Houdini disregarded the incident, but that same evening, he complained of discomfort and stomach cramps. Moreover, when standing, the body can move backwards to absorb the force of a punch, but being reclined against a hard surface such as a couch would obstruct the body’s ability to dissipate the force, thus increasing the risk of injury. While an adult male with a normal appendix, especially someone as physically trained as Houdini, who presumably had strong abdominal wall muscles, would not be likely to suffer injury to their appendix while standing and anticipating a strike, Houdini's reclined position with relaxed abdominal muscles made his organs more vulnerable. With his back pressed to the couch and reclined, the position of his body was unfavorable to performing the trick safely. Houdini was still reclined on the couch and had no time to prepare for the punches that left him in considerable pain. According to witness Sam Smilovitz, when Houdini affirmed, Whitehead abruptly delivered “four or five terribly forcible, deliberate, well-directed blows” to his stomach. Gordon Whitehead arrived and asked Houdini if it was true that he could resist hard punches to his abdomen. Houdini would later write The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin (1908), a debunking study of Houdin’s abilities.īoxer Jack Dempsey pretends to hit Houdini while Benny Leonard holds him, ca. Hyman also had an interest in magic, and the two began performing together, calling themselves "Brothers Houdini," after the French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. In New York, Ehrich worked as an electric driller, messenger, newsboy, tie-lining cutter, and magician called "Eric the Great." He met Jacob Hyman at the H.
The family had since moved to New York City in the hopes that Mayer Weiss would find a better occupation there. In 1886, at the age of twelve, Ehrich ran away from home, claiming that wanderlust took hold of him, but returned home to his family a few months later. Even at an early age he was drawn to performing, and made his debut in a neighborhood circus at the age of nine as a trapeze artist and contortionist, calling himself "The Prince of the Air."
Partly due to his father's inability to secure a stable source of income, Houdini was forced to work from an early age to help the family make ends meet.
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