Harry Houdini Events

1874 Mar 24 Harry Houdini Is Born
Harry Houdini was born in Budapest, Hungary, to a Jewish family. A copy of his birth certificate was found and published in The Houdini Birth Research Committee's Report. (1972). As to hi...
1880 Weiss Family Moves to Appleton, Wisconsin
At first, the Weiss family lived in Appleton, Wisconsin, where Ehrich's father served as Rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation. In 1880, the family was living on Appleton Street. O...
1894 Houdini Meets Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner
When Houdini met Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner in 1894, she was performing as one of the Floral Sisters at the Sea Beach Palace in West Brighton Beach, New York. Married soon after they met,...
1894 Jun 22 Harry Houdini Gets Married
Legendary magician and escape artist Harry Houdini married Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner on June 22, 1894. When they met, she was performing as one of the Floral Sisters at the Sea Beach Pal...
1904 Mar 17 Houdini Performs The Mirror Handcuff Challenge
In 1904, the London Daily Mirror newspaper challenged Houdini to escape from a special handcuff that it claimed had taken Nathaniel Hart, a locksmith from Birmingham, seven years to make....
1908 Houdini Publishes 'The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin'
"Memory," wrote Dr. Morris N. Young in 1961, "is the sum of what one can remember; the diary of the mind." In the great collections that they built and gave to the Library of Congress, Ho...
1908 Jan 27 Harry Houdini Begins Performing His Milk Can Escape
In 1908, Houdini introduced his own original invention, the Milk Can escape. In this effect, Houdini would be handcuffed and sealed inside an over-sized milk can filled with water and mak...
1910 Mar 18 Houdini Achieves First Powered Flight Over Australia
In 1909, Houdini became fascinated with aviation. That same year, he purchased a French Voisin biplane for $5000 and hired a full-time mechanic, Antonio Brassac. Houdini painted his name ...
1912 Jul 7 Houdini Performs Overboard Box Escape
Another one of Houdini's most famous publicity stunts (Dalton) was to escape from a nailed and roped packing crate after it had been lowered into the water. Houdini first performed the es...
1912 Sep 21 Houdini Performs The Chinese Water Torture Cell
In 1912, the vast number of imitators prompted Houdini to replace his Milk Can act with the Chinese Water Torture Cell. In this escape, Houdini's feet would be locked in stocks, and he wo...
1913 Houdini Begins Performing Upside-Down Straitjacket Escapes
One of Houdini's most popular publicity stunts was to have himself strapped into a regulation straitjacket and suspended by his ankles from a tall building or crane. Houdini would then ma...
1917 Houdini Performs Buried Alive Escape
Throughout his career, Houdini performed three variations on a "Buried Alive" stunt/escape. The first was near Santa Ana, California in 1917, and it almost cost Houdini his life. Houdini ...
1918 Jan 7 Houdini Performs Vanishing Elephant Illusion at New York's Hippodrome Theatre
When Houdini spread the "front" curtains and opened the "back" doors they were "faced" toward opposite wings. Jennie then strolled on stage, had her sugar with Houdini by the footlights a...
1919 Harry Houdini stars in 'The Grim Game'
A gang of men frame Harvey Hanford (Houdini) for murder, and also decide to kidnap his fiancée. Hanford is quickly apprehended by the police and falsely imprisoned for the crime. Shortly ...
1920 Houdini Begins Debunking Spirits Mediums
Houdini's formal education was slight; his self education, immense. "My mind," he is often quoted as having said, "is the key that sets me free." The magician informed and developed that ...
1921 Houdini Starts Houdini Picture Corporation
Following his two-picture stint in Hollywood, Houdini returned to New York and started his own film production company called the "Houdini Picture Corporation." He produced and starred in...
1926 Oct 31 Harry Houdini Dies
Harry Houdini died of peritonitis secondary to a ruptured appendix. It has been speculated that Houdini was killed accidentally by a McGill University student, J. Gordon Whitehead, who de...
1936 Oct 31 Bess Houdini Holds 'Final Houdini Seance'
Bess Houdini, the magician's widow, held yearly séances on Halloween for ten years after Houdini's death, but Houdini never appeared. In 1936, after a last unsuccessful séance on the roof...
1939 Aug 16 New York City's Hippodrome Theater Closes
On August 16, 1939, New York City's Hippodrome Theater closed its doors for the last time. Built in 1905 with a seating capacity of 5,200, for a time the Hippodrome was the largest and mo...