Harry Houdini was born in Hungary on this day in 1874 as Erik Weisz. His family emigrated to the U.S. in 1878, where he was renamed Ehrich Weiss. They lived in Wisconsin, where his father was a rabbi. In 1882, his dad lost that job and moved first to Milwaukee and then New York City.
The future Houdini had been interested in magic and circuses since he was a kid and began performing as a trapeze artist at just 9 years old. Weiss began performing in 1891 as one of two “Houdini Brothers” and found little success—until he was spotted by a vaudeville booking agent, who was impressed by his handcuff escapes.
Suddenly the (non-related) brothers were touring the country. He performed jail escapes and other feats that earned him real star power. He toured Europe next, delighting people across the continent with his new escape ideas. When he returned to the U.S. his projects got more elaborate. The most extreme was his Chinese Water Torture Cell trick.
The circumstances around Houdini's 1926 death from complications resulting from a ruptured appendix are a bit odd. He'd been punched the day before by someone after claiming he could take any blow to the abdomen. Houdini was winded and claimed he hadn't been ready for the hit. Still, there's no hard evidence that that blow was what caused his death. He's buried at Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, N.Y.
You can learn more about Houdini in this article from PBS.
