Houdini was making a name for himself as a very successful vaudeville performer, and with this fame came the ability for people to recognize him outside of the theater. Regardless of all the safety precautions taken to ensure Houdini would fail, he was out of the jail cell in just shy of seven minutes.īut this successful stint at the city jail is far from the end of the story for Houdini and his Kansas City adventures.
Courtesy Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Libraryįor extra safety measures, the police used brand new locks that took two separate keys to unlock them. They sealed his mouth shut and placed him inside a jail cell in downtown Kansas City.Ī postcard of the Hotel Savoy. In front of 20 men, including officers, detectives and the media, Houdini was “stripped to the skin” and put in leg shackles and four pairs of handcuffs while in a crouched position. In April 1900, Houdini was making Kansas City headlines when he amazed police on their own turf. Houdini is fooled by a traveling salesman at the Savoy
#Harry houdini family pictures free
One minute and 45 seconds later, Houdini emerged free as a bird. The two Pinkerton detectives stayed close to Houdini on stage when he was locked inside a cabinet. He sealed the keyholes with postage stamps and marked the stamps with a pencil.
Captain Mahady locked him in a pair of double-locked handcuffs. In April 1899, Houdini invited two Kansas City-based Pinkerton detectives to join him on stage at the Orpheum Theater. Houdini began performing in Kansas City before the turn of the century as a part of this circuit. Kansas City was chosen as the third city for such a theatre on what became the Orpheum Circuit. The Orpheum idea was born in the 1890’s when vaudeville houses on the west coast could see the importance of extending their operations – especially along the railroad hubs. Kansas City’s Orpheum Theater a home for Houdini He was known in newspaper ads and posters as “the man of the shackles” or “king of handcuffs.” He married Bess Rahner, a fellow performer in 1894. Traveling through the vaudeville circuit by the age of 17, Houdini began to make a name for himself in the art of escaping handcuffs and jail cells. In order to Americanize his name further, he went for the first name of Harry. His idol in the art of illusion was Frenchmen Robert Houdin, so he thought that paying homage to him and adding an “i” was the perfect show name. One of the first things he did was change his stage name in order to rebrand himself. Initially young Ehrich studied magic with his brother Theo and started performing in vaudeville shows without much success. He was able to find his way back to his family who was then residing in New York City where he began his study of magic. Instead, young Ehrich ended up at Union Depot in Kansas City instead. Little is known about this episode of his life, but he thought he was boarding a train to Texas. His first stage debut was at nine years old when he performed in a trapeze act where he went under the stage name “Ehrich, Prince of the Air.” His true talent was in his relentless study of what showmen, specifically in the circus arena, did in order to be successful.Īt the age of 12, young Ehrich had his first run-in with Kansas City when he ran away from home with his shoeshine kit. Young Ehrich shined shoes to help his family financially. In 1876, the family immigrated to Appleton, Wisconsin and changed their surname to the German spelling “Weiss.” After his father lost his job, the family moved to Milwaukee and fell into severe poverty. Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard Universityīorn in Budapest, Hungary in 1874, Ehrich Weisz was the son of a rabbi who decided that his family could have a better life in the United States.
0 kommentar(er)
