Harry Houdini Net Worth

What Was Harry Houdini's Net Worth?

Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-American illusionist and stunt performer who had a net worth of $500 thousand at the time of his death in 1926. That's the same as around $9 million in today's dollars after adjusting for inflation.

Harry Houdini was a magician known for his escape acts. His first stunt was challenging police to keep him locked up and using the name "Harry Handcuff Houdini." Harry's stunts included using chains, ropes, straightjackets, and holding his breath for extended periods of time. One of his most popular acts came in 1904 when thousands watched him try to escape from special handcuffs from London's Daily Mirror. He was also buried alive and barely was able to claw to the surface. Houdini served as President of the Society of American Magicians, which upheld professional standards and exposed fake artists.

Houdini was also an actor, but his movies did not make much money. Before escape acts, Harry worked with card tricks. Some of his other acts included the Milk Can Escape, Chinese Water Torture Cell, and a suspended straitjacket escape. Later in his career, he focused on debunking mediums and psychics. He starred in six films and published seven books. There have also been numerous biographical films about Houdini. Harry Houdini passed away on October 31, 1926, from peritonitis at the age of 52.

Getty Images

Early Life

Harry Houdini was born Erich Weisz on March 24, 1874, in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary. He was the son of Rabbi Mayer Sámuel Weisz and Cecília Steiner, and he had six siblings. The family immigrated to the United States in 1878, settling in Appleton, Wisconsin. There, his father was the rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation. The family lived on Appleton Street, which is located in an area that later became known as Houdini Plaza. Harry's father became an American citizen in 1882, and that year he lost his job and moved the family to Milwaukee, where they fell into poverty. In 1887, Harry and his father moved to New York City and lived in a boarding house. After they found permanent housing, the rest of the family joined them. During his youth, Harry was a trapeze artist and a champion cross-country runner.

Magic Career

Houdini's magic career began in 1891, but he initially had little success. He later started performing with his brother "Dash" (Theodore) as a duo called The Brothers Houdini, and in 1893, they performed at the Chicago World's Fair. After Harry married Bess Rahner, she replaced Dash, and the act became known as The Houdinis. In 1899, Harry got his big break when manager Martin Beck was impressed by his handcuffs act. Beck suggested that Houdini focus on escape acts and started booking him gigs on the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Harry soon began performing at the country's top vaudeville houses, and in 1900, he toured Europe and landed a six-month gig at the Alhambra Theatre in London. During the first two decades of the 1900s, he performed in theatres in Great Britain, Germany, Russia, France, and the Netherlands and became known as "The Handcuff King." In each city he visited, Houdini asked local police officers to restrain him with shackles and lock him in a jail cell.

Houdini served as the president of the Society of American Magicians from 1917 until his death, and he was also the president of the oldest magic company in the U.S., Martinka & Co. His most notable escapes include the Milk Can Escape, the Chinese Water Torture Cell, the suspended straitjacket escape, and the buried alive stunt. One of his most famous non-escape stage illusions involved making an elephant disappear from the stage at the New York Hippodrome. He published several books, such as "The Right Way to Do Wrong: An Exposé of Successful Criminals" (1906), "Handcuff Secrets" (1907), "Miracle Mongers and Their Methods" (1920), and "A Magician Among the Spirits" (1924).

(Photo by FPG/Getty Images)

Film Career

In 1906, Houdini began including films of his outside escapes in his vaudeville act. In 1909, he showcased some of his escapes in the French film "Merveilleux Exploits du Célèbre Houdini à Paris" ("Marvellous Exploits of the Famous Houdini in Paris"). He appeared in the 1919 film "The Grim Game," followed by "Terror Island" in 1920. After Harry started his own production company, Houdini Picture Corporation, he starred in and produced 1921's "The Man from Beyond" and 1923's "Haldane of the Secret Service." He also launched The Film Development Corporation, a film laboratory business, before giving up on the movie business in 1923. In 2008, Kino International released a DVD box set that included his surviving silent films as well as newsreel footage of his escapes.

Personal Life and Real Estate

Harry was an active Freemason and a member of New York City's St. Cecile Lodge No. 568. He married Wilhelmina Beatrice "Bess" Rahner on June 22, 1894, and they remained together until his death in 1926. In 1904, Houdini paid $25,000 (approximately $874,907 in today's dollars) for a 6,008-square-foot townhouse in Harlem, which he lived in until his death. In 2018, the home sold for $3.6 million. The Historical Landmark Preservation Center attached a plaque to the home that reads, "The magician lived here from 1904 to 1926 collecting illusions, theatrical memorabilia, and books on psychic phenomena and magic." In 1919, Harry moved to Los Angeles while he was appearing in films, and he lived at his friend Ralph M. Walker's home at 2435 Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Walker also owned 2335 and 2400 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, and 2400 is known as The Houdini Estate. Harry was fascinated with aviation, and after he purchased a French Voisin biplane, he completed his first successful flight in November 1909.

Death

On October 31, 1926, Houdini passed away at the age of 52. His cause of death was peritonitis, a swelling of the abdomen that may have been related to appendicitis or to punches to his abdomen that he had received from Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead in a dressing room at Montreal's Princess Theatre on October 22nd. According to witnesses, Whitehead asked Houdini "whether it was true that punches in the stomach did not hurt him," and Harry replied that his stomach could withstand a lot. Whitehead subsequently delivered "some very hammer-like blows below the belt." Houdini was reclining on a couch at the time due to breaking his ankle a few days earlier, and he didn't expect Whitehead to punch him so suddenly and didn't have time to prepare himself for the assault. Harry performed in a great amount of pain that night, and when he finally went to a doctor days later, he had acute appendicitis and a 102 °F fever. He was told that he needed surgery immediately, but he ignored the doctor's advice and decided to perform that night at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, Michigan. Houdini had a 104 °F fever and reportedly passed out, but he continued the show after being revived. After the show ended, he was admitted to Detroit's Grace Hospital, and he died there a week later. Harry's funeral took place in New York on November 4, 1926, and more than 2,000 people attended. He was laid to rest at the Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, and his gravesite was inscribed with the crest of the Society of American Magicians.

Honors and Legacy

In 1975, Houdini received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the Motion Picture category. In 1968, the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame opened in Niagara Falls, Ontario, followed by the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1991. The House of Houdini museum opened in Budapest, Hungary, in 2016, and Fantasma Magic in Manhattan houses the Houdini Museum of New York, which opened in 2012.

Who's Richer?

Harry
Houdini

Compare!

David
Copperfield