Ragtime (1981) - played by Jeffrey DeMunn
- Houdini is the subject of the song "Houdini" on Kate Bush's 1982 The Dreaming album. The cover of this album, in which Bush is pictured holding the key in his mouth and bending over to kiss the chained figure whose face is turned away from the camera, is a tribute to Bess Houdini.
- Young Harry Houdini (1987) - played by Wil Wheaton & amp; Jeffrey DeMunn (TV movie)
- A Night at the Magic Castle (1988) - played by Arte Johnson
- FairyTale: A True Story (1997) - played by Harvey Keitel
- Houdini (1998) - played by Johnathon Schaech (TV movie)
- Cremaster 2 (1999) - played by Norman Mailer
- Death Defying Acts (2007) - played by Guy Pearce
- Murdoch Mysteries (2008) - played by Joe Dinicol (TV series)
- Houdini (2014) - played by Adrien Brody (miniseries TV)
- Houdini and Doyle (2016) - played by Michael Weston (TV series)
- Timeless (2016) - played by Michael Drayer (TV series)
Publications
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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