50 Fun Facts About Harry Houdini

Under what name was Harry Houdini born on March 24, 1874?

The family Germanised the spelling to Weiss after emigrating, and Erik became Ehrich.

In which city was Houdini born?

He later claimed to have been born in Appleton, Wisconsin, where the family settled.

Houdini's father, Mayer Sámuel Weisz, held what position in Appleton, Wisconsin?

The family arrived in the United States in July 1878, when Ehrich was four.

As a nine-year-old, Ehrich Weiss made his public debut as what?

He billed himself 'Ehrich, the Prince of the Air'.

Houdini took his stage name from which French magician, whose autobiography he read in 1890?

He later turned on his idol, publishing 'The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin' in 1908 to brand him a fraud.

Houdini later claimed the first part of his stage name honoured which American magician he admired?

More likely it came from 'Ehri', his family nickname.

In the early 1890s Houdini performed as 'The Brothers Houdini' with which brother, nicknamed Dash?

Theodore later had his own escape career as Theodore Hardeen and kept performing the milk can escape into the 1940s.

Houdini's wife and stage assistant, married in 1894, was known as Bess. What was her full name?

She had first been courted by his brother Dash before falling for Harry.

Which vaudeville manager gave Houdini his big break in 1899, booking him on the Orpheum circuit?

They met in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the same year a pair of handcuffs had defeated Houdini in a Chicago dime museum.

On his European tour Houdini challenged police forces to lock him up and earned what nickname?

He gave a demonstration at Scotland Yard and toured the Netherlands, Germany, France and Russia.

In Moscow, Houdini claimed to escape from what, saying that failure would have meant a trip to Siberia?

He said the only key was kept in Siberia itself.

In Cologne, Houdini sued a police officer named Werner Graff for claiming what?

Houdini won the libel case by escaping in court.

Which London newspaper challenged Houdini in 1904 to escape handcuffs said to have taken five years to make?

He struggled for about an hour before a crowd of thousands; some suspect the whole thing was staged.

One theory of how Houdini beat the 1904 Mirror handcuffs holds that Bess passed him the key in what?

His manager reportedly admitted Houdini had been beaten and appealed to his wife for help.

In 1908 Houdini retired his handcuff act and introduced an escape from what?

He said imitators had forced the change; he later sued one of them, John Clempert.

Where did Houdini first perform the Chinese Water Torture Cell, on September 21, 1912?

He was lowered upside down, feet locked in stocks, into an overflowing glass-and-steel tank.

What did Houdini himself always call the Chinese Water Torture Cell?

In the escape his ankles were locked in stocks and he was lowered head first into the water.

One of Houdini's most popular publicity stunts was escaping from a straitjacket while doing what?

In New York he dangled from a crane being used to build the subway and was free in two minutes thirty-seven seconds.

Why did Houdini stop performing his straitjacket escape behind curtains?

His brother Hardeen discovered the crowd was more impressed when they could see every wriggle.

At the New York Hippodrome, Houdini's most famous stage illusion made what disappear?

He bought the trick from magician Charles Morritt; the elephant was named Jennie.

Houdini escaped from the belly of what that had washed ashore in Boston?

Other challenges included riveted boilers, mail bags, wet sheets and nailed packing crates.

Houdini is credited with the first powered aircraft flight in which country, in March 1910?

He made three flights at Diggers Rest, Victoria, one lasting three and a half minutes.

What type of aeroplane did Houdini buy for $5,000 for his aviation exploits?

He bought it from two Chilean aviators and hired a full-time mechanic, Antonio Brassac.

Houdini's first film starring role was in which 15-part 1918 serial?

It led to a two-picture deal with Paramount and, later, his own Houdini Picture Corporation.

Which two films did Houdini make for Famous Players–Lasky/Paramount in 1919 and 1920?

He then produced and starred in The Man from Beyond (1921) and Haldane of the Secret Service (1923) himself.

In the 1920s Houdini devoted much of his energy to debunking whom?

He attended séances in disguise with a reporter and a police officer in tow.

Houdini's crusade against mediums cost him his friendship with which spiritualist author?

Doyle refused to accept any of the exposés and came to believe Houdini himself had supernatural powers.

Possibly the most famous medium Houdini debunked was Mina Crandon, better known as what?

He also served on a magazine committee that offered a cash prize to any medium who could prove supernatural powers.

Which magazine's committee, offering a cash prize to any genuine medium, included Houdini?

No claimant ever collected the prize.

Houdini was president of which organisation, whose crest is inscribed on his grave?

He used the office to uphold professional standards and expose frauds.

Whom did Houdini expose in 1926 by staying sealed in a submerged casket for an hour and a half?

Bey claimed supernatural powers let him survive an hour in a sealed casket; Houdini simply used controlled breathing.

How was Houdini buried in his near-fatal first buried-alive stunt in California in 1915?

He panicked clawing his way up and had to be pulled out; he later did the stunt in a casket in a sand-filled tank.

What is Houdini believed to have died of on October 31, 1926?

He was 52; a persistent myth wrongly has him dying inside the water torture cell.

Who reportedly punched Houdini repeatedly in the abdomen in his Montreal dressing room in 1926?

Houdini was reclining on a couch with a broken ankle at the time and had no chance to brace himself.

Where did Houdini give his final performance, on October 24, 1926, with a fever of 104 degrees?

He was admitted to Grace Hospital afterwards and died there a week later.

What was used to transport Houdini's body back to New York after his death?

He is buried in Machpelah Cemetery in Queens.

What secret message did Houdini and Bess agree he would send from beyond the grave?

Bess held Halloween séances for ten years, then declared that 'ten years is long enough to wait for any man'.

For how many years after his death did Bess Houdini hold an annual Halloween séance trying to reach him?

In 1929 medium Arthur Ford claimed to relay the code, but Bess later said the episode was faked.

Houdini's will ordered that his props and effects be 'burned and destroyed' upon whose death?

Instead Hardeen sold much of the collection, including the water torture cell, to collector Sidney Radner in the 1940s.

In which city was the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame destroyed by fire in 1995?

Surviving items, including the Mirror handcuffs and a milk can, were auctioned in 1999 and 2008.

Which real-life married couple played Harry and Bess in the 1953 biopic 'Houdini'?

It was loosely adapted from Harold Kellock's 1928 semi-biographical novel.

Who played Houdini in the 2014 History channel miniseries?

Kristen Connolly played Bess.

Whose 1982 album 'The Dreaming' includes 'Houdini' and shows her with a key in her mouth?

The image alludes to the theory that Bess passed keys to her husband in a kiss.

Houdini bought a townhouse at 278 West 113th Street in 1904 in which New York neighbourhood?

He filled it with illusions, theatrical memorabilia and books on magic and psychic phenomena until his death.

Houdini's 1906 book 'The Right Way to Do Wrong' was an exposé of what?

He followed it with 'Handcuff Secrets' in 1907.

In which New York waterway did Houdini first perform his overboard box escape in 1912?

Police barred him from the piers, so he hired a tugboat; a stage version followed at Hammerstein's Roof Garden in a 5,500-gallon tank.

The 2016 series 'Houdini & Doyle' dramatised his friendship with the creator of which detective?

In real life the friendship collapsed over Doyle's belief in spiritualism.

The House of Houdini museum and performance venue sits within which historic hilltop complex?

It stands at 11 Dísz Square, in the city of his birth.

Houdini's 1908 book attacking his former idol as a liar and fraud was titled what?

It grew out of articles on the history of magic and accused the Frenchman of falsely claiming to have invented automata and other effects.

Which two films did Houdini produce and star in through his own Houdini Picture Corporation?

He also founded a film laboratory business, the Film Development Corporation, gambling on a new processing method.