Theodore "Dash" Hardeen (born Ferenc Dezső Weisz; March 4, 1876 – June 12, 1945) was a

Hungarian-American Hungarian Americans ( Hungarian: ''amerikai magyarok'') are Americans of Hungarian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated that there are approximately 1.396 million Americans of Hungarian descent as of 2018. The total number of people wit ...

magician and

escape artist Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists (also classified as escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks, and ot ...

who was the younger brother of

Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American Escapology, escape artist, Magic (illusion), magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his Escapology, escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to ...

. Hardeen, who usually billed himself as the "brother of Houdini", was the founder of the

Magician's Guild The Magician's Guild was an organization founded by Theodore Hardeen. Presidents *Theodore Hardeen (1876–1945) and founder, 1944 to 1945 *Richard Valentine Pitchford Richard Valentine Pitchford (24 November 1895 – 13 November 1973) w ...

. 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 slides their arms into the ...

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 and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, and went by the name "Theodore Weiss" when he and his family were living in Appleton, Wisconsin. He was known as "Deshi" and later "Dash" by his parents. In 1893, Hardeen performed with Houdini at

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

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

Magical career

Will Goldston Will Goldston (1878–1948) was an English stage magician in the first half of the 20th century. Career He was born in the city of Liverpool and became interested in the subject at the age of eleven. As well as being a performer he was involved ...

, 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 born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

circuit, doing many of his late brother's routines. From 1938 to 1941, he was featured in Olsen and Johnson's Broadway revue, '' Hellzapoppin''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

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

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

). 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 from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one ...

short film for Warner Bros. 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 comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in t ...

shorts. Like his brother, Hardeen was skeptical of the claims of spiritualist mediums. With his friend Julien Proskauer he exposed the fraudulent methods of 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 wi ...

, requested that all his files 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 apparatus were damaged. Later that year, Hardeen burned all of Houdini's personal files in a furnace in his basement. Planning on writing a book about his brother, in 1945 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 a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, 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.

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 Julien Proskauer (left) and Hardeen (right) revealing a fraudulent method of table-turning. 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