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Erich Weiss(Houdini) is born
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Houdini's Life
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Houdini moves to America
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Houdini turns to magic
After working in a factory until he was 17, he decided to start working on being a magician full time, -
Houdini and friends create a circus
At age nine, Ehrich and some neighborhood friends establish a five-cent circus. Wearing red woolen stockings, he bills himself as "Ehrich, The Prince of the Air." -
Houdini gets his name. and a friend
Ehrich teams up with Jacob Hyman, a friend from his job at a neckwear cutting firm, in a magic act they call "The Brothers Houdini." Ehrich, known as Ehrie, starts calling himself "Harry Houdini." -
Houdini ready to give up
In 1896, ready to give up, he actually ran a newspaper ad offering to sell all of his magic and secrets for $20. There were no takers. -
Houdini see's his first straight jacket
During a visit to a psychiatrist friend in Nova Scotia in 1896, Houdini saw his first strait jacket. Rather than be shocked by it, he was inspired to create an act around escaping from it. And Houdini didn't just escape from a strait jacket- he did it hanging upside down from his ankles, suspended many feet above the ground. -
Houdini challenges the audiance
By 1898, Houdini had come up with the Challenge Act, the act that would make him a legend. As the Handcuff King, Houdini would escape from any pair of handcuffs produced by the audience. Generally, this act was well received. -
Change to the audiance challenge
By 1904, Houdini was forced to make some modifications in the act, due to repeated attempts by various police officers who tried to spoil his routine by secretly jamming the cuffs offered. -
Houdini rejected while trying to enter the war
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Houdini tried to enlist in the army, but at age 43 was rejected as being too old. Still wishing to show his patriotism, Houdini preformed many free shows for service men, -
Houdini becomes a producer
In 1919, he became a film producer/actor/stunt man, creating the Houdini Pictures Corporation and actively participating in such films as The Grim Game, Terror Island, The Master of Mystery, The Man From Beyond, and Haldane of the Secret Service. -
The term, "Houdinize" added to dictionary
Houdini was so strongly connected with the idea of escapes that in 1921, Funk and Wagnall's New Dictionary turned his name into a verb, "Houdinize", which was defined as "to release or extricate oneself from confinement, bonds or the like, as by wriggling out." -
Houdini dies
Houdini was in the middle of a U.S. tour in the fall of 1926 when he began to experience severe stomach discomfort, he refused medical treatment, and a few days later. He let someone punch him in the stomache to prove he could take punches. Then he collapsed on stage a few days later. Then on October 31, with his brother at his side, he died.