Harry Houdini Essay

Not Many are familiar with the name, Ehrich Weisz, but as soon as the name Harry Houdini or the Great Houdini are spoken, we automatically think of a genuine magician. But what really made him popular was his effort to improve magic tricks, and the persuasion of doing something no one has done before. Harry Houdini’s birth name was Ehrich Weisz. He was interested in magic from a young age, and has been dedicated to it ever since then. “On October 28, 1883...Ehrich made his first performance on stage,”(“The Great Harry Houdini”). Shockingly enough, at this time he was only 9 years old (“The Great Harry Houdini”). Ehrich Weisz’s interest first came to him when he had seen a Jack Hoeffler Five-Cent Circus, and since then, his love for magic had begun to grow. At the Circus, Weisz had met The Great Merlin, the head of the circus, and was shown the secret of some of his magic tricks (Williams 6-7). As Ehrich watched the disappearing coin trick, and soon realized that magic was not about making things disappear, but rather to create the illusion that the things are gone (9). As the

“His notable escape performances included the Handcuff Challenge, milk can escape, Chinese water torture cell, suspended straitjacket escape, and buried-alive escape” (421). These were the tricks that caught most people around the world. These tricks were so dangerous that all the people wanted to come and see his spectacular acts. “When Houdini returned to America he found that his fame in Europe had been widely told at home and he was soon selling out theaters all over the country,”(“The Great Harry Houdini”). He continued to surprise everyone in the audience, and because of this, “Houdini refined techniques he had already mastered and continually developed new and more daring escapes,” (“The Great Harry Houdini”) in order to keep the audience attentive during his