The marvelous Hungarian magician turns 152

Let's celebrate Houdini's 152nd birthday today by discussing a widely held assumption. This is the idea that Houdini always claimed to be an American. Of course, Houdini was born in Budapest, Hungary, on March 24, 1874. But during his lifetime, no one knew this, right? Well, not exactly.

In my first book, Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini 1897-1899, I showed how, during his struggling years, Houdini not only freely admitted to being a European, he exploited it! This made him exotic. Sometimes he would say he was from Budapest, but more often he would say he was from Austria (Hungary was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at this time). A few newspapers said he was Australian! But I believe this was just a mistake by the reporters. Try saying Austria with Houdini's accent and over pronunciation, and you can see how someone might hear it as "Aus-tral-ia." But most importantly, I have never seen him claim to be an American at this time. Born in Wisconsin? Boring!

But that's just his struggling years. When he became a success, he became all-American, right? Again, not exactly. Below is an image from my upcoming book, Handcuff King: The Conquests of Harry Houdini, 1900-1909. (I like long titles.) This is from January 1900, at the start of his all-important tour of the Keith's vaudeville circuit. Houdini had already found success on the Orpheum circuit out west. Now he was making his East Coast vaudeville debut. As you can see, he's billed here as "the marvellous [sic] Hungarian Magician."

Boston Evening Transcript, Jan 15, 1900.

Houdini continued to acknowledge his Hungarian birth for this entire tour. So, combined with his Orpheum tour, this means Houdini played the entire U.S. as a (sometimes) headliner for a full year as a Hungarian. But then it was off to Europe, where being an American was the exoticism to exploit. Born in Wisconsin? Wild! The identity stuck.

However, as late as 1902, Houdini told Ottokar Fisher that he was born in Hungary (check out Joe Notaro's own birthday post for more on this). I think this is suggestive. I'm betting that, at this time, his Hungarian birth was not unlike William Robinson's real nationality. If you knew him, you knew the truth. It wasn't a big deal. It was just showbiz. Certainly, everyone who knew Houdini from the 1890s -- and that included some very big names in magic like Howard Thurston, T. Nelson Downs, and Samri Baldwin -- knew his real birthplace.

It was later that Houdini worked to bury his Hungarian birth. People like Walter B. Gibson, who came to know Houdini in the 1920s, never knew of his real birthplace and had trouble accepting the truth when it came out. I don't know exactly why Houdini became so dogmatic about this aspect of his biography. Maybe that's something I'll discover when I start work on my next book.

However, even when Houdini claimed to be American, he always acknowledged that his parents came from Hungary and showed pride in that heritage. Here's something he told a reporter in Australia in 1910.

"You will think that I am vain to tell you these things. But I am a Magyar, and Magyars are vain. American born. Magyar descended; my parents came from Austria; my father was a clergyman in Wisconsin."

So here's a happy birthday to Houdini, the marvelous Hungarian Magician!

Cake image AI-generated.

Related:

• Houdini's greatest secret
• Blackstone produces a Houdini birthplace puzzle
• Hungary issues an official Houdini stamp