After Dua Lipa's album Future Nostalgia, which broke sales and streaming records, her single 'Houdini', in which she declared her new musical era, was released. Would you like to get to know Harry Houdini, the legendary, famous magician and the inventor of ghosting who inspired the words 'Catch me or I go Houdini'?
Harry Houdini; was born in Budapest on March 24, 1874. He was one of seven children in his family. He landed in America on July 3, 1878. The family first settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. In a 1907 interview, Houdini claimed that he was born in Appleton. But this is not true. According to the 1880 census, the family lived on Appleton Street. They moved to New York with their family in 1887. After working several jobs, he became a trapeze artist at the age of 9. He nicknamed himself "Prince of the Sky". He also became the champion in the running race among his peers.
After becoming a professional magician, he changed his nickname to "Harry Houdini". The biggest factor in him getting this nickname is the French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, whom he was influenced by.
Erich Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known as Harry Houdini, was a Hungarian-American escape artist, illusionist, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his magical mentor, French magician Robert-Houdin (1805–1871).
He first attracted attention with his "Harry Handcuff Houdini" tour, which traveled throughout Europe. In every country he went to, he challenged the local police units and tried to be handcuffed and kept under lock and key. His most important characteristics are that he performs his talents in a spectacular manner and that the audience is involved in the whole show. In a short time, he developed his repertoire and added escape from iron chains, thick ropes suspended from skyscrapers, straitjackets underwater and escaping from huge milk bottles with sealed caps.
In 1904, he escaped from specially made handcuffs by London's Daily Miror before the curious and alarmed eyes of thousands of onlookers. He responded to the rumor that his escape stunts were a sham by calling himself “the punisher of false magicians.” He served as president of the Society of American Magicians and raised the standards of professional magic. He defended his rights by very quickly suing anyone who tried to imitate his escapes.
Houdini shot many films, but he soon quit acting because he could not earn much money. Houdini, who was also a pilot, planned to be the first pilot to go from America to Australia. He passed away dramatically and mysteriously in 1926. According to a rumor, he approved a test to see if a student in Montreal could withstand the strongest punch to the stomach, and during the test, the student punched Houdini many times before he was ready, causing his appendix to burst. It is believed that this went unnoticed a few days later (October 31, 1926), causing Houdini's death.
In the early years of his career as a magician, Harry Houdini had a hard time attracting people's attention. In fact, just for this reason, he considers leaving the profession and opening a magic school instead. In 1899, Houdini's organizer, Martin Beck, arranged a tour of the USA and Europe for Houdini. In this scene, Houdini tries the disappearance trick for the first time, with the advice of Martin Beck. Upon the attention he receives, he makes his trick even bigger and asks his audience to handcuff and lock him. Thus, over time, Harry Houdini found the signature number that would become synonymous with him. The disappearance trick brought Houdini great success, and Harry Houdini became a blockbuster magician with the title of "King of Hadcuffs".
In September 1911, Harry Houdini improved his skills and managed to escape from the belly of a whale. Houdini, who tried to escape from the belly of a 1,500-pound sea monster, a whale, under the influence of a group of business people, managed to get out of the whale's belly in exactly 15 minutes.
Houdini had such tricks that physicists often had difficulty explaining these tricks within a logical framework. However, Houdini was also very angry with those who believed that he had supernatural powers. In fact, Harry Houdini once announced that he would give $10,000 to any physicist who could not explain any physical phenomenon logically.