Image is in the public domain via Wikipedia. They saw that he had only been able to tense his abdominal muscles sufficiently after the third blow and they noticed that, as the tough escape artist-who had been so magnificently indestructible on the stage the previous night-lay there on the divan, he seemed to be suffering unexpected terrible pain from the few well-aimed punches. The two other young men later stated that the escape artist was clearly not ready for their friend’s rapid attack. He hit Houdini several times extremely hard in his right lower abdomen. Houdini agreed and the student immediately started to punch him. Whitehead asked him if it was true that he could withstand any blow to his stomach and whether he could give it a try.
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Houdini lay on a divan to pose for Smilovitz, who wanted to draw a portrait of him. They visited Houdini in his dressing room in the theatre in Montreal on 22 October 1926, the morning after his performance. Gordon Whitehead, Jacques Price and Sam Smilovitz were three Canadian students. For a long time, it was assumed that his death had been caused by one of these hefty punches in his stomach, but we know now that it had nothing to do with his stunts and was largely down to his stubborn refusal to go to a doctor. He claimed, for example, that his abdominal muscles could withstand any blow and challenged everyone to try it out. He was a juggler, an acrobat and a strong-man. Houdini ornamented his spectacular escape acts with Spiritism and classical circus tricks. Many will think that his death was as spectacular as his life, that he drowned while performing his legendary Chinese Water Torture Cell act-handcuffed, upside down and underwater, on stage, in front of a packed theatre. And he always emerged unharmed, even after being buried alive in a bronze coffin.
#HOUDINI DEATH FULL#
Erik Weisz was the world-famous Harry Houdini, the escape artist who had himself buttoned up into a straitjacket and hoisted up in the air by his feet, wrapped in chains and sealed in a wooden chest and then thrown overboard in New York harbor, handcuffed and shut in a milk churn full of beer.
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Almost no one knew his real name but his stage name is still-almost a century later-known around the world and has become synonymous with the art that he developed.
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Like Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Erik Weisz typified the spirit of that wonderful time in America. When Erik Weisz died on 31 October 1926, it was world news. Home » Historical Figures » The Death of an Escape Artist: Harry Houdini The Death of an Escape Artist: Harry Houdini Posted on Octoby Arnold van de Laar