Everyone has heard of Houdini; his name is almost synonymous with magic. That is a point this author makes a number of times in his book. And there have been a couple of popular movies about him, with variable accuracy. This book tries to get at the real story. One important part of Houdini’s story is that he was a Jewish immigrant. Like some other immigrants before and after, he changed his name, and adopts a new “home town”. With Houdini, it’s hard to know if this was part of the marketing illusion of his profession, or something he would have done anyway.
Houdini was probably the first escape artist; that was what he was best known and remembered for. He did other more typical magic tricks, but his contemporaries were not impressed with his abilities in other aspects of magic. But he was among the first, if not the first, to uses “escapes” in his act. He was certainly the most famous for this aspect of magic. He has inspired any number of magicians, regardless of what their magical specialty is. He was adept at marketing himself, and adapting or changing his act as needed to stay employed.
Almost as famous as his magic act, was his campaign to reveal the seamy side of spiritualism. Around the turn of the last century, mediums and spiritualists were a much more familiar thing. If you wanted to contact a deceased loved one, they were there to help. However, after a séance where Houdini was told he had a message from his mother, which he was sure was not from her, he dedicated himself to proving their duplicity. Genealogists may wish they could ask deceased ancestors questions, but we know that is not an accurate way to get to the truth!
If this was your family, how would you research them? The author follows one of the first rules of genealogy, interview people. Of course, he could not interview descendants of Houdini, but in speaking with others who shared his fascination with the man, he did the next best thing. Posnanski also does fairly exhaustive research, checking online published resources. Houdini’s career could be tracked via newspapers, both articles about him, and announcements of when and where he had performances scheduled. You could check your ancestor’s home town papers between the 1890’s and 1926 to see if Houdini had any shows scheduled.