He'd successfully escaped the clutches of poverty. By 1899, Houdini was an A-list Vaudeville Act. In this domain, as they say in the classics, the kid was a natural. By 1898, Houdini had reinvented himself as the Handcuff King, and the man whom no restraint could hold. However, the not-yet Great Houdini was street smart and resourceful. He hovered here, on the edge of historical obscurity, for another two years. According to Harry Houdini: The world's most famous magician, in 1896, Houdini placed an ad to sell all his tricks and props for a meager $20. Fellow practitioners of the prestidigitation arts viewed Houdini as competent at best. He tried almost every flavor of magic in those years, but he settled on card magic, billing himself (with no false humility) as Houdini, King of Cards. His majestic stage name: 'Ehrich, the Prince of the Air.'įirst with his friend and then his brother, Harry Houdini set about building a magic act. In 1883, at just 9-years-old, Ehrich performed his first act as a trapeze artist. Showing the first streak of chutzpah that'd serve him well his whole life, Ehrich strutted his stuff for the circus manager, and the future Harry Houdini got his first big break. One day the circus came to town, and (as all good origin stories go) Ehrich was on a mission. A natural athlete, he also picked up good acrobatic and tumbling skills. According to Houdini's biography on, at 6-years-old he could run the three cup scam well enough to fool passersby out of a few coins. Somewhere along the way, young Ehrich also acquired a few street grifting side hustles.

As a child, Ehrich sold newspapers, shined shoes, and did his best to bring in whatever money he could to support his family. According to Houdini: His Life and His Art, it was not an easy life for a poor Hungarian immigrant. One of seven children, Ehrich emigrated to the US with his family in 1878. The Great Harry Houdini was born Ehrich Weisz in Budapest in 1874. The story of Harry Houdini begins humbly.

The handcuff king