![]() ![]() Crowds jammed shoulder to shoulder watched Houdini wriggle free from a straitjacket while suspended upside down. An Apphotograph from the Maryland Historical Society shows Houdini suspended from the old Baltimore Sun building high above Charles Street. ![]() If invisible electromagnetic waves traveling at the speed of light could bring Fibber McGee's voice into your living room, perhaps spirit photography was possible as well.īut even 21st century sophisticates will gape at Houdini's escapes, some of which were extraordinarily dangerous. Americans were bombarded with such mind-boggling inventions as the electric lightbulb, radio and telephone. The early 20th century craze for seances and mediums today seems laughably naive.īut those decades "were one of the most radical eras of transformation the world has ever seen," Pinkert said. Viewers living in 2018 who have become inured to photo-shopped images might be underwhelmed by Houdini's illusions. He also had a deep understanding of locks and mechanisms." "He was short, just five-foot-six, which made it easier for him to wiggle out of things," London said, "and he had an amazing athletic physique. Virtually overnight, Houdini became an international superstar who presented his act before crowds that at times exceeded 50,000 people. Focus instead on handcuff escapes, which no other magicians were attempting. It wasn't until 1899 that the vaudeville impresario Martin Beck met Houdini after a performance in Minnesota and gave the young entertainer the advice that changed his life: Forget card tricks, which were commonplace. "Houdini had decided to quit show business," London said, "but he couldn't find anybody to buy his act." What's worse, the offer attracted no takers. The brochure offers the secrets to the entire act that Houdini spent nearly a decade polishing - for $10. ![]() No dinner."Īn especially poignant artifact is an 1898 catalog for Professor Houdini's School of Magic. 23, 1898 following a performance outside Cumberland: "Rained hard. ![]() His travel diary contains a succinct entry from Sept. Five years later, Houdini was still struggling. In 1893, when the 19-year-old King of Cards married a fellow performer, he was so poor that his bride, Bess, had to purchase the $2 marriage license. In 1891, he renamed himself "Harry Houdini" in honor of the great French conjurer, Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, took his act on the road and - as the exhibit makes clear - toiled in obscurity for the next eight years. "Inescapable" contains an 1886 letter to Mayer and Cecilia Weisz signed "Your truant son."Įrik eventually made his way to New York, where he found work as a messenger and in a necktie factory and began to seriously study magic. But in 1882, Houdini's father, Mayer Samuel Weisz, lost his job as rabbi for a Reform Jewish congregation in Appleton, Wis.plunging his family into poverty.Īfter the family moved to Milwaukee when Erik was 8 years old, the boy sold newspapers, shined shoes and delivered groceries to put food on the table. The Weisz family emigrated to America in 1878 when the future magician was 4 years old. "Our exhibit," London said, "takes a peek behind the curtain." In contrast, "Inescapable" devotes equal resources to documenting the hardscrabble first 26 years of the conjurer born Erik Weisz. London said that most exhibits focus on the headline-grabbing last half of Houdini's life. It's impossible to overstate the impact he's had on magic." "I've had a poster of Houdini hanging in my bedroom since I've been a teenager. "It almost seems as though my entire life had been leading up to this moment," London said. Museum visitors will learn about Houdini the adventurer (he claimed to be the first man to fly an airplane in Australia), Houdini the entrepreneur (he founded his own movie studio and directed and starred in his own films) and Houdini the inventor (he holds a patent for a diving suit developed for military use around World War I that was easily removed while underwater). The show includes one of Houdini's original brown leather straitjackets and a rare recording of the magician's voice, which was higher and lighter than might be expected from a man with such an intimidating stare. The exhibit displays about 100 artifacts - documents, photographs, his father's Bible, a set of see-through handcuffs - culled from private collections across the U.S. In celebration of the opening of the Jewish Museum of Maryland’s newest exhibit, Inescapable: The Life and Legacy of Harry Houdini, Baltimore-based entertainer and escape artist, Dai Andrews, recreates one of the international superstar’s greatest feats. ![]()
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