Houdini was the most well known Magician,Illusionist and Showman of all time.
Harry was actually born in Budapest Hungary as Erik Weisz
(sometimes he signed his name as Houdini or as Ehrich Weiss) on March the 24th in 1874

Although later Houdini claimed to have been born in Appleton Wisconsin on April the 6th 1874

With his parents Samuel Weiss Mayer and Cecilia Steiner and his 6 Brothers and Sisters he immigrated to the USA in 1878. Harry was in his youth known as Ehrie or Harry.

 

Harry did in fact live in Appleton and his father served as Rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation

Harry Houdini decided at an early age to become a Magician but could only get work in Dime Museums,Sideshows a Circus.
(He was even for a short while a Wild Man in a Circus !)

From his early act involving Card Tricks, (on his posters he billed as The King of Cards),he decided that there was too much competition and developed into Escapology which was much more spectacular and popular.
At this point in his career Houdini was working at Coney Island (the Major Resort on the US East Coast for New York) as one of the Brothers Houdini.

While there he met and married Bess (Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner)who was to be his stage assistant for the rest of his career.At this time he split away from his brother Dash and worked with Bess instead.

Harry eventually met his manager Martin Beck who advised him on his Escape acts after seeing Harry Houdini perform a Handcuff Escape,he then booked Harry and Bess on the Orpeum Vaudeville Circuit.
Harry was a Great Success and was wanted by the top Vaudeville Houses around the USA.
A Major European Tour followed and Harry became a legend as the Handcuff King.

During a Tour of the British Isles ,Northern Europe and Russia , Houdini developed a technique which brought him massive publicity and exposure in the press.

 

Harry would challenge the local Police to shackle him and lock him in their jail.
Sometimes he would even be stripped and searched. In Russia he even escaped from a Siberian Prison van.
(It is as well he escaped as the only key was kept in Siberia !)

 

Harry became the Sensation of the hour - crowds flocked to see him and he performed before many of the Crowned Heads of Europe.

Another sensation came in the German City of Koln (Cologne) where Harry sucessfully sued a policeman who claimed that his escapes were effected by bribery ( Harry opened the Judges safe !)
He spent the money on a beautiful dress for his mother.
On his return to America he bought a Brownstone House at 278 W.113th Strett in Harlem New York.

 

Houdini had posters made showing him escaping from chains,handcuffs and straitjackets and Jails and these made him
even more popular.
The Chinese Water Torture Cell is the Escape that he is most famous for -
This was a Glass and Steel Cabinet filled with water in which he was suspended upside-down.
His feet were locked in stocks

The Audience could view Houdini struggling to escape until a curtain was drawn during the actual escape.
The escape was first shown to an audience of one so that Harry could copyright it and he later sucessfully sued copycats.
A really scary escape and seemingly impossible.
Although this was shown as a cause of his death in two movies , it actually was not connected with his death.

In fact a random unexpected punch from a spectator caused internal injures from which Harry died.

How did Harry Escape ?
He wrote several books on Magic and escapology and the details are contained in those.

Locks and handcuffs could at that time be opened with properly applied forces and even with shoelaces.

He used to swallow lockpicks which he would regurgitate later and as he was in prime physical condition with very well developed muscles,

Harry would when being bound enlarge those muscles making him appear bigger. When he relaxes the bindings became loose enough to escape from.

The Daily Mirror Escape Challenge
In london in 1909, the Daily Mirror Challenged Harry to esacape from handcuffs specially made
for the occasion by Nathaniel Hart (Birmingham locksmith) that had taken 5 years to make.
Thousands of people hand over 100 journalists watched at the London Hippodrome Theatre as Harry
struggled to escape.Harrys request to remove the handcuffs so he could take off his jacket was refused
as it was thought he would get an advantage. Harry cut his own jacket off his body with a penknife
and following a kiss from his wife Bess he finally escaped from his screen (which he called a Ghost House)
The Cheering crowd carried him shoulder-high - Harry wept and he later said that it was the most difficult
escape he had ever done in his career.The escape took over three hours.
It has been alleged that the whole escape was engineered by Houdini with the connivance of the newspaper
(Will Goldstone Book)

Milk Can Escape
In this Harry would enter an oversized milk can which was filled with water and a curtain was drawn.
Later this included the can inside a locked chest.
This was an incredibly popular escape as it was billed as a Failure means Death by Drowning escape.

Harrys Brother Theodore Hardeen continued to perfor this escape until the 1940s

 

Suspended Straightjacket Escape:
Harry was suspended upside down in a straightjacket above waiting crowds below.
A safety line was attached but this was a very popular escape.

Harry became a Top Line Vaudeville Artist and was the highest paid performer of the time.
A wonderful illusion he performed was at the Hippodrome Theatre in New York where he made an Elephant
vanish from a stage over a swimming pool !

 

One of Harrys little-known interests was in entertaining Children and he was a frequent visitor to Childrens Hospitals where he would entertain the recovering patients.

Now a respected Magician, Harry became President of Martinka & Co which is the oldest Magic Company in America.

He also accepted the honour of being President of the Society of American Magicians.

Harry Houdini later went on to produce and star in a number of movies but Harry was not sucessful in these.
He did however do some amazing stunts in those movies including flying and wing-walking .
The Man From Beyond is available currently on DVD but Harry did achieve a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Kino International released a DVD box set of Houdinis surviving silent movies and some newsreel
footage of his escapes.

Harry was a very successful pioneer aviator and made the first powered flight over Australia in his Voisin biplane

Later on his interests broadened to becoming a well known investigator of fake spritualists and Psychics.
Using his skills as a magian to recognise tricks and techniques,Harry debunked a number of spiritualists
including the Boston medium Mina Crandon. He was amember of a Scientific American Committee investigating
such matters and a cash prize he offered was never collected.He also showed how photographers made so-called spirit photographs.
He met Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Creator of Sherlock Holmes) but they fell out over Harrys spiritualist debunking activities. (Doyle was a friend of Mina Crandon)

 

Harry also made a large collection of Magic related books and notes from other famous magicians of the past.

Harry Houdini died of peritonitis secondary to a ruptured appendix on October 31st 1926

Over 2000 people attended Harry Houdins Funeral.

 

In His will, his vast library was offered to the American Society for Psychical Research
on the condition that research officer and editor of the ASPR Journal, J. Malcolm Bird, resign. Bird refused and the collection went instead to the Library of Congress.

Bess Houdini held yearly séances on Halloween for ten years after Houdinis death, but Houdini never appeared.

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Harry Houdin wrote the following Books

Houdini published numerous books during his career
(some of which were written by his good friend Walter Brown Gibson, the creator of The Shadow ):

The Right Way to Do Wrong (1906)
Handcuff Secrets (1907)
The Unmasking of Robert Houdin (1908)
Magical Rope Ties and Escapes (1920)
Miracle Mongers and their Methods (1920)
Houdinis Paper Magic (1921)
A Magician Among the Spirits (1924)
Under the Pyramids (1924) with H. P. Lovecraft

Further reading
Houdinis Escapes and Magic by Walter B. Gibson, Prepared from Houdinis private notebooks Blue Ribbon Books, Inc., 1930. Reveals some of Houdinis magic and escape methods (also released in two separate volumes: Houdinis Magic and Houdinis Escapes).
The Secrets of Houdini by J.C. Cannell, Hutchinson & Co., London, 1931. Reveals some of Houdinis escape methods.
Houdini and Conan Doyle: The Story of a Strange Friendship by Bernard M. L. Ernst, Albert & Charles Boni, Inc., NY, 1932.
Sixty Years of Psychical Research by Joseph F. Rinn, Truth Seeker Co., 1950, Rinn was a long time close friend of Houdini. Contains detailed information about the last Houdini message (there are 3) and its disclosure.
Houdinis Fabulous Magic by Walter B. Gibson and Morris N. Young Chilton, NY, 1960. Excellent reference for Houdini’s escapes and some methods (includes the Water Torture Cell).
The Houdini Birth Research Committees Report, Magico Magazine (reprint of report by The Society of American Magicians), 1972. Concludes Houdini was born March 24, 1874 in Budapest.
Mediums, Mystics and the Occult by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas T. Crowell Co., 1975, pp 122-145, Arthur Ford-Messages from the Dead, contains detailed information about the Houdini messages and their disclosure.
Arthur Ford: The Man Who Talked with the Dead by Allen Spraggett with William V. Rauscher, 1973, pp 152-165, Chapter 7, The Houdini Affair contains detailed information about the Houdini messages and their disclosure.
Houdini: Escape into Legend, The Early Years: 1862-1900 by Manny Weltman, Finders/Seekers Enterprises, Los Angeles, 1993. Examination of Houdini’s childhood and early career.
Houdini Comes To America by Ronald J. Hilgert, The Houdini Historical Center, 1996. Documents the Weiss family’s immigration to the United States on July 3, 1878 (when Ehrich was 4).
Houdini Unlocked by Patrick Culliton, Two volume box set: The Tao of Houdini and The Secret Confessions of Houdini, Kieran Press, 1997.
The Houdini Code Mystery: A Spirit Secret Solved by William V. Rauscher, Magic Words, 2000.
The Man Who Killed Houdini by Don Bell, Vehicle Press, 2004. Investigates J. Gordon Whitehead and the events surrounding Houdinis death.
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Thanks go for some parts of this article to Wikipedia.com and much was accumulated from my own collection. .