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Harry Houdin

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Harry Houdin
BornMartin Harry Dignam
1830
Ireland
DiedJune 19 1869
New Plymouth, New Zealand
Resting placeTe Henui Cemetery
Flourished1860-1863

Harry Houdin (1830-1869), born in Ireland as Martin Harry Dignam in 1830, claimed to be the nephew of Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin and performed as "The Great Polynational Mimic."

Biography

Houdin toured Australia and New Zealand in the early 1860s with a one-man variety act featuring drawing-room magic and international impersonations done to song and dance. The magic part of his act included the Inexhaustible Bottle, Card Magic, the burned-and-restored handkerchief, and the production of feathers, a large ball, and other objects from a hat.

Advertisements for his performances stop after 1863, suggesting he retired from show business around that time.

Houdin and his wife, Martha, settled in New Plymouth, New Zealand, in about 1864. Houdin died on June 19, 1869, at the age of 39. [1][2]

References

  1. http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=888434
  2. Harry Houdin: "The Great Polynational Mimic", Tom Interval (e-book, 2012)