HOUDINI TIMELINE

 

	Houdini Events				Historical Events
					1865 End of Civil War
	1874 Harry Houdini born Erich Weisz (later changed to Weiss) in Budapest, Hungary				1876 Alexander Graham Bell invents telephone
	1878 Moves to Wisconsin				1879 Thomas Edison invents first successful electric light bulb
	1883 First appearance before an audience				1883 Brooklyn Bridge is completed; Barnum walks elephant across bridge to show the structure's strength
	1886 Performs as "Erich the Great"				1886 Statue of Liberty completed
	1887 Moves to Manhattan; leaves home to follow circuses and sideshows				1887 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes the first Sherlock Holmes story -- "A Study in Scarlet"
	1889 Erich reads autobiography by French Magician, Jean Robert-Houdin				1888 Eastman Kodak perfects "Kodak" box camera
	1892 Father's death; Houdini works as a cutter in a necktie factory, a messanger, an electrical driller, a photographer and as an apprentice to a locksmith Forms a "double-act" with brother Theo (performed under name Hardeen)				1890 Jacob Riis writes "How the Other Half Lives"; Teddy Roosevelt President
	1893 Performs at the Chicago World's Fair				1893 Henry Ford builds his first car
	1894 Meets & marries Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner (Bess)				1895 Marconi invents radio
	1898 Develops the "Challenge" Handcuff Act
	1899 Hired by Martin Beck as a headline act on his vaudeville Orpheum Circuit
	1900 First show in Europe; made $2,000 a week				1900 NYC's immigrant population is more than a third of its total population
					1903 Orville and Wilber Wright's first successful airplane
					1904 National Child Labor Committee formed
					1905 Einstein's Relativity Theory
	1908 Introduces Milk-Can Escape				1909 Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach North Pole
	1910 Buys an airplane and makes the first plane flight to Australia				1910 Manhattan Bridge completed
					1912 S.S. Titanic disaster
	1914 Builds the Chinese Water Torture Cell				1914 World War I begins
	1918 Presents Jenny, the "Vanishing Elephant"
	1919 Stars in motion pictures				1920 Prohibition and woman suffrage amendment ratified
					1925 Scopes Monkey Trial
	1926 Testifies before congressional committee investigating spiritualists Dies on October 31 (Halloween) of peritonitis at age 52				1926 Ford's Model T sells for $290
					1929 Stock Market Crash
	1936 Bess's séances

 

 HOUDINI PICTURES AND ADVERTISEMENTS

 

A handwritten note from Harry Houdini

 

 

 

Very rare early photograph of the Houdini's and their "Metamorphosis"
From the Geoffrey Hansen Collection

 

 

 

Very rare photograph of Houdini with a smile.
From the Geoffrey Hansen Collection.

 

 

 Very rare photograph of Houdini and his trained
bunny, Rudy, circa 1925

 

 

Very rare photograph of Houdini and famous magician
of another era, Harry Keller, November 1915, while Houdini
was appearing at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. It was . 
a week after his appearence in Oakland.

 

 

Rare photo of Houdini taken in Seattle, Washington while on tour performing
the Orpheum Theatre circuit, 1915. The tour would take him across country
to every major city in North America.