Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin Elephant", that every magician of the 20th century was "haunted" by Robert-Houdin, "…who cast an enormous shadow over their generation." American magician and escape artist Harry Houdini (born Ehrich Weiss) was so impressed by Robert-Houdin that, after reading his autobiography in 1890, Ehrich adopted the stage name of "Houdini" in honour of Robert-Houdin. He incorrectly believed that an "i" on the end of a name meant "like" in French; but Houdini, his own career and reputation established by that time, later lost his youthful respect for Robert-Houdin, believing that he took undue credit for other magicians' innovations, and wrote "The
Seymour Weiss Seymour Weiss Seymour Weiss (September 13, 1896 – September 17, 1969) was a prominent hotel executive and civic leader from New Orleans, Louisiana, who was a close confidante of the legendary Huey Pierce Long, Jr. Weiss, the most loyal of the Longites, bore the same last name as the apparent Long assassin, Carl Weiss, M.D. Weiss was born in Bunkie in Avoyelles Parish and died in the capital city of Baton Rouge. His parents were Samuel Weiss, originally from Austria-Hungary and a merchant, and the former Gisella Elias, of Berlin, Germany. Seymour had three brothers: Bernard, Milton, and Julius. On