Ferenc Dezső Weisz (March 4, 1876 – June 12, 1945), known as Theodore "Dash" Hardeen, was a Hungarian-American magician and

escape artist Escapology is the practice of escaping from physical restraint, restraints or other traps. Escapologists (also classified as escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, Cage (enclosure), cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, bu ...

who was the younger brother of

Harry Houdini Erik Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known professionally as Harry Houdini ( ), was a Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts. Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in ...

. Hardeen, who usually billed himself as the "brother of Houdini", was the founder of the Magician's Guild. Hardeen was the first magician to conceive escaping from a

straitjacket A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with long sleeves that surpass the tips of the wearer's fingers. Its most typical use is restraining people who may cause harm to themselves or others. Once the wearer's arms are in the sleeves, ...

in full view of the audience, rather than behind a curtain.

Early life

Hardeen was born as "Ferenc Dezső Weisz" (or "Ferencz Dezső Weisz") in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, and went by the name "Theodore Weiss" when he and his family were living in

Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton () is the county seat of Outagamie County, Wisconsin, United States, with small portions extending into Calumet County, Wisconsin, Calumet and Winnebago County, Wisconsin, Winnebago counties. Located on the Fox River (Green Bay tributary ...

. He was known as "Deshi" and later "Dash" by his parents. In 1893, Hardeen performed with Houdini at

Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...

as "The Brothers Houdini". While he and Harry were there, Harry met and married Wilhelmina Beatrice "Bess" Rahner.

Career

Will Goldston, English stage magician and editor of the ''Magician Annual'', wrote that: After his brother's death in 1926, Hardeen played the

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

circuit, doing many of his late brother's routines. From 1938 to 1941, he was featured in

Olsen and Johnson John Sigvard "Ole" Olsen (November 6, 1892 – January 26, 1963) and Harold Ogden "Chic" Johnson (March 5, 1891 – February 26, 1962) were American comedians of vaudeville, radio, the Broadway theatre, Broadway stage, motion pictures and televis ...

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

revue, '' Hellzapoppin''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he performed for the troops (as his brother had done during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

). In 1936, Hardeen starred in a

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...

short film for

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

called ''Medium Well Done''. In it, Hardeen played a "hardboiled detective" on the case of a bogus medium. The film was directed by Lloyd French, who directed many of the early

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...

shorts.

Personal life and death

Like his brother, Hardeen was skeptical of the claims of spiritualist

mediums Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

. With his friend

Julien Proskauer Julien Joseph Proskauer (June 14, 1893 – December 18, 1958) was an American magician and author. Proskauer was born June 14, 1893, to Joseph Proskauer and Bertha Richman Proskauer in New York City. He was a friend of Harry Houdini and was we ...

, he exposed the fraudulent methods of the mediums. Houdini, in his

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

, requested that all his

files File or filing may refer to: Mechanical tools and processes * File (tool), a tool used to remove fine amounts of material from a workpiece. **Filing (metalworking), a material removal process in manufacturing ** Nail file, a tool used to gentl ...

be given to Hardeen and destroyed ("I give, devise and bequeath to my brother, Theodore, Professionally known as "Hardeen" all my theatrical effects, new mysteries and illusions and accompanying paraphernalia, to be burnt and destroyed upon his death.") On August 15, 1927, Hardeen's Brooklyn home was broken into and some of Houdini's apparatuses were damaged. Later that year, Hardeen burned all of Houdini's personal files in a furnace in his basement. In 1945, while planning on writing a book about his brother, Hardeen went to Manhattan's Doctors Hospital for a simple operation. He unexpectedly died of complications while recovering from the procedure. He was 69 years old.

Legacy

During his final show on May 29, 1945, in Ridgeway,

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, Hardeen named his chief assistant, Douglas Geoffrey, his official successor. Geoffrey then went on to perform as "Hardeen, Jr."; he died January 14, 1990, at the age of 82. Richard Valentine Pitchford (1895–1973) took over the Magicians' Guild after Hardeen's death. Sidney Hollis Radner received the Houdini collection from Hardeen. Hardeen appears as a character in season one of ''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter for the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s. The series sta ...

'', played by Remy Auberjonois.

Gallery

Image:Theodore Hardeen magician.png, Hardeen in 1903 Image:Hardeen-newspaper-advertisement 1911.jpg, A poster for a performance at a theater, c. 1911 Image:Theodore Hardeen revealing table tilting trickery.png, Magicians

(left) and Hardeen (right) revealing a fraudulent method of

table-turning Table-turning (also known as table-tapping, table-tipping or table-tilting) is a type of séance in which participants sit around a Table (furniture), table, place their hands on it, and wait for rotations. The table was purportedly made to serve ...

. Both wore wrist bands with metal hooks to lift the séance table. Image:Tombstone of Theo Hardeen.jpg, Hardeen's tombstone at the Houdini gravesite at Machpelah Cemetery in

. The inscription reads: "He went about doing good. We miss you, dear."

References

External links

Theodore Hareen is interviewed over WNYC in 1939
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardeen, Theodore 1876 births 1945 deaths American magicians American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent American performance artists American skeptics Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States Jews from Austria-Hungary Escapologists Harry Houdini Hungarian Jews Hungarian magicians Musicians from Budapest People from Appleton, Wisconsin American vaudeville performers Hungarian vaudeville performers Critics of Spiritualism