Mysterious death on Halloween: why did Harry Houdini die? Harry Houdini: biography and photos of the king of illusions What does Houdini mean.

Harry Houdini (English Harry Houdini, real name and surname Erich Weiss; English Erich Weiss or Ehrich Weisz; March 24, 1874, Budapest, Austro-Hungarian Empire - October 31, 1926, New York) - American illusionist, famous for exposing charlatans and complex stunts with escapes and releases.

According to documents, the future magician was born in Budapest into a rabbinical family, although Houdini himself claimed that his place of birth was American state Wisconsin. His parents emigrated to the United States on July 3, 1878, when Erich was four years old. The family initially settled in the town of Appleton (Wisconsin), where his father Meer Samuel Weiss (1829-1892) received the post of rabbi of the Reform synagogue Zion Reform Jewish Congregation (Reform Jewish community of Zion). In 1887, Houdini and his father moved to New York, where they were soon joined by the artist’s mother Cecilia (Cilya) Steiner (1841-1913) and six of his brothers and sisters.

Harry performed card tricks publicly in entertainment venues from the age of 10. In 1892 he adopted the pseudonym Houdini, in honor of the French magician Robert-Houdin (Houdin). Later, the name Harry was added to the surname in honor of Harry Kellar, although according to the testimony of relatives, already in childhood, friends called him Ehrie or Harry. Initially he toured the USA with his brother. Houdini's early career was dominated by acts of freeing himself from handcuffs and water tanks. For advertising purposes, he practiced spectacular stunts that could be witnessed by entire crowds of onlookers. So, one day he was suspended in a bag from the cornice of a skyscraper, but successfully freed himself. Another time he walked through a brick wall in front of many spectators. In 1903, he was thrown from a bridge into the Thames, handcuffed and shackled with a 30-pound ball, but surfaced a few minutes later, waving the handcuffs.

During a tour of Europe and Russia in 1900, Houdini amazed London with “The Disappearance of the Living Elephant,” which he re-enacted at the New York Hippodrome in 1918. He toured Russia again in 1908, demonstrating self-liberation from death row at Butyrskaya prison and the Peter and Paul Fortress. This is how the authors of the book “From Ancient Magicians to Modern Illusionists” describe this trick: “Locked in a prison cell, dressed in prison clothes, he came out two minutes later, opened the doors of neighboring cells and, for fun, switched places of prisoners. Then he entered the dressing room and, fifteen minutes after being locked, appeared in the guardroom dressed in his suit.”

As he grew older, Houdini's stunts became more and more difficult. Even after successful performances, he ended up in the hospital more than once. Since 1910, he began acting in films. In the same year, he staged a number to free himself from the muzzle of a cannon just seconds before the fuse went off. Interested in aviation, he purchased an airplane and made the first ever flight over Australia. He also became close to former president Theodore Roosevelt. There were rumors that Houdini was connected with American intelligence services and Scotland Yard.

IN last decade During his career, Houdini published a number of books that revealed the secrets of his skill. He was seriously concerned that, under the influence of spiritualism, which was popular in those years, many illusionists began to disguise their tricks with the appearance of communicating with otherworldly forces. Accompanied by a plainclothes constable, Houdini began to attend seances incognito in order to expose charlatans, and was noticeably successful in this. The consequence was a break with an old comrade, Arthur Conan Doyle, who was a staunch supporter of spiritualism and revered Houdini as a very powerful medium.

The circumstances of Houdini's death are shrouded in mystery. It is believed that while on tour in Montreal, he was relaxing in his dressing room when he was suddenly attacked by a local student and inflicted several strong blows in the stomach. The offender was confident that the famous magician could withstand any pain. Nine days later, Houdini died of peritonitis. He left his wife a secret code, without which his “true” spirit would not have been able to contact the living during table-turning sessions. This was done so that charlatans would not arrange sessions of communication with the spirit of Houdini - “the thunderstorm of spiritualists.”

Famous for exposing charlatans and complex escape and liberation tricks.

Biography

According to documents, the future magician was born in Budapest into a rabbinical family, although Houdini himself claimed that his birthplace was the American state of Wisconsin. His parents immigrated to the United States on July 3, 1878, when Erich was four years old. The family initially settled in the town of Appleton (Wisconsin), where his father Meer Samuel Weiss (1829-1892) received the post of rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation synagogue ( Reform Jewish Community of Zion). In the year Houdini and his father moved to New York, where they were soon joined by the artist’s mother Cecilia Steiner (1841-1913) and six of his brothers and sisters.

Harry performed card tricks publicly in entertainment venues from the age of 10. In 1892 he adopted the pseudonym Houdini, in honor of the French magician Robert-Houdin. Later, the name Harry was added to the surname in honor of Harry Kellar, although according to the testimony of relatives, already in childhood, friends called him Ehrie or Harry. Initially he toured the USA with his brother. Houdini's early career was dominated by acts of freeing himself from handcuffs and water tanks. For advertising purposes, he practiced spectacular stunts that could be witnessed by entire crowds of onlookers. So, one day he was suspended in a bag from the cornice of a skyscraper, but successfully freed himself. Another time he walked through a brick wall in front of many spectators. In 1903, he was thrown from a bridge into the Thames, handcuffed and shackled with a 30-pound ball, but surfaced a few minutes later, waving the handcuffs.

Harry Houdini before performing the self-release trick, 1899

Houdini with his mother Cecilia Steiner and wife Bass (Elizabeth) in 1907

1919 poster announcing a film starring Houdini

In the last decade of his career, Houdini published a number of books that revealed the secrets of his craft. He was seriously concerned that, under the influence of spiritualism, which was popular in those years, many illusionists began to disguise their tricks with the appearance of communication with otherworldly forces. Accompanied by a constable dressed in civilian clothes, Houdini began to attend seances incognito in order to expose charlatans, and was noticeably successful in this. The consequence was a break with an old comrade, Arthur Conan Doyle, who was a staunch supporter of spiritualism and revered Houdini as a very powerful medium.

The circumstances of Houdini's death are shrouded in mystery. While on tour in Montreal, he was relaxing in his dressing room when three students walked in, one of whom was a college boxing champion. He asked Mr. Houdini if he could really take several hard blows to the stomach without feeling anything. Houdini, lost in thought, nodded, and the student suddenly struck the magician two or three times. Houdini barely stopped him: “Wait, I need to get ready,” after which he tensed his abs - “Here, now you can hit.” The student hit him a couple of times and felt Houdini’s iron abdominal press on himself. When the students left, Houdini only rubbed the place that had been bruised from the first unexpected blows.

For several days, Houdini, as always, did not pay attention to the pain, but these blows provoked a rupture of the appendix, as a result of which peritonitis developed. In 1926, there were no antibiotics, and it was possible to survive only by miracle, but Houdini again amazed everyone: the fans rejoiced - here he is Houdini, the conqueror of death, who does not obey earthly laws. However, nine days later, on October 31, 1926, on the eve of Halloween, Harry Houdini died in Detroit. He left his wife a secret code, without which his “true” spirit would not have been able to contact the living during table-turning sessions. This was done so that charlatans would not arrange sessions of communication with the spirit of Houdini - “the thunderstorm of spiritualists.”

Various episodes of Houdini's life have been filmed more than once. In 1999, a musical was staged based on his biography, and in 2007 the film “Deadly Number” was released on US screens, in which the role of Houdini was played by Australian Guy Pearce, and the role of his passion was played by Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Sources

A. A. Vadimov, M. A. Trivas. From the magicians of ancient times to the illusionists of our days. Moscow, 1979.

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Already in 1878, the Weiss family successfully immigrated to the United States. It was there that Eric began to introduce himself to others by the American name Harry. And the future magician adopted his new surname on the advice of his partner Jake Hyman, a big fan of the illusionist Robert-Houdin. During his life, Houdini also used other pseudonyms: Eric the Great, King of the Cards and Eric the Prince of Air.

WITH early childhood Houdini admired and carefully watched the work of magicians and magicians, and he performed his first independent act at the age of 9. The boy hung upside down on the rope and pulled pins out of his eyelashes. One wrong move and he would lose an eye. Houdini received 35 cents for his act that evening. Then he performed on the trapeze, and once performed the number “Savage”. He was locked in a cage, where he, wearing the skin of a lion, gnawed raw meat with his teeth.

Houdini was not capricious and worked hard in any role. But then he seriously took up the craft of a mechanic. For what? To comprehend all the intricacies of constructing any types of locks. It was these skills that allowed Houdini to become the world's most famous escape artist (a circus performer who demonstrates the ability to free himself from chains, ropes, etc.). There is evidence that Houdini once managed to escape from the stomach of a whale.

It's no secret that early stage During his career, Houdini became interested in all aspects of death, as it attracted the attention of the public. Harry bought one of the first in the USA electric chairs, intended for the execution of criminals, using it in their shows. And after the death of his beloved mother, Harry became seriously involved in spiritualism, although he himself often exposed spiritualists as swindlers and swindlers, making money from the feelings and grief of people.

Houdini never tired of revealing the cheap tricks of spiritualists, proving to the public their commercialism and deceit. Although we note that the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, firmly believed that Houdini himself could maintain a living connection with the world of the dead and communicate with their souls.

One day Houdini met the beautiful Mademoiselle Bess Razner. The affair lasted only two weeks. Then a modest wedding happened, and the couple was never apart for more than a day. It is interesting that throughout their lives the couple addressed each other only as “Mrs. Houdini” and “Mr. Houdini.” It is worth recognizing that their feelings were sincere and deep. Harry wrote letters to his Bess while she was in the next room. Bess became the maestro's permanent assistant on stage. The couple often argued, then Houdini left the house and walked along the street. Upon his return, he would throw his hat into Bess's room; if the hat flew back into the hallway, it meant that Bess was still angry. After Houdini's death, Bess fell into a deep depression and visited spiritualists weekly, hoping to hear from Harry.

Unfortunately, this loving and devoted couple never had any children. There are many different rumors about this. Most likely the reason lies in brother Harry Leopold Weiss, who was considered one of the first and foremost radiologists in New York. The fact is that Harry often and voluntarily acted as a guinea pig in Leopold's experiments. Apparently, these experiments made the maestro infertile. However, the couple’s desire to have children of their own was so great that the couple came up with an imaginary son, who was named Meer Samuel. According to the Houdini spouses, he should have become the future president of the United States.

In 1909, Harry Houdini became seriously interested in aviation. He studied flying in Germany and, having received a pilot’s certificate, began teaching piloting to German cadets. When did the first one begin? World War, Houdini bitterly regretted that he himself taught enemy pilots to fly. By the way, he became one of the first pilots to cross the whole of Australia in an airplane alone.

Now let's return to the American claim that Harry Houdini was born in the USA. This “duck” was noticed by Houdini himself at one time. He truly loved the States and was a passionate patriot of his new homeland. In his biography, he indicated the city of Appleton (Wisconsin) as his place of birth. In 1917, Houdini applied to enlist in a volunteer detachment for the war in Europe.

Fortunately, he was not taken due to his age. Then he went to Europe at his own expense, where he performed for free in front of American soldiers. His signature number on that tour was “Money from Nowhere.” Harry caught dollars in the air and distributed them to the soldiers. Later it turned out that Houdini gave away American soldiers 7 thousand dollars from his own pocket, deciding to sweeten the life of the military at least in this way. But this is not leavened patriotism, but sincere.

At the same time, Houdini was an extremely demanding boss towards his assistants and long-legged assistants. One of the duties of the assistants was to put extremely curious spectators to sleep with chloroform, who managed to get behind the scenes and find out the secrets of Houdini's tricks. For loyalty and reliability, Houdini forced his workers to write an oath of loyalty and concealment of the secrets of all the maestro’s tricks.

Some of Houdini's performances were extremely dangerous for his life. Therefore he had to keep himself in amazing physical fitness and complete spiritual balance. Houdini's house had a special deep bathtub where Harry practiced holding his breath. In addition, on all his voyages the maestro took the vat in which he trained. Houdini held his breath underwater for three minutes even at 45 years old!

In every free minute, Houdini repeated and perfected tricks with playing cards and daily untied at least a hundred rope knots toes. Everyone who knew Harry Houdini personally agreed that he was the clearest example perfectionist (a person who strives for perfection in everything). Even in his youth, he learned to use his left arm and leg no worse than his right. And this can only be achieved through tireless work and training.

Contemporaries considered Harry Houdini a superman, although in those days this word (superman) was used extremely rarely and cautiously. But all the new tricks and unprecedented performances of the magician and sorcerer did not allow us to treat him differently. No one could believe that Mr. Houdini would ever die. But on Halloween night 1926 (October 31), Harry Houdini passed away. It was impossible to come up with a more mysterious date of death.

Mr. Houdini died of peritonitis, which was the consequence of an acute attack of appendicitis. More than two thousand people and about two hundred circus performers and magicians came to the funeral of the world's best magician and magician. Over Houdini's grave they broke a symbolic magic wand, which then became a tradition at the funerals of magicians and circus performers.

Houdini was buried next to his parents. Letters from his mother were placed under the pillow in the maestro’s coffin. Harry bequeathed almost all of his belongings and property to his brother Theo, but demanded that after his brother’s death, all paraphernalia of his circus activities be destroyed. Houdini left five thousand valuable and rare books for the public library of the US Congress.

A great magician, illusionist of the 20th century, a clever trickster and escape artist, to whom any castle was subject, a man of mystery.

His name was Erich Weiss, but the world knew him as Harry Houdini. Almost like Goodwin the Wizard Emerald City. It was not for nothing that they really attributed to him supernatural abilities. For the most part, this amused him. He himself loved to incite his fans, surrounding himself and his art with an aura of mystery.

Death of a Wizard

Houdini died on October 31, 1926, on Halloween. As if as a joke on those who really considered him a magician, they chose this mystical holiday for their departure - All Saints' Day.

What really happened? Almost a century later, his death leaves many mysteries, as does he himself. Was it an accident, an accident, or a murder by conspiracy? Or maybe the wizard is just tired of the world ordinary people and slipped away somewhere into his secret dimension, where he always drew his strength from?

Montreal. Last tour. Houdini played his part brilliantly new program, which included the most difficult numbers of the master.

There was a knock on the dressing room where the illusionist was resting while two art students were working on his portrait. It was a strong young man named Gordon Whitehead - an aspiring boxer, as it turned out much later. He didn’t come to the dressing room for an autograph. His interest in sports, in the literal sense of the word, brought him to the magician.

Is it true that the Great Houdini has abs of steel and can withstand any blow?

The magician did not deny this rumor, and it was not a rumor at all. And then the guy dealt him three precise blows to the chest, even before Houdini had time to prepare to demonstrate his powers. The magician bent over from unbearable pain. But, having soon put himself in order, he did not at all drive the impatient impudent man away, but, on the contrary, asked him for a little time to concentrate. Having quelled the pain, he straightened up and, giving the command, took two more blows. The trick was a success. Whitehead dislocated his wrist on the wizard's steel abs.

After completing his French tour, Houdini returned home to America, hiding from everyone his illness, which intensified every day and developed into a serious form.

The straitjacket escape stunt was his last public appearance. Houdini became ill during the performance and was taken to a Detroit hospital with severe fever and in a semi-fainting state.

The diagnosis was disappointing - peritonitis and ruptured appendix, the latter as a result of meeting Whitehead. Contrary to the conclusion of experienced doctors, who counted Houdini only a day, the wizard (it’s no different here) lasted longer, several more days. It all ended on October 31st, Halloween night.

But is it over?

All of the above is just the official version of events. And did it really lead to such a tragic outcome?

Already in our time, a descendant of Houdini, his great-nephew George Hardin, became interested in exhuming the body of the great magician and conducting a proper examination. After all, then in 1926, after death, an autopsy was not performed. Why?

Versions of a murder plot, perhaps even poisoning, were suggested in his book “ Secret life Houdini" two of its authors are William Kalush and Larry Slowman. Their manuscript prompted Hardin to take up the investigation.

If you believe the book, during the writing of which the authors used the diaries of the British intelligence officer William Melville, Harry Houdini repeatedly provided all possible assistance to both Scotland Yard and the intelligence services, in particular. The revenge of representatives of the criminal world here would be quite obvious.

In addition, fans of spiritualism also had a grudge against the magician, ridiculing and exposing them, whom he was very fond of in charlatanism. Posing as a policeman, Houdini often organized raids on their “sabbaths.”

An interesting fact is that before his death, the magician allegedly left his wife a secret code, without which his “spirit” could not be summoned at spiritualistic seances.

When myths give rise to new myths, getting to the truth becomes very difficult. Will the wizard Houdini ever reveal his secrets? Are they hidden in a bronze tomb in a New York cemetery or did the Great Wizard, safely hiding them in the pocket of his coat, take them to his next dimension. There, where his new fans await his appearance on stage to the deafening thunder of applause. Who knows…

In 2009, German director Uli Edel won the right to be nominated for an Oscar with the film “The Baader-Meinhof Complex” in the category “Best Film at the foreign language", but it must be said that this is not the first time that attention has been paid to him in the USA he was noted as a guest director for one of the episodes of the cult series Twin Peaks, he was filmed from 1990 to 1991 . And in 2014, the Histoy TV channel hired Edel to direct a 152-minute mini-series about the story of the same mysterious figure as his tricks and illusions, the great Harry Houdini. For this, the script was written by Bernard S. Meyer (who made his debut in cinema) and Nicholas Meyer (who also has an Oscar nomination and was at one time involved in the creation of a couple of episodes of feature-length fiction “ Star Trek"). On main role they approved Adrien Brody (I think he needs no introduction), his on-screen wife was played by Kristen Connolly (more of a television actress who appeared in several cameo roles in some famous films), and Houdini’s assistant was played by Evan Jones (the same thing that applied to Connolly can also be attributed to Jones).

So, Brodie, Connolly and Jones these are the most important characters. The rest of the characters, minor ones, will replace each other as the series begins to gain momentum. But during this time, the viewer will have time to get acquainted with the life story of Harry Houdini and with the people with whom the great illusionist had the opportunity to meet. Among them are the Kaiser of Germany and his family, and the Russian royal family with controversial grandfather Grigori Rasputin among them, as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself and his wife. But the scriptwriters also developed the version that the former Hungarian Jew, who later received an American passport, worked for the intelligence of the Allied forces of the Entente. This is how the viewer gets to know how Harry Houdini started performing with his brother, then came up with and improved many tricks, and became one of the most greatest people of his era, after he began to compete with the miracle of technology the newly invented cinema, lost his mother and subsequently turned into the most notorious destroyer of legends associated with various types charlatans who called themselves spiritualists, that is, those who can call and talk with spirits.

If you wanted to tell full story life of Harry Houdini, then no 152 minutes would have been enough the biography of the greatest illusionist in the world was so vivid and varied (may David Copperfield fans forgive me), so the Meiers cut out the most interesting fragments from Houdini’s life story, adding several rather controversial moments of his biography and provided a mini-series for viewer opinion. And the opinion turned out to be extremely positive. And this really has a basis, because the series is interesting, intriguing, sometimes dramatic, and sometimes adventurous. Of course, a lot of controversy would be caused by the fact that the main emphasis was placed on the reconnaissance mission of Harry Houdini, on the one hand curious, but on the other hand where is the confirmation? And so, with the series from Uli Edel, we can find out what kind of Harry Houdini was - a frantic genius or a man who found himself with his talent? Although, most likely, both of these statements will be correct. We also learn about his wife and about the one who was always ready to help the greatest illusionist, even though he always fired him in fits of frenzy.

In many ways like this great luck series and positive reviews viewers and critics were made possible thanks to the expressive performance of Adrien Brody, who played the main character Harry Houdini. I myself have repeatedly caught myself thinking that I sincerely believe that in front of me is not an actor playing a character, but the very the real Harry Houdini, the casting masters got it so right with the choice of Adrien Brody, and the actor himself approached this difficult, but very interesting role. In general, there was such a suspicion that Brody took the role so seriously that he experienced all the tricks with which Harry Houdini immortalized his name. Adrien Brody on the highest level did his job like a true professional. Kristen Connolly and Evan Jones also tried very hard to be remembered for their good acting, although it was noticeable that after Harry Houdini himself and his tricks they came in second place, but, nevertheless, the role of the characters themselves and the role of the actors themselves in the series “Houdini” are absolutely important and add a lot big picture such a life amazing person like Harry Houdini.

The series is not only entertainment, but it also conveys in general terms the meaning of the life of Harry Houdini, who was played superbly by Adrien Brody. Several facts and several controversial aspects of the biography of the greatest illusionist will force many, perhaps you, dear potential viewer, to learn more about this man, and the mini-series will become the driving force for this, and good music and decoration will help in this.