Thursday, March 24, 2011

137 years ago in Budapest...

Botond Kelle, editor of the Hungarian magic news site, buvesz.blog.hu, has just sent over this copy of Houdini's actual birth record along with a translation below. The photograph was taken on November 9, 1932, at the Registrar's office at the Pest Jewish Community and was first published in the German magazine Die Magie (December 1932). This was the first published evidence that Houdini was born in Budapest and not Appleton, Wisconsin as he always claimed.



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

Thank you Botond!

4 comments:

  1. I plan on visiting this address in a month.
    Does anyone know if there is a marker or some sort of marker or plaque there?
    I am also interested in seeing a picture if anyone has one.
    I have googled it but come up with 2 different locations with the same address.
    Any help would be appreciated

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  2. Hi,

    I am traveling to Budapest and want to visit the Houdini family house.
    I am aware that Csengery Utca 1 is the current name of the street and that it used to be called Rakosarok Utca 1sz in the past.

    I wonder if anyone has a picture of the house and if there are any markers or plaques anywhere near the house or in the city.
    I wrote to the tourism board and hope to get an answer.
    Any help would be appreciated.

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  3. Mark, did you end up getting the photo??

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  4. I am sorry that I did not see your question until now.
    I did get a photo of me in front of the house and I must say that by writing to Botund, he put me in touch with David Merlini who was amazing.
    The two of them welcomed me to their great city of Budapest and I had an unbelievable time. I was not able to spend much time as my river cruise was about to depart but I got to see the house, several shooting locations to the HH movie which David was the technical adviser on, the Royal Hotel where HH took his mother and family for the "Best dinner in Hungary" and many other great spots.
    As previously complete strangers, the fascination with HH made us instant friends and we still are in communication even though we are half a world away.

    http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2015/01/guest-blog-houdini-vacation.html

    ReplyDelete

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