Our Lodge: Papers

Harry Houdini

Ehrich Weiss was born in Budapest, Hungary on March 24, 1874. His family name, Weisz (English Weiss), stems from the German name Weiß, meaning "white". He immigrated with his family to the United States on July 3, 1878, on the SS Fresia with his mother (who was pregnant) and his four brothers. The reasons for the family's departure remain cloudy, although anti-Semitism undoubtedly played a major role as the family was Jewish. With Hungarian friends in Appleton, Wisconsin, Ehrich's father accepted a Rabbi's position there. Unfortunately, being an Old World conservative, he was unable to adapt to more liberal American ideas, and the family relocated, first to Milwaukee, and then to New York. The family was always in need of money, so young Eric took a variety of odd jobs to help out.

By this point, many of you are probably wondering why am I talking about and who was Ehrich Weiss. Well, if I said the name, Harry Houdini, I bet most, if not all of you, will now know who I am talking about. Yes it is true, Harry Houdini's real name was Ehrich Weiss. There is a very simple explanation of how he became to be known as Houdini, and this is it: As his name was Ehrich, many of his friends called him Ehrie, which later turned into Harry. There is some speculation that Harry came from one of his magician idols, Harry Keller, but this is only speculation. At age 17, he was captivated by the memoirs of the great French magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, and it's perhaps not surprising he was drawn to what he believed to be the glamorous world of entertainment and magic where he might find fame and fortune. He was so impressed by Houdin's life that, when a stage name became necessary, he simply added an "i" to Houdin, becoming Houdini. One of his friends told him that in French, adding an "i" to Houdin would mean "like Houdin".

And now for a small summary of his illustrious career. He made his public début as a 9-year-old trapeze artist, calling himself "Ehrich, the prince of the air". Houdini and his brother Theo began a magic act playing grubby beer halls, lodge banquets, dime museums, and any other bookings they could obtain, but the early years were a struggle. At the famous Coney Island, N.Y., amusement park, for example, they worked for coins thrown into a hat, and at the 1892 Chicago World Columbia Exposition, Harry gave 20 shows daily at a sideshow for $12 a week. During his early years, working carnivals and similar venues, he gained a world of information and experience in show business.

He then met a women by the name of Wilhelminia Beatrice Rahner, or Bess and married her. After the marriage, Bess replaced Theo in the act and became her husband's principal assistant. Success was still a fleeting entity, however, and they continued working traditional areas such as sideshows, circuses, beer halls, etc., often working 10 to 20 shows daily. At one point, in Nova Scotia in 1896, with no funds left for a room, they were forced to sleep in a hallway, and Houdini even considered giving up show business.

In 1895, looking for something different from other entertainers, he thought of a challenge to local police stations on his ability to escape from their handcuffs and jail cells. By 1898-99, primarily as a result of these successful escapes, his reputation began to spread, better bookings followed, and, after years of struggle, things began looking up.

If a modest success was being achieved, it was not yet total success for Houdini. Thus, in 1900 he and Bess sailed for England where other American magicians had done well, a gesture of immense confidence since he had no English bookings. London was not initially promising for them. However, through perseverance, a bit of luck, an escape from Scotland Yard's cuffs, and a trial appearance at London's famed Alhambra Theater, he was on his way.

In time and with helpful publicity, successful engagements followed in France, Holland, Germany, and Russia. He and Bess would spend the next five years enjoying their European success. As his fame grew, he broke all existing attendance records in city after city becoming the most outstanding, sought after, and highest paid vaudeville entertainer on the Continent and British Isles. At a time when spy agencies frequently co-opted amateurs, Houdini went to London and developed a relationship with a man who would run MI-5. For the next several years, the world's most famous magician traveled to Germany and Russia and routinely reported his findings.

No less a respected individual than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a Masonic Brother, believed Houdini had the power to dematerialize himself in one place and reappear in another.

World War I put a stop to his European appearances, and, fiercely patriotic, he tried to enlist in 1917, but, at age 43, he was rejected as too old. Not to be deterred, for the next two years, he performed at American military benefits, canteens, and training camps, usually at his own expense and often working with stars such as Bro. Will Rogers, 32°, Tom Mix, and Jim Corbett. Also active in selling Liberty Bonds, he chalked up sales of $1,000,000 virtually single-handedly.

After World War I was successfully concluded, Houdini embarked on a battle of his own. He created a group of disguised field operatives to infiltrate the seamy world of fake spirit mediums. In doing so, Houdini triggered the wrath of fanatical Spiritualists, led by the esteemed British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Death threats became an everyday occurrence, but the group would pose an even greater danger to Houdini's legacy.

The years were rolling by, and Houdini realized he could not always dangle upside down high above the ground freeing himself from a strait jacket. He needed new worlds to conquer. So in 1919, he moved into movies, first in a "cliff-hanger" serial and then similar feature films. He would invariably be chained, roped, or otherwise immobilized by villains in sequences which required his imminent release to escape death and rescue the heroine from an equally perilous situation. Needless to say, he always prevailed.

A couple of items I found interesting was while in Cologne, Germany he sued a police officer, Werner Graff, who claimed he made his escapes via bribery. Houdini won the case when he opened the judge's safe (he would later say the judge had forgotten to lock it). He also copyrighted some of his acts such as "Houdini's Upside Down" for which he would sue imitators if they used his trick.

One of Houdini's most notable non-escape stage illusions was performed at New York's Hippodrome Theater when he vanished a full-grown elephant (with its trainer) from a stage, beneath which was a swimming pool.

Now for some Masonic information. Harry Houdini was initiated in St. Cecile Lodge No. 568, N.Y., July 17, 1923, Passed July 31, and Raised August 21. In 1924 he entered the Consistory. Houdini gave back to the Masonic fraternity of which he was so proud, including giving a benefit performance for the Valley of New York which filled the 4,000 seat Scottish Rite Cathedral and raised thousands of dollars. In October 1926, just weeks prior to his untimely death on that Halloween, he became a Shriner in Mecca Temple. In truth, there were two Houdinis, Harry Houdini, the performer as the world saw him, and Bro. Ehrich (Eric) Weiss, the man and Freemason, a personality obscured from view by the public persona. His success allowed him to be amazingly generous and thoughtful of retired or destitute magicians or their families, often paying their rent or otherwise extending aid. He also gave benefit performances at charity hospitals and orphanages. His generosity, while often kept in the shadows, was legion. Possibly he felt he, too, would someday be in need, possibly he was simply implementing the Masonic tenets of Brotherly Love and Charity, or perhaps it was a bit of both.

On October 22, 1926, during an engagement at the Princess Theater in Montreal, a first-year college student asked permission to test the entertainer's abdominal muscle control and strike the magician. This was often a part of his act, so Houdini, accepted the challenge and mumbled his assent, but the student struck before Houdini could tense the necessary muscles, obviously a critical requirement. Houdini ignored later stomach pains in the tradition of "the show must go on."

Arriving in Detroit the next day, he was diagnosed with acute appendicitis but again insisted on performing. Finally, with a temperature of 104, he was taken to Grace Hospital where a ruptured gangrenous appendix was removed, but peritonitis had unfortunately set in. Despite medical predictions of imminent death, his strong will to live was such that he held on almost a week. On the afternoon of October 31, 1926, Halloween Day, at the age of 52, he finally succumbed. Halloween was perhaps a symbolically magical date for his final curtain.

Last rites for Bro. Houdini were held November 4, 1926 at the Elks Clubhouse in New York with some 2000 people in attendance. Services were conducted by Rabbi Tintner who joined in the Elks "Hour of Remembrance," a tribute was delivered by Rabbi Bernard Drachman and eulogies by Loney Haskell of the Jewish Theatrical Guild and Henry Chesterfield of the National Vaudeville Artists, a Broken Wand Ceremony by the Society of American Magicians, and concluded with rites by the Mt. Zion Congregation and the Elks, and Masonic Rites by St. Cecile Lodge No. 568. Burial was then in Machpelah Cemetery, Brooklyn, a site Houdini had personally selected.

By researching this man, I found that even before he was a brother, he practiced the Masonic life which is emphasized by this quote I found which reads: A Mason is not necessarily a member of a lodge. In a broad sense, he is any person who daily tries to live the Masonic life, and to serve intelligently the needs of the Great Architect.