It looked more like a box kite than a modern airplane and with good reason.

Houdini’s airplane was a Voisin, named after its French designer/builder. He offered to buy the plane and pay the pilot to teach him to fly.

Later in 1909 Houdini went to an air show in Berlin and approached the winner of one of the races. He asked Orville and Wilbur Wright and Glenn Curtiss to sell him a plane but they wouldn’t. Some may not be aware that another of the passions of Houdini’s life was aviation. He made a name for himself escaping from handcuffs, securely chained boxes thrown into rivers, straight jackets (while suspended by his ankles), and any number of other incredible situations. As the “King of Handcuffs” gained fame, he and his brother, then known as Hardeen, continued to work on illusions, maintaining the belief that the pair were vicious rivals to keep the interest in both of their acts.Īs Hardeen once stated, “We made no secret of the fact that we were brothers… but we did keep secret not only the fact that we were good friends but that Harry had set me up in business!” (Ripley’s) (Pacific Coast Air Museum)įerenc Dezső Weisz, Houdini’s younger brother, had performed with his sibling earlier in his career. He married Wilhelmina Beatrice “Bess” Rahner in 1894, and she became his constant companion, ardent supporter and talented co-star in many of his acts. “Harry,” on the other hand, was merely a pleasantly American twist on “Ehrie,” his boyhood nickname. The name pays homage to Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, the French performer widely considered the father of modern magic.Īdding the “i” followed tradition as well, as this was a common way that magicians invoked the name of the famous 18th century Italian conjurer Pinetti. In 1894, Ehrich decided to start his career as a magician and changed his name to Harry Houdini. Weiss worked hard to build up his physical stamina. He won several competitive medals as a member of the Pastime Athletic Club track team in New York. When he was 13, Weisz moved with his father to New York City, taking on odd jobs and living in a boarding house before the rest of the family joined them.

He called himself Ehrich the Prince of Air when he was nine years old. When he was only five or six years old he started doing card tricks and in his teens was performing magic for money. His name was altered to Ehrich Weiss after his family emigrated from Hungary to Wisconsin when he was 4 years old. His family soon emigrated to the United States. Erik Weisz was born on Main Budapest, Hungary.

The handcuff king