Harry Houdini had issued a challenge to every magician, illusionist and escapologist in the world — perform any trick for him ...

Ehrich Weiss (Harry Houdini) born to Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss and his wife Cecelia on March 24 in Budapest, Hungary. At age nine, Ehrich and some neighborhood friends establish a five-cent circus.

With such a heady assortment of entertainment choices, many probably missed nineteen-year-old Ehrich Weiss, a.k.a. Harry Houdini, who had just embarked on his quest for fame as half of a magic act ...