His local feats became more daring with each of his return visits, among them a leap from the Seventh Street Bridge on March 13th, 1908. Despite various attempts and knots, no one was successful in restraining him he escaped again and again, " anyone to come on stage and bind him successfully," according to The Jewish Chronicle. The Grand Opera House, now the Warner Centre, hosted Houdini during his initial performances in the city between 19, after he had returned from a five-year "tour" of Europe that had earned him the nickname " King of Handcuffs." He quickly earned a reputation during his first stay in Pittsburgh: he challenged the general public to try to contain him, to bind his hands with rope. Harry Houdini was, and continues to be, the world's most prominent magician a man who was known not only for his showmanship but also for his complete lack of fear.īack in the early 20th century, when Pittsburgh served as a major destination for vaudeville performers, the self-made celebrities would come from all over the country to perform in a self-made city, a thriving steel town with a penchant for the arts. But you'll be hard-pressed to find a magician that doesn't revere him as one of the greatest illusionists of all time, Terbosic among them. At the height of his career, Houdini coined the tagline, "Failure means death," which remains his calling card 90 years after his death from an infection from a burst appendix, of all things. Beyond his nail-biting feats, he was a cultural phenomenon in large part due to his cockiness and tenacity.
Many magicians have tried and failed to reproduce Houdini's death-defying stunts - things like escaping a coffin buried by wet cement.
From a young age, he was taken by the art and mystery of magic and the characteristics that Houdini embodied and popularized within the form during his own time. Terbosic's own history with Pittsburgh has played an instrumental role in his path as an entertainer, where he started performing his tricks in local Pizza Huts in exchange for free pizza. "This is my chance to touch something he did something great," says Terbosic about Houdini 100, the full-day event commemorating Houdini's lingering legacy in the Steel City.
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