When vaudeville impresario Martin Beck "discovered" a struggling Harry Houdini in 1899 ... the escape actually looked like. As old film clips show, Houdini looks like a madman writhing and ...

Ehrich Weiss (Harry Houdini) born to Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss and his wife Cecelia on March 24 in Budapest, Hungary. At age nine, Ehrich and some neighborhood friends establish a five-cent circus.

He's known for playing a magician's assistant in Jonathan Creek, but now actor Alan Davies has made a documentary film exploring his own fascination for illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini.