HOUDINI'S UNBIRTHDAY

Houdini marks his Unbirthday with a card to T. Nelson Downs.

Houdini often said he was proud that the US entry into World War One happened on his birthday - April 6.  Those of us who know better celebrate Harry's birthday on March 24, even though the Associated Press still marks it as April 6. Houdini sleuths have tracked down his Budapest birth record, documenting the March 24, 1874 birth of Erik Weisz to parents Samuel and Cecilia:

Photo: 9 November 1932, registrar's office at the Pest Jewish Community. Die Magie, December 1932, first published this evidence that Houdini (Erik Weisz) was born in Budapest. Click to enlarge.

Translation: No. 392. Name of the newborn:  Erik. Birth Date: 24 March. Father's name and Profession: Samu Weisz (legal adviser). Mother's name:  Cecilia (Steiner). Address of the parents: Rákosárok street 1. Midwife's name: Anna Fleischmann. Date and executor of the circumcision ceremony: 31 March, Schill, j. c. (Jewish chaplain). Godfather: Miksa Dick

To the great consternation of us sleuths, Harry himself holds out for April 6, though he clearly knows better: 

Re the Birthdays, I shall celebrate mine? always APRIL 6th. It hurts me to think I cant talk it over with Darling Mother. As SHE always wrote me on April 6th, that will be my adopted birthdate.

                                    -- Nov. 22, 1913 letter from Harry Houdini to his brother Dash

So Harry himself celebrated April 6 and, most tellingly, so did his beloved mother. Why? It's one of the Mysteries of Houdini. A related mystery is why, up until 1900, did he say that he was born in 1873, but then later change it to 1874?

This birthday confusion has driven all Houdini researchers more than a bit crazy. But there is a cogent explanation that incorporates all the known factoids. Consider this odd extract from a letter his sister Gladys wrote to his widow Bess, about the early 1870s in Budapest:

From The Linking Ring, October 1971

European Jews in those days did indeed name newborns after deceased children. And we know that there was an earlier child in the Weisz family who died as an infant. So here's the hypothesis: there were indeed two boys named Erik Weisz. The first one died. Perhaps he was born on April 6, 1873. The second, born barely a year later, became Houdini. 

Gladys did not explicitly say Harry was born in Appleton, though in those days Harry and the rest of the family all defended that claim, for reasons we've explored in earlier posts.

Harry's mother, from love and grief, celebrated both boys on the firstborn's birthday. Out of love and respect for his mother, Harry did, too.



                                                  ###





RELATED:

MYSTERIES OF HOUDINI






[Thanks again to Botond Kelle in Budapest and the Conjuring Arts Research Center in NYC.]