Harry houdini family pictures9/16/2023 He roe the covering from the hidden Victrola. he would shine a portable electric torch on the thin wire that caused the table to levitate. It was as if, now that his mother was dead, heaven had to be defended.He himself went to seances disguised as a gray-haired widow in a veil. And so begins his public anti-fraud crusade, as described in Ragtim e. After Doyle publicly announces that Houdini has been influenced by the spirits, Houdini must defend himself, and suddenly he is in a debate over Spiritualism with one of the leading intellectuals of the century, a debate he is determined to win. Houdini keeps quiet about his doubts to not shame Lady Doyle, but his silence is mistaken for approval by Doyle himself. On June 17, 1922, nearly nine years after Cecilia's death, Doyle's wife gives Houdini a séance that is clearly a sham. His relationship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes novels, is truly the link between Cecelia Weisz and Spiritualism. By the time of her death in 1913, he already had enough experience with Spiritualism throughout his career to let him know it's false. In addition, the myth that his interest in Spiritualism was sparked by Cecilia's death is false. It would actually be 10 years before Harry unmasked his first phony medium. This is a great story, but it's not exactly true. This was the genesis of Houdini's anti-Spiritualism campaign that took up a large part of his later career. Later he said of the event, "I who have laughed at the terrors of death, who have smilingly leaped from high bridges, received a shock from which I do not think recovery is possible." The Weisz family delayed the burial, against Jewish custom, so that Houdini could look upon his mother one last time.ĭoctorow goes on to describe how Houdini's enormous grief for his mother led him to seek out mystics and séances to communicate with his deceased mother, but all he found was fraud. After reading the telegram, he fainted once revived, he sobbed inconsolably, moaning in grief for his dear mother. At a press conference, Houdini received a trans-Atlantic telegram containing the news of his mother's death. He once threw a party at which his mother presided over the guests as "Queen Cecilia", wearing a dress made for the Queen of England and sitting on a throne, lavished with gifts and adoration.Ĭecilia died on Jat age 72 of a fatal stroke while Houdini was performing in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is impossible to say which one of his sweethearts he cared for more. They managed to get along despite religious differences, and Houdini once called them his "two sweethearts". At this point, Houdini had married Wilhelmina Beatrice "Bess" Rhaner, a Catholic who must have surprised Cecilia, a staunch Jew. He bought Cecilia a home in a well-to-do part of town with many foreign residents so that his mother could speak with her neighbors (she never learned English very well). Houdini's father's last wish on his deathbed was that his son would take care of Cecilia, and after Houdini broke through to fame, he made sure to keep this promise. Houdini called her his "angel on earth" and his "guiding beacon of life". Houdini would even sit on his mother's lap at times "to re-enact the story of the calming influence she had on him as a child". They frequently wrote to each other, and Cecilia helped select his costumes even after he became famous. When Erik, now Harry Houdini, struck out with one of brothers in a magic act performed at city carnivals, museums, and beer halls, he relied on his mother for encouragement. According to Cecilia, she just had to hold Harry to her breast to get him to immediately stop crying. The two shared an intense bond since Erik was just an infant. Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz to Mayer Samuel Weisz and Cecilia Steiner Weisz when Cecilia was 33 years old, "somewhat late by 19th century standards".
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