In 1912 Harry Houdini was lowered into New York's East River in a crate wrapped in chains. The crowd of spectators gasped; reporters pulled out their stop watches. Houdini was out in less than a minute. The resulting media blitz established him forever as the world's greatest escape artist. On stage, Houdini subjected himself to the Water Torture Cell, being buried alive, and other perils of his own design. Throughout his rise from Hungarian immigrant to international star, Houdini confronted our greatest fears entrapment, pain, death -- and emerged victorious. Produced by Nancy Porter. Mandy Patinkin narrates.
Time and again, Houdini's escapes from seemingly impossible predicaments thrilled audiences, who found in him a metaphor for their own lives, an affirmation of the human capacity to overcome adversity.
The following posters, advertising Houdini's performances and various tricks, have been collected by magicians, friends, and fans of Houdini. Each colorful ad displays a different stage of his career, from the early days of performing in the circus to his spiritualism exposés.
Accused of perpetrating fraud on the German public with his act, Houdini responded by suing his accusers. In the slander trial which followed, he staged one of the great escapes of his career.
In 1899, Harry Houdini was ready to retire as an entertainer. Acrobat, illusionist, hypnotist, and puppeteer -- Houdini had tried all of these and more, and nothing had worked. Then he met Martin Beck.
Jack London and Harry Houdini quickly became friends when they met in 1915. But on that day, they would have been shocked to know what their future held: London would soon be dead, and not long after Houdini would carry on an affair with his widow.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is universally associated with Sherlock Holmes. People are surprised, then, to find out that the real Conan Doyle had a fervent belief in Spiritualism that dominated the final dozen years of his life.
The name "Harry Houdini" pays homage to Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, the French performer widely considered the father of modern magic. But Houdini’s relationship with his famous predecessor was not as simple as their shared name suggests.
Although Houdini his name from the great Robert-Houdin, his true professional father was Harry Kellar, one of the great American magicians of all time.
Houdini was drawn into the great debate over Spiritualism. Houdini’s longest and most publicized confrontation with a spirit medium began in 1924, when he took on a woman named Mina Crandon, known publicly as "Margery."
With a heady assortment of entertainment choices at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, many probably missed nineteen-year-old Ehrich Weiss, a.k.a. Harry Houdini, who had just embarked on his quest for fame.
Sister Aimee tells the dramatic life story Aimee Semple McPherson, the controversial, charismatic, wildly popular evangelist who was instrumental in bringing conservative Protestantism into mainstream culture and American politics.
April, 1975. During the chaotic final days of the American involvement in the Vietnam War, those in control faced an impossible decision—who would go and who would be left behind to face brutality, imprisonment, or even death.
Frederic Thompson, Elmer "Skip" Dundy, Samuel Gumpertz, John Y. McKane, George Tilyou and Dick Zigun are spotlighted in the legendary tale of Coney Island.
