A famous 1899 photo of Harry Houdini, from the McManus-Young Collection.

Today is Harry Houdini’s birthday and the following excerpt from his obituary in the November 1, 1926 New York Times reveals how the man who eventually made an elephant “disappear” initially got his start in show business:

“Houdini was born on March 24, 1874. His name originally was Eric Weiss and he was the son of a rabbi. He did not take the name Harry Houdini until he had been a performer for many years. Legend has it that he opened his first lock when he wanted a piece of pie in the kitchen closet. It is certain that when scarcely more than a baby he showed skill as an acrobat and contortionist, and both these talents helped his start in the show business and his later development as an ‘escape king.’

At the age of 9 Houdini joined a traveling circus, touring Wisconsin as a contortionist and trapeze performer. The Davenport brothers were then famous, doing the first spiritualist work ever seen in this country. They would ring bells while bound inside a cabinet and would agree to free themselves from any bonds. This inspired Houdini to a somewhat similar performance. Standing in the middle of the ring, he would invite any one to tie him with ropes and would then free himself inside the cabinet.

In the ring at Coffeyville, Kan., a Sheriff tied him and then produced a pair of handcuffs with the taunt:

‘If I put these on you, you’ll never get loose.’

Houdini, still only a boy, told him to go ahead. After a much longer stay in the cabinet than usual, the performer emerged, carrying the handcuffs in his free hands. That was the beginning of his long series of escapes from every known sort of manacle. For years he called himself the Handcuff King, a title discarded as he extended and elevated the range of his performances.

From 1885 to 1900 he played all over the United States, in museums, music halls, circuses, and medicine shows, gradually improving his technique and giving up his purely contortionistic and acrobatic feats. In 1900 he made his first visit abroad, and in London his sensational escapes from handcuffs at Scotland Yard won him a six months engagement at the Alhambra. This was the first instance of his cleverly obtaining notoriety by a public or semi-public exhibition outside the theatre. No other showman, unless it was Barnum, knew better how to arouse the curiosity and amazement of the public in this manner.”

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Houdini fired a pistol in the air and--poof!--Jennie was gone.

The Hippodrome was a large-scale Manhattan entertainment venue that struggled mightily to make money in its later life, finally closing in 1939. But it had some great moments during its glory years. One such sensation was the time in 1918 when Harry Houdini made Jennie, a several-ton elephant, vanish into thin air in front of a 5,000 awed patrons. How did he do it? Mirrors. A 2007 Daily Mail article recalls the spectacular moment and its backstory. An excerpt:

“‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Houdini cried as, to the audience’s alarm, a full-grown Asian elephant, 8ft tall and weighing over 6,000lb, came running pacily into view. ‘Allow me to introduce Jennie, the world’s only vanishing elephant.’

Jennie the elephant proudly raised her trunk in greeting to the wide-eyed masses, before being led into a huge, brightly coloured box on wheels. The doors were closed behind her, there was a dramatic drum roll and the stage hands flung open the doors at both ends of the box to reveal that it was now – completely empty.

Houdini announced to rapturous applause: ‘You can plainly see, the animal is completely gone.’

The Vanishing Elephant became one of Houdini’s most famous tricks and he performed it in front of over a million people. For more than 90 years, long after his death, the tradecraft by which he made this huge beast disappear remained a secret even other magicians failed to solve.”