Harry Houdini Timeline
1874
Born, Ehrich Weisz, in Budapest, Hungary on March 24th. (Immigration officials later change Weisz to Weiss; and although he spelled his first name as Ehrich in personal letters to his mother, it was often spelled as Erich.)
1878
Immigrates to America with his parents and 4 brothers (another brother and a sister are born after the move). The family settles in Appleton, Wisconsin where his father serves as rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation.
1883
Performs a trapeze act in his neighborhood, calling himself "Ehrich, the Prince of the Air".
1886
Leaves home at the age of 12, then joins his father in New York the following year.
1891
Teams up with friend Jacob Hyman to perform magic acts at dime shows and fairs, using the name "Harry Houdini" in honor of popular magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin.
1893
Meets singer and dancer, Wilhelmina Beatrice "Bess" Rahner, while performing in Coney Island with his brother. They are wed the following year and Bess replaces his brother in the act. They perform the "Metamorphosis" illusion, in which they switch places in a locked box.
1898
Introduces the "Challenge Act", in which he escapes from handcuffs presented by audience members, then later straitjackets, jail cells, locked crates, and other trappings.
1899
Meets theater manager Martin Beck who books him at the top vaudeville venues.
Escapes from a straitjacket for the first time in San Francisco.
1900
Tours Europe with Bess, where he becomes known as "The Handcuff King".
1908
Publishes "The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin, A Sweeping History of The Art of Magic" Introduces the "Milk Can Escape", in which he is handcuffed and sealed into a large milk can filled with water.
Jumps from Boston's Harvard Bridge while locked in chains and performs an underwater escape.
1910
Pilots the first successful controlled power flight over Australia in his Voisin biplane.
1912
Introduces the "Houdini Upside Down" act, in which he is handcuffed, shackled and lowered upside down into a tank of water, also called the "The Chinese Water Torture Cell". He performs the act in New York's East River and Scientific American magazine proclaims it "one of the most remarkable tricks performed".
1913
Legally changes his name to Harry Houdini.
His mother Cecilia dies of a stroke, causing him much grief and peaking his interest in mediums and spiritualists.
1918
Performs his largest illusion act -making an elephant disappear from the stage of New York's Hippodrome.
Stars in the fifteen-episode film "The Master Mystery".
1920
Pens a book revealing secrets of clairvoyants and magicians - "Miracle Mongers and their Methods" and "A Magician Among The Spirits" in 1924.
Houdini becomes a verb in the Funk and Wagnall dictionary, and synonymous with the word escape.
Forms his own production company - the Houdini Picture Corporation, which produces The Man From Beyond (1921) and Haldane of the Secret Service (1923).
1926
Testifies before Senate and House subcommittees for a bill prosecuting anyone "pretending to tell fortunes for reward or compensation".
Dies on October 31st at the age of 52, of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix.
Harry Houdini was one of the greatest magicians and showmen of the 20th century. A 5'5" Hungarian Jewish immigrant with little education, he changed his name from Ehrich Weiss and compensated for his small stature with grand illusions and escape stunts that earned him worldwide fame.
His magic career began with card tricks, then graduated to escape acts using handcuffs, straitjackets, jails, milk cans, and crates, often while strung upside down and submerged in water. He was a master of escape, illusion, and most importantly self-promotion and marketing. He manipulated the press and generated his own publicity; often staging daring acts in newspaper offices, and public arenas. So while there were many magicians who competed with Houdini, even imitating his acts, none would remain in the public's memory for decades to become the most influential magician of all time.
Houdini's talents also went beyond magic and included aviation, acting, producing films and even writing books revealing magic secrets (including his own) and exposing fraudulent clairvoyants.
His death on Halloween in 1926, added to the mystique he worked so hard to build, and the annual séances his wife held for ten years in attempts to contact him, kept the public interested in the legendary Houdini.
RSS FEEDS
Send to friend
Biography - Bookmark this page
