Houdini: Art and Magic
If you never knew the impact of Erik Weisz, aka Harry Houdini, on America and Europe in the early part of the 20th century, you will learn about it at the Contemporary Jewish Museum's current exhibit "Houdini: Art and Magic".
The exhibit is expertly curated, extending across several rooms with artifacts from Houdini's life, videos of his feats, and some of the straightjackets, handcuffs and other tools of the magician's trade.
The exhibit is at the Contemporary Jewish Museum because Houdini was the son of a rabbi; the family emigrated from Hungary to Appleton, Wisconsin in the late 1800's. Houdini got an early start on the vaudeville circuit, and became famous when the booking agent Martin Beck booked him to perform on a much wider tour across the U.S. Weisz changed his name to Houdini in honor of the French magician Jean-Pierre Houdin, and garnered wide audiences for his escape acts. The exhibit is organized chronologically, and visitors also get to see video of the great Houdini in action, emerging unscathed from a freezing river after being dropped into the water buckled into a straightjacket. The magician famously ended his act by proclaiming "Will wonders never cease?". The wonders are all on display at the CJM until mid-January.
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