Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin

partly to anti-Semitism, the rabbi emigrated to Appleton, Wisconsin, to lead a small Jewish Reform congregation. His wife and five children joined him in 1878. Their surname was changed from Weisz to Weiss. When Houdini was eight, the family relocated to Milwaukee, where they struggled with poverty. In his first public performance on October 28, 1883, when he was only nine, Houdini appeared as a trapeze artist called Ehrich, the Prince of Air in a five-cent circus. At the age of twelve, Harry ran away from home to shine shoes for soldiers in the U.S. Cavalry. In 1887, Houdini joined his father in New York City, where the rabbi had gone to look for work. The family was reunited there in 1888. Houdini idolized a French magician named Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin. Houdini liked that name and adopted it, but he added an “i” at the end to make it Houdini. At the age of seventeen, Houdini performed about twenty magic shows a day in music halls, amusement parks, and sideshows. He and Jacob Hyman, later replaced by Houdini's brother, Theo, performed magic shows as The Houdini Brothers. In 1893, Houdini met Wilhelmina Beatrice (Bess) Rahner, an eighteen-year-old aspiring dancer and singer. Although Bess was a devout Catholic, she and Houdini married in 1894, and they formed an act called The Houdinis. Their happy marriage and partnership lasted until his death. In 1895, Houdini began experimenting with escapology, particularly handcuff and prison escapes in local police stations. The…

The Great Harry Houdini could escape anything. Houdini was a man who could take a hard hit. He was a unpredictable human being. At one point he had a straight jacket on held by his ankles upside down and some escaped the straight jacket. Harry Houdini was born in Budapest Hungary. Houdini's real name was Erich Weiss. He was on March 24, 1874. Eric and his family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin. Where he later claimed he was born. He also claimed to be born April 6, 1874. At a young age he wanted…

respected performance art and disavowed magic’s affiliation with witchcraft (Coppa, Hass, Peck, 112). Another pioneer in the art of magic was Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin. Known as the “father of modern magic”, Houdin made magic a nightly spectacle. Houdin took magic from sideshows and circuses, and brought it into the theater. A watchmaker and inventor, Houdin built innovative illusions to use in his stage shows, such as his most famous trick, “The Marvelous Orange Tree”, a mechanical automaton…

The trick was the disappearing coin trick, I studied what my brothers trick was and practiced it over and over. My best friend ,Jacob Hyman, and I would practice magic tricks in our spare time. Jacob and I wanted to become professionals but we needed a name. I read every book I could find about magic and the one book I liked the most was the autobiography of Jean-Eugene Robert Houdin, their name had become the Brothers Houdini. Ehrich had later become Ehrie which had turned to Harry and that is…