(Hyman continued to perform as "Houdini" well into the 1900s.) The brothers performed on the midway at the Columbia Exposition alongside another future great, Howard Thurston. Houdini's real brother, Theodore, aka Dash, soon replaced Hyman in the act.
Adding an "i" to the name Houdin, he adopted the stage name Harry Houdini and formed an act with his friend and fellow tie-cutter Jacob Hyman called "The Brothers Houdini." The high point of their act was a substitution trunk trick called Metamorphosis, which Houdini would perform throughout his entire career. It was at this time that Harry read the autobiography of a famous French magician, The Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, and became fascinated with magic. As a member of the Pastime Athletics Club and the Amateur Athletic Union, Harry competed in, and won, several foot races, boxing matches, bicycle races, and swim meets. His father also worked a sewing bench for a time. In New York, the teenage Harry landed a job as a tie-cutter at H. He later re-joined his family in New York City.
Very little is known about these runaway days, except that he planned to go to Galveston, Texas and went by the name Harry White. At age 12 he ran away from home, possibly twice. Ehrich, who was never educated past the third grade, worked shining shoes and as a messenger boy. When Mayer Samuel lost his job at the Appleton Synagogue, the family moved to Milwaukee, where they lived in poverty. He performed circus feats in his backyard and called himself "Ehrich, Prince of the Air." At age 8 he was impressed by a performance of the English conjurer, Dr. Here Ehrich (whose name would evolve to "Ehrie," then "Harry") developed an interest in athletics and acrobatics. When Ehrich was four years old, the Weiss family immigrated to the United States, settling in the progressive small town of Appleton, Wisconsin, where Mayer Samuel had secured work as a rabbi on an earlier trip. Ehrich was the fourth boy in a family that would ultimately total seven children (including one child from a previous marriage). His parents were Cecelia Steiner and Mayer Samuel Weiss, a rabbinical lawyer and sometimes soap maker. Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz (later spelled Ehrich Weiss) in Budapest, Hungary on March 24, 1874.
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