With Houdini’s 152nd Birthday coming up on March 24th, thought I would share my issue of Magie, no. 12, December 1932 that provides early published evidence that Houdini was not born in American on April 6th, 1874, but in Hungary on March 24th, 1874.
Page 165:
Page 165 Translation (courtesy of Patrick Culliton):
Page 166:
Also of interest is page 167, where Ottokar Fisher writes:
Page 167 Translation (courtesy of google translate):
On the question: “Houdini’s Birthplace”
When I began reading Harold Kellock’s book Life-Story, published in 1928, I was extremely surprised to find that the city of Appleton, Wisconsin, was listed as Houdini’s birthplace. On the occasion of his guest performance at the Ronacher Theater in Vienna in March 1902, Houdini himself told me that he was born in Hungary and came to the United States with his father at the age of two. I also know that he traveled to Budapest during Easter week, on Good Friday, a day which there were no performances, to visit his relatives. For me therefore, there has always been no doubt that Houdini was a native, Hungarian, which I also expressed in my obituary, which appeared after his death in the artist magazine “Das Programm.” I personally find it incomprehensible what purpose Houdini’s successors are pursuing by claiming he was born in Appleton! Such a claim is, in my opinion, absolutely incorrect and hardly verifiable. This is all the more so since the president of the Association of Hungarian Amateur Magicians (M.A.M.E.), Dr. Vilmos Lenard, through his thorough research in the birth registers of the Budapest Jewish Community and through contact with Houdini’s relatives who still live in Budapest today has clearly and irrefutably established Budapest as Houdini’s true birthplace and is able to substantiate the accuracy of his research officially certified documents.
Great stuff, Joe! Ottokar Fischer actually read the Kellock book. Interesting. I wonder if he was able to read it in English or if his copy was a translation. That he met Houdini in Vienna in 1902 is also interesting. Didn’t those two have a falling out later on?
Why did Ernst reject the Budapest birthplace revelation? Would it have created legal problems for Bess?
Thanks Leo. Interesting indeed. Would love to know. WRT Ernst, I think you answered you own question.
Found the answer to my first question. It’s in Silverman page 130. Houdini terminated his friendship with Fischer because the latter had published an article in the Sphinx knowing that Wilson and HH were locked in a bitter feud. HH took that as a betrayal of their friendship.
I wonder if HH and Fischer became friends again when his feud with Wilson ended.
Nice, thanks for sharing.
Congrats on owning one of these, Joe!
I wish we knew more about that Easter trip to Budapest. This is the only reference to it that I’m aware of.
Thanks John! Kellock p147-148 describes HH going on a Budapest Trip [where Cecilia was Queen for the day] at the close of his engagement at Hansa Theater, Hamburg [toward the end of April] and then escorting his mother back to America, but Good Friday was April 5th in 1901 and Houdini stayed in Germany. However, in 1902, Good Friday was March 28 where HH may have taken a break from performing at Ronacher’s Theater Vienna Austria to visit relatives and then returned to America after finishing final week engagement in Vienna. Take your pick on which story to BELIEVE!
This 1902 trip is different from the Queen for a Day trip, which was 1901.
I think we can assume the 1902 solo trip was on Good Friday, March 28, as Fischer says.
The dates of the 1901 Queen for a Day trip are VERY hard to nail down. All bios follow Kellock and place it after HH closes at that Hansa and before he opens in Essen. But there are issues with that. I think it’s more likely it happened in late August 1901. But I can’t find proof.
I’ve gone full rabbit hole on this!
https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2026/03/when-did-houdini-and-his-mother-go-to.html