Houdini, Harry. The main secrets of Harry Houdini's tricks

Modern magicians are impressed when people call them magicians, and the viewer has been puzzling over the answers to their favorite puzzles for years. Thus, the audience seems to pay tribute to their talent. However, the eminent illusionist Harry Houdini, whose statements people quote to this day, was against such comparisons and himself often exposed charlatans.

Childhood and youth

Eric Weiss (the artist's real name) was born on March 24, 1874 in the capital of Hungary, Budapest, as evidenced by the illusionist's biography, into a devout Jewish family. In July 1878, when the boy was 4 years old, the Weisses immigrated to the United States.

In Appleton (Wisconsin), the head of the family received the post of rabbi. A traveling circus often came to Appleton, and if the clowns and animals made Eric laugh and wonder, the magicians delighted him.

When Jack Hefler's troupe arrived in a provincial town, friends persuaded Eric to show him his skills. Hefler watched with interest, but perked up only after a trick that the child came up with himself.

During the performance of the number, Eric, suspended by his legs, collected needles on the floor with his eyebrows and eyelids. Although the talented boy was not invited to the troupe, the circus performer’s words of approval determined his future path.

At the age of 13, Eric and his family moved to New York. The big city opened up many prospects for him, but he preferred magic tricks. Weiss sat for hours with cards, ribbons, hats and ropes - studying, inventing, practicing.

With his brother Theodore, he began performing at fairs, charity events and small shows. At first, the teenagers' tricks were primitive, but each time they became more complex and caused surprise and applause among the audience.

Eric saw with what interest the audience looked at the illusionist freeing himself from fetters or locks. To study the principle of operation of locks, he even got a job as an apprentice in a locksmith shop. When the young man made a master key out of wire to open the locks, he decided that he had nothing more to do there.

It is also worth noting that in those years the future illusionist paid attention not only to the technical side. With the help of exercises, the guy developed muscles, joint flexibility, endurance and the ability to hold his breath.

Tricks

At the age of 16, in a bookstore, Eric bought the book “Memoirs of Robert Goodin, Ambassador, Writer and Magician, Written by Himself,” after reading which the guy took a pseudonym in honor of the author.

Despite his talent and hard work, the guy’s earnings left much to be desired. Having gained a little fame, he came to the editorial office of a Chicago newspaper and offered to reveal the secret of any trick for $20. The editor shrugged his shoulders and refused. This was repeated in other newspapers. Realizing that the newspapers needed sensation rather than explanation, Houdini changed his approach.

A month later, Houdini came to prison with journalists to show them a new trick. The handcuffed illusionist was put in a punishment cell, but after a couple of minutes he walked out of the cell as if nothing had happened under the sound of photo flashes.

Later, media representatives learned that the magician had previously visited the prison. The impression was blurred, and Harry suggested that the reporters do the same in any other cell. The second time, Houdini was stripped, his mouth was covered with a plaster cast (in case he had hidden a master key in his mouth), he was handcuffed and locked in another cell. Minutes later he was free.

In 1894, Harry quarreled with the editor of a newspaper that published articles about him. At that time, he had just come up with the Metamorphosis trick. Harry's hands were tied behind his back, a bag was thrown over the top, he was tied with rope and placed in a wooden box with locks.

After the box was hidden behind the curtain, the illusionist’s assistant also went behind it. After the girl claps, the curtain opened, and Harry appeared in front of the audience, and the girl lay in a box under locks.

In 1899, Harry and his wife went on a tour of Europe. The foreign public was not spoiled by tricks, and Houdini immediately became a star. In London, he amazed the audience with the number “Disappearance of the Elephant”, when the animal, covered with velvet, disappeared as soon as the cloth was torn from it. There, in the presence of thousands of onlookers, the artist, shackled with locks and a cast-iron ball, was thrown into the Thames.

Houdini visited Russia twice - in 1903 and 1908. In the Moscow Butyrka prison, he repeated the trick of being released from the cell - as in the cell of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

There were rumors in society about the “diabolical” nature of the magician. Meanwhile, Houdini was categorically against identifying his tricks with magic and spiritualism. Moreover, it is known that the magician, dressed in civilian clothes, often attended spiritualistic séances and exposed fraudsters.

Personal life

There have always been legends about the personal life of the famous illusionist. It was rumored that Houdini and his wife Bess during their entire married life never seriously quarreled and never held a grudge against each other. In fact, the phenomenal magician has developed an interesting system for his relationships, allowing him to reduce scandals to zero.

Harry met Bess after another performance. The romance lasted only two weeks, and then the wedding took place, and the couple never separated for more than a day. Throughout their lives, the couple addressed each other only as “Mrs. Houdini” and “Mr. Houdini.”

It is worth noting that their feelings were sincere and deep. It is known that the magician often wrote letters to his wife when she was in the next room.

It is known that the illusionist’s wife professed a different religion, which complicated the couple’s family life. To save the marriage, Harry came up with a couple of rules, adhering to which, he not only managed to save the family, but also strengthen the relationship.

The secret turned out to be simple - avoid family quarrels. If the spouses did not find a consensus, and Houdini’s patience was already at its limit, he raised his right eyebrow three times. This gesture signaled that Bess was to immediately shut up. After both spouses came to their senses, they solved the simmering problems in a calm atmosphere.

Bess also had her own gesture, symbolizing that she was overly evil. The magician left the house, walked around it four times, after which he threw his hat into the open doors or window. If the hat was not thrown back, it means that the wife has already calmed down and you can go back.

After Houdini's death, Bess fell into a deep depression and visited spiritualists and psychics weekly, hoping to hear from Harry.

Death

Houdini's tricks came at a high price. The magician often consulted doctors after the show, although he was prepared. This preparation ruined him.

In Canada, where he was demonstrating the Iron Press routine, three students came into his dressing room and asked if he could take any blows. Houdini, lost in thought, nodded. And then one of the guests, a college boxing champion, punched him three times in the stomach.

The magician hastily stopped the guy, saying that he needed to get ready. After which the blows were repeated, but now the athlete felt that his stomach really resembled steel.

However, for the sorcerer these first blows became fatal. The magician's appendix burst, peritonitis and gangrenous appendicitis developed. Doctors gave Harry 12 hours to live, but he lived another week, dying on October 31, 1926.

Memory

The great illusionist managed to write his name in history. After his death, dozens of films and books were released in his honor, and an award was organized with a fund of ք 1 million.

1953 – film “Houdini”
1976 – film “The Great Houdini”
1987 – film “Young Harry Houdini”
1998 – film “Houdini”
2007 – film “Deadly Number”
2008 – film “The Miracles of Houdini”
2014 – film “Houdini”
2015 – Harry Houdini Award
2016 – film “Houdini and Doyle”

(1874 - 1926)

The magician and illusionist, Harry Houdini, whose real name was Erich Weiss, was born on March 24, 1874 in Budapest, into a family of seven children. Houdini's father was a Jewish rabbi. While still a child, Erich Weiss moved with his family to Appleton, Wisconsin, where he later claimed to have been born. When he was 13, Erich moved with his father to New York, working all sorts of jobs and living in a boarding house. It was there that Harry Houdini began to become interested in the art of trapeze.

In 1894, Erich Weiss began his career as a professional magician and took the pseudonym Harry Houdini. The first part of the pseudonym comes from his childhood nickname “Harry”, and the second is a tribute to the great French magician, Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin. Although his magic failed great success, he quickly attracted attention with his releases from handcuffs. In 1893, Houdini married Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, who served as Harry Houdini's lifelong assistant.

In 1899, Houdini's performances attracted the attention of entertainment manager Martin Beck. Soon Harry Houdini went on a tour of Europe. In his show program, Harry involved the local police, who tied him up, handcuffed him, locked him up in prisons, etc. This show became a sensation, and he soon became the highest paid performer in American vaudeville.

Harry Houdini continued to perform and show his tricks in the United States in the early 1900s, gradually increasing his professional level. Instead of handcuffs and straitjackets, Houdini used water-filled containers that were locked on all sides. In 1912, he performed his famous routine, “Escape from a Chinese Water Torture Cage.” This was the apogee of his career. In this act, Houdini was tied by his feet and lowered upside down into a closed glass tank of water, requiring him to hold his breath for more than three minutes to escape. The performance was so popular and attracted such crowds of fans that it remained in his repertoire until his death in 1926. There were rumors that Harry died during this performance, but this is nothing more than fiction.

Houdini's fortune allowed him to pursue his other passions, such as aviation and film. Harry bought his first plane in 1909 and became the first person to fly over Australia in 1910. In the same year, Harry Houdini staged an act of being released from a cannon a moment before the fuse went off. Houdini also began a film career, releasing his first feature film in 1901, a documentary about his escape. He starred in several subsequent films, including “ The Master Mystery”, “The Grim Game" And " Terror Island" In New York, he founded his own production company, Houdini Picture Corporation, as well as a film studio called The Film Development Corporation, which was not successful. In 1923, Houdini became president of Martinka & Co., the oldest company of magicians in America.

As president of the American Magic Society, Harry Houdini actively fought against falsification. In particular, he debunked the then-famous medium Mina Crandon, better known as Margery. Because of this, Houdini quarreled with his friend, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who deeply believed in spiritualism and Margery's magical abilities.

There are different versions of the cause of Houdini's death, but in fact, Harry suffered from appendicitis pain, although the cause of this pain is still unknown. Maybe his competitors poisoned him with poison, maybe something else... It is known for sure that Harry Houdini died on October 31, 1926 at the age of 52, as a result of ruptured appendicitis.

After Harry Houdini's death, his props were used by his brother Theodore Hardin, who eventually sold everything to magician and collector Sidney Radner. Much of the collection was housed at the Houdini Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin (where, incidentally, some of the secrets of Harry Houdini's magic tricks are revealed) until Radner Auctions auctioned it off in 2004. Most of the valuable items, including the famous water torture cage, were sold to the magician and illusionist, David Copperfield.

Belief in magic is often used by dishonest magicians solely to deceive and make money. But there are people, fascinated by their actions, you begin to doubt that there is no magic. One of these geniuses in his field was the famous Harry Houdini.

Childhood

Harry Houdini was born on March 24, 1874 in the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Budapest. The future magician liked to hide his place of birth and often mentioned in his autobiographies the city of Appleton, Wisconsin, where the family of a four-year-old boy moved from Europe. Relatives spoke fluent German, Hungarian and Yiddish.

Erich Weiss (the magician's real name) took the pseudonym Harry Houdini at a very early age. The biography of the great artist has since been written exclusively under this name, invented in honor of the magician of French origin Jean Eugene Robin-Houdin. The boy purchased his works with the first money he earned and immediately absorbed everything that was written there like a sponge.

The name was borrowed from the American illusionist of German origin Harry Kellar. Although friends claim that Erich was called that way in early childhood.

Later, in 1887, Harry Houdini's family moved to New York, where the young talent had to work hard as a blacksmith's assistant in a metal shop and live in a boarding house. At the same time, he helped in a lock repair shop, where he became acquainted with the operation of their mechanisms. Work in the forge was a temporary refuge - the artist was not hired in a cafe in Harlem, one of the most prosperous areas of New York at that time, because he was too young.

Erich had to work from an early age - while still in Appleton, he worked part-time as an aerialist in an amateur circus, often right under the big top.

Parents

Making a description of anyone's life famous person, it’s worth starting with his parents. Who the father of magician Harry Houdini was is known in detail. The father of the young illusionist, as well as his six brothers and sisters, is Meer Samuel (according to other sources - Shamuel) Weiss, a rabbi who, when moving to the United States, got a job in a synagogue called the Reform Jewish Community of Zion.

The early death of his father in 1892 prevented young Harry Houdini from receiving a good education.

The future illusionist was trained by his mother, Cecilia Steiner. Of course, home schooling could not fully replace school, and instead of deep knowledge, the mind of the young talent began to be occupied by the secrets of Harry Houdini - magic tricks.

First success

A successful career as an illusionist began at the age of ten. Harry Houdini's stunts were amazing in their skill. The bright posters that covered the city's advertising stands called him the “king of cards,” and this was indeed not far from the truth.

The Houdini Brothers ensemble, formed together with his brother Theo, became the main breadwinner of the family. The artists performed a lot, traveling a lot to various cities. But the maestro’s soul demanded real recognition, for which it was necessary to prepare more spectacular tricks.

The incident that paved the way to the big stage

During numerous tours, in one of the suburbs of New York, a policeman “recognized” the illusionist as a thief, who had already for a long time law enforcement officers tried unsuccessfully to find him. Confident that he was right, the constable handcuffed Harry. It took Tom no more than five seconds to free himself from the shackles. Of course, the false charges were dropped.

But this is not what struck the illusionist. And the fact that the formidable policeman, who was stern just a minute ago, blinked his eyes in confusion with his mouth open. Then he apologized and asked for an autograph. All this happened under the influence of stormy applause from a crowd of idle onlookers. In the evening this trick was shown on stage and for some time became the signature trick in the program.

Many magicians at that time did the release from handcuffs, but only Harry did it with equipment that visitors brought with them. Of course, there were also envious people. One day, a police officer brought handcuffs with a broken mechanism that could not be opened. That evening it went unnoticed by the audience, but the magician, aimed at a grand continuation of his career, has since carefully checked his inventory, because any hitch could cost him his life.

Family life

1893 was one of the happiest years in Harry's life - he tied the knot with Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner (more often referred to simply as Betty). This woman became the artist’s faithful companion both in life and on stage - from now on only to her he trusted the honorary title of assistant, until the end of his life.

Career growth

Without waiting for the moment when the audience got tired of the trick with handcuffs, the artist complicated it by hanging it in a bag on the ledge of a skyscraper, the program featured

Recognition made it possible to carry out large-scale stunts of passing through brick walls and freeing oneself from locked rooms. The police of various cities happily took part in the show, locking the magician in the most impregnable cells, from which he miraculously freed himself.

In 1899, the maestro met Martin Beck, who organized a tour of Europe. Residents of the old part of the planet were dumbfounded by the new numbers, in which the illusionist was freed from various containers with liquids. During one of his performances, he was even thrown into the River Thames in a bag with a heavy weight attached. Of course, with handcuffed hands. There was no limit to the crowd's jubilation when, a few moments later, Harry surfaced with completely free limbs.

Residents of London have told several generations that they were able to witness the elephant trick with their own eyes. The animal was covered in a dark room with a white blanket and then removed. There was no elephant. Where he went, the inexperienced viewer, of course, could not guess. Obviously magic.

The trick was so popular that for many years the illusionist was asked to repeat it. He gave up only in 1918 and demonstrated a miracle at the New York racetrack. Needless to say, the issue was a resounding success, which was written about in newspapers around the world for a long time.

Traveling around our region

The famous sorcerer visited Russia in 1908. In addition to his signature numbers for the crowd, he caused a lot of worry among the jailers and the Peter and Paul Fortress.

For entourage, the magician was dressed in prisoners' clothes and locked in the most impregnable cells, which usually housed death row prisoners. Of course, the bolts were of the highest quality and modern.

A quarter of an hour later, the magician, dressed in his clothes, was already peacefully drinking tea with the guards in their premises. They say that he could free himself in just two minutes. There are rumors that for the sake of humor he switched the places of prisoners. It is not known whether the guards had fun.

Hobbies of a great magician

Harry Houdini was a man far ahead of his time. It is not surprising that on his bank account there were constant cash flows. It is said that his income in 1920 was several times higher than the salary of the American president. But Harry Houdini bought his first plane back in 1909 and already in 1910 he was the first person to cross Australia by air.

He founded a production company and acted in several films. The magician's talent was so great that over the last century seven films have been made about him with such famous actors as Guy Pearce, Adrien Brody and others. Harry Houdini was also a member of the community of magicians and sorcerers, and also actively fought against charlatans who “communicated” with perfume.

Death of a Magician

There are several versions of how Harry Houdini died. According to one of them, the magician died right during the performance. The news was widely circulated by newspapermen, but it was not true.

According to another, he was poisoned. The third one talks about ruptured appendicitis and peritonitis that soon killed the magician. The great Harry passed away on October 31, 1926. He was only 52 years old.

Valuable items were donated to the Appleton Museum, most of which were subsequently sold at auction

There is an unspoken rule among magicians: never reveal the secrets of your tricks. Therefore, when some of Houdini’s tricks were revealed, the illusionists were outraged by such a violation of professional ethics. Many of them claimed that they themselves still use the techniques of the famous magician. But Harry has been dead for almost 90 years, and modern illusionists are unlikely to use his outdated methods.

1. Radio 1950

Houdini developed this trick in 1925, a year before his death. On the table there was a huge radio measuring 2x1 m with knobs and double doors. Having demonstrated to the audience that there was no one inside, Houdini tuned the radio station he needed, and his assistant appeared from the radio box. “Tune the radio to the right wavelength and get the girl of your dreams,” Houdini announced and added. “No, gentlemen, the radio is not for sale!”

The secret to the trick was the table, which had a double top. There was a hatch in the top tabletop. The assistant was inside the radio, which was installed on the table, then she hid at the top of the table and waited while Houdini showed the audience the empty insides of the radio, and when the magician tuned the radio station, she quickly climbed back into the radio.

2. Metamorphosis
"Metamorphosis" was one of his first magic tricks in 1894. Houdini was not its author, but improved it more early versions, performing his version together with his wife. The trick was quite difficult. Houdini's hands were tied behind his back, and he himself was sitting in a tied bag. The bag was placed in a box, the box was closed, tied with a rope and placed in a closet with a curtain. Houdini's wife went into the closet, closed the curtain and clapped her hands three times. After the third clap, the curtain was already opened by Houdini, and his wife found herself in his place with her hands tied in a bag.

The secret is surprisingly simple: practice. Houdini was an expert on ropes and knots. When the bag was tied, his hands were already free. When the bag was placed in the box, it loosened the ropes from the inside. When his wife drew the curtain, Houdini climbed out of the box through the back wall. He clapped his hands three times, not his wife. After the first clap, she climbed into the box without breaking the locks or ropes. After the third clap, Houdini opened the curtain. While he was untying and unlocking the box, his wife was “packing” herself into the bag and putting her hands into the knots of rope. Harry and Bessie practiced this trick so well that they managed to change places in just three seconds.

3. Freeing a Suspended Man in a Straitjacket

Houdini's younger brother Hardin was also a magician, and both brothers performed the same trick of getting out of a straitjacket. Houdini decided to outdo his brother and made the trick more difficult. He usually performed it on the street in front of a large crowd. He was put in a straitjacket and his ankles were tied, and then a crane lifted him to a certain height.

The secret of the trick was revealed by Houdini himself in his book “Freedom from Handcuffs” (1910). It consisted of slightly loosening the shirt tied on him. The arms were crossed on the chest, with the right hand on top. When the shirt was tightened, he took a deep breath so that when exhaling the fabric was loosened, then with the help of this gap Houdini freed his hands - and then it was a matter of technique. It is said that in rare cases the magician even had to dislocate his shoulder. Houdini perfected this trick so much that he managed to reduce the release time from half an hour to 3 minutes.

4. Passing through a brick wall

Houdini performed this trick only a few times in New York in July 1914, but this presentation became a real sensation. Workers built a wall 3 meters high and 3.5 meters long on the stage, perpendicular to the audience so that they could see both sides of the wall. The wall itself was built on a carpet. Then Houdini invited the audience to knock on it with a hammer to make sure it was hard and strong. Houdini would then take a position on one side of the wall, both sides would be covered for a couple of seconds with a movable curtain on wheels, then the curtain would be removed and Houdini would be on the other side of the wall.

The secret to the trick was the carpet. Below it was an oblong, narrow hole that ran under the wall. In addition, Houdini used different variations of the trick, for example, placing strong glass under the wall to eliminate the audience’s doubts about the hole under the wall, and at the moment of the trick, when the workers closed the curtain on both sides of the wall, he quickly changed places with them, moving to the second side.

5. Handcuff release trick

One of Houdini's first tricks was getting out of handcuffs. The trick was a huge success, and thanks to it the magician received his first contract to perform with the vaudeville theater.

Houdini had several secrets for this trick. The illusionist had studied locks all his life and had an encyclopedic knowledge of handcuffs. At one glance, he immediately understood what key was needed. Later, Houdini invented a special belt made of flexible steel, which could rotate with the movement of the elbow; the belt had several compartments with different keys to choose from. Some handcuffs did not require a key; it was enough to deftly tap them on a hard surface. Another type of handcuffs could be gotten rid of using a wire loop that unlocked the lock.

7. Release from the box underwater

All sorts of tricks with liberation from closed boxes or other containers became Houdini’s “trick.” When he got tired of tricks with handcuffs, he retrained in “prison escapes”, starting to actively practice them. His first release from a box underwater was demonstrated in New York City, in the East River. Houdini was handcuffed and he was in a wooden box. The box was stuffed and wrapped in chains and then lowered into the river. Houdini surfaced after 150 seconds.

The secret, of course, lay in the design of the box. First, there were small holes in it so that Houdini could breathe while the box was hammered, wrapped in chains and lowered into water, while he was freed from handcuffs. Secondly, on one of the sides of the box the two bottom boards were not nailed down, and they could be moved away, and as quickly as possible, until the box fell to the bottom, when there was a risk that it would fall exactly on the side where these were two loose boards.

8. The disappearance of the elephant

The trick was performed only once, on January 7, 1918, at the Hippodrome Theater in New York. This trick was the most spectacular, comparable only to a trick called “Chinese water torture chamber.” Houdini led an elephant into a large box, and then the elephant disappeared. The secret of this trick has also disappeared. The box was lost, and since the trick was performed only once, there were practically no people dedicated to it. It was believed that the solution was lost to history.

Nevertheless, she was found. Let's start with the Hippodrome Theatre. It had 5,697 seats, which were arranged in three semicircular tiers. The audience did not have a clear view of the elephant in the box because it was far from the edge of the stage. Moreover, there are suggestions that the box was an ordinary, well-camouflaged cage, and the disappearance of the elephant was simply a visual illusion created with the help of limited lighting and a curtain that was identical in color to the back curtains on the stage. At the right moment, Houdini fired his pistol, the audience instinctively blinked, and at that time a camouflage curtain rose in front of the elephant with lightning speed. There was even a description of the box: it was oblong, on wheels, with double doors on one side and a huge curtain on the other.

9. Chinese water torture chamber
Unlike the elephant box, Chinese camera Waterboarding still exists and we know how it works. The great magician ordered this device for 10 thousand dollars and patented it. The camera resembles an oblong aquarium, made of mahogany and nickel-plated steel frame, and copper parts. Dimensions: 67 cm wide and 150 cm high; weight 3000 kg; volume 950 liters of water. The front panel was made of 1.5 cm wide tempered glass. Houdini's hands were handcuffed, his ankles were chained, and then he was very slowly lowered into this tank upside down. The camera was covered with a curtain, and after a couple of minutes Houdini appeared from behind it. Options this trick there were several, the magician liked to complicate and improve it.

Two things were important to the focus. Firstly, the ingenious details of the camera and the banal displacement of water by the body left a small supply of air (an air pocket) in the tank. Secondly, Houdini was excellent at freeing himself from handcuffs and chains, masterfully controlling his body, and then getting out.

Evil tongues claimed that Houdini was once unlucky and drowned during this trick. This is wrong. He died in a hospital bed from inflammation of the appendix, which was complicated by peritonitis. The great magician, alas, failed to escape this danger.

1919 poster announcing a film starring Houdini

In the last decade of his career, Houdini published a number of books that revealed the secrets of his craft. He was seriously concerned that, under the influence of spiritualism, which was popular in those years, many illusionists began to disguise their tricks with the appearance of communication with otherworldly forces. Accompanied by a constable dressed in civilian clothes, Houdini began to attend seances incognito in order to expose charlatans, and was noticeably successful in this. The consequence was a break with an old comrade, Arthur Conan Doyle, who was a staunch supporter of spiritualism and revered Houdini as a very powerful medium.

The circumstances of Houdini's death are shrouded in mystery. While on tour in Montreal, he was relaxing in his dressing room when three students walked in, one of whom was a college boxing champion. He asked Mr. Houdini if he could really take several hard blows to the stomach without feeling anything. Houdini, lost in thought, nodded, and the student suddenly struck the magician two or three times. Houdini barely stopped him: “Wait, I need to get ready,” after which he tensed his abs - “Here, now you can hit.” The student hit him a couple of times and felt Houdini’s iron abdominal press on himself. When the students left, Houdini only rubbed the place that had been bruised from the first unexpected blows.

For several days, Houdini, as always, did not pay attention to the pain, but these blows provoked a rupture of the appendix, as a result of which peritonitis developed. In 1926, there were no antibiotics, and it was possible to survive only by miracle, but Houdini again amazed everyone: the fans rejoiced - here he is Houdini, the conqueror of death, who does not obey earthly laws. However, nine days later, on October 31, 1926, on the eve of Halloween, Harry Houdini died in Detroit. He left his wife secret code, without which his “true” spirit would not be able to contact the living during table-turning sessions. This was done so that charlatans would not arrange sessions of communication with the spirit of Houdini - “the thunderstorm of spiritualists.”

Various episodes of Houdini's life have been filmed more than once. In 1999, a musical was staged based on his biography, and in 2007 the film “Deadly Number” was released on US screens, in which the role of Houdini was played by Australian Guy Pearce, and the role of his passion was played by Catherine Zeta-Jones.

An interesting fact is also that Houdini underwent Masonic initiation in the New York lodge on July 17, 1923. St. Cecile"No. 568. Very quickly (July 31, 1923) he was initiated into the degree of journeyman, and on August 21 of the same year he became a Master Mason.

Literature

Vadimov A. A., Trivas M. A. From magicians of antiquity to illusionists of our days. - M., 1979.
Doctorow E. L. Ragtime. Novel. / Translation from English Vasily Aksenov, 1975.

In English

Houdini's Escapes and Magic by Walter B. Gibson, Prepared from Houdini's private notebooks Blue Ribbon Books, Inc., 1930. Reveals some of Houdini's magic and escape methods (also released in two separate volumes: Houdini's Magic and Houdini's Escapes).
The Secrets of Houdini by J.C. Cannell, Hutchinson & Co., London, 1931. Reveals some of Houdini's escape methods.
Houdini and Conan Doyle: The Story of a Strange Friendship by Bernard M. L. Ernst, Albert & Charles Boni, Inc., NY, 1932.
Sixty Years of Psychical Research by Joseph F. Rinn, Truth Seeker Co., 1950, Rinn was a long time close friend of Houdini. Contains detailed information about the last Houdini message (there are 3) and its disclosure.
Houdini's Fabulous Magic by Walter B. Gibson and Morris N. Young Chilton, NY, 1960. Excellent reference for Houdini’s escapes and some methods (includes the Water Torture Cell).
The Houdini Birth Research Committee's Report, Magico Magazine (reprint of report by The Society of American Magicians), 1972. Concludes Houdini was born March 24, 1874, in Budapest.
Mediums, Mystics and the Occult by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas T. Crowell Co., 1975, pp. 122-145, Arthur Ford-Messages from the Dead,
Arthur Ford: The Man Who Talked with the Dead by Allen Spraggett with William V. Rauscher, 1973, pp. 152-165, Chapter 7, The Houdini Affair contains detailed information about the Houdini messages and their disclosure.
Houdini: Escape into Legend, The Early Years: 1862-1900 by Manny Weltman, Finders/Seekers Enterprises, Los Angeles, 1993. Examination of Houdini’s childhood and early career.
Houdini Comes To America by Ronald J. Hilgert, The Houdini Historical Center, 1996. Documents the Weiss family’s immigration to the United States on July 3, 1878 (when Ehrich was 4).
Houdini Unlocked by Patrick Culliton, Two volumes box set: The Tao of Houdini and The Secret Confessions of Houdini, Kieran Press, 1997.
The Houdini Code Mystery: A Spirit Secret Solved by William V. Rauscher, Magic Words, 2000.
Final Session. The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle by Massimo Polidoro, Prometheus Books, 2001.
The Man Who Killed Houdini by Don Bell, Vehicle Press, 2004. Investigates J. Gordon Whitehead and the events surrounding Houdini’s death.
Disappearing Tricks: Silent Film, Houdini, and the New Magic of the Twentieth Century by Matthew Solomon, University of Illinois Press, 2010. Contains new information about Houdini’s early movie career.
Houdini Art and Magic by Brooke Kamin Rapaport, Jewish Museum, 2010. Essays on Houdini’s life and work are accompanied by interviews with novelist E.L. Doctorow, Teller, Kenneth Silverman, and more.
Houdini The Key by Patrick Culliton, Kieran Press, 2010. Reveals the authentic working methods of many of Houdini effects, including the Milk Can and Water Torture Cell. Limited to 278 copies.