Houdini: Escapes. Séances. One Last Trick.Episode 22:06
The Passport That Changed His Birthplace
Houdini resurfaces, but the documents behind his public identity reveal a man whose birthplace, name, and profession shift across the record.
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Transcript
A shackled box hit the water—and the escape artist vanished from its prison.
In July 1914, Harry Houdini escaped an underwater box in New York.
A crowd of 15,000 watched him escape from the shackled box.
His documented escapes had started in the 1890s and continued for decades.
The National Archives article identifies Houdini’s birth name as Ehrich Weiss.
Across applications, he called his occupation artist, performer, or actor.
Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary, on March 24th, 1874.
National Archives says Appleton, Wisconsin was his registered birthplace in all but his earliest passport application.
Only the earliest passport application escaped that Appleton pattern.
Houdini listed his occupation as artist, performer, or actor on passport applications.
Houdini’s family name changed in spelling from Weisz to Weiss, and Ehrich became known as Harry.
An identity can become another kind of escape, built one document at a time.
His father, Mayer Samuel Weiss, was a rabbi who emigrated from Hungary in 1874.
Houdini grew up in Zion Congregation during his youth.
In July 1913, Ehrich Weiss’s legal name change to Harry Houdini was finalized.
In 1895, Houdini began handcuff escape publicity stunts across the Northeast.
Houdini’s 1909 book Handcuff Secrets described his escape ability as based on painstaking effort and compromise.
His chosen name eventually appeared even on his World War I draft card.
He signed that card “Harry Handcuff Houdini,” just before the age cutoff.
Where it leaves off
But changing Ehrich Weiss into Harry Houdini required more than paperwork—it required a public coronation in handcuffs.
Sources
- Introduction - Harry Houdini: Topics in Chronicling America - Research Guides at Library of Congressguides.loc.govsecondary
- Searching for Houdini – The Text Messagetext-message.blogs.archives.govsecondary
- Harry Houdini:norman.hrc.utexas.edusecondary
- Response to “HIV Escape From RNAi Antivirals: Yet Another Houdini Action?” - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- National Archives Display Marks Wartime Draft 100th Anniversary | National Archivesarchives.govprimary
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