Harry Houdini and his unbreakable chain to Appleton

Harry Houdini was a master of illusion. Appleton officials have paid tribute to his talents with a museum exhibit and naming rights — all because he spent some time in the city as a child. But, did he love the city as much as it loves him? Does it matter? WPR’s Corrinne Hess took a barrel ride through Houdini’s chains to Wisconsin.

==

Turn-of-the century master escapist Harry Houdini has never been able to break free from Appleton, Wisconsin.

The city is home to Houdini Plaza and Houdini Elementary School. Residents celebrate Houdini’s birthday on April 6 and hold seances in attempts to communicate with him.

But the magician’s actual love of Appleton is debatable.

According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, Houdini was born Erich Weiss in Budapest Hungary in 1874. His family moved to Appleton in 1878, when he was 4. Houdini was gone by the time he turned 9.

Appleton native Erin Gretzinger said when she was a kid, the Houdini Plaza was built. Gretzinger said there were rumors and jokes around town that Houdini didn’t even like living in Appleton.

“At some point, I learned not only do we have all this stuff named after him, but he didn’t even like the place,” Gretzinger said, laughing at the idea. “I think it’s always exciting to wonder about someone being from a place and the connections that make even great people seem human. I guess for Appleton, if our claim to fame is Houdini, why not? Even if he didn’t like it here.”

Another famous Appleton son, actor Willem Dafoe, was asked by Vanity Fair which historical figure he identifies with.

His response: Harry Houdini.

“We both escaped the favelas of Appleton, Wisconsin,” Dafoe said.

A favela, by the way, is a Brazilian slum.

Dustin Mack, chief curator at the History Museum at The Castle in Appleton, is not convinced Houdini didn’t love Appleton.

The museum’s second floor has a popular permanent Houdini exhibit. Mack has read letters Houdini wrote to his brother about his cherished childhood memories of the town.

Sometimes, Houdini claimed Appleton as his hometown. He also said Milwaukee and New York City were his hometowns.

Being a magician by trade, Houdini was adept in lying, Mack said.

“He was so skilled at generating positive PR and marketing himself before there was radio, before television,” Mack said. “And because they don’t have these shared communication networks, he’s able to tell one newspaper one thing, then travel across the country and tell them the exact opposite, knowing that the chances of those stories ever lining up are slim to none.”

While Houdini’s earliest years were spent in Appleton, he visited the city as an adult.

Edna Ferber, a reporter for the Appleton Post-Crescent, interviewed Houdini for the newspaper when the magician was 30. In her autobiography, “A Particular Treasure,” Ferber recalled encountering him at the drugstore across the street from the newspaper. Houdini handed Ferber a padlock he had seamlessly gotten off of a slot machine in the store.

“He said, ‘Better give it to the drugstore man. Somebody’ll steal all his chewing gum.’ I hadn’t seen so much as a movement of his fingers. Tottering with admiration, I went back to the office to write my story,” Ferber wrote.

But it wasn’t until the 1980s that Appleton really began to claim Houdini as its own.

Sidney Radner, a retired rug salesman from Holyoke, Massachusetts, thought the city should take advantage of the Houdini family’s short stint in Appleton.

Radner had once studied under Houdini’s younger brother, Theodore, also an escape artist, who used the name Hardeen.

When Houdini died in 1926, Hardeen sold some of the famous magician’s props to Radner. Radner inherited even more when Hardeen died in 1945.

Over time, Radner was loaning out various pieces to small museums across the country, eventually renting the vast majority of his collection to the Houdini Historical Center in Appleton, in exchange for royalties and free travel and meals from New York to Wisconsin.

“When the organization decided they wanted to draw some more lines in terms of the deal, that’s when things got messy,” Mack said.

Radner didn’t want the perks to end. He was also upset about a new exhibit at the museum that revealed how Houdini completed his most iconic escape trick, “Metamorphosis.”

The exhibit, called A.K.A. Houdini, still exists today.

Radner and the Outagamie County Historical Society cut ties in the early 2000s. Radner eventually sold his 1,000-piece Houdini collection at auction for close to $1 million. Magician David Copperfield purchased several pieces.

Radner died in 2011 at age 91.

But Houdini lives on.

On a recent Tuesday, the exhibit in Appleton had a steady stream of visitors.

Nine-year-old magician Adara even performed Houdini’s Metamorphosis on Dustin Mack, who proved to be much more than a museum curator.

After locking Mack up in “jail,” Adara closed the curtain.

Seconds later, Mack emerged.

“Tada!” Adara said. “Magic!”