Happy Birthday, Harry

Harry Houdini born today, 1874, in Budapest. Houdini (born Ehrich Weiss) began his career as a magician and became an escapologist - perhaps the escapologist. He certainly pioneered the PR-tie in and brought more than a little sex appeal to the trade as well. But in his later years he devoted his energy to investigating spiritualists - and debunking them. The Randi of his time, he used his knowledge of stage magic to unmask the tricks such frauds used to deceived their audiences. Since his death, yearly seances have been held (he'd told his wife, Bess, how to recognize a genuine message from beyond so that she would not be taken in, and she steadfastly refused to fall for those who claimed to have received one) - but to date, Houdini has not escaped from death. As he predicted...