When Hyman left on his own, Harry brought in his real brother Theodore, and a year later they were performing at the Chicago World’s Fair. Combining his nickname “Ehrie” with the name of his hero Houdin, Ehrich Weiss adopted the stage name “Harry Houdini”, and the two performed as “The Brothers Houdini”. By 1891, Weiss and his friend Jacob Hyman were hired to perform a magic act at Coney Island. He began devouring books on the subject, met with other budding magicians, and learned a series of tricks. Weiss had always been interested in magic and had learned a few card tricks, but he later declared that reading Houdin’s stories led to his devotion to stagecraft. A few years later the family moved to New York City, where young Ehrich got a job in a textile factory, making neckties.Īt age 15, he happened to pick up a book by a well-known French stage magician named Robert Houdin. He also won several medals in local track and field competitions. Nine-year-old Ehrich took a job as a locksmith apprentice–training which would serve him well later. His wife and children moved there in 1878.Īfter a few years, Weiss had a falling-out with the synagogue, and unable to speak English, he moved the family to Milwaukee to better his chances of finding a job. His father was a rabbi, and when Hungary underwent another of its periodic anti-Semitic pogroms, Herman Weiss went to the United States, where he had a friend living in Appleton, and helped set up a synagogue. But documents show that he was actually born in Budapest, Hungary, in March 1874, under the name Ehrich Weiss. In his publicity releases, Houdini liked to claim that he was born in Appleton, Wisconsin. Straightjacket used in one of Houdini’s escapes His seemingly impossible escapes, everything from straitjackets to locked chains, fascinated the public, and even led to furtive whispers that Houdini must have supernatural powers.
Harry Houdini was one of the greatest, and certainly the most famous, stage magicians of all time.
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