Most of his free time, however, was spent practicing magic tricks. One of his brother, Theo, had learned how to do a few magic tricks and taught them to Ehrich. At the factory, he made friends with Jacob Hyman, who was also interested in magic. They learned more tricks and practiced together whenever they could. Ehrich also found out about magic tricks through books. He often stopped to look through the used books that were sold on the streets in those days. In fact, throughout his life, he loved books and reading. At the time of his death, he had an enormous collection of book on magic.