Weiss Family moved to Milwaukee Wisconsin. Ehrich’s father did not luck finding work. The only way to earn money was by giving Hebrew lessons. Weiss family often had trouble paying the rent and putting food. The older Weiss boy left school to help supports the family. Ehrich eight years old, he worked after school selling newspapers and shining shoes.
When he was nine, friend in the neighborhood organized a children’s circus. They charged five cent. Ehrich’s mother made him a costume, and he performed on the trapeze. He called himself “Eric, Prince of the Air” and his best trick was to pick up pins with his teeth. He also performed as a contortionist. This early training on the trapeze and as contortionist was useful for him later in life and made him famous.
Ehrich continued to work after school. He wanted to earn more to help his family, so he decided to go to Texas. But his parents would not allow him to leave, he ran away. This was not a very well-planned escape and he also got on the wrong train, so that he ended up in Kansas City, Missouri.
In Kansas City, he sent his parents a postcard. He told them not to worry. He was going to Texas to make some money and he would be back in a year.But he did not get to Texas. He walked out of Kansas City, hoping to find work on a farm.
One day, tired and hungry, he knocked on a farmhouses door in southern Wisconsin. A woman named Mrs. Flitcrof gave him a good meal and a bath and sewed a hole in his pants. He with helping on the farm and also earned some money in the nearby town, which he sent home to his parents.
He got a letter from his mother telling him that his father had gone to New York City. He was hoping to find work as a rabbi there, since there was such a large Jewish community. Ehrich left the Flitcrofts and moved east to be with his father.
Ehrich’s father was unable to find any work except giving Hebrew lessons. However New York was full of opportunities. He quickly got work as a messenger for a department store. He and his father had saved enough money to bring the rest of the family to New York.