Monica Kulling - The Great Houdini

For Nancy, whose enthusiasm is magic

M.K.

With grateful acknowledgment to Sid Radner, honorary curator, and Matt Carpenter, curator of collections, of the Houdini Historical Center,
Appleton, Wisconsin, for their time and expertise in reviewing this manuscript.

Photo credits:

Photographs courtesy of the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Prints and Photographs Division.

, reproduction number LC-USZ62-11234DLC,

, reproduced from the Collections of the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS,

, reproduction number LC-USZ62-112431DLC.

Text copyright 1999 by Monica Kulling. Illustrations copyright 1999 by Anne Reas.

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York. Step into Reading, Random House, and the Random House colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kulling, Monica.

The great Houdini / by Monica Kulling ; illustrated by Anne Reas.

p. cm. (Step into reading. A step 4 book)

Summary: An introduction to the life of Harry Houdini, one of the most famous magicians of all time.

eBook ISBN 978-0-553-53671-3 Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-679-88573- 3

1. Houdini, Harry, 18741926Juvenile literature.

2. MagiciansUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature.

3. Escape artistsUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature.

[1. Houdini, Harry, 18741926. 2. Magicians.]

I. Reas, Anne, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Step into reading. Step 4 book.

GV1545.H8 K85 2003 793.8092dc21 2002015695

Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

v3.1

Every summer, the circus came to Appleton, Wisconsin. Nine-year-old Ehrich Weiss loved the acrobats and the magicians. He wanted to be a performer.

I will call myself The Prince of the Air, he told his brother Theo.

Ehrich made a trapeze out of a broomstick and two ropes. His mother sewed him a costume. He looked like a real acrobat. Soon he was ready for his first performance!

The neighborhood kids gathered to see the show. Ehrich and Theo had made a stage. An old sheet was used as a curtain. Ehrich ran out from behind the curtain. He grabbed the trapeze and began to swing back and forth. He stood on his hands. He hung by his knees.

Then it was time for his best trick. Theo stuck needles in the ground. Ehrich swung over the needles. He picked up every single onewith his eyelids!

Ehrich Weiss was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1874. Soon after, the whole family moved to America. His father was a rabbi. He didnt make enough money to feed his large family.

Ehrich and his brothers did odd jobs to earn money. Ehrich ran errands, sold newspapers, and shined shoes.

He decided to quit grade school. In those days, there were no laws to make children stay in school. Ehrich needed to help his family. He got a job in a locksmiths shop.

Ehrich learned to take locks apart and put them back together. He also learned to open locks by using a pick made of wire. Soon he could open any lock in the shopwithout a key!

Ehrich was fascinated with magic. He read every book on magic he could find. He learned coin and card tricks. He even learned how to escape after being tied up with rope.

One of Ehrichs favorite books was about the French magician Jean Eugne Robert-Houdin. Ehrich was thinking of him when he made up his stage name. He added an i to Houdin. Then he changed his nickname, Ehrie, into Harry. And so Harry Houdini was born.

While still in their teens, Harry and Theo put together a magic show. They called themselves The Brothers Houdini. They pulled coins and cards out of thin air. They turned a candle flame into a handkerchief.

Harry practiced his hand movements for hours on end. Quicker than the eye can see, he told Theo.

The Brothers Houdini always saved the best trick for last. It was called Metamorphosis, which means change. Harry would change into Theo.

Harry tied Theo in a sack. Then he locked him in a trunk. He placed a curtain in front of the trunk. Harry went behind the curtain. At the count of three, the audience saw Theo move the curtainand Harry jump out of the trunk!

The trick was so quick, people could not guess how they did it.

They took their act on the road and ended up in New York City. Harry and Theo got a job performing at an amusement fair on Coney Island

Here, Harry met Bess Rahner. She was performing in a song and dance act with her sister.

Harry and Bess fell in love. They were married in 1894. Bess took Theos place in the act. It was the end of the Brothers Houdini.