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Review of the book

Escape! The Story Of The Great Houdini

Copyright 2006, Green Wood Publications

If I were to chose to read another book by this author I wouldn't. I say this because while looking through and reading this book I found that the information in it wasn't very organized and chapters didn't really give you even a clue of what its contents were, so it was hard for me to find the facts in it. I did learn a-lot from it, but the time things happened was confusing. I definitely would not want to read another biography by this author.

Obstacles or risks I took

During my career it wasn't just smooth sailing, I had to go through many risks and obstacles. One of them was very dire at the beginning of my career, was money because I needed money to get props for my magic acts so I had to borrow my brothers life savings to buy them ( I eventually paid him back ).

While I was young I had to run away when I was only 12 years so that was one of my biggest risks. I didn't have any food or money so I was just on my own with nothing.

When I was becoming famous and during the rest of my career there were many impostors and frauds so I always had to accept the many challenges that they threw at me, like those many handcuffs and dangerous acts. This really scared Bess to death so she was usually in tears when I did these things.

What was special and interesting about me

Alot of things that happened to me were not just normall things that anyone would do. That's what makes me special and unique. One thing that that people thought was outrageous when I was hurt very badlyin my appendix and I had a very bad fever I still went on with the show. I really had to because every single seat was taken!

People always thought of me as more than just secretive but sneaky because I kept tampering with things like my birth date and all that. My real birth date was 1874, but I made Harry Houdini born in 1873. That's another thing that makes me unique.

Another thing that just seems ironic is that I didn't die by swallowing needles or drowning, but I died from a fever.

What I think of myself

I always hear what everybody else thinks of me like outstanding and all that, but they have never asked what I think of myself. I think of myself as astonishing because I always do things that the crowd would never expect like just clapping my hands and have a giant Asian elephant disappear or swallow 150 needles and then pluck them out threaded.

I think of myself as bold or daring sometimes because I do many life risking things like going in a milk can filled with water and holding my breath for three minutes or hanging from a roof with some rope and buckled in a straitjacket and escaping without falling.

I also think of myself as very secretive because I never reveal much anything to the audience except on rare occasions. I do try to keep secrets in my magic tricks and acts because a fraud could just pick it up and impersonate me.

My background information

When I was young I was non-educated Jewish boy named Ehrich. I was born in Appleton, Wisconsin in the year 1874. My father was an impoverished rabbi, but couldn't speak any English so congregation lost patience in his Old World services provided in German. They wanted a new rabbi that spoke English.

My family moved to Milwaukee and my father failed at his job there too. I had to do something to help the family! To lift part of the burden of them like paying for my food and clothes, I decided to run away from home so they would have one less mouth to feed. I was only twelve years old when I decided to do this.

When I ran away from home, the first thing I wanted to do was to work so that I could send money back home to my family. To do this, I hopped on a freight train that I thought was heading to Galveston, Texas so that I could find some work there. I was wrong, the train was headed for Kansas City, Missouri. I tried following wagons hoping that they would lead to Galveston, but then I found myself back in Wisconsin all over again. I found work in exchange for a meal and a place to sleep in a small village called Delavan in Wisconsin. Later I found out that my father had moved to New York! I set on my way to New York where I got a job as a messenger boy. I sent a decent amount of money to my father, who was now working as a Hebrew Teacher.

As I got older, I started to help my family quite a bit. I also discovered my love for running and I decided to start competing in races. I felt great feeling the wind blasting in my face when ever I would run. I also felt very proud to be wearing all those medals from winning several sprints.

How I affected the wold and other people

I did many, many things in my life that have affected other people like my several shows, acts , and magic tricks. People think of me as the greatest magician and escape artist in history. People even started calling me the guru (teacher) of magic!

I also made a tittle for myself: The King of Cards and Handcuffs. Many people were inspired by me when doing my tricks, always wishing they could do the same. During my time invented many magic tricks, some I even revealed to the public believe it or not!

I also wrote a very detailed section of magic on the Britticania Encyclopedia, I wrote a book called The Right Way to Do Wrong, and I also launched a journal in the Conjurors' Weekly magazine. I was famous!