The late American magician Harry Houdini was famous in the world 100 years ago. He is still synonymous with escape performance and is known as "the father of modern magic".

Harry Houdini, a celebrity in American magic. However, his most brilliant career is all he has done as a science fighter against pseudoscience and cults. Today, all kinds of crooked ways in the world still dare not challenge him, and his name seems to be immortal with all kinds of legends.

Harry Houdini, the name reminds less and less people who patronize the theater today of the past, of standing outside the theater and watching him hanging upside down like a sausage. For an old man, he is a figure handed down from generation to generation in the history of drama, which once lit up the era in which he lived. For the younger generation, he is just a legendary name, which comes from a best-selling book-Ragtime Melody.

In an era when all kinds of heroes are shining in America, it is difficult to fully estimate Houdini's influence geometry. People who can't help but care about magic must know his name. Bernard Shaw once said that as one of the three most famous figures in world history-real or fictional-Houdini enjoys the same reputation as Jesus Christ and Sherlock Holmes.

There are as many stories as there are people in Harry Houdini. His magic program reads like a novel: take off handcuffs, take off ropes, hide elephants, walk through walls, escape from milk cans, escape from Chinese-style water dungeons, escape from cans thrown into rivers and so on. Houdini is a great egoist, a genius who does not tolerate any opposition, a brave adventurer, a writer, a collector, a super circus owner, an uninhibited person with a large amount of energy, an intriguing person, a performer with strong ambitions to get ahead, a person dedicated to his family, a speech artist and a person who dares to meet any challenge. His reputation is far-reaching, not limited to the stage, but he spent a quarter of a century on the stage, entertaining people with the image of "miracle creator".

In this sense, he is versatile and extremely clever. He is a runaway artist, this is the art he founded, and he has reached an unparalleled realm here. But first, he is a circus owner. He creates real magic in public. His frequent attacks on the American spirit made him a legend. Fifty years after his death, his deeds still become the focus of newspapers all over the world in an unknown form, which continues to this day.

As a master of creating magic, he is worshipped by people. But he is too short, and his vanity makes him have to wear high heels. He is less than 1.7 meters tall, with a huge head and short legs and small feet. On the stage, he looks like a real boxer. What impresses people in life is his military uniform. One observer once regarded him as "an enlarged bust of Roman defense lawyers and generals". His appearance is average; His bulging eyes seem to penetrate you; His unkempt hair is almost a spring, like a tightly wound felt mat, which is quite paul newman's temperament; His accent on the stage is so delicate that almost every syllable is spit out. Some people will associate his voice with the salesman who solicits business, while others will find that he has a slight German accent. His behavior is rough and almost weird, without the elegance of other magicians. Moreover, he always uses the usual "magic will never end?" To end a magic show

In order to work miracles successfully, Harry Houdini's work is more difficult than anyone imagined, and it takes him longer than people imagined. At this time, we are trying to capture and describe this complex role on paper. It is as difficult to catch him as to catch him with a rope. In fact, only he knows what is true and what is fiction. Now that he has left us, the people who had close contact with him have also left us, leaving us only romantic facts and romantic stories. In order to distill these stories into a true story about Houdini, instead of the legendary Houdini, we are determined to explore its true colors in all possible places, no matter what it may be, or even "how to make the story read more perfectly". In what way to examine and re-examine Houdini, the possibilities are infinite. After all, we have modern sociology and psychology to learn from.

Be good at breaking free from shackles

Houdini was born in a poor Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary on March 24th, 874. His real name is Eric Weiss. When he was young, he moved to America with his family. As a magician, he first made his mark in the United States, and later won a high reputation in Europe, especially in the escape performance, which is still talked about by many people.

1902 In an escape performance in Blackburn, England, Houdini was locked by two locks and could not get away, but he refused to give up. After two hours, he finally managed to escape. The next day, Houdini's arm was swollen and blue, and a big piece of meat was missing. It turned out that Houdini had to "slim down" because he was locked up too tightly.

"We know that Houdini is a hero and he can escape anything. Of course, this is a legend, "said biographer sloman. This book tells in detail how Houdini used his acting career as a cover to collect intelligence for the British police in the United States, Europe, and even around the world, and to help American intelligence agencies hunt down counterfeiters.

Expose spiritualism and get into trouble

Carus and sloman believed that Houdini's death was related to his debunking spiritualism.

1926 10, Houdini, who was terminally ill, was beaten twice, one of which was in the locker room, and the perpetrator was a college student; The other time was in the hotel lobby, and the perpetrator was unknown. Houdini's health suddenly deteriorated after he was beaten twice. 1926101October 3 1 day, Houdini died at Grace Hospital in Detroit, USA at the age of 52.

Carus and sloman believed that the powerful supporters of spiritualism at that time were behind the beating of Houdini. Spiritualism believes that the living can communicate with the dead, and its supporters include Sir Conan Doyle, who wrote Sherlock Holmes novels. Houdini, on the other hand, thinks that spiritualism is a kind of deception and exposes it through performances many times, thus offending the supporters of spiritualism.

Houdini's reputation has been revived by many people in the west in recent years, and the publication of a new biography also shows this. Houdini also entered the video game, in which his role was also a magician.

1926 10 3 1, the magic master Harry Houdini died in Detroit. Houdini, who was famous for not tying the chain, closing the sealed box and even getting out of prison easily, failed to defeat peritonitis in the recent struggle at the age of 52.

He suffered from illness in the last weeks of his life. In Albany, new york, he performed the famous dungeon escape at the beginning of the month. During the performance, a musical instrument was knocked over and hit his foot. After the performance, he went to the hospital and found that his foot was broken. Although the doctor advised him to rest for a few weeks, he refused to cancel the scheduled trip.

A few days later, while performing for students in Montreal, he claimed that his waist muscles could bear a heavy blow. A student suddenly jumped up without saying hello and hit him twice in the waist, just above the appendix. Soon, after returning to Detroit, Houdini was in severe pain all over, but he attended the performance that night. The doctor performed an appendectomy for him the next day, but it was too late, and he was poisoned all over.