Magic
This page explains how I got involved in magic.
When I was 15 years old, I was hanging out with a friend and we were really bored. How bored were we? We were so bored we were looking through the yellow pages for something to do. We saw an ad for a magic shop. I had always been interested in magic and even had a Captain Crunch Magic set when I was in third grade. They were closed when we called but we went in the next day.
I bought a simple card trick called Color Monte (many people start with that one) and had so much fun with it I started going back regularly. Within a couple months I was offered a job there. Mostly I cleaned and inventoried but I also learned and was able to demo some tricks now and then.
About 6 months after learning my first card trick, I got a call from an older cousin who worked at a local department store. She had hired a puppet show for their Halloween party and they cancelled on her at the last minute. I knew I was not ready to be doing shows but she was in a jam. She assured me that they were only expecting about 10 kids so I agreed to go. When I arrived the actual count was closer to 50 kids plus parents and employees. Needless to say I was a nervous wreck. I had told my cousin I wanted to be in a corner or against a wall so no one would be behind me. They set me up right in front of the refreshment table. I had to many people and too much noise for anyone to hear a word I said, people walking to my side and behind me, and a million butterflies in my stomach. About half way through my killer finish (the Hippity Hop Rabbits for those who care), they interrupted me to announce the costume contest winners.
After the above experience I never wanted to do another show again. Andy Dallas (owner of the magic shop and mentor to countless beginning magicians) told me of some of his experiences. I figured if someone of his caliber could have a bad show then someone of my caliber could too.
My next shows were at Christmas. It was at the local Catholic grade school I had attended. It was for a carnival night. I had a classroom to myself. The people came in and sat down watched the show and left. I was where I wanted to be and they were where I wanted them. I did 5 short shows that night. At the close of the second show, as I turned to reset my stuff, the audience started clapping. Startled, I turned around to see who came in the room.
They were clapping for me.
That was it, I was hooked. Since then I have done more shows than I can count. School functions, birthday parties, church functions, Town holiday parties, businesses, restaurants, outside, inside, you name it. If you can think of a gathering of people, I have probably performed in that situation.
One of the earliest lessons you learn in magic is it doesn't matter how good you do something if the audience is not entertained... and just because one group likes something does not mean all groups will. I was performing at a birthday party for a five-year-old girl. There is a trick called the Pom-Pom Stick. It is a wand about two feet long with a string through each end and 4 different colored pompoms, one at each end of each string. It is a fast moving routine with lots of quick talking and repetition of the word pompom. Kids usually laugh at the patter and both they and the adults are mystified to find that the strings which seem to be connected are shown to be separate at the end.
Well, I went through the routine flawlessly. The kids were laughing the parents were enjoying it... then just as I finished, the birthday girl sitting right up front says (with a big grin on her face) "Do you do magic with that too?" The adults cracked up (me included) I said "Apparently not." And I went on with the show. I guess that does not really illustrate the lesson I was talking about but I like the story and it's to late... you already read it.
More to come later.. click the dancing frog to return to my homepage.
