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Harry Houdini
Considered the greatest of the magicians, Harry Houdini was a consummate showman. His name is a direct take off of the French magician Robert-Houdin, with whom he was often compared. Questions about this performer are discussed here.
533 Questions
Who was the author of the book Harry Houdini?
There are many books about Harry Houdini. Consult amazon.com
Here is one common fear of all magicians: having their tricks caught by the audience.
What are quotes by Harry Houdini?
Here are some fun quotes by Harry Houdini:
My brain is the key that sets my mind free. The greatest escape I ever made was when I left Appleton, Wisconsin. Magic is the sole science not accepted by scientists, because they can't understand it. What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.
The easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and a given place someone is going to attempt something that in the event of failure will mean sudden death.
Houdini was never fat. He was an extremely fit man. he spent most of his free time swimming and running.
What was Harry Houdini's parent's names?
His parents were Rabbi Mayer Sámuel Weisz (1829-1892), and Cecília Weisz (née Steiner; 1841-1913)
What was a significance Harry Houdini did?
Harry Houdini became the first person to fly an airplane over Australia, he became the first person to escape from a straightjacket. And he also escaped the infamous 'mirror cuffs'- a pair of handcuffs a locksmith spent most of his carer prefecting.
What name did Harry Houdini use while trying to debunk spiritualists?
He used his stage name Harry Houdini. He was not afraid to stop people he thought was ceating the public, so he was not afraid to use his well known name.
What important events happened in the life of Harry Houdinis?
Harry Houdini was born on March 24, 1874 om Hungary and moved to Appleton, Wisconsin as a child. In 1901, he made the movie Merveilleux Exploits du Célébre Houdini Paris, which documented his escapes. He developed his famous Chinese Water Torture Cell in 1912. He died on October 24, 1926.
Did Harry Houdini die because of a ruptured appendix?
Yes, he said he could take any hit. A young boxer came to him and caught him off guard and he told him to try again while he was ready. The next day on a train his tempuature exeeded 100 degrees. After his show the next day he colapsed on stage. About a week later he told his wife he'was tired of fighting' and that he'd try to send her a message from beyond the grave.
What was Harry Houdini's schooling like?
When in America the children easily picked up English, but Harry's father and mother had difficulty. At home the family spoke German and in school, they spoke English. The family continued to be poor, there were nine children. All of the older children including Harry at age 8 worked after school to help support the family, selling newspapers or shining shoes.
Harry began working as a delivery boy for a department store. The delivery boys made their money from the tips they received, Harry usually made about 3.00 a week. The family continued to be very poor. As you can see, Harry had some auto-teaching to himself.
How long did Harry Houdini perform the mirror handcuff challenge?
Only once march 17th 1904 in London
How did Harry Houdini come to the us?
Weisz arrived in the United States on July 3, 1878, sailing on the SS Fresia with his mother
When Houdini was a baby tell me one of the first things he probably learned to escape from?
Crib
Diaper
playper
his parents
the womb
How did Houdini learn to pick locks?
Houdini was mostly self taught about locks. One thing he did was purchase many of them and figure out how they operated. For his big challenge performances on stage he always required the devices be left on exhibit at the theater from the time the challenge was made until the date of the performance. While they were at the theater all devices using locks were taken to his backstage workshop and taken apart to see how they worked and any special picks (or even a duplicate key in some cases) needed were made before the lock was reassembled and the device put back on exhibit.
A little known fact about handcuffs made prior to 1920 that he took advantage of in his handcuff escapes is that all cuffs of the same make and model used the same key! Houdini frequented pawnshops and early in his career had purchased at least one set of every make and model of cuffs available at the time, so he only had to inspect the cuffs and know right away which key to hide on his person prior to the escape (so he rarely had to pick cuffs).
