A legendary duel in Budapest between Harry Houdini’s father and Erik, a Habsburg prince, appears to be one key to Houdini’s “origin story.”
 |
| M. Samuel Weisz, Houdini's father |
 |
| The Habsburg Family |
Yet the two most recent and comprehensive Houdini biographies do not even give it a mention. Most other accounts pooh-pooh it, or chalk it up to the family’s alleged penchant for telling “stretchers,“ as their contemporary Mark Twain might say.
We’ve unearthed information that may cast the “duel” story in an entirely new light.
Though the details are still murky and holes remain throughout, our findings tend to corroborate the family’s version. If our slant is closer to the truth, then it may provide new insight into Harry’s quest for fame and his special relationship with his mother. Houdini becomes a man, not a myth. His father becomes flesh and blood, not a pathetic stereotype.
The family’s version of the duel story is presented in the very first biography of Houdini, written by Harold Kellock with the aid of Bess, Harry’s wife. With some added details and small corrections, the duel story is repeated in Milbourne Christopher’s Houdini: the Untold Story. Everywhere else it is dismissed, ignored or portrayed as an aberrant fantasy -- but never disproven.
The pathfinders on the Houdini birth research trail, in particular the late Manny Weltman and the members of the “Houdini Birth Research Committee,” are to be commended for the hard facts they uncovered. Speculations by various biographers have gone far beyond those facts and served to undermine the family’s relatively consistent version of events.
“How could a poor, timid rabbi even come into contact with a mighty prince, much less fight and win a duel?” goes the main line of the uninformed skepticism. It’s a fair enough question, but it has a rather surprising answer.
In our next weekly posts, you’ll see how deeper research into the world of Budapest in 1875 allows this allegedly improbable tale to make sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment