Harry Houdini

Here's a short "Harry Houdini Biography"

One of the greatest legends of the magic world, Harry Houdini was an extraordinary showman. He was an escape artist and performed death-defying stunts. Prior to his magician's career, Harry Houdini was a trapeze artist. Once he started performing magical acts, he progressed from simple escape routines to complex and dangerous ones. One of his stunts was being shackled with iron handcuffs and then being placed in a box which was locked, roped and weighted and then submerged into water.

At that time in the late 1800s, such magical performances were unheard of and were also extremely dangerous for the performer. However, Houdini was least concerned about the dangers posed by such acts and wanted to test his limits. He was once buried alive in a block of ice and it took him years to escape from it.

What Year Did Harry Houdini Die?

Thus, even though Houdini died in 1926, he continues to dominate the acts performed by escapologists and the world of 'dangerous magic' today. Several artists, even today, try to imitate the acts performed by Houdini. Besides giving magical performances, Houdini also starred in several Hollywood movies such as 'The Grim Game', 'Terror Island', and 'The Man from Beyond'.

It is considered that Houdini's acts of magic represented the victory of the human spirit over hardships and difficulty. Breaking the shackles, escaping from a locked box or performing dangerous stunts which could even result in death; are all considered to be a representation of breaking the bonds of poverty, suppression and domination.

The 'father of modern day magic', Houdini not only acted in movies or gave magical performances, but he was also the editor of a special newspaper section which was devoted to exposing and teaching magical tricks. This was called the 'Red Magic Section' and was printed in red ink in the New York World. It became increasingly popular amongst the people but was highly criticized by fellow magicians as they did not want their tricks to get exposed to the people.
However, through this paper, magic as an art form was able to live on. Today, these papers have become a collector's item and are one of the lesser known facets of Houdini's life.

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