Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss.

• Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss.

American Self-Liberator, Europe's Eclipsing Sensation, World's Handcuff Kling & Prison Breaker - Nothing on Earth Can Hold Houdini a Prisoner!!!/ ca. 17 x 24 cm, 461 S., HarperCollins, 1996, gebunden George Bernard Shaw ranked him with Jesus Christ and Sherlock Holmes as oner of the three most famous figures in history. James Joyce punned him into Finnegans Wake as "escapemaster-in-chief from all sorts of houdingplaces". And nearly three-quarters of a century after his death, Houdini remains synonymous with Magic, a miracle worker of near-mythological stature, accounts of his life and exploits repeated in the press and on television every Halloween. Until now there has not been an adequate biography og Houdini. Kenneth Silverman, author of prizewinning biographies of Cotton Mather and Edgar A. Poe, ahs 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 emigré 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 recreates 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... Enhanced by more than 100 photographs of Houdini and his escapes, many never before or rarely published, Houdini!!! is a penetrating study of a legendary performer.