Problem: Erik Weisz was born in Budapest to a Jewish family. His parents were Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weisz (1829-1892) and Cecilia Steiner (1841-1913). Houdini was one of seven children: Herman M. (1863-1885) who was Houdini's half-brother, by Rabbi Weisz's first marriage; Nathan J. (1870-1927); Gottfried William (1872-1925); Theodore (1876-1945); Leopold D. (1879-1962); and Carrie Gladys (1882-1959), who was left almost blind after a childhood accident. Weisz arrived in the United States on July 3, 1878, on the SS Fresia with his mother (who was pregnant) and his four brothers.

In 1904, the London Daily Mirror newspaper challenged Houdini to escape from special handcuffs that it claimed had taken Nathaniel Hart, a locksmith from Birmingham, five years to make. Houdini accepted the challenge for March 17 during a matinee performance at London's Hippodrome theater. It was reported that 4000 people and more than 100 journalists turned out for the much-hyped event. The escape attempt dragged on for over an hour, during which Houdini emerged from his "ghost house" (a small screen used to conceal the method of his escape) several times. On one occasion he asked if the cuffs could be removed so he could take off his coat. The Mirror representative, Frank Parker, refused, saying Houdini could gain an advantage if he saw how the cuffs were unlocked. Houdini promptly took out a pen-knife and, holding the knife in his teeth, used it to cut his coat from his body. Some 56 minutes later, Houdini's wife appeared on stage and gave him a kiss. Many thought that in her mouth was the key to unlock the special handcuffs. However, it has since been suggested that Bess did not in fact enter the stage at all, and that this theory is unlikely due to the size of the 6-inch key Houdini then went back behind the curtain. After an hour and ten minutes, Houdini emerged free. As he was paraded on the shoulders of the cheering crowd, he broke down and wept. Houdini later said it was the most difficult escape of his career.  After Houdini's death, his friend Martin Beck was quoted in Will Goldston's book, Sensational Tales of Mystery Men, as admitting that Houdini was bested that day and had appealed to his wife, Bess, for help. Goldston goes on to claim that Bess begged the key from the Mirror representative, then slipped it to Houdini in a glass of water. It was stated in the book The Secret Life of Houdini that the key required to open the specially designed Mirror handcuffs was 6 inches long, and could not have been smuggled to Houdini in a glass of water. Goldston offered no proof of his account, and many modern biographers have found evidence (notably in the custom design of the handcuffs) that the Mirror challenge may have been arranged by Houdini and that his long struggle to escape was pure showmanship.  This escape was discussed in depth on the Travel Channel's Mysteries at the Museum in an interview with Houdini expert, magician and escape artist Dorothy Dietrich of Scranton's Houdini Museum.  A full-sized design of the same Mirror Handcuffs, as well as a replica of the Bramah style key for it, is on display to the public at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This set of cuffs is believed to be one of only six in the world, some of which are not on display.

Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?

Answer with quotes: A full-sized design of the same Mirror Handcuffs, as well as a replica of the Bramah style key for it, is on display to the public


Problem: A Bond girl is a character (or the actress portraying a character) who is an attractive love interest and/or female sidekick of James Bond in a novel, film, or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Xenia Onatopp, or Holly Goodhead, and are considered "ubiquitous symbol[s] of glamour and sophistication." There is no set rule on what kind of person a Bond girl will be or what role she will play. She may be an ally or an enemy of Bond, pivotal to the mission or simply eye candy.

Roald Dahl said that when writing You Only Live Twice, he was advised to use three Bond girls: The first should die "preferably in Bond's arms" early, the second a villain whom Bond seduces before she dies in an unusual and gory way midway, and the third survives to the end of the film. In several, the Bond girl is revealed, after her tryst with Bond, to be a villainess. Examples are Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera) in Never Say Never Again (1983), Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) in The World Is Not Enough (1999), and Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) in Die Another Day (2002). The Dalton films of the 1980s introduced the "Bond woman", who is equal to and challenges Bond, but he remains the heterosexual hero; they are depicted with Dalton and later Bonds and their cars and gadgets, implying that all are possessions that Bond can use and dispose.  As of 2013 there have been only two films in which James Bond falls in love with the Bond girl. The first was On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), in which Countess Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg) marries Bond but is shot dead by Irma Bunt and Ernst Stavro Blofeld at the story's end. The second was Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) in Casino Royale (2006). Bond confesses his love to her and resigns from MI6 so that they can have a normal life together. He later learns that she had been a double agent working for his enemies. The enemy organisation Quantum had kidnapped her former lover and had been blackmailing her to secure her co-operation. She ends up actually falling in love with Bond, but dies, as Quantum is closing in on her, by drowning in a lift in a building under renovation in Venice.  With the exception of these two doomed Bond girls, it is never explained why Bond's love interest in one film is gone by the next, and is never mentioned or even alluded to again. This is not always the case in the novels, which do sometimes make references to the Bond girls who have appeared in previous books. Tiffany Case and Honey Ryder are revealed to have married other men (in From Russia With Love and The Man With the Golden Gun respectively), and in Doctor No, Bond briefly wonders about Solitaire. In Licence Renewed it is specifically noted in an epilogue that Bond and Lavender Peacock stopped seeing each other after a brief romance. A unique case is Mary Goodnight, who appears in the novels, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice as Bond's secretary, before becoming a full-fledged Bond girl in The Man With the Golden Gun.

Which movie was she in?

Answer with quotes:
You Only Live Twice,