It is common knowledge that one of the world's greatest magicians gave himself the stage name of Houdini. He was born as Erik Weisz in Budapest in 1874. He emigrated to the United States of America with his mother and four brothers in 1878. The family changed the spelling of their surname to the German "Weiss" and, in turn, Erik became "Ehrich." In turn that was shortened to "Ehrie" and anglicized to "Harry." According to his boyhood friend, Joseph F Rinn, in his book Sixty Years of Psychical Research, Weiss started his magic career some time in 1889. A couple of years later, in early 1891,...

Purchase one of 1st World Librarys Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - All wonder, said Samuel Johnson, is the effect of novelty on ignorance. Yet we are so created that without something to wonder at we should find life scarcely worth living. That fact does not make igno- rance bliss, or make it folly to be wise. For the wisest man never gets beyond the reach of novelty, nor can ever make it his boast that there is nothing he is ignorant of; on the contrary, the wiser he becomes the more clearly...

Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz, later Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss; March 24, 1874 - October 31, 1926) was an American illusionist and stunt performer, noted for his sensational escape acts. He first attracted notice in vaudeville in the US and then as "Harry Handcuff Houdini" on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can. In 1904, thousands watched as he tried to escape from special...

Harry Houdini was a Hungarian escape artist and magician. He had an intense interest in investigating spirituality. He was also an actor, film producer, and amateur aviator. In this volume Houdini discusses, fire-eaters, sword swallowers, poison eaters, human ostriches, and many other unusual phenomena. This is a great book for any amateur magician or anyone with a curiosity about how these illusions were accomplished.