THE EARLY YEARS OF HOUDINI'S FATHER

With the help of specialist scholars worldwide, we're slowly filling in the many gaps in the biography of Houdini's father, Mayer Samuel Weiss. Piecing together bits of information from the most reliable sources available, we can now present a rough outline of this remarkable man's story.

August 27, 1829: MSW was born in Nagykanizsa, then the largest Jewish community near Lake Balaton in present-day Hungary.  Weiss himself listed Nagykanizsa as his birthplace on the birth record of his son Deszo, Houdini's brother Dash, aka Hardeen. Our friends at Budapest's House of Houdini have verified this.

1830 – 40: MSW grew up in Keszthely with his family. Milbourne Christopher states that Harry's grandfather Leopold was a rabbi in Keszthely, a charming and elegant town on Lake Balaton which had a small Jewish population living on the outskirts of a large estate belonging to Count Festetics, a high-ranking member of the nobility. It appears the family went to Nagykanizsa, thirty miles away, to have the child, then returned home. 

Reconstruction of the old Jewish prayer house at Keszthely.

1840 – 46: from ages 10 - 16, MSW attended the Piarist school in Nagykanizsa. In that city he met and also began to study with Rabbi Leopold Loew, chief rabbi of Nagykanizsa and leader of the radical Neologue movement of the Jewish Enlightenment. [For this information we credit the House of Houdini, who have published the 1840 - 44 enrollment records of Samuel Weiss, who lists Loew as his rabbi. They credit Erzsébet Csomor, Senior Archivist at the Archive of Zala County.]

Piarist Fathers' School, Nagykanizsa

1844: Leopold Loew's son Tobias is born in Nagykanizsa, when Samuel Weiss is 14 years old.

1846 - 1851: MSW does his rabbinical training in Veszprém County, Hungary. We've learned this from the rabbinical ordination certificate we recently discovered. It is signed by the "district rabbi" from Tapolczafo, in Veszprém County, very close to Papa, which was Rabbi Loew's community in those years. This indicates a long association with the charismatic Rabbi Loew, who was the foremost preacher of his day in Hungary and a seminal figure in both the Jewish Enlightenment and Hungarian politics.

Rabbi Leopold Loew

1848-49: This was a tumultuous time throughout Europe, including Austria and Hungary. In 1848, inspired by the American and French Revolutions, there was a revolution in the Habsburg Empire. It was supported by the majority of Jews. We have searched lists of Jewish soldiers and Weiss's name does not appear. So we assume he continued his studies in order to get ordained in the year 1851.

Mayer Samuel Weiss would have seen street scenes like this in 1848.

1851: MSW was ordained as a rabbi at Ofen, now part of Budapest. A big question, still unanswered: did he get married around this time? It was strongly recommended, though not mandatory, that a rabbi be married, and age 20 is the customary time. One eminent Jewish scholar tells us Weiss would also be considered a dayan, a judge, authorized to decide questions of Jewish law as well as teaching theological matters and performing rituals.

Rabbi Weiss's certificate of ordination, page one

1851 – 60: This time-slot is still murky. Somewhere in this period, MSW meets and marries a Ms. "Pollacki," first cousin to Rosa Goldstein, known to the world as Rosa Csillag, the famous opera diva. 

In 1852 Rosa Csillag, age 20, marries Compars Herrmann, age 36, the world-famous magician and rival to Robert-Houdin. Herrmann and MSW become close friends and in-laws, according to Houdini. 

Our hypothesis is that they met through their wives, which would put MSW in and around Vienna between 1852 – 60. Is he perhaps getting his LLD degree, which Houdini incorrectly stated came from the University of Heidelberg? Maybe it was the University of Vienna, where many Jewish prodigies studied in those years. We're checking.

In 1856, Herrmann and Csillag divorce after a scandal involving the Kapellmeister of the Vienna Opera.

Sometime during this period, Weiss apparently moved with his bride back to Nagykanizsa, where he became a soapmaker. This has been a traditional trade for Jews and even rabbinical families (see Dr. Bronner today). The last great old-school soap artisan of Vienna was a Friedrich Weiss. Can't be sure if there's any connection - it's a common name.

Soap-making in Old Vienna

1861?: Armin, Houdini's half-brother, is born to MSW and wife #1 in Nagykanizsa. She dies - in childbirth?

1862?: MSW moves to Pest with toddler Armin, meets Cecilia Steiner.

1862: Compars Herrmann returns to Europe after tour of USA.

1863: MSW marries Cecilia. He's still a soapmaker.

1866: Meitl Julia Weiss born, dies shortly thereafter.

1867: Solomon Wilhelm Weiss born, dies shortly thereafter.

1867: Compars Herrmann is back in Vienna.

1868: Houdini's cousin, Blanche Corelli, daughter of Herrmann and Csillag, gets gift of a grand piano from family friend & benefactor Baron Carl Meyer Rothschild in London.

1867 – 70: Jews are finally allowed to study law at University of Pest. MSW becomes law student at Pest. So does his lifelong friend Tobias Loew, Leopold's eldest son, who becomes Acting Attorney General. Does he hire MSW to work as one of the few Jews in the Hungarian Civil Service? 

The Faculty of Law at the University of Budapest.

1870: Nathan Weiss born. MSW lists his profession as law student.

1872, 1874, 1876: Gottfried, Ehrich & Deszo born. MSW's profession now changed to legal counselor, a high-level Civil Service position.

1873: Worldwide financial panic. Vienna Stock Exchange crashes, Compars Herrmann is wiped out, decides to go on road again.

1874: Ehrich Weiss, Houdini, is born in Budapest.

1876: Deszo Weiss, aka Dash, aka Theo, aka Hardeen, born in Budapest.

1876: MSW kills a prince in a duel, according to the family. With the help of the Rothschilds, he escapes Budapest, flees to USA.

RELATED:

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HOUDINI'S FATHER ESCAPES BUDAPEST

WHO WAS HOUDINI'S FATHER? NEW INSIGHTS

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