Escape!: The Story of the Great Houdini

Fleischman, Sid. Escape!: The Story of the Great Houdini. 2006. 210p. ISBN 0-06-085094-9. Available at B HOU on the library shelves.

Dead for almost a hundred years, Harry Houdini remains one of the greatest magicians to ever practice the art of the illusion. Known for his escape artist routine, Houdini was also an accomplished pilot (the first one to fly a plane in Australia), a movie pioneer, a debunker of pseudo-scientific experiments, and a self-taught didactic individual who took the world by storm and never accepted “no” as an answer.

Erik Weisz was born to a Jewish family in Budapest in 1876 in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Emigrating to the United States in 1878 to rejoin his father, who had arrived earlier, they settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. Already a showman by age 9, Weisz changed his name to Houdini to honor his role-model, Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin and performed anywhere he could. Working with his younger brother, he met his wife, Bess, and soon the two were married and part of an act called the Houdinis. His escape routine finally attracted the attention of a show promoter, and soon the Houdinis were traveling throughout the United States and Europe.

While in Europe Houdini continued to study locks and perfected several acts. Returning to the United States, he started a magic monthly, the Conjuror’s Monthly Magazine, filled the house wherever he performed, and became involved in making movies to promote his act. During one of these movies he learned to fly a plane. He then purchased an aircraft, shipped it to Australia, and became the first one to fly a plane down under.

Always protecting his brand, Houdini sued his imitators, and sought to debunk spiritualists. Still touring in the 1920s, Houdini was stricken by a ruptured appendix and died in Detroit. An avid collector of all things magical throughout his life, Houdini left his collection of books and pamphlets to the Library of Congress. The greatest escape artist could not escape from death, but left behind an impressive legacy.