HOUDINI'S SECRET NICKNAME

Click to enlarge. From NY Houdini Museum 

"Ehrich Prach!"

It could translate to "Ehrich the Great," or "Ehrich the Magnificent."

This mysterious phrase has haunted us ever since we began our intensive study of Houdini's life. It only occurs in two places we know of: once in Houdini's unfinished biography, started by his brother Hardeen and reproduced in its entirety above.

And again on this very rare love-note from Harry to his wife Bess. It's in the massive (and poorly catalogued) collection at the University of Texas Ransom Center. Our friend Kevin Connolly unearthed it and posted it online this week.

So who cares? Well, it corroborates one of the sexiest and most controversial stories in the whole Houdini file - the tale of the dueling rabbi, Houdini's father M.S.Weiss. We've written about it extensively in earlier posts. It indeed appears that Ehrich Weiss's family called him "Ehrich Prach" as a child. 

It was his nickname: he was, according to Hardeen, named after the Habsburg Prince Ehrich. His first stage name was "Ehrich, Prince of the Air...." He's got a thing going with his father's defeat of this prince - of which he himself was the alleged cause! As we said in an earlier post: the words "Ehrich Prach" contain the key to Harry's character!

(Note: In true Houdini grade-school dropout fashion, he made a spelling mistake! In proper High German, it should be "Ehrich Pracht.")







[Images: thanks to Roger Dreyer & Kevin Connolly]



Related:

NEW LIGHT ON HOUDINI'S ORIGINS: THE DUEL

WHO WAS HOUDINI'S FATHER: NEW INSIGHTS

WHO WAS HOUDINI'S FATHER: THE DUEL

WHO WAS HOUDINI'S FATHER: SWORDSMAN OF BUDAPEST