How Harry Houdini Became the World's Most Famous Magician
Houdini could escape anything—even the truth.
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News •
Houdini’s centennial spotlight: A newly published essay and a fresh fight over when and how he died
• Oct. 31, 2026, 12:02 AM ET (AP)
Transcript
You guys ready to start?
Harry Houdini was born Eric Weiss in Budapest, Hungary, in 1874.
His family emigrated to Appleton, Wisconsin, when he was only four years. They lived a pretty humble lifestyle.
He started off as an acrobat doing feats of athleticism and gymnastics, selling tickets to the other kids in the neighborhood. But then he started to learn a little bit more about sleight of hand, card manipulation and card tricks.
As a nickname his family and friends would call him Ehri [airy], so it wasn't too big of a leap to go from Ehri [airy] to Harry. The Houdini part came from one of his magic heroes, the man we call the father of modern magic, Jean Eugene Robert Houdin.
He took the name Houdin, put an i on it and he became Houdini.
He realized that to set himself apart he had to do something unique.
Escaping from handcuffs, escaping from being tied up with long pieces of rope, getting locked into jail cells.
If he was performing in a new town, he'd ask the local police to lock him up in handcuffs and put him in a cell.
One of the bigger ones was the straitjacket escape. He'd hang upside down, many stories in the air, in the middle of a town square to promote his theater show.
One of the iconic underwater escapes, the famous Milk Can escape. He had one specially designed that was big enough for a person to fit in. They'd pour in the water and they'd lock him in. A big curtain would go up on the stage and a band would start to play. The tension would build and build.
The master of ceremonies would encourage the audience to hold their breath along with Houdini, until finally, the curtain rose and there he was.
Houdini, because of his celebrity as a magician, he also had access to parts of the planet that most people didn't get.
Houdini was the first person to fly an airplane in Australia.
He was doing his world tour of magic. He disassembled a plane, put it on the ship, took it with him, reassembled it in
Australia, and did the first manned flight of an airplane. It just was part of him wanting to be a pioneer and a singular performer and he very much was.
Houdini would boast that he could withstand a punch to the stomach from just about anyone.
When someone asked if they test this assertion of his, they sort of landed a blow on him before he was ready.
This ended up rupturing his appendix. He was in so much pain that he even passed out once or twice backstage. He had to be revived, but he insisted on performing the show anyway. By the time he got to the hospital, infection had already spread, so he passed away at Grace Hospital in Detroit on October 31st, on Halloween in 1926.
Houdini, his death was so sudden and tragic.
The fact that he died at the height of his fame, has really contributed to this enduring legend and legacy of him.
Also, the fact that he didn't really have a clear successor.
Plus, there's all of the misinformation that we have about Houdini. He started a lot of rumors about himself. Like for one, that he was a native born American.
We know that that that's not true.
His birth date tended to fluctuate as did things like how tall he was. He was actually a pretty short person. He was five foot four, but depending on when you asked him, he could fluctuate anywhere up to five eight.
We know how he did a lot of his escapes these days, although he never revealed how any of those things were done. We had to figure them out after the fact.
Are there any mechanisms or props that you can describe?
I did take an oath, I can't tell you how any of that stuff actually worked.
I was the national president of the Society of American Magicians in 2023.
I'm a part of the long line that Houdini was also part of.
When members join the Society of American Magicians, we take a solemn oath. Among the things that we promise to do, is not to reveal the secrets of magic to the uninitiated. It's part of the way of keeping our own legacies alive.
People love magic for the same reason they love all types of entertainment. It's a break. It's a bit of an escape.
A lot of people in the early 20th century look to Houdini as sort of a beacon of hope. It's really an incredible rise to go from a poverty stricken immigrant to one of the most famous American entertainers in the world.
Harry Houdini was born Eric Weiss in Budapest, Hungary, in 1874.
His family emigrated to Appleton, Wisconsin, when he was only four years. They lived a pretty humble lifestyle.
He started off as an acrobat doing feats of athleticism and gymnastics, selling tickets to the other kids in the neighborhood. But then he started to learn a little bit more about sleight of hand, card manipulation and card tricks.
As a nickname his family and friends would call him Ehri [airy], so it wasn't too big of a leap to go from Ehri [airy] to Harry. The Houdini part came from one of his magic heroes, the man we call the father of modern magic, Jean Eugene Robert Houdin.
He took the name Houdin, put an i on it and he became Houdini.
He realized that to set himself apart he had to do something unique.
Escaping from handcuffs, escaping from being tied up with long pieces of rope, getting locked into jail cells.
If he was performing in a new town, he'd ask the local police to lock him up in handcuffs and put him in a cell.
One of the bigger ones was the straitjacket escape. He'd hang upside down, many stories in the air, in the middle of a town square to promote his theater show.
One of the iconic underwater escapes, the famous Milk Can escape. He had one specially designed that was big enough for a person to fit in. They'd pour in the water and they'd lock him in. A big curtain would go up on the stage and a band would start to play. The tension would build and build.
The master of ceremonies would encourage the audience to hold their breath along with Houdini, until finally, the curtain rose and there he was.
Houdini, because of his celebrity as a magician, he also had access to parts of the planet that most people didn't get.
Houdini was the first person to fly an airplane in Australia.
He was doing his world tour of magic. He disassembled a plane, put it on the ship, took it with him, reassembled it in
Australia, and did the first manned flight of an airplane. It just was part of him wanting to be a pioneer and a singular performer and he very much was.
Houdini would boast that he could withstand a punch to the stomach from just about anyone.
When someone asked if they test this assertion of his, they sort of landed a blow on him before he was ready.
This ended up rupturing his appendix. He was in so much pain that he even passed out once or twice backstage. He had to be revived, but he insisted on performing the show anyway. By the time he got to the hospital, infection had already spread, so he passed away at Grace Hospital in Detroit on October 31st, on Halloween in 1926.
Houdini, his death was so sudden and tragic.
The fact that he died at the height of his fame, has really contributed to this enduring legend and legacy of him.
Also, the fact that he didn't really have a clear successor.
Plus, there's all of the misinformation that we have about Houdini. He started a lot of rumors about himself. Like for one, that he was a native born American.
We know that that that's not true.
His birth date tended to fluctuate as did things like how tall he was. He was actually a pretty short person. He was five foot four, but depending on when you asked him, he could fluctuate anywhere up to five eight.
We know how he did a lot of his escapes these days, although he never revealed how any of those things were done. We had to figure them out after the fact.
Are there any mechanisms or props that you can describe?
I did take an oath, I can't tell you how any of that stuff actually worked.
I was the national president of the Society of American Magicians in 2023.
I'm a part of the long line that Houdini was also part of.
When members join the Society of American Magicians, we take a solemn oath. Among the things that we promise to do, is not to reveal the secrets of magic to the uninitiated. It's part of the way of keeping our own legacies alive.
People love magic for the same reason they love all types of entertainment. It's a break. It's a bit of an escape.
A lot of people in the early 20th century look to Houdini as sort of a beacon of hope. It's really an incredible rise to go from a poverty stricken immigrant to one of the most famous American entertainers in the world.
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