So what motivated this complex man who spent a lifetime ‘deluding’ the public with his illusions, and how did he reconcile that with his campaign against the Spiritualist movement which he regarded as a racket? Whether it was escaping from handcuffs, a straitjacket or from a box filled with water, Houdini wowed audiences with his seemingly death-defying performance.
Houdini’s decision to make escape the focus of his act was well-timed, chiming with the public mood for sensational trickery. Captivated by magic shows, he began performing tricks on stage with one of his brothers, and then with his wife. Perhaps it is this early hand to mouth existence in a large family which explains his extraordinary drive to succeed. The United States Jail "Murderers Row" (Washington, D.Harry Houdini’s story is the classic American tale of an immigrant who from impoverished beginnings made it big in the United States. The Siberian Transport Prison Van (Moscow, 1903) Houdini never failed in one of his jail breaks. He then called the warden from the theater as he was about to go on stage. When Houdini escaped the Boston Tombs in 1906, he not only switched around prisoners, but he escaped unseen from the prison itself, speeding away in a waiting car. In some instances, it would be discovered that he had unlocked all the doors in the cell block and switched all the prisoners around.
He would then be manacled and locked securely in a cell. Houdini would allow himself to be stripped and searched by doctors to ensure he had no concealed lock picks or keys.
In each city Houdini would play, he would arrange to be "tested" by the local jailer. In his early days, he billed himself as The World Champion Jail Breaker. One of Houdini's most perplexing feats was his amazing ability to escape from any jail cell.
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