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DK Biography: Harry Houdini

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This DK Biography of Harry Houdini is described as "A photographic story of a life," but I can tell you up front that it is not a collection of photographs with captions but an illustrated biography that is comparable to other volumes put out by this company. That means you will find over 100 photographs, artwork and artifacts, including photograph of his famous escapes, posters from throughout his career, and a look at things like his collection of handcuffs. For somebody like me who knows most of what they know about Houdini from the movie with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh (and whatever television documentaries I might stumble across from time to time), this book is quite educational. Vicki Cobb tells about the life of Harry Houdini so it reads like an American success story. Born Ehrich Weiss, the kid who will become Harry Houdini leaves home at the age of 12, gets bored working in a factory, and starts practicing coin trips in his spare time. Eventually the son of poor immigrants would be selling out the theaters of Europe as the greatest magician and escape artist in the world.

To set the stage for Houdini's life, Cobb begins with a prologue, "Failure Means a Drowning Death," that talks about his performance in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 27, 1908. Having escaped from the local police station the day before, Houdini performs his "Death-Defying Mystery: Escape from a galvanized iron can filled with water and secured by massive locks." By the time you get to the part where you wonder how he did it, Cobb has you interested in how Houdini became the greatest magician of all time. Then we get to the fact of his life, with the early chapter devoted to how the Weiss family came to America, what Show Business was like in the 1890s when Weiss got started, and how the young Houdini learned his trade as a magician and taking his name from Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, his hero.

Cobb pays attention to how Houdini developed his career and you should pay attention to all of the posters that document his career: they start off with lots of text and hyperbole, but by the time he becomes famous as the "master mystifier" basically he just needed "HOUDINI" in large print. So Houdini goes from "Dime Museum Harry," to "The King of Handcuffs" and then the "Self-Liberator" who conquered Europe at the end of the century. Cobb highlights a quotation from Houdini: "The whole secret is getting the first hand free; after that it is all plain sailing." The glory days of Houdini cover him as a great self-promoter, but also pay attention to his family and his work as a scholar and author in the field of magic.

The final chapters looked at how Houdini started taking risks to come up with bigger thrills for his audiences by doing dangerous things like jumping into rivers and flying an airplane. This goes hand in hand with his great creativity (we get to the Water Torture Cell from the end of the movie "Houdini" at this point). The last stage of Houdini's career deals with not only his death defying feats, but also his debunking of mediums ("The Dead Don't Talk"), which became part of his legacy when he died on Halloween in 1926 from a ruptured appendix. Houdini had told his wife that if it were possible to speak to her from beyond the grave, he would do so, and for ten years his widow Bess attended seances on Halloween to hear the code they had agreed on as proof she was hearing from him. But it never came.

If you want to know how Houdini did it, then you will be happy to know several of his best-known tricks are explained (but not all of them) in this informative biography. Cobb emphasizes Houdini's showmanship as well as his creativity in being important to the act so young readers can better appreciate the career of somebody they will never see perform. The back of the book has a two-page timeline of key events in Houdini's life, a Bibliography of more than a dozen books, a Works Cited list, and six Webs ties that will provide more information about Houdini as well as a trio of documentaries about the master mystifier (he felt he was more than a magician and therefore favored this appellation).

I bought this book for my son's book report. He loved it. He liked learning about Harry Houdini and his tricks. He even gave it my younger son so they could talk about the neat things he could do.

Harry Houdini was born on March 24, 1874 in Budapest Hungary to Samuel and his second wife Cecilia. Samuel was a rabbi who immigrated to America. Harry and his many brothers were raised in Appleton, Wisconsin where his father served for a short time as the rabbi of a Hebrew congregation. The family was poor but the children were loved and bright. One of Harry's brothers Leo became a doctor while another brother became a magician who learned tricks from Harry. Houdini's real name was Ehrich Weiss. The budding young magician changed his name to honor his memory of the great French magician Houdon.
Harry had little schooling but enjoyed study and learning all he could about becoming a magician. Houdini soon hit the dime theatre and vaudeville circuits. He met his wife Bess, who was a Roman Catholic, at Coney Island. Bess was a great wife who assisted Harry in his stage act. The couple were childless.
Houdini was a self promoter who always contacted the local press and police to witness his legendary escapes. He was often placed nude in a jail cell to emerge as a free minutes after he had been handcuffed and locked up! Houdin was an expert on locks, handcuffs and keys to enable him to escape. He traveled and lived in Europe starring in big shows in London, Paris, Rome and even in Russia.
Houdini was a good friend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Their friendship was frayed when Houdini exposed charlatans conducting seances approved of by the creator of the Sherlock Holmes tales. Houdini demanded honesty in his professional deals never smoking or drinking. Though short he was a superbly muscled athlete.
Houdini starred in a few Hollywood films and continued to perform throughout most of his life. He died in 1926 due to a ruptured appendix. Houdini had a vast collection of magic books and knew thousands of tricks of his mysterious trade.
Vicki Cobb has written a fine book for young adults and teens as part of the DK Biography series. The book is lavishly illustrated with a text which might be enjoyed by both young and old readers. Recommended!

The book offers a useful visual timeline, but not much more. The facts are sketchy and the images are small, since the book is pocket sized. A good introduction to Houdini, but certainly not exhaustive.

Harry Houdini was an amazing man. He did many tricks no one would dare to do. He would risk his life for the entertainment of others. In his lifetime, he performed many memorable magic tricks. He buried himself alive and survived. He dunked his whole body head first into a huge tank and survived. He asked the police to hand cuff him and without a key was able to remove the hand cuffs. He was able to escape from straight jackets. He earned the name, "The Great Houdini." He was afraid that he would not be remembered after his death.

One day after Harry's show at a university, a student came in and asked Harry if his stomach was as strong as he said it was. Harry, not paying attention, mumbled something. The student then gave 10 blows to Harry's stomach. Harry fainted. His appendix had ruptured. He was sent to the hospital. Ten days later he died of an infected appendix. He was only 52 years old.

Today, he still inspires many magicians, such as David Blaine. His message to everyone is that if you keep on trying and doing your personal best you will be rewarded at the end.