Houdini got permission to perform but soon faced another problem when a newspaper published an article claiming that he had bribed a police officer in order to make his escape. Houdini hired a lawyer and brought a lawsuit for slander. He could only win the case by revealing some of his secrets. He demonstrated how he banged on a lock until the spring weakened and it opened, and took the judge to the side of the room and showed him how he got out of handcuffs. Some biographers say that the judge brought Houdini to his back office and told him that he must open the judge’s safe in order to prove that he wasn’t a fraud, but that the safe had been left open, by sheer luck. In any case, Houdini won the suit, and the newspaper published an apology. In police-controlled Germany, Houdini’s ability to escape physical restraints and willingness to challenge authority made him something of a hero and a symbol of freedom and liberty to the German people.
While in Germany, Houdini attempted to interview a famous retired magician named Wiljalba Frikell, who had done more performances than any other magician. At first the man refused to see Houdini, as he believed that Houdini was really his illegitimate son that had come to confront him. Eventually Frikell agreed to meet with Houdini but died of a heart attack a mere two hours before Houdini was scheduled to arrive.
Houdini continued to encourage challengers to try to restrain him and to face imitators, whom he went out of his way to humiliate by showing up at their performances and cuffing them in restraints from which they could not escape.
Overall, German people worshipped Houdini, and he enjoyed his time there. He spoke a little bit of German, as his father had spoken it in his childhood home, and endeared himself to the German public by trying to communicate in that language. He brought his mother, whom he was fully supporting financially, to Germany to visit for one summer, and reportedly bought her a dress that had been worn by the late Queen Victoria.
Houdini had more limited success in Paris; the police there did not allow him to perform escapes from some of the famous military prisons, and he received good but brief reviews. He did take advantage of his time in France to attempt to visit the surviving family of Robert-Houdin, the famous French magician whom Houdini worshipped and after whom he had named himself. Robert-Houdin’s daughter-in-law refused to allow him to visit, and when Houdini went to the house anyway, refused to allow him inside. Instead, Houdini went to the nearby cemetery where Robert-Houdin’s grave was located and paid his respects, staying by the grave for half an hour.
Paris was also where Houdini made his first foray into acting in a brief film called the Merveilleux Exploits du Celebre Houdini a Paris.
Russia
In spring of 1903 Houdini was booked to perform in Moscow, Russia. At the time the country’s authoritarian government maintained oppressive control over the population and demanded that people carry internal passports to travel from one place in the country to another. The government heavily employed censorship tactics in order to keep control over the country’s citizens, and the police spied on citizens’ activities at all times.
In addition, there was an intense anti-Semitic sentiment. During Houdini’s time there, violence against Jews was increasing. Houdini went to visit the site of a massacre of Jews in the Russian town of Kishinev, horrified and offended at the violence against his people. Biographers are amazed that Houdini was even allowed to perform in Moscow, as at the time Jews were not allowed into Russia. Houdini did not enjoy the culture of Russia, finding the people very superstitious and “backwards.” He did reportedly claim a victory by escaping a “Siberian Transport Carette”—a large portable cell used to transport prisoners to Siberia. He also performed for Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and the duchess at the Palace Kleinmichel, performing his needle-swallowing act. Houdini performed in his rudimentary version of the Russian language, which improved with practice.
Know More About: Robert-Houdin
Jean Eugene Robert was born in 1805 in Blois, France. He was a clockmaker (a family business) before becoming the “father of modern magic.” His name acquired the hyphenated “Houdin” when he married Josephe Cecile Houdin. His wife was also from a clock making family, and it is thought that he added her name for business reasons.
He was famous for using electricity in his performances and for his act “Second Sight.” In this act he would blindfold his son, then hold up objects for his son to identify. It is generally agreed that Robert-Houdin used a talking code for this trick. Indeed, a part of The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin by Houdini is dedicated to explaining that not only did Robert-Houdin not invent the act “Second Sight,” but also how the talking code or other audio signals were used to perform it.