After graduating college in Russia in 1924, she applied for a visa to go to America, which she got in 1925. In the beginning of 1926, she went to New York to visit some relatives, after which she was so amazed with the US that she decided to stay. She lived in Chicago for a bit, and then moved to LA.
He read a book about a famous magician from France. It is after him that he decided to take the name Houdini as it was not his real name. He was also constantly exposed to magic because he frequently visited the local circus.