Houdini prolonged his simple escapes by playing up the drama to the point where the crowd thought his death was imminent.

He soon began performing a new form of entertainment called “challenge escape.”Īlthough Houdini wasn’t the first challenge-escape artist, he was the first to add suspense and anticipation to the act. Houdini’s early shows consisted of card tricks and simple magic, such as producing a handkerchief from the flame of a candle and making a flower appear from the buttonhole of his jacket. At thirteen, Houdini and his family moved to New York City, where his interest in magic grew. There, his father became the first rabbi in town. Escape Artistīorn Erich Weiss on Main Budapest, Hungary, Harry Houdini moved with his family to Appleton, Wisconsin at age four. Newspapers from across the country carried front-page updates on Houdini’s condition. They removed the appendix, but the poison had already flowed through his bloodstream. Then, he collapsed again.Īt Grace Hospital in Detroit, doctors discovered the performer had a gangrenous appendix and peritonitis, an inflammation of the abdominal cavity wall. Despite a 104-degree temperature, he returned to the stage and completed his two-and-a-half hour show. As the curtain fell, he collapsed and was taken to the dressing room. With the help of his assistants, he struggled through the rest of the first act. As Houdini attempted his next trick, pain from his midsection made him turn aside. Moments later, she shouted, “Here I am,” from the back of the theater and came running down the aisle. Then, he made an attractive woman vanish on stage and a flower bush appear in her place. Smiling, he ripped off his sleeves to show there was nothing hidden and began his performance.īeginning with a variety of vanishing acts, the famed magician made several silver coins and alarm clocks disappear.

Harry Houdini walked briskly to the footlights of Detroit’s Garrick Theater on October 24, 1926, as “Pomp and Circumstance” played in the background.

See all Stories in States of Incarceration.

“Wish You Were Here:” Prison Tourism in Michigan.

See all Stories in Discoveries in the Archives.

Over There: A Family History Mystery Solution?.

Finding Manley McNitt: Hurricane Harvey and a Michigan Civil War Soldier.

Harry houdini escape