LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Harry Houdini: Bess Rahner
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Typically, during these early years, Harry would perform his famed "Hindoo Needle Trick, " in which he appeared to swallow 40 needles, then drew them from his mouth, threaded together. Bess became a well-prompted "mentalist, " performing mind-reading routines based on an alpha-numeric code known to her and Harry. In 1895, in Massachusetts, Houdini first conceived the notion of escaping not from his own handcuffs, but from those of the local police. These stunts brought free publicity, which eventually led to the Houdinis' crack at the big time - a booking in the Hopkins Theatre, a top Chicago vaudeville house.
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In 1900, Harry and Bess sailed to England with no bookings and only enough money to survive a week. Houdini was able to get an engagement at a London theater, but his breakthrough came when he successfully broke free after being wrapped around a pillar and handcuffed at Scotland Yard. The publicity from that escape caused the theater to extend Houdini’s booking. His fame quickly spread and he eventually played there for six months. Sold-out engagements quickly followed in Germany and then throughout Europe. Wherever he went, Houdini called upon local police to restrain him, but he continually confounded the authorities and escaped.
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In 1891 Houdini formed a magic team with two of his brothers, called the “Brothers Houdini”. They were not very successful, but they did gain a lot of experience. Harry Houdini was the real showman and became the star of the act. In 1894 while Houdini was working in a circus, he met a young girl who was a singer named Bess Rahner. They fell in love and were married. The Brothers Houdini group soon broke up and Bess became part of the show.
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In a few seconds, Houdini clapped his hands. He popped out from the cabinet, and appeared in front of the audience. The trunk was wheeled out and opened. The sack was untied and from it emerged Bess Houdini. She was wearing the coat that Houdini had been wearing when he entered the trunk. The fastenings of both trunk and sack looked completely untouched.
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The original scoop story evaporated in a confusion of charges, countercharges, and denials, and Bess Houdini did not refer to the matter again in public. Many believe the evidence favors the original claim that Ford really did break the Houdini code by a mediumistic message from the beyond. Bess Houdini died February 11, 1943.
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Houdini left a final sting for his spiritualist opponents: shortly before his death, he had made a pact with his wife, Bess Houdini, to contact her from the other side if possible and deliver a pre-arranged coded message. Every Halloween for the next 10 years, Bess held a s�ance to test the pact. In 1936, after a last unsuccessful seance on the roof of the Knickerbokker hotel, she put out the candle that she had kept burning beside a photograph of Houdini since his death, later (1943) saying "ten years is long enough to wait for any man."
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Bess Rahner