Harry Houdini, 1874-1926: The Great Escape Artist

18 December 2010

Legendary escape artist Harry Houdini is shown in chains in this photo circa 1899.

BARBARA KLEIN: I’m Barbara Klein.

STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today we tell about Harry Houdini, the great escape artist and magician.

BARBARA KLEIN: It was a hot July day in nineteen twelve. A huge crowd gathered near New York City’s East River. They were there to watch a man whose hands and legs had been locked together. The man was put into a wooden box on a tugboat near the riverbank. The box was nailed shut. Ropes were wrapped around the box. More than ninety kilograms of lead weight were put on top. The box was then lowered into the water.

STEVE EMBER: Time seemed to go by slowly. The crowd was sure the man would soon be dead. But suddenly, there were bubbles in the water. The man swam to the surface, his arms and legs free. When the box was pulled to the surface, it was still nailed shut and the ropes were still wrapped around it. Scientific American magazine later wrote it was “one of the most remarkable tricks ever performed.” The man who had just escaped death was named Harry Houdini.

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Harry Houdini prepares to be closed in the crate and lowered into the New York Harbor.

BARBARA KLEIN: Harry Houdini’s real name was Ehrich Weisz. He was born in Budapest, Hungary in eighteen seventy-four. His father was a rabbi, a Jewish religious leader. His family moved to the United States two years later. Young Ehrich worked at many different jobs to help earn money for his poor family. But he really wanted to be in show business.