Oooh, I was thinking it was a regular actor. I never knew Houdini appeared in anything.
Well, I said that he was noted for stage and screen. He had a series of silents where he showed off his stuff. He nearly drowned doing one stunt.
There were hints within clues like "It ESCAPES me why this forum can't....and at the Temple he just wanted to GET OUT. Nobody picked up on it. I'm thinking from apathy.
Houdini was a virtuoso. A true genius. Mozart could look at a keyboard and see music. Harry could look at a key and visualize the tumblers. An innate understanding of things mechanical. He was benefited by years in dime carnivals where he picked the minds and techniques of seasoned tricksters. For example: swallowing and regurgitating keys.
But it was his physical power that put him over all others. That power gave him ungodly confidence to do things that others would never attempt. Like being put in a trunk and thrown into a freezing Detroit river. Or dangling upside down from a building in a strait Jacket. (it was easier to free himself upside down)
Of course you all know how he died. Fatigued after a performance he was surprised with his stomach muscles relaxed by a punch from a college athlete. An hour later was visibly sick, a raging fever followed and he STILL kept performing for 2 days, refusing treatment. His own hubris that made him what he was killed him.