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"My Brain is the key that sets me free.""No prison can hold me; no hand or leg irons or steel locks can shackle me. No ropes or chains can keep me from my freedom.""What the eyes sees, the ear hears, and the mind believes.""Never tell the audience how good you are, they will soon find out for themselves.""Never try to fool children, they expect nothing, and therefore see everything.""An old trick well done is far better than a new trick with no effect."More quotes at:https://www.azquotes.com/author/6929-Harry_HoudiniHarry Houdini (March 24, 1874 -- October 31, 1926) Resting place -- Machpelah Cemetery"And although Houdini...

Have fake news and deception only just been invented or have creativity with the truth and illusion always been at the heart of what humans do to each other?

History Channel's magical miniseries Houdini begins tonight, starring Adrien Brody as the death-defying escape artist in a TV event that traces the arc of Houdini's life from desperate poverty to worldwide fame. The Lionsgate/A&E Studios four-hour event also stars Kristen Connolly (House of Cards) as Bess, Harry Houdini's stage assistant and wife. Oscar nominee Uli Edel directed the project, adapted by Nicholas Meyer from the 1976 book Houdini: A Mind in Chains — A Psychoanalytic Portrait (written by his father, Bernard C. Meyer).Read what top critics are saying about Houdini:

Rope gives Houdini a run for his money

On September 21, 1912, magician Harry Houdini first publicly performed his so-called "Chinese Water Torture Cell" trick at the Circus Busch in Berlin, escaping after being immersed upside-down in a vertical water tank, his ankles secured in a set of stocks which made up the tank lid, which was locked into place. Houdini's Water Torture Cell The greatest and most sensational of all Houdini's escapes was without doubt his "Chinese Water Torture Cell.” In this trick, Houdini was to escape an extraordinary contraption resembling a fish tank. This is filled with water while Houdini is placed head down, in full...

Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts. He was also a skeptic who set out to expose frauds purporting to be supernatural phenomena.

TINTON FALLS, N.J (AP) -- Dorothy Young, the last surviving stage assistant of illusionist Harry Houdini and an accomplished dancer, has died. She was 103. Young's death was announced Wednesday by Drew University, where she was a prominent donor and patron of the arts. Drew spokesman Dave Muha said Young died Sunday at her home in a Tinton Falls, N.J., retirement community. Young joined Houdini's company as a 17-year-old after attending an open casting call during a family trip to New York. She initially sat in the back because she was too shy to step forward, but Houdini and his...

In 1907, the first of Houdini’s "manacled bridge jumps" was captured on film in Rochester, New York. After the jump, Houdini proudly wrote in his diary, "Ma saw me jump!" Afterwards, Houdini began performing his celebrated milk can escape. As the master showman, he reminded the audience in his ads that "Failure Means a Drowning Death." That same year Houdini published his controversial book, "The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin." Two years later, Houdini made the first "real" flight on the continent of Australia, piloting his Voison on a sustained flight of three and a half minutes.

Houdini Poisoned? Kin Wants Exhumation Mar 23, 7:36 AM EST The Associated Press NEW YORK -- The circumstances surrounding Harry Houdini's sudden death were as murky as the rivers where he often performed death-defying stunts. Despite a medical explanation, rumors that the escape artist was murdered have persisted for decades. Eighty-one years after Houdini died on Halloween 1926, his great-nephew wants to exhume the magician's body to determine if enemies poisoned him for debunking their bogus claims of contact with the dead. "His death shocked the entire nation, if not the world. Now, maybe it's time to take a second...

NEW YORK - Eighty years after his death, the name Harry Houdini remains synonymous with escape under the most dire circumstances. But Houdini, the immigrants' son whose death-defying career made him one of the world's biggest stars, was more than a mere entertainer. A new biography of the legendary performer suggests that Houdini worked as a spy for Scotland Yard, monitored Russian anarchists and chased counterfeiters for the U.S. Secret Service — all before he was possibly murdered. "The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero" will be released on Halloween — the anniversary of Houdini's untimely...

<p>APPLETON, Wis. -- How did Harry Houdini do his signature ``Metamorphosis'' escape, the one where he was handcuffed inside a sack, locked in a trunk and yet somehow managed to switch places with an assistant on the outside?</p> <p>To find out, all a fan or an aspiring illusionist has to do is go to a new exhibit opening today and climb inside the trunk.</p>