Houdini Escapes from Reality (1)

Houdini, the world—famed performer of dare—devil feats involving extreme physical endurance, had for the greater part of his career been recognized as an expert in extrication and self—release. Less well known was an overwhelming and almost morbid attachment to his mother that seemingly dominated his life. From the standpoint of psychopathology is it possible to link these two facts together ?

The very name of Houdini is a symbol of the art of getting out of difficult entanglements. For nearly forty—three years, as an Escape Artist, he held the center of the stage by releasing himself, through his own efforts, from strait—jackets, all manner of manacles, chains, handcuffs, prison cells, chests, hampers, glass boxes, roll—top desks, and even iron boilers. With his arms thoroughly secured he leaped from bridges; suspended head downward by block and tackle he loosened himself from meshes of constricting apparatus. He allowed himself to be chained and buried in six feet of earth, to be locked in steel vaults, to be nailed in huge packing cases. Once, breaking free after an endeavor lasting over an hour, he said: “The pain, torture, agony, and misery of that struggle will forever live in my mind.” His variations on the escape act were endless, nothing being too bizarre, tedious, or difficult so long as the principles of a constraining force were present.

Ehrich Weiss, born in 1874, was the fifth child of an impoverished immigrant rabbi whose second wife was twenty—five years his junior. In an early predilection for the mystery of locks is found the first intimation of Ehrich's future profession. At the age of nine he learned successfully to imitate the trick of threading needles in his mouth while suspended upside down. Curbed by his father in his enthusiasm for magical lore, he left home at twelve to follow shows and circuses for about a year. At sixteen he discovered the memoirs of Robert Houdin, an old—time magician, and in a hopeful spirit of emulation adopted the name