Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini, a Jewish-American magician, was born in Hungary in 1926. Born as Eric Weiss. He moved with his family to Wisconsin in the USA as a child. From a young age he helped with the household and worked as a newspaper delivery and shoe shiner. Later in his life, Houdini lived in Harlem and changed his name to “Harry” to resemble an American name and similar to his Hungarian name.

His father took him to a magic show and since then he was drawn to the profession. At the age of 9, he performed for the first time in front of an audience, mainly in looping exercises. In 1891, he became a professional magician

and began to call himself “Harry Houdini”, as a tribute to the French magician “Jeau Robert-Houdin”. In 1913 Houdini legally changed his name.

At the beginning of his career the magician Houdini focused on card games and other magic, but soon Houdini began experimenting with escape stunts. In 1900, Houdini went on a concert tour in Europe and became one of the most successful shows in the US and Europe.

Houdini performed around the world freeing himself from handcuffs, chains, ropes and suits, and in many cases while hanging upside down or being inside a tank of water. In 1913, he appeared for the first time in the well-known show “The Chinese Water Torture” in which he is tied and upside down in a tank filled to the brim with water.

Houdini died in October 1926 as a result of an appendix infection. Before his death he agreed with his wife that if there is life after death, he would try to communicate with her in a séance. They agreed in advance on a message he would give her so she could tell it was indeed him. Every Halloween during the 10 years after his death, she tried to communicate with her late husband through séances. All attempts failed and a few years later she said that “10 years is a long enough time to wait for any person”

Houdini left a legacy of a skeptical attitude towards claims of the supernatural. In 2000 he was chosen by the readers of the magazine “Skeptical inquirer” as one of the ten greatest skeptics of all time, along with Albert Einstein and others.

On July  2002, the US Postal Authority issued a stamp bearing his image.

Houdini also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4462242,00.html