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. He often unveiled the tricks and lies of those mediums as part of his show. 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. Houdini Being Lowered upside down into the Water Torture Cell, c. After all, Jews had been performing since Biblical times, when Moses and Aaron captivated large audiences with their mystical acts. It made sense to Houdini that Jews would be pulled to the art of magic. Harry’s skepticism of anything mystical developed while watching his father, Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weisz, perform his sermons when Harry was a boy. 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). From the National Library of Israel Digital Collection “Leading American Magicians Are Jews”, appearing in The Forward, 9 September 1928. The Jewish magician’s ascent would eventually lead to a common perception that Jews had a natural affinity for this “supernatural” trade… From the National Library of Israel Digital Collectionīy 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. “Sons of Rabbis Organize for War Aid”, appearing in The Sentinel, 2 August 1918.
“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 endeavor.
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