Harry Houdini for Kids: His Life and Adventures with 21 Magic Tricks and Illusions
ple immigrants continued arriving and the country was in turmoil as labor unions expanded and pressed for a better quality of life Parades protests and riots were common Crowds gathered in the streets for a variety of reasons and for Houdini entertaining the mob grew naturally out of the circumstances He would do a stunt as thousands gathered in the street below watching for hours something the public happily engaged in before moving pictures and other forms of entertainment were invented People were also eager to visit inexpensive circus sideshows and cheap amusements which allowed people like Hou dini to make a living from their unusual or quirky tal ents As a kid Harry Houdini began with card tricks and simple magic acts Gradually he developed his talents as an escape artist which became his signa ture act He dared anyone to come up with some thing he couldn't escape Working against ropes handcuffs or whatever contraption at hand he always wriggled loose somehow People loved it A lone individual against powerful forces emerging free through his own wits and strength was very popular His career really grew in Europe where he worked for five years The people loved him espe cially in Russia and Germany which were countries with stiff police control over the citizenry People thrilled to see an ordinary fellow escape handcuffs and restraints Houdini returned to the United
States where he marketed himself and his stunts to a wide audience ING Houdini created his acts and stunts carefully in some cases preparing and practicing them for years before ever performing them publicly He took pride in figuring out how to fool people knowing they wanted to be fooled as part of the fun But because he did such seemingly impossible stunts such as escaping several sets of handcuffs and ropes after jumping off a bridge into a flowing river some people claimed he had supernatural powers For a time many believed he could disintegrate and take other
physical forms He hated that ſhe didn't want people to think his talent was due to a spirit he wanted them to respect his cleverness at creating and per fecting the trick or illusion That made him begin debunking those who claimed to have supernatural powers such as Spiritu alists and mediums He also revealed the secrets of those who used tricks to do wrong such as criminals He even exposed some of his competitors who tried to make a living copying his act By working hard to expose and explain the history of magic he was turn ing it into a respectable profession He knew magi cians had influenced and entertained people for thousands of years and he wanted to chronicle magi cians of the past to gain prestige for magicians in the present He created a magicians guild the Society of American Magicians SAM becoming its first presi dent He wanted to be remembered as a solidly pro fessional magician Houdini was unique Although his education was sparse since he had been forced to go to work as a child his greatest joy was his book collection num bering thousands of volumes and he even wrote several books himself Like many other children at the time he turned to the public library for an educa tion reading everything he could find that would help him achieve his goals His life shows how creativity perseverance and resilience can overcome setbacks and lack of opportu
nity Houdini was an immigrant street kid who became such a popular success that his name entered the dictionary during his lifetime and his life was later celebrated with a U S postage stamp Today decades after his death and a century after he became popular Houdini remains
