His first appearance as a public entertainer was at the age of 8, when he performed on the high trapeze with a circus troupe. He aided the police of New York City in putting a number of mediums out of business and gave a course at the Police Academy here on the discovery of frauds. He wrote a book to expose “Margery,” the medium who won the award of the Scientific American, charging that the committee which made the award did not take proper precautions. He kept an untiring attack on spiritualist. He never was called upon to pay the reward.
#Harry houdini professional
He exposed hundreds of professional mediums and offered $10,000 to any medium who could produce phenomena which he could not reproduce by relying solely upon his muscular strength and agility, his physical endurance and his knowledge of mechanics. He held that the phenomena produced by professed mediums of various kinds, hypnotics, mesmerists and fakirs all were spurious. Houdini came before the American public as an exposer of frauds perpetrated by so-called spirit mediums. (AP)-Harry Houdini, the world-famous magician who died in Detroit today, was born in Budapest, Hungary, March 24, 1874, son of Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss. His book, “A Magician Among the Spirits,” created a furor among professional spiritualists by its assertions that the practice was “bunk.” He wrote numerous treatises intended to expose spiritualism as a fraud. Houdini counted among his audiences the royalty of Europe and Asia. It was during his journey through Asia that he became interested in mysticism and shifted his role to that of magician. Beginning his stage career as a trapeze performer, he toured the world. His theatrical name was early acquired through legal procedure.Īs one of the outstanding personages of the American stage, his popularity lasted for a quarter-century. Houdini was born in Hungary in 1874, the son of Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss. Houdini was operated on last Monday for appendicitis.Īlthough it was known the magician was ill when he arrived here eight days ago, the seriousness of his condition was not learned until he collapsed at the end of his opening performance. The noted escape artist, whose adeptness at freeing himself from straitjackets, chains and cells mystified audiences in all parts of the world, died after a second surgical attempt had been made to save his life from the effects of peritonitis.