![]() The show became a massive hit within the United States. ![]() He would challenge the audience to bring their own handcuffs and he would always escape. Some of his performances housed 6,000 people. After two years he became the host highly paid actor in vaudeville, receiving around $1,500 a week. Vaudeville was a wonderful platform for magic. It only took a few months before Harry Houdini was performing at the top vaudeville houses in the country, such as Kansas City, Denver, Chicago, and San Francisco. Beck felt Houdini was a rotten showman, but was impressed by Houdini’s escape acts and booked him a spot on the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Harry Houdini had his first big break in 1899 when he met manager and producer Martin Beck in St. Though his magic drew only small success, Houdini soon drew attention for his feats of escape using handcuffs. Later, Dash was replaced by Bess in all of Houdini’s magic acts and eventually became Houdini’s stage assistant for the rest of his performing career. ![]() Though originally courted by Dash, Bess and Houdini were married in the year 1894. In 1893, while performing magic at Coney Island with his brother Dash, Houdini met a fellow performer named Wilhelmina Beatrice “Bess” Rahner. It was from this point forward the great Harry Houdini became known. ![]() It was during this time that Erich coined the name Harry Houdini after his idol, the French magician Jean Eugene-Robert Houdin.Ī good friend, Jack Hayman, told Erich that adding an “I” to Houdin would mean “like Houdin” in French. Shortly after mastering cards, he began practicing tricks of illusion. Initially, he focused on traditional card tricks, and, at one point, self proclaimed himself as the King of Cards. He traveled from town to town in sideshows, dime museums, and as The Wild Man at several freak shows. In the early years he had little success. In 1891, Erich officially began his magic career. ![]() In his spare time he lifted weights to build his physique. He became obsessed with how illusions were performed. ” Eric was first introduced to magic by the traveling circuses that passed through New York City. ![]()
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