Harry Houdini Timeline
Harry Houdini from his 1874 birth in Budapest through vaudeville, handcuffs, the Water Torture Cell and his crusade against fake mediums, to his death on Halloween 1926 and a century of séances.
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Key events
Erik Weisz is born in Budapest
Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, the son of Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weisz and Cecilia Weisz; the family later used the spelling Weiss and called him Ehrich.
Life of Harry Houdini
–Born Erik Weisz in Budapest, he became the world's most famous escape artist and a crusader against fraudulent mediums before dying in Detroit at age 52.
Childhood in Appleton, Wisconsin
–The family lived in Appleton while Mayer Weiss served the Zion Reform congregation. Sources differ on when he lost the post (1882 or 1883).
Family arrives in America on the SS Frisia
Four-year-old Erik arrived with his mother and brothers; the family adopted the German spelling Weiss and he became Ehrich.
Weiss family moves to New York City
Ehrich and his father went to New York first and the rest of the family followed; the teenager helped support them with odd jobs such as tie cutter and messenger boy.
Takes the stage name Harry Houdini
After reading the memoirs of the French conjurer Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin around 1890, he added an i to his idol's name; Harry likely came from his family nickname Ehri.
The Brothers Houdini
–Harry teamed with his brother Dash in a magic act playing dime museums, beer halls and Coney Island; sources put its start anywhere from 1891 to 1893.
Father Mayer Samuel Weiss dies
His father's death left the teenage Houdini as a main support of his mother, a responsibility he took seriously all his life.
"The Houdinis" in dime museums and sideshows
–Bess replaced Dash in the act, and the couple scraped by in dime museums, circuses and small vaudeville houses, featuring a rapid trunk-substitution illusion.
Marriage of Harry and Bess Houdini
–Houdini married Wilhelmina Beatrice "Bess" Rahner, a Brooklyn-born performer first courted by his brother, in a New York civil ceremony; she became his stage partner for the rest of his life.
The Handcuff King tours the Orpheum circuit
–Billed as the Handcuff King, Houdini escaped from police cuffs and jail cells in each town as publicity for his big-time vaudeville bookings.
Martin Beck discovers Houdini in St. Paul
Spring 1899Orpheum circuit impresario Martin Beck saw Houdini in a St. Paul beer hall, told him to focus on escapes, and booked him to open in Omaha on March 26 for sixty dollars a week.
European breakthrough tours
–Beck arranged a European tour that made Houdini an international star, with long engagements in Britain, Germany, Russia and elsewhere. Grokipedia dates this first European period 1900 to 1905, while Wikipedia has him back in the U.S. buying a house in 1904.
Scotland Yard handcuff test and Alhambra engagement
Agent Harry Day arranged for Houdini to slip handcuffs in front of Superintendent William Melville at Scotland Yard, which won him a six-month booking at London's Alhambra.
Siberian prison van escape in Moscow
On his Russian tour he escaped from a locked, steel-lined carriage used to transport prisoners to Siberia.
Daily Mirror handcuff challenge
At the London Hippodrome he escaped after more than an hour from cuffs the Daily Mirror said a Birmingham locksmith had spent years making. Many historians suspect the challenge was arranged in advance, and the maker's identity is unconfirmed.
Manacled leap from Detroit's Belle Isle Bridge
Handcuffed, Houdini jumped from the Belle Isle Bridge into the Detroit River and freed himself underwater, one of many bridge jumps he used as publicity.
Milk Can Escape debuts
Tired of handcuff imitators, he introduced an escape from a locked, water-filled milk can, billed with the warning that failure meant death by drowning. Sources give January 25 or January 27, 1908.
The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin
Houdini published a book attacking the French magician whose name he had borrowed, accusing him of taking credit for others' inventions; later historians disputed many of its claims.
First successful flight in Hamburg
Having bought a French Voisin biplane, Houdini taught himself to fly and made his first successful flight near Hamburg.
Flight at Diggers Rest, Victoria
Houdini flew his Voisin at Plumpton paddock, Diggers Rest, witnessed and certified by spectators; the Aerial League of Australia credited it as the country's first flight. Colin Defries's short, crash-ended hop in Sydney in December 1909 keeps the first claim disputed, so it is best called the first recognized controlled powered flight in Australia.
Overboard packing-case escape in the East River
Nailed and roped into a weighted crate and lowered into New York's East River, he surfaced in under a minute.
Chinese Water Torture Cell premieres in Berlin
At Circus Busch he first publicly performed his signature escape, hanging upside down by locked ankle stocks in a glass-fronted tank of water. He had staged a private one-person performance in England earlier to protect it under copyright; sources date that to 1911 or 1912.
Death of his mother, Cecilia
His mother died in Asbury Park, New Jersey, while he was touring Europe; his grief later fed his search for genuine contact with the dead.
Buried Alive stunt nearly kills him
Buried without a coffin under several feet of earth near Santa Ana, California, he clawed his way out exhausted and nearly unconscious.
Suspended straitjacket escapes
Hung upside down by his ankles from cranes and building tops above crowded streets, he wriggled out of straitjackets in a few minutes, drawing huge free crowds.
President of the Society of American Magicians
–Houdini led the SAM from 1917 until his death, re-elected for a ninth straight term in July 1926, the longest presidency in its history.
Vanishes an elephant at the Hippodrome
In the revue Cheer Up! at New York's huge Hippodrome, he made a live elephant named Jennie disappear from a cabinet on stage, using an illusion bought from Charles Morritt.
Silent film career
–Houdini starred in a serial and five features built around his escapes and stunts, then left the film business citing poor profits.
The Master Mystery serial
The first of 15 episodes of B. A. Rolfe's serial was released, with Houdini as an undercover agent battling a cartel guarded by Q the Automaton, an early screen robot. Posters are dated 1919, when most episodes ran.
The Grim Game
His first Paramount feature included footage of a real mid-air collision between two biplanes while a stunt double hung below one of them; publicity implied Houdini himself was on the rope.
Friendship with Arthur Conan Doyle begins
Houdini befriended the Sherlock Holmes author, a devout Spiritualist; their differing views on mediums later ended the friendship.
Terror Island
In this Paramount adventure directed by James Cruze, Houdini played an inventor on a South Seas treasure hunt; only part of the film survives.
Joins Scientific American's psychic prize committee
The magazine offered a $2,500 prize to any medium who could produce verified phenomena, with Houdini on the judging committee; the prize was never awarded.
The Man from Beyond
Made and released by his own Houdini Picture Corporation, the reincarnation drama ended with a rescue above Niagara Falls; Conan Doyle praised it.
Atlantic City séance with Lady Doyle
Lady Doyle produced pages of automatic writing said to come from Houdini's mother; Houdini doubted it, since the message was in fluent English and his mother spoke little. Accounts give June 17 or 18.
Haldane of the Secret Service
Houdini directed and starred in his last film, distributed by Film Booking Offices; afterward he quit making movies.
A Magician Among the Spirits
Houdini published his book-length exposé of the methods of fraudulent mediums, from slate-writing to spirit photography.
Sittings with the medium Margery
Houdini began investigating Boston medium Mina Crandon for the Scientific American committee, built a restraining box for her, and published a pamphlet exposing her methods.
Testifies to Congress against fortune-tellers
–Houdini testified in February and May 1926 for H.R. 8989, a bill to ban fortune-telling for pay in Washington, D.C., clashing with Spiritualists who packed the hearings; the bill died in committee.
Sealed-casket underwater test at the Hotel Shelton
To show that Rahman Bey's claimed trance survival needed no supernatural powers, Houdini stayed in a sealed metal casket at the bottom of a hotel pool for about 91 minutes. Grokipedia gives 1 hour 11 minutes, which most sources attach to his Worcester repeat.
Emergency surgery at Grace Hospital
Surgeons found a ruptured appendix and peritonitis; accounts date the operation to October 25 or 26, and a second operation followed on October 29.
Punched by a student in Montreal
In his dressing room at the Princess Theatre, McGill student J. Gordon Whitehead struck him several times in the abdomen before he had braced himself. Whether the blows caused or only worsened his appendicitis is disputed by doctors and historians.
Last performance at the Garrick Theatre, Detroit
Running a high fever, Houdini completed his show at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit and collapsed after the curtain fell.
Houdini dies on Halloween
Houdini died of peritonitis at 1:26 p.m. in Grace Hospital, Detroit, at age 52.
Funeral and burial at Machpelah Cemetery
More than 2,000 mourners attended his funeral at the Elks Clubhouse in New York; magicians broke a wand in his honor, and he was buried at Machpelah Cemetery in Queens. Grokipedia's SAM page dates the first Broken Wand rite to November 5.
Bess Houdini's annual Halloween séances
–For ten years Bess held séances each Halloween to see whether Harry could reach her using a secret code known only to the two of them.
Library of Congress receives his collection
Houdini bequeathed his books on magic and Spiritualism to the Library of Congress, where nearly 4,000 volumes arrived in 1927.
Arthur Ford claims the Rosabelle message
Medium Arthur Ford said he had received the couple's secret code, "Rosabelle, believe"; Bess at first endorsed it but later repudiated it, and evidence of fakery surfaced after Ford's death. Grokipedia's Bess page dates the claim to 1928, the year of Ford's earlier message from Houdini's mother.
The Final Houdini Séance
On the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood, before about 300 guests and a radio audience, Bess waited in vain for a sign and declared the vigil over: "It is finished. Good night, Harry!"
Bess Houdini dies
Bess died of a heart attack aboard a train near Needles, California; because she was Catholic, her family buried her at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York, not beside Harry.
Houdini, starring Tony Curtis
Paramount's Technicolor biopic, with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, fixed a fictional image of Houdini dying in the Water Torture Cell rather than of peritonitis in a hospital.
U.S. Postal Service issues a Houdini stamp
A 37-cent commemorative stamp based on a 1911 poster was issued in New York during the Society of American Magicians' centennial convention.
History Channel miniseries with Adrien Brody
–Adrien Brody played Houdini in a two-part miniseries directed by Uli Edel and written by Nicholas Meyer; it won three Emmys.
SAM centennial convention in Appleton
–The Society of American Magicians met in Appleton, where on July 2 more than 200 members did a simultaneous Siberian chain escape in Houdini Plaza; a record is claimed but not officially confirmed.
100-Year Séance at Houdini's Harlem home
Three small séances were scheduled at 278 West 113th Street, the first at 1:26 p.m., the minute of his death, with proceeds for cancer research and restoration of the house.
Centennial of Houdini's death
One hundred years after he died in Detroit, Houdini's death day, also National Magic Day, is marked with séances, exhibitions and tributes around the world.
Official Houdini Séance at the Magic Castle
The Official Houdini Séance was scheduled at Hollywood's Magic Castle for the centennial, after Potter & Potter's Houdini Returns centennial auction there that morning.
Wisconsin historical marker unveiled in Appleton
An official Wisconsin State Historical Marker honoring Houdini's Appleton boyhood was scheduled to be dedicated in Houdini Plaza on the morning of the centennial.
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