Biography: Houdini: The Great Escape

Harry Houdini was one of the most extraordinary entertainers of his day, and is still our reigning image of a magician. Born Erich Weiss, the son of a Rabbi from Hungary, Houdini escaped from anything and everything that could restrain him: packing crates, straightjackets, mailbags, milk cans, ropes and chains. It was this sense that nothing could hold him that caused him to root so firmly in our collective unconscious. Calling himself a "self-liberator", not an escape artist, Houdini's escapes spoke for a generation of the Old World for the coveted freedoms of the New. He is also remembered for attempting to break the greatest bond of all, the bond of death, by telling the world that if it was possible to come back from the dead, he would be the one to do it. We've yet to see him, but we're still waiting. This Biography will contain footage of Houdini doing many of his escapes, such as the straightjacket and packing crate escapes, as well as rare footage of him frolicking with his mentor Harry Kellar, flying an airplane in Australia, and doing card tricks.

Web Video | November 1, 2006

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