Harry Houdini can be said as the father of modern magic. He was born on 24 March 1874, he was born in Hungry and brought up in America. He is a source of inspiration for modern magicians and street performers. His escapologist tricks are still the best in the world and are hard to immitate.
Houdini’s career as a magican started with little success he worked at museums and sideshows, even performed at the circus as “The Wild man”. He started with card tricks. He was soon known as the “King of cards”. Later he started experimenting with escape tricks and found himself close to these amazing tricks he could perform outmastering near every lock and knot that tried to bind him.
In 1893, while performing with his brother “Dash” at Coney Island as “The Houdini Brothers”, Harry met fellow performer Wilhelmina Beatrice (Bess) Rahner, whom he married. Bess replaced Dash in the act, which became known as “The Houdinis.” For the rest of Houdini’s performing career, Bess would work as his stage assistant.
Houdini’s “big break” came in 1899 when he met manager Martin Beck in rural Woodstock, Illinois. Impressed by Houdini’s handcuffs act, Beck advised him to concentrate on escape acts and booked him on the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Within months, he was performing at the top vaudeville houses in the country. In 1900, Beck arranged for Houdini to tour Europe. After some days of unsuccessful interviews in London, Houdini managed to interest Dundas Slater, then manager of the Alhambra Theatre, he gave a demonstration of escape from handcuffs at Scotland Yard, and succeeded in baffling the police so effectively that he was booked at the Alhambra for six months.
How did Houdini die
People have been searchig for this answer since long it is said that, Harry Houdini died of peritonitis, secondary to a ruptured appendix. According to some of the eyewitnesses to an incident in Montreal gave rise to speculation that Houdini’s death was caused by a McGill University student, J. Gordon Whitehead, who punched Houdini in the abdomen to test Houdini’s claim that he was able to take any blow to the body above the waist without injury.
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