Houdini: Vaudeville, Escape Artist, Life and Death

Born in 1874 in Budapest Hungary, at age thirteen, Erich Weisz moved to New York City with his family, where he soon developed an interest in magic and the trapeze arts.

Harry Houdini

In 1894, Weisz changed his name to Harry Houdini, at first failing as a magician before focusing on his uncanny abilities as an escape artist. Marrying fellow performer Beatrice “Bess” Houdini, Bess would serve as Houdini’s stage assistant for the remainder of his life.

Five years later, Houdini caught the attention of entertainment manager Martin Beck, who soon booked Houdini in leading vaudeville shows in both the U.S. and Europe, making Houdini the highest-paid performer in American vaudeville.

Houdini’s Act I, II and III

As his fame continued to rise, Houdini captivated audiences by engaging in evermore difficult escape attempts, which he managed to perform because of his sheer physical strength, and his uncanny ability to pick conventional locks. His act reached its pinnacle with the Chinese Water Torture Cell, which required him to hold his breath for three minutes while he picked his way out of a sealed and locked cabinet filled with water.

At the same time, Houdini’s growing wealth allowed him to pursue other interests, including aviation and the life of an inventor, at the same time starring in four films while writing four books, the first debunking a famous French magician, while the final three took aim at fraudulent psychic mediums. Although multiple stories abound about the cause of Houdini’s death, what is certain is that he died from an acute appendicitis.

One story maintains that his death was caused by a McGill University student who punched Houdini in the stomach with Houdini’s permission, although the punch may have landed before Houdini was ready for the student’s test of his will. A second story maintains he was poisoned by a band of Spiritualist made angry by his books, yet what is known is that he died of peritonitis on October 31st, 1926, at the still-fit age of 52, making Harry Houdini, one of the most famous escape artists of the twentieth century.