Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was the stage name of Ehrich Weiss (born Weisz Erik in the native Hungarian), one of the most famous magicians, escapologists, and stunt performers of all time as well as an investigator of spiritualists.

Legacy

Houdini left a final sting for his spiritualist opponents: shortly before his death, he had made a pact with his wife, Bess Houdini, to contact her from the other side if possible and deliver a pre-arranged coded message. Every Halloween for the next 10 years, Bess held a séance to test the pact. In 1936, after a last unsuccessful seance on the roof of the Knickerbocker hotel, she put out the candle that she had kept burning beside a photograph of Houdini since his death, later (1943) saying "ten years is long enough to wait for any man."

Related Topics:
Halloween - 1936 - Knickerbocker hotel - 1943

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp with a replica of Houdini's favorite publicity poster on July 3, 2002.

Related Topics:
United States Postal Service - Postage stamp - July 3 - 2002

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Harry Houdini has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7001 Hollywood Blvd. He starred in 5 silent films and wrote some of them.

Related Topics:
Hollywood Walk of Fame - Silent films

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A mostly fictionalized version of Houdini's life was made in a film in 1953 starring Tony Curtis. Most of the misconceptions about Houdini's life are due in part to this film. For example, it portrayed him dying from the Chinese Water Torture Cell, instead of the less spectacular peritonitis.

Related Topics:
Film - 1953 - Tony Curtis - Chinese Water Torture - Peritonitis

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

British singer Kate Bush recorded a song about Houdini's wife visiting mediums to see if his soul had survived which was included on her 1982 album The Dreaming, the cover of which showed Bush as Mrs Houdini, passing a small key to her husband via a kiss.

Related Topics:
Kate Bush - 1982 - The Dreaming

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Experiment 604 in ' was named Houdini, in his honour.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Harry Houdini also appeared in the popular Image Comics title Spawn. In the two issue story-arc, (Seen in issues #19-#20) Houdini reveals to Spawn that he is actually a dimension-traveling hyper mage, ten times more powerful than his early 20th century stage act let on. Both Spawn and Houdini worked together to protect New York from extortion at the hands of physicists from the former Soviet Union who possessed a nuclear bomb. The disaster averted, Houdini again resumed his dimensional travels.

Related Topics:
Image Comics - Spawn - Soviet Union - Nuclear bomb

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Controversy surrounds the decision by the Outagamie Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin to reveal the details of how Houdini performed his Metamorphosis trick.

Related Topics:
Appleton - Wisconsin - Metamorphosis trick

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On November 2, 2004, Houdini's only niece (Marie H. Blood) passed away.

Related Topics:
November 2 - 2004 - Marie H. Blood

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ironically, Houdini is often called upon in seances by "psychics", and other charlatans he sought to debunk.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~