Marsha Young, age 11, of St. Albans, WA"'‑
Who was the Great Houdini?
We all love the circus and everything that goes with it. Under the Big Top we are amazed and amused time after time. There are tumbling clowns and pretty ponies, performing seald arid fierce tigers. And there are people who can do things that seem to be impossible. There is the sword swallower and the flame swallower, the juggler and the acrobats who balance on a high wire as easily as you or I walk down the street.
To ordinary folk, all this razzle‑dazzle seems like magic. But the Great Houdini would tell you that there is nothing magic about it. All those glamorous tricks come from patience and practice and endless hours of hard work. And the Great Houdini should know, for he was most likely the greatest of them all, He was without doubt the greatest of the escape artists. ,No lock, no chains, no prison ever held him for very long.
He was born in Appleton, Wisconsin in the year 1874. At that time his name was Erich Weiss and he later took the professional name Harry Houdini. He was also known as the Handcuff King, because he could free himself from the toughest of handcuffs, He was called Hairbreadth Harry, because he was always escaping from impossible situations by the breadth of a hair .. or so it seemed. It was natural to call this star performer the Great Houdini.
Throughout his life, Houdini delighted millions of people with tricksthat appeared impossible. He scoffed at fetters, locks and ropes. Hewas buried in steel boxes, thrown into the sea in canvas bags, even riveted in boilers, The great artist always managed to escape. In London he was clamped into a pair of handcuffs which a blacksmith had taken five years to make, Four thousand people saw him free himself,
He was locked naked in a jail cell and escaped in two minutes. Just for fun, he opened other cell doors and changed the prisoners around, Then he broke into a locked cell and found his clothing,' Fifteen minutes after he had first been locked up he walked, fully dressed, into the office of the startled warden,
There is no end to the amazing exploits of the Great Houdini and time after time people were convinced that he worked by magic. This did not please the great performer, for to him magic meant trickery and he was the sworn enemy of all tricksters. Time after time he helped to expose performers who were frauds.
Houdini practiced like an athlete to keep his muscles strong and supple, He could make his muscles larger while he was being tied and relax them to become small while he made his slithery escapes. He trained until he could hold his breath under water for four minutes. Fear, he said, was his only enemy. For in order to make those miraculous escapes, he needed the calm and serene mind which comes from great courage. Houdini continued to delight his large audiences right up to his death in 1926.