Harry+Houdini


 * __The Great Houdini__**

Walking into the arena, I see a large crowd in front of the stage. All sorts of people: men, women, and children, waiting for the show to start. All of a sudden, there is a hush over the crowd, and a small man in a suit with brown hair steps out. “Please Welcome,” says the loudspeaker, “The Great Houdini!” The crowd roars as everyone stands up clapping. The show has begun. The crowd becomes silent once again as Houdini begins with one of his classic handcuff acts. In matter of a couple minutes, after fooling with the lock, Houdini is free. The crowd roars once again, in awe of what he has just done. But, Houdini did not stop there. He continued on to performing some of his most dangerous stunts, such as the Chinese water torture act and the milk-can escape act.

Still today, many know Harry Houdini as the “Great Houdini”, one of the greatest magicians of all time. But, before his fame, he was just known as [|Ehrich Weiss], who was born on March 24, 1874 in [|Hungary]. Four years later in 1878, Weiss moved with is family to Appleton, Wisconsin where his father was offered a job as a [|rabbi]. Once this venture failed, the Weiss’s moved to Manhattan where they all worked in a tie-cutting factory. Ehrich was only eleven. After his father died in 1892, Ehrich finally had the burden of his father no longer on his back. He could now become anything. With a great respect for learning and an interest in Magic, Ehrich picked up the biography of [|Robert Houdin], __The Conjurers Unveiled__. At the age of 17, Ehrich’s life changed. With Houdin being his mentor, Erich Weiss changed his name to Harry Houdini with the dream of becoming a magician. With the state of the [|economy] not being in strong condition, Houdini was a form of entertainment that distracted people from their working conditions and the war going on around them. With people of all ages and backgrounds as his audience, Houdini became very well known. Harry Houdini’s ability to differentiate himself from his predecessors and his competitors is what made him popular in his time.

Before Harry Houdini was known as one of the greatest [|magicians], he struggled like any person who aspired to be something. One of Houdini’s first performances was when he was nine. He performed on a [|trapeze] that was hung from a tree. Later on at the age 17, when Houdini’s passion for magic began, Harry would perform small magic shows at places such as music halls, sideshows, and [|New York’s Coney Island amusement park], where he would perform up to 20 shows a day. Houdini was so desperate for money that he would even dress up as a [|Hindu conjurer] and would charm a snake, just to make 25 dollars a week. Three years later, Harry met [|Bess], the woman he would soon marry in 1894. She was aspiring to be a singer, but joined Harry’s magic act his new partner. A year later, Houdini and his new wife joined the Welsh Brothers Circus, which only last six months. He was not happy with the “small scale” of the act and went on to improving his own act.

After trying for many years and working on his magic, Houdini almost gave up. One of the many things that Houdini was working on was his handcuff escape. In every town he visited he would go to the local police stations. There he would give them a challenge. They would lock him in their jails and restrain him with shackles. Always to make sure he was not cheating, the officers would strip him naked to search him. While he was working hard at his handcuff acts, a chance of a lifetime came. [|Martin Beck] had offered Houdini a place into Vaudeville acts. To promote his new act at [|Vaudeville], Houdini began to do his handcuff escapes naked, this way attracting a larger audience. As usual, Houdini was always able to stun the crowd by escaping. For Houdini, Vaudeville was a major leap from his usual 25 dollar a week earnings. He was now making 400 dollars a week, something that helped him declare himself as a real entertainer.

Beginning in the early 1890’s, Vaudeville was one of the most up and coming forms of entertainment. After 15 years, the company was in the hands of Martin Beck, the man who brought Houdini to Vaudeville. By then it was considered the “height of mass-entertainment” (“Harry Houdini”). Not only did Vaudeville now contain Houdini’s magic act, but also acts such as acrobats, jugglers, dancers, who were both graceful and grotesque, trained animals, and impersonations. To house all of these acts and the audience that would be watching them, theaters were built to house the Vaudeville tour. Traveling from the West coast to the East, Vaudeville encountered an array of people. Families, bachelors, men, women and children from all different backgrounds attended the show. Now having a maximum of work hours, people wanted time to enjoy leisure activities, such as different forms of entertainment. With the chance to see up to 12 acts per night, Vaudeville was one of the opportunities for these people to have as entertainment. Especially with the U.S. beginning to become more involved in WWI, citizens were able to attend Vaudeville shows to get their mind away from this. Having the United States enter war was not something all citizens wanted. They felt that America should be setting an example of peace among the different countries. But, they could not always get what they wanted. So, instead they went to one of Houdini’s shows. If they didn’t like one of the acts, audience members could simply close their eyes for a couple of minutes, and then continue on watching a new act.

But, Houdini did not stop there. He wanted more. He felt that he wanted more acts that were different and contained excitement. But, most of all, he wanted to stay ahead of his competition. To do so, Houdini left Vaudeville and decided to sail to [|England] for a summer in 1900. Establishing himself as the “Handcuff King” Houdini began his tour unshackling himself from various circumstances. His variety of ways of performing the same act hooked the citizens of England and other countries in Europe causing Houdini to stay for five more years. He continued to go from city to city, repeating his escape from jail, astonishing the people time and time again. Later in 1905, Houdini returned to the states. Upon returning, Houdini was astounded. Numerous amounts of imitators had come about. Many were trying to accomplish his handcuff escape acts, each coming up with counterfeit Houdini names such as “Whodini”, “Oudini”, and “Hardini” (Fleischman 6). Some were even so desperate that they parted their hair and dressed just like Houdini. Houdini also sued a woman for copying him, and he was able to get her out of the escape business. But, he would not let them get the best of him. Instead, Harry dropped the handcuffs and began to think of new ideas since he did not want to leave the public eye.

New stunts began to take over Houdini’s life. He wanted his new stunts to “trump his imitators” with “daring and death-defying stunts” (Fleischman 7). Living up to his word, Houdini came out with his aerial straitjacket escape. Here he would hang by his ankles from the top of a skyscraper and had to, once again, escape from the straitjacket. Houdini was also thrown of a bridge while in this attire, as well as crates and bags. Houdini also came up with one of his most dangerous illusions, the [|Milk Can Escape], and the Chinese Water Torture, the most performed stunt today. After Houdini created his new stunts he went on tour for 10 more years, continuing to please his audience by recreating and fixing his acts while pushing his body limits. He became so popular that he was offered a show on Broadway in 1925. The two-and-a-half hour show was called //Magic//. This put him in line with “the lions of Broadway” (“Harry Houdini).

After many years of performing, Houdini felt his performance streak ending. Starting with breaking an ankle while performing his Chinese Water Torture act, Houdini was convinced death was coming his way. Not long after, Houdini came over with a 102-degree fever. Being his stubborn self, Houdini continued on performing. Collapsing after his performance, Houdini was put into the hospital with a ruptured [|appendix]. It was said that his ruptured appendix was caused from a fan unexpectedly punching Houdini in the stomach, which led to his death six days later on October 31, 1926. Just like any performer today, Harry Houdini was very status conscious. He knew to get his name into the paper so he would become known. As he became more famous Houdini made sure he was always ahead of his competition and keeping his audiences at the edge of their seats with his dangerous stunts. This is exactly what magicians today do, such as [|David Copperfield], [|David Blaine], and [|Criss Angel]. For Houdini it was performing on [|Broadway], while today magicians David Blaine and Criss Angel are performing on TV. Today, such TV shows are so popular that each magician keeps coming out with new ideas. Just like every magician before, during, and after the early 1900’s, Harry Houdini “understood that fame needed constant renewal, which he went at with ingenuity and furious energy” (Fleischman 8). With this idea in mind, Houdini was always able create new ideas to make him popular and different from others while he was alive.

=Annotated Bibliography/Works Consulted=


 * "Business and the Economy in the 1910s: Overview, 1910-1919." //DISCovering U.S. History//. Gale Research, 1997. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. <[|http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/]>**
 * This source was very helpful when it came to the background during Houdini’s time. I was able to find out what could have caused people to attend Harry Houdini’s shows. This was because the economy was very important during the time.**


 * Fleishman, Sid. __Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini.__ New York: HarperCollins, 2006.**
 * This was probably one of my best sources. This book gave specific information about Harry Houdini. Because a magician wrote it in 2006, it was interesting to read about the perspective of this magician about Houdini. This source is good for learning specifically about Houdini’s life and things about him that one may not know.**


 * “Harry Houdini.” St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. 5 vols. St. James Press, 2000. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. <[|http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC>.]**
 * This source gave the basic information on Houdini such as birth, death, and broad things in between. This was a great source to begin building off of since it gave such broad information.**


 * “Harry Houdini.” [|www.aple.org]. 2 Aug. 2004. Appleton Public Library. 9 April 2008. <[|http://www.aple.org/history/houdini/biography.html>.]**
 * This was another one of my good sources. This source was a detailed biography that helped me back up information on Houdini. Once again, specific information on Houdini was given, especially on his performances.**


 * Houdini, Harry. “Houdini Made Himself the Master Magician.” 2 Nov. 1926. __History Resource Center.__ GHS Media Center, Greenwich, CT. 9 Mar. 2008. <[|http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/>.]**
 * This source was somewhat helpful. This was an obituary of Harry Houdini. While this gave me some information on Houdini, it was not information that would help me for my paper. One who would like this source is someone who wants more on events in Houdini’s life that did not have to deal with his magic acts.**


 * “Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (1805-1871)” [|www.pbs.org] 1999. PBS. 9 April 2008. <[|http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/houdini/peopleevents/pande03.html>.]**
 * This was another helpful article for my essay. This article was a biography about the man who inspired Houdini, Robert Houdin. This helped me figure out what Houdini used as inspiration. This was a source that helped me get small specific details on a certain topic.**


 * Kalush, William and Sloman, Larry. __The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero.__ New York: Atria Books, 2006.**
 * Being the most recently written book on Houdini it was one of the more helpful ones. This book focuses on more of Houdini’s specific life and his achievements. This was helpful for my paper since I was focusing on what he achieved and why this attracted his audiences.**


 * Kasson, John F. __Houdini, Tarzan, and the Perfect Man: The White Male Body and the Challenge of Modernity in America.__ New York: Hill and Wang, 2001.**
 * The idea behind this book was not a very normal one. This book was about the body builders such as Houdini and Tarzan during their time, and how it was perceived in America. Though there was not much information that proved to be helpful with my essay, there were interesting facts that were found in this book about the topic.**


 * “Martin Beck (1867-1940)”** [|**www.pbs.org**]**. 1999. PBS. 9 April 2008. <**[|**http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/houdini/peopleevents/pande01.html**]**>.**
 * This source was helpful when it came to information about the people who worked with Houdini. This article was a biography on Martin Beck. This man, Martin Beck was his boss for a short period of time, so with this source I was able to find out the background information about where Houdini worked. This is a good source for one who would like to more about someone who was around Houdini.**


 * Steinmeyer, Jim. __Hiding the Elephant.__ New York: Carroll and Graf, 2003.**
 * This book was not very helpful when it came to writing my essay. While it did give me some information on how Houdini popularized his magic tricks, it was more on how he did the trick and the secret behind it.**