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Behind the Veil
In the December 1932 issue of Magie¹ (the monthly newspaper of the German Magicians’ Association) an interesting article by Ottokar Fischer appeared. He wrote about the May 1931 assembly of Hungarian...
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Investigating Houdini – a mystery name: RODOLFO
There is a handwritten page in The Houdini Birth Research Committee’s Report (HBRCR) which consists of a letter by John Henry Grossmann describing a visit he made to Budapest with his wife, Marya. They...
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March 24, 1874 – A Day In Budapest
It was a Tuesday. The citizens of Budapest awakened to a chilly morning. The weather center reported the temperature at 1.2 Celsius (34.16 in Fahrenheit) at 7 a.m. There was a light wind from the...
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Walk around Rákos árok Street – where did the Weisz family live?
The roots of the Weisz family can be traced to Zala County in Western Hungary. Houdini’s father, Samuel Weisz, claimed that he was born in Nagykanizsa. At a date which is not known, he moved to Pest,...
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Robert-Houdin – Father of Modern Magic
One of the outstanding items in the House of Houdini’s collection is a first English edition volume of Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin’s The Secrets Of Conjuring & Magic, or How to Become a Wizard....
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Nagykanizsa – Early Years of Samuel Weisz
We cannot be grateful enough to the registrar who meticulously recorded every last detail regarding the birth of Ferenc Dezső Weisz, a.k.a. Dash. Besides mentioning all usual information, such as the...
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Harry Houdini – Commencement
The following article appeared in the June 12, 1926, issue of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: The Editor answers that Houdini was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1874. Readers sat back thinking that they...
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Houdini and Vienna, Part 1 (1900)
In this month’s posts we would like to publish some interesting documents about Houdini’s visits in Eastern Europe, specifically to Vienna and Prague. Harry Houdini was scheduled to perform the first...
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Houdini and Prague (1901)
As we reported in our most recent post, Houdini came to Prague only once, in September 1901. He was contracted to perform there by Edward Tichy, the famous director of the Théater Varieté, known today...
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A Little Detour: Uncovering Joseph Velle
Our research team recently received a question from Ms. Vivianne Perret regarding Joseph Velle. Vivianne wanted to know the details of his life but was unable to find much information. To answer her...
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