biography
| name: |
Houdini, Harry
|
| |
originally Ehrich Weiss
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pronunciation:
[hoodeenee]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1874–1926)
|
| biography:
| Magician and escape artist, born in Budapest, Hungary. His family emigrated to the USA while he was still a child, where he became a trapeze performer, then gained an international reputation as an escape artist. He took his name from Jean Eugène Robert Houdin, a great French magician of the 19th-c. He could escape from any kind of bonds or container, from prison cells to padlocked underwater boxes. His most sensational feat consisted of escaping from an airtight tank that was filled with water. A vigorous campaigner against fraudulent mediums, he became president of the Society of American Magicians. He was also a pilot and made the first successful powered flight in Australia in his own biplane (18 Mar 1910). |
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