He had gained some slack by holding his crossed arms rigidly as the sleeve straps were fastened.

He was buckled in, carried to a cabinet and then placed behind curtains. After obtaining a straitjacket and weeks of practice, Houdini was ready to try the trick on stage. Houdini continued his career of escape by introducing the straitjacket escape into his routine. At this point, Houdini became known as 'The Handcuff King'. Eventually, Houdini would make go from town to town making a show of escaping not only standard police handcuffs, but also any 'trick' handcuffs brought by spectators. He read every piece of information that he could find on locking mechanisms and began collecting different kinds of cuffs and keys, taking them apart and studying their mechanisms. He discovered that almost all handcuffs could be opened with a single key or piece of bent metal. Harry also spent his free time pursuing his hobby: handcuffs. Harry and his wife Bess played for 26 weeks in 1895 with the Welsh Brothers Circus. Harry began his career as a famous escape artist with a trick called 'Metamorphosis.' In this trick, an assistant, and then later his wife, was placed into a locked box and then switched places with the magician within seconds after a curtain was raised. In his later years, Harry would feel so guilty about this that he dedicated his time to debunking these false mediums and psychics. As a result, Harry took a job with a traveling medicine show where he pretended to go into a trance and worked as a false medium where he would walk to the front of the stage, close his eyes and pass on messages from the dead. Though word of their talent was spreading, the Houdini's were still struggling financially.

Performing for the most part in dime museums, on platforms next to snake charmers, fire-eaters and human oddities, Harry and his brother Theo traveled as far west as Chicago, where the 'Brothers Houdini' performed during the 1893 World's Fair. Houdini's early career began in New York beer halls and theaters.

Harry houdini straitjacket