By far the most famous mentalist and illusionist of our time is great Harry Houdini born as Erik Weisz on March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926, in Hungary's capital Budapest and soon after together with his family, he moved to Wisconsin - United States together with rivers of immigrants of the time.
From the early ages, young Houdini started performing acts of illusionism, shortly after his arrival in the United States, young Erik settled in New York where his family joined him afterwards.
At first, he was accepting various simple jobs such as working as a messenger, selling newspapers, assisting photographers and shining shoes, and as early as 1883 he made his first public appearance on stage as a trapeze performer. Only a year later, in 1894, young Erik at the time, changed his name to later famous Harry Houdini as an homage to the great French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin while Harry stood for the American version of his real name Erik.
During 1899 entertainment manager Martin Beck saw Houdini in an act and took him to perform across the country at his vaudevilles – a form of theatre popular at the time. Amongst the most famous act was his escape from shackles and cages often performed with assistance from local police who actively participated in a show by placing Houdini in jail, cages, etc.
Over the time, this shows become a real sensation what made Houdini the wealthiest illusionist performer in America.
On January 6, 1906, Houdini performed one of his most spectacular jail escapes. It occurred in Washington, D.C. during Houdini's first engagement in the nation's capitol, and it helped establish him as the premier "Handcuff King and Jail Breaker" in America.
Houdini was appearing at Chase's "Polite Vaudeville" theater at 1424 Pennsylvania Ave., and had already garnered headlines with two jail escapes in the city. The first occurred at the 10th Precinct police station on January 1, 1906.
On a challenge from Superintendent of Police, Major Richard Sylvester, Houdini escaped from "invincible bracelets" and cell No. 3 in just 18 minutes.
Houdini didn't stop there; he was continually improving expanding his repertoire with new acts of escaping from straitjackets or various coffins. Also, Houdini was extending his popularity to Europe where he often toured. Houdini managed to fulfill his dream performing magic acts he designed and lived a pleasant life of it.
Outside of a realm of magic, Houdini showed interest in movies and aviation. In 1910, Houdini took his plane and among first few people made a flight across Australia.
His movie career was not so successful; Houdini made a documentary film about his escapes followed by several other films and his other ventures that I the industry but success was nowhere near his performing career. During 1920' Houdini showed interest in exposing frauds and debunking mediums, psychic and occult swindlers. His investigations in the realm of mysticism were published in his book A Magician Among the Spirits.
Houdini died on October 31, 1926, at the age of 52, in Detroit, Michigan as a result of an acutely inflamed appendix after a punch in a stomack during one of his performances, although some other versions of the story are circling. After hid death much of his inheritance was capt at the Houdini Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin until 2004. when most of the items were auctioned and the museum was closed.
It is known that Houdini's famous Water Torture Cell went to famous illusionist and mentalist David Copperfield.
