UCS verão 2015
Harry Houdini
Magician (1874-1926)
Famed magician and entertainer Harry Houdini was born Erich Weisz on March 24, 1874, in Budapest, Hungary.
One of seven children born to a Jewish rabbi and his wife, Erich moved with his family as a child to Appleton,
Wisconsin, where he later claimed he was born. When he was 13, Erich moved with his father to New York City,
taking on odd jobs and living in a boarding house before the rest of the family joined them. It was there that he
[5] became interested in trapeze arts.
In 1894, Erich launched his career as a professional magician and renamed himself Harry Houdini, the first
name being a derivative of his childhood nickname, "Ehrie," and the last an homage to the great French magician
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. Though his magic met with little success, he soon drew attention for his feats of escape
using handcuffs. In 1893, Houdini married fellow performer Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, who would serve as his
[10] lifelong stage assistant.
In 1899, Houdini's act caught the attention of Martin Beck, an entertainment manager who soon got him booked
at some of the best vaudeville* theaters in the country, followed by a tour of Europe. Houdini's feats would involve the
local police, who would search him for keys, chain his wrists, and lock him in their jails. The show was a huge
sensation, and he soon became the highest-paid performer in American vaudeville.
[15] Houdini continued his act in the United States in the early 1900s, constantly making it more challenging, moving
from handcuffs and straitjackets to locked water-filled tanks and nailed packing wooden boxes. In 1912, his act
reached its pinnacle with the Chinese Water Torture Cell, which would be the hallmark of his career, and from then on
he became a legend. In it, Houdini was suspended by his feet and lowered upside-down in a locked glass cabinet
filled with water, requiring him to hold his breath for more than three minutes to escape. The performance was so
[20] daring and such a crowd-pleaser that it remained in his act until his death in 1926.
__________ there are mixed reports as to the cause of Harry Houdini's death, it is certain that he suffered from
acute appendicitis. Whether his death was caused by a McGill University student who was testing his will by
punching him in the stomach (with permission) or by poison from a band of angry Spiritualists, it is unknown. What is
known is that he died of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix on October 31, 1926, at the age of 52, in Detroit,
[25] Michigan.
After his death, Houdini's props and effects were used by his brother Theodore Hardeen, who eventually sold
them to magician and collector Sidney H. Radner. Much of the collection could be seen at the Houdini Museum in
Appleton, Wisconsin, and remained there until Radner auctioned it off in 2004. Most of the prized pieces, including
the Chinese Water Torture Cell, went to magician David Copperfield.
Disponível em: <http://www.biography.com/people/harry-houdini-40056#synopsis>. Acesso em: 23 jul. 14. (Parcial e adaptado.)
É correto afirmar que o segmento the first name being a derivative of his childhood nickname, “Ehrie” (linhas 06 e 07), em relação à frase que o antecede, encerra uma
contradição.
comparação.
explicação.
conclusão.
adição.
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