Weiss Family moved to Milwaukee Wisconsin. Ehrich’s father have the only way to earn money was by giving Hebrew lessons. Weiss family often had trouble paying the rent and putting food. Ehrich eight years old, he worked after school selling newspapers and shining shoes to help supports the family.
When he was nine, friend in the neighborhood organized a children’s circus. 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 and performed as a contortionist.
Ehrich decided to go to Texas. But his parents would not allow him to leave, he ran away and he also got on the wrong train, so that he ended up in Kansas City. He sent his parents a postcard. He told them not to worry. He was going to Texas to make some money. But he did not get to Texas.
One day, tired and hungry, he knocked on a farmhouses door in southern Wisconsin. Mrs. Flitcrof gave him a good meal and a bath and sewed a hole in his pants.
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. 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.