Did Harry Houdini create/invent ALL the escapes that he did, or did someone else help or do it for him?

All the above.
Houdini revamped some older and current effects as well as create some of his own.
Houdini was a master at working locks and was very athletic.
Houdini was a collector of books on Magic and Magician's and I am sure a lot of his idea's (inspiration) came from some of those books. This is one reason that just knowing how to do a particular effect is not good enough but knowing a bit about the history of Magic and the lives of other Magician's is also very important in order to get your own creative juices flowing.
It has been stated in many posts here at the Magic Café' that many times we will see something "New and Different" only to find out later that it was actually something from years gone by.
Iven

Cool, thanks.

Houdini had a great "brain trust" around him, most prominently, Jim Collins, his chief assistant and mechanic. Collins was always loyal to his boss. He died in 1948 (22 years after HH) and never revealed any of Houdini's methods - though many asked him to do so.

Also Houdini was great at getting his name in the paper over and over again. A master at publicity and getting the public to talk about him.

Absolutely correct Bish!!

I think, while he was an amazing Magician/Escape Artist, Houdini's biggest strength was in his marketing.

Think about it, in his era there was no Internet, world wide T.V. broadcasting or published media, YET, just about everyone on the planet knew who you were talking about when you mentioned his name.

THAT, to me, is real magic.

Prof. Piper
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