Harry Houdini: The Skeptical Son of a Rabbi
“It is surprising how many sons of Jewish clergyman there are on the stage,” Harry Houdini said in 1918, speaking about the Rabbis’ Sons Theatrical Benevolent Association, which he founded along with Al Jolson and Irving Berlin (among others), as a philanthropic endeavour.
By 1918, Houdini was brushing shoulders with the cinema and theatre bigwigs, having established himself as a conjuring magician way back in the 1890s, and working his way up in show business. The Jewish magician’s ascent would eventually lead to a common perception that Jews had a natural affinity for this “supernatural” trade…
Houdini knew from an early age how reality and truth could be manipulated, due in great part to the fact that his father imparted rabbinical and Talmudic studies on the young Erik Weisz (Houdini’s original name).
Harry’s scepticism of anything mystical developed while watching his father, Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weisz, perform his sermons when Harry was a boy. It made sense to Houdini that Jews would be pulled to the art of magic. After all, Jews had been performing since biblical times, when Moses and Aaron captivated large audiences with their mystical acts.
Harry Houdini’s anger at miracle workers, spiritualists and mediums that preyed on vulnerable people directly influenced the illusions he performed in front of audiences. He often unveiled the tricks and lies of those mediums as part of his show. Houdini’s mission to expose the charlatans caused anti-Semitic ire to come his way, as the spiritualists and mediums he exposed used his Judaism against him. His adversaries called him names and claimed his Jewish roots made him un-American, yet Houdini was proudly Jewish throughout his entire life and made it clear that he was the son of a rabbi.
Not even death could stop Harry Houdini. Through his wife, Bess Houdini, he continued debunking mediums even after he died on October 31st, 1926. On the 10th anniversary of his death in 1936, a séance was performed, with its aim being to bring Harry back so Bess could speak to him. Equally sceptical, she remarked: “The message has never been received.”
Bess never attended any more séances.
Information for this article was gathered from the book Houdini: Art and Magic by Brooke Kamin Rapaport.
Houdini was a great friend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes adventures, but because Doyle was a spiritualist, believing in the power of mediums to communicate with the dead, while Houdini exposed these charlatans for what they were, using trickery to fool people, the two men fell out big time.