Houdini!!!: The Career of Ehrich Weiss

by Kenneth Silverman

Until now there has not been an adequate biography of Houdini. Kenneth Silverman, author of prizewinning biographies of Cotton Mather and Edgar A. Poe, has drawn on fresh information to produce a fascinating and rich account of Houdini's life. Silverman tells the story of Houdini's origins as Ehrich Weiss, one of four sons of Rabbi Mayer Weiss, an emigre from Hungary to America; his theatrical debut in dime museums and burlesque shows during the 1890s; and his rapid rise to stardom that culminated in twenty-five years of worldwide fame. Silverman also describes Houdini's tangled family life, his war against Spiritualism, and his encounters with such celebrities as Sarah Bernhardt, Jack London, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Most of all, he re-creates the illusions and escapes that Houdini performed throughout Europe, the United States, Russia, and Australia - amazements that made Houdini the highest-paid variety artist of his time. Drawing on scrapbooks and diaries that no other biographe