Harry Houdini's "big break" came in 1899, when he met the showman Martin Beck. He soon began experimenting with escape acts, however. At one point he billed himself as the "King of Cards" and "King of Handcuffs." One of his most notable non-escape stage illusions was performed in London's hippodrome: he vanished a full-grown elephant (with its trainer) from a stage, beneath which was a swimming pool. Houdini initially focused on traditional card acts. For the rest of his performing career, Bess would work as his stage assistant. Initially, his magic career resulted in little success, though he met fellow performer Wilhelmina Beatrice (Bess) Rahner in 1893, and married her three weeks later. The first part of his new name, Harry, was an homage to Harry Kellar, another of Weiss' largest influences. In 1891, Weiss became a professional magician, and began calling himself "Harry Houdini" because he was influenced by French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin and his friend Jack Hayman told him that in French adding an "i" to Houdin would mean "like Houdin". He made his public debut as a 9 year old trapeze artist, calling himself, "Ehrich, the prince of the air". As a child Ehrich took several jobs, one of which was as a locksmith's apprentice. Rabbi Weiss later was joined by the rest of the family once he found more permanent housing. They lived in a boarding-house on East 79th Street.
This was after Houdini had run away for a year. On June 6, 1882, Rabbi Weiss became an American citizen, then after losing his tenure, he moved to New York City with Ehrich in 1887. In 1880 the family was living on Appleton Street. He immigrated at the age of 4 on Jon the SS Fresia with his mother (listed as Cisy), sister Aurine, and brothers Nathan, and Willi At first, they lived in Appleton, where his father served as rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation. In 1878, his family moved to the United States, where his name was listed as Ehrich Weiss, but he was called "Ehrie" or "Harry" by friends. From 1900 onwards Houdini claimed in interviews to have been born in Appleton, Wisconsin on April 6, 1874, but his Hungarian birth certificate was uncovered by researchers after his death. Ehrich had the following siblings: Armin M. His father, Mayer(Mayo)Samuel Weisz (1829-1892) also known as Samuel Mayer Weisz (1829-1892) was a rabbi and his mother was Cecilia Steiner (1841-1913). Houdini was born as Ehrich Weiss in Budapest, Hungary to a Jewish family upon immigration to America the family name was changed to Weiss from the original name of Weisz because of immigration purposes.
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