Jack Price then recalled the following as was recorded in Ruth Brandon’s book, The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini: After some talk about Houdini’s physical strength, Whitehead asked if it was true that he could withstand even the mightiest punch to the stomach. While Smilovitch sketched Houdini, Whitehead chatted with the magician. They were later joined by a freshman student named Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead. On the appointed day at 11 a.m., Smilovitch came to visit Harry Houdini with a friend, Jack Price. Houdini was so impressed with the drawing that he invited Smilovitch to come to the Princess Theater on Friday, October 22 to do a proper portrait. “Smiley” Smilovitch, who made a sketch of the famous magician. Wikimedia Commons Harry Houdini prepares to escape from handcuffs - and a box thrown overboard a ship - in 1912.Īfter the lecture, he schmoozed with students and faculty, among them Samuel J. His most famous escape was the “Chinese Water Torture Cell” in which an upside-down, suspended Houdini is lowered into then locked into a tank of water. Houdini became known as the “handcuff king” and marveled audiences worldwide with the ability to escape from almost anything. He changed his name to Harry Houdini in honor of the famous French magician, Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. Weisz started his career with stunts early, performing trapeze at age nine before beginning a Vaudeville career in magic in 1891. Harry Houdini was born on March 24, 1874, as Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary, and immigrated to the United States in 1878.

It seemed that death could never claim the famous magician, but Harry Houdini’s death did come on Halloween of 1926 - leaving behind mystery and speculation that has fascinated people ever since. From swallowing needles a score at a time to pulling himself out of a whale carcass, to his famous “Chinese Water Torture Cell” escapes, Houdini dazzled millions with his stunts. Harry Houdini defied the impossible throughout a mystifying career that still makes him a household name today. Legend has it that Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926 after an overeager fan punched him in the gut and caused his appendix to rupture - but the two events may not have been linked.

Harry houdini water tank escape