Harry Houdini claims to house the largest collection of original Houdini artifacts in Europe. The Houdini Museum of New York is located at Fantasma Magic, a retail magic manufacturer and seller located in Manhattan. The museum contains several hundred pieces of ephemera, most of which belonged to Harry Houdini. Houdini published numerous books during his career (some of which were written by his good friend Walter B. Gibson, the creator of The Shadow) Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (; born Erik Weisz, later Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-born American illusionist and stunt performer,
Stanley A. Weiss as proctologist-turned-ventriloquist Gerry Feigen were among a group of friends who met regularly with Weiss at Trader Vic's. His closest friends were the entrepreneur, Harry Hunt, and attorney Bernard Petrie. Living part of the year in the Swiss village of Gstaad, Weiss also befriended a colorful cast of characters including Galbraith, conservative icon and "National Review" founder William F. Buckley, and provocative "Spectator" columnist Panagiotis Theodoracopulos, better known as Taki. Weiss also developed close friendships in Gstaad with two of the actors who played James Bond – Sean Connery and Roger Moore. He would later befriend a third—Pierce Brosnan –