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At one point, he billed himself as the "King of Cards". Houdini focused initially on traditional card tricks. He performed in dime museums and sideshows, and even doubled as "the Wild Man" at a circus.

1907Īt the outset, Houdini's magic career resulted in little success. "My Two Sweethearts" - Houdini with his mother and wife, ca. In 1918 he registered for selective service as Harry Handcuff Houdini. In later life, Houdini would claim that the first part of his new name, Harry, was a homage to Harry Kellar, whom Houdini admired. Weiss became a professional magician and began calling himself "Harry Houdini" because he was heavily influenced by the French magician Jean Eugne Robert-Houdin, and his friend Jack Hayman told him, erroneously, that in French, adding an "i" to Houdin would mean "like Houdin" the great magician. He made his public dbut as a 9-year-old trapeze artist, calling himself "Ehrich, the prince of the air". As a child, Ehrich Weiss took several jobs, next becoming a champion cross country runner. They were joined by the rest of the family once Rabbi Weiss found permanent housing. They lived in a boarding house on East 79th Street. Losing his tenure at Zion in 1887, Rabbi Weiss moved with Ehrich to New York City. On June 6, 1882, Rabbi Weiss became an American citizen. According to the 1880 census, the family lived on Appleton Street. They first lived in Appleton, Wisconsin, where his father served as Rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation. The family changed the spelling of their Hungarian surname into Weiss and the spelling of their son's name into Ehrich. Weisz came to the United States on July 3, 1878, sailing on the SS Fresia with his mother (who was pregnant) and his four brothers.

Houdini was one of seven children: Herman M. His parents were Rabbi Mayer (Mayo) Samuel Weisz (1829–1892) and his wife Cecilia Steiner (1841–1913). From 1907 on, however, Houdini would claim in interviews to have been born in Appleton, Wisconsin, on April 6, 1874. Harry Houdini was born as Erik Ivan Weisz (he would later spell his birth name as Ehrich Weiss) in Budapest, Hungary, on March 24, 1874.