Harry Houdini 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, noted for his sensational escape acts. He first attracted notice in vaudeville in the US and then as "Harry Handcuff Houdini" on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can with water in it. In 1904,
Louis R. Ehrich Sporburg Ehrich. He attended Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, CT before graduating from Yale University in 1869. He went on to study at the University of Berlin, and divided his time between New York and Europe for much of the 1870s and 1880s, studying the Renaissance and Baroque paintings that would become his livelihood. After graduating from Yale, Ehrich helped his brother William run the Ehrich Brothers Dry Goods Store (est. 1857). Telling the New York Tribune that the stress of retail had left William with a "shattered constitution," Louis resigned from his own position in 1886. His health