Harry Houdini (Budapest, 1874 - Detroit, 1926). Son of Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss and Cecilia Steiner Weiss. As a child he moved to the United States with his family, settling in Appleton, Wisconsin. He took his stage name from the French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. He began his career in 1882 as a trapeze artist and contortionist. Later he would become famous for his magic shows. His most recognized facet was that of escapist because of his great ability to free himself from wives, locks and chains of any kind. One of his most incredible feats was to escape from a locked box, sealed with steel tape and thrown into the waters of Battery Park harbor in New York.