Informative Essay On Harry Houdini

What is the first thing that you think of when you hear the name Harry Houdini? Personally, I think of an amazing magician. What most people don’t know is that he was also the first pilot to fly a plane in Australia and a famous movie star who was recognized around the world. To most people Houdini would seem suicidal from the stunts he pulled, but that is what made his acts extraordinary.

Fact: Harry Houdini was actually born Ehrich Weiss. He was born on March 24, 1874, in Budapest, Hungary. When he was young he would tell people that his birthday was on April 6, because that’s what his mom told him. For the first four years of Ehrich’s life, him, his three brothers, and his mother, Cecilia, lived in Budapest. When Ehrich was two years old

his father, Mayer Samuel Weiss, had to leave his family behind and move to America. After two years of working hard and saving money he finally had enough to bring the rest of his family to New York City. Soon after, the Weisses moved to Appleton, Wisconsin then ended up in Milwaukee.
Harry’s childhood consisted multiple little jobs and starring in his own backyard circus. He performed with his friends. Most of his acts were executed on a homemade trapeze that was hung from a tree (Sutherland 9). Harry didn’t attend school when he was younger he had many jobs to help pay for things at home. He sold newspapers, shined shoes, and ran errands (Sutherland 9). You could say that Harry had a nice home life. He often ran away from home, but would come back after he had made some money to help his family (Sutherland 10). Harry’s father died in 1982 leaving Harry to believe he was the one who was supposed to take care of his family (Sutherland 11). He was the kind of kid you could hold to his word. When Harry was sixteen he read a book call The Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, Ambassador, Author, and Conjuror, Written by Himself. This autobiography was about a very famous nineteenth-century french magician. Houdin inspired Harry to become a magician because he thought that if he could become rich and famous by being a magician so could he. So he decided that he needed a stage name, and since his family called him “Ehrie” (pronounced Harry) and the name Houdin already made people think of magic he changed to something similar, Houdini, beginning the world famous magician Mr. Harry Houdini (Sutherland).
He practiced and practiced until he learned a bunch of different tricks, but even after he knew how to do just about any trick you could think of he would watch other magicians doing their tricks to try and learn different ways to do them. He was always writing, in a notebook he took everywhere with him, the tricks he would think of. He even kept the notebook by his bed incase he thought of it while he was asleep (Sutherland).
In 1894 Harry met Beatrice Raymond, she later changed her name to Wilhelmina Rahner, but went by the name Bess (Sutherland 19). It was love at first sight. They had a lot of issues at first with them dating. Bess’ father didn’t approve of Harry so she used to sneak out to go meat him. It was hard because Bess was Catholic and Harry was Jewish (Sutherland). After they married they created the magic act “The Houdinis.” They traveled the country together performing everywhere they could to earn money to live. They only ended up with around twenty five dollars a day, barely enough to make a living. After waiting and sticking with what he loved doing he had thoughts of quitting until one day, in 1899, a police officer demanded he escape out of a pair of handcuffs. Harry, of course, escaped with ease (Ebsco). The crowd went wild. He finally figured out what he wanted to do for his magic acts. He quickly became famous. People even gave him a name, “The King of Handcuffs.” After about six years he was earning up to one thousand dollars a week, which was quite a lot back then. Nothing could stop Houdini from performing (Ebsco). He once jumped into San Francisco Bay while handcuffed and shackled to a ball and chain (Infoplease). “He would escape from padlocked piano crates and large suitcases. He jumped from bridges and hung upside down from skyscrapers. He broke bones, tore muscles, and even ruptured a kidney (Ebsco).” Houdini was not just a magician he was also a writer. A few of the books he wrote were Miracle Mongers and Their Methods in 1920 and A Magician Among the Spirits in 1924 (Encyclopedia Britannica).
The Metamorphosis act was Houdini’s go to act to perform.

First he would select some people from the audience to inspect the apparatus. It was just a tall cabinet with a truck inside. The inspectors would knock on all of the sides and look inside. After they approved, Houdini would hand them a black bag and some tape. They would tie his hands together and helped him into the bag and shut it as tightly as they could, following his instructions. Then he was placed into the trunk and the trunk was locked, tied securely, and placed inside the cabinet as well. After all of the steps were completed Bess would close the curtain and say “I shall clap my hands three times, and on my last clap I ask you to watch...closely…” then she would step behind the curtain and not three seconds later the curtain would snap open, but it wasn’t Bess that you saw….it was Houdini! Then Houdini would turn to the trunk, that was still sealed shut, he would untie the ropes and unlocked the trunk to reveal the bag. When he opened the bag Bess was inside tied the same way that Harry had been! Although this isn’t the trick made the Houdini’s as famous as Harry wanted them to be (Sutherland). Harry Houdini once said: “No performer should attempt to bite off red-hot iron unless he has a good set of teeth.” Let’s just say that he had an amazing set of

teeth.
Fter a few years of searching for things to do that would set him apart from the rest of the magicians out there he finally found something: escapes.

Houdini wasn’t the first person to use handcuffs in their act her was just the first one to make it the main attraction of his show. He was the first person to attempt escaping from a straight jacket. After practicing and loads of effort Houdini was finally able to escape. He would perform these acts in front of the audience with no curtain because he thought that it wasn’t a trick it was just a talent. Anytime that he was in a new town he would go directly to the police station and announce: “Iam Harry Houdini, King of Handcuffs! Lock me up, tie me up,put any and all of your handcuffs on me. I guarantee you I will escape in no time at all (Sutherland).” You could ask anyone that he proved himself truthful to his

word.
Harry would boast his strength everywhere he went. One day a man questioned if he could test his strength (Ebsco). Houdini obviously agreed. But the man punched him when he wasn’t ready. Immediately after Houdini was experiencing immense amounts of pain. When he finally got a chance to go to the doctor to get himself checked out to see what was wrong, he found out that he had a ruptured appendix. He later died on October 31, 1926 (Ebsco). Thousands of people attended his funeral.
Harry Houdini is an amazing magician and escape artist. He was so amazing that people one hundred years later know who he is when without even having to look him up or ask someone else who he is.