At other times, he wore a straightjacket, like the kind used in mental hospitals to restrain patients. Sometimes chains would be wrapped around his body and locked.
Most of the time, his wrists would be held together by handcuffs. He soon became famous for being able to free himself from danger.
But the audience seemed to like it best when Houdini performed an escape. For a while, he worked in a traveling circus.īARBARA KLEIN: At first, Houdini performed regular magic tricks, using cards, coins, and other objects that he would make disappear. He took his act to many places in New York State. He then began learning magic tricks, and called himself Harry Houdini. Erich took Houdin’s last name, changed the pronunciation and added and “i” at the end. He was “Ehrich, the Prince of the Air.” Then he read about a famous French magician named Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. STEVE EMBER: When he was nine years old, he performed a trapeze act on a swing high above the audience. But he really wanted to be in show business. Young Ehrich worked at many different jobs to help earn money for his poor family. His family moved to the United States two years later. His father was a rabbi, a Jewish religious leader. He was born in Budapest, Hungary in eighteen seventy-four. Harry Houdini prepares to be closed in the crate and lowered into the New York Harbor.īARBARA KLEIN: Harry Houdini’s real name was Ehrich Weisz. Scientific American magazine later wrote it was “one of the most remarkable tricks ever performed.” The man who had just escaped death was named Harry Houdini. When the box was pulled to the surface, it was still nailed shut and the ropes were still wrapped around it. The man swam to the surface, his arms and legs free. But suddenly, there were bubbles in the water. The crowd was sure the man would soon be dead. STEVE EMBER: Time seemed to go by slowly. More than ninety kilograms of lead weight were put on top. The man was put into a wooden box on a tugboat near the riverbank. They were there to watch a man whose hands and legs had been locked together. A huge crowd gathered near New York City’s East River. Today we tell about Harry Houdini, the great escape artist and magician.īARBARA KLEIN: It was a hot July day in nineteen twelve. STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Or download MP3 (Right-click or option-click and save link)
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