Harry Houdini: king of handcuffs
Harry Houdini (1874-1926) The “Handcuff King”, born Ehrich Weisz the son of a Hungarian Rabbi, ran away to join the circus at 12. After years of mediocre vaudeville performances with card tricks, he developed an act with wife Bess which combined the “death defying” athleticism of a circus performer and the illusions, tricks, and persona of a stage magician. Add an assortment of manacles, restraints, and shackles — much of it designed by himself, and you had what Houdini called Escapology, earning him headliner tours across the States and the top salary of any performer in Europe.
In addition to Mrs Houdini, Harry toured with “a very rare, curious, and costly collection of torture, antique, and modern handcuffs”. He was rope-tied to chairs and locomotives. He jumped handcuffed into the Seine, and later locked a 75 pound ball-and-chain to his ankles when he leaped into San Francisco Bay. In each new city he offered to be shackled by local police and locked in jail, and drew suspenseful crowds as he dangled from tall buildings inverted in a straight jacket. His greatest escape act, The Chinese Water Cell earned him mythic status when an immitator died trying to duplicate it.
