Page "Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin" Paragraph 70

Jim Steinmeyer said in his book, Hiding the Elephant, that every magician of the 20th century was haunted by Robert-Houdin, "… who cast an enormous shadow over their generation.

" American magician and escape artist Harry Houdini ( born Ehrich Weiss ) was so impressed by Robert-Houdin that, after reading his autobiography in 1890, Ehrich adopted the stage name of " Houdini " in honour of Robert-Houdin.

He incorrectly believed that an i on the end of a name meant " like " in French ; but Houdini, his own career and reputation established by that time, later lost his youthful respect for Robert-Houdin, believing that he took undue credit for other magicians ' innovations, and wrote The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin in 1908.