Magic Drug Doping Scandal Shocks Magic World!Inside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

Former Assistant with Pre-Show Medications

I, like the rest of the Magic Fraternity / Sorority, am aghast at the latest scandal to have taken hold of our fine Art and sought to drag it into the headlines of squalid tabloids. I am not a purist or even one who is pure but the offenses that have just been uncovered and leaked to Inside Magic by a reliable source move me to righteous indignation.

We have always allowed for drug testing before or after performances in magic competition. I realize that according to the latest polling data, 43 percent of the regular Inside Magic readers are younger than the other 57 percent who are older. I hate to bring back memories we though were safely buried in collective unconscious but the recent scandal involving “doping” by magicians seeking to win convention contests at all costs cries out for a reconsideration of our policies.

In 1962, Kyle Baumgartner was stripped of his recently won awards as Best Stage Magician and Best Close-Up Artist because of alleged “doping.” Some of the 57 percent of us older folks recall the event and felt the repercussions throughout our career.

Mr. Baumgartner was a successful entertainer in the hotels that lined Miami Beach, including the Fontainebleau and The Hilton on the Beach. His past was murky but his magic was great and so there was little investigation into his story until after the scandal broke. At the old Lido Convention, held each year in Destin, Florida, Mr. Baumgartner entered as a contestant in the adult divisions for Close-Up and Stage. His Close-Up act featured his incredible dexterity with a deck of cards, four silver dollars and a small glass figurine. His effect, She Knows All, was the hit of the convention and rightly propelled him into the finalist ranks for the contest.

She Knows All showcased Mr. Baumgartner’s ability to back the four silver dollars as well as the entire deck of cards. Those of us who saw the act, recall the stunning production of the coins and cards. A spectator was asked to mentally select a single card from a regulation deck. The spectator was then asked to whisper the selection into the ear of the glass figurine. Mr. Baumgartner then announced he would correctly identify the card with the help of the figurine. He would produce cards from nowhere and if they appeared to be in sequence with the mentally chosen card, he would continue. If the cards seemed the opposite of the selected card, he would pay the spectator a dollar.

In the course of the effect, he…

Former Assistant with Pre-Show Medications

In the course of the effect, he ultimately produced the four silver dollars and after going through 51 other cards, he produced the last one from the deck and it was, of course, the very card the spectator had selected.

Mr. Baumgartner’s stage act was also an amazing display of guts. He offered a committee of three volunteers a chance to think of a place – either real or imagined – a time of day, and the name of a man or woman who would be at that place at the time selected.

When the three gentlemen came up with their selection, they were to whisper it into the ear of the glass figurine (the same one used earlier in the Close-Up entry) and Mr. Baumgartner would attempt to discern the time, place and person by receiving the psychic signals the inanimate figurine would deliver. That night, Mr. Baumgartner wrote down: Ann-Margaret, the Suez Canal and 2:22 am. The committee identified the three components of the prediction as being exactly correct.

I understand that Mr. Baumgartner won on all ballots for both competitions. It wasn’t until he was randomly tested by the Convention Committee, that it was revealed he had cheated. He was “doping.”

There was never a good explanation given for how any chemical, steroid, drug or blood-packing could allow him to perform both the physically demanding moves of his Close-Up routine or the clearly incredible mentalism presentation. I accepted the word of the Convention Chairman, Pete Easterly that the customary blood and urine testing showed the presence of a foreign substance that “enhanced or made possible the effects shown in the respective contests.”

Mr. Baumgartner rejected the findings but because forensic fluid sampling was still in its infancy in 1962, he had no grounds to contest the judges’ decision. He was humiliated at the final awards ceremony as the results were announced and he was reproved for his under-handed use of artificial means to accomplish the impossible. Mr. Baumgartner passed away two years ago this week and so it is ironic that we would again have a “doping” scandal on our hands.

While I was at the Magic Live Seminar – which was outstanding – I received word from one of the Inside Magic correspondents that the results of a stage contest at an un-named convention were invalidated for precisely the same reason. My correspondent told me that we had “another Baumgartner situation” occur this week at a prestigious convention in the Midwest.

The facts are sketchy but essentially this is what happened. A young couple were performing in the Adult Stage contest at this well-attended convention (that was not in Colon, Michigan) and did a simply incredible presentation of the Spirit Cabinet. The young lady was tied securely by one of the magicians in the audience and the knots were checked by another volunteer magician. That the committee consisted of magicians is significant; they could discern a false knot or Kellar-type tie. She was then placed inside the cabinet and before the curtain was drawn, she had a sash tied about her neck and stapled to the plank of wood against which she sat. Additional sash was used to constrain her legs and they too were stapled to the rudimentary seat. Finally, her tied hands accepted a second rope to hold her hands safely behind her back. The rope was then held by one of the committee members through the curtained cabinet.

Within seconds of the front curtain’s closure, the spirits’ presence was manifested in the clanging of gongs, tambourine shakes, a puppet show above the top of the curtains and the furious ejection of musical instruments, papers and even playing cards through the top of the cabinet. At any time, the male performer instructed, any of the committee members could throw open the curtain to ensure that his partner was still in place and still in a trance. The committee members threw open the curtains three times and each time, the woman was still in a trance and still securely fastened. The committee member holding the rope that extended from the back of the cabinet attested that there had been no movement in the taught rope.

The couple, like Mr. Baumgartner, won on each of the judge’s ballots. Their blood and urine samples were taken and evaluated by the local hospital. The results of the testing showed no abnormal or extra substance in the gentleman but did reveal some foreign substance in the bloodstream of the woman. Their title was taken from them before the awards ceremony and thus they were saved from public humiliation.

I called the organizer of this convention and asked about the situation:

Q: Do you want to release the names of the couple that are accused of “doping?”

A: No.

Q: Do you perform blood and urine analysis on all performers in the contests?

A: Yes, it is something we’ve been doing since the Baumgartner incident back in the late 1950’s. [sic – 1962]

Q: Is yours the only convention that takes blood and urine samples of its contestants?

A: No. All of the major conventions do this. No one wants to see “doping” used in Magic. Fortunately, we haven’t had any positive results ever; until this week.

Q: So, everyone tests all of their contestants?

A: All of the major contests, yes. At FISM, they’ve been requiring DNA samples as well as blood, urine and hair.

Q: What type of drugs are you looking for? What will get a performer stripped of their award?

A: I can’t go into the specifics. There are certain substances that we look for and if we find them, we know they’re using.

Q: Is this an isolated incident, then?

A: No, it’s the first time an act has been stripped of their first place prize because of “doping” but we’ve seen many performers show up positive – they just don’t happen to win.

Q: What kind of substance could assist someone in a Spirit Cabinet?

A: I told you I couldn’t go into it. I don’t want others to have a chance to develop masking techniques.

I checked around while in Vegas to see how prevalent the “doping” was and how many conventions have actually caught performers using these enhancement agents.

Shirley Comfit spoke with me under terms of anonymity about the crisis. She said that she and her partner regularly used enhancement agents until the testing became more sophisticated. “It used to be, you could hide the stuff with insulin or any type of codeine-based cough syrup.”

I asked her what drugs there were that could help magicians perform so much better that it would be worth risking their careers.

“In the old days, back around the Baumgartner deal, in the late 60’s, [sic – it was 1962], we would snort fanning powder or rub roughing fluid on our gums. These two agents gave you an enormous leg up in manipulations because they come through your pores.”

I still didn’t understand.

I spoke with Glenn Hagy from Chicago about the scandal. Glenn has worked in our Art for years and has organized his own Close-Up convention each year in Oak Park, Illinois. He also spoke with me with the understanding that I would keep his identity confidential.

I asked how often he had caught a cheat at one of his conventions. “I would say three or four a year are caught. We don’t test everyone, just the first prize winner and then a random group. We also take samples from anyone who is known to be a mediocre magician but is showing new-found skills.”

Is there a demographic profile for the doper?

“No, not really. It used to be the kids but now it is just about anyone.”

I asked Mr. Hagy how the contestants learn to dope.

“There are websites [not Inside Magic] that specialize in methods to cheat in magic contests. They have ads or forum topics on what substances to use for what tricks and how to hide or mask the use of the substances.”

Like which sites?

“Well, I don’t want to give these guys anymore publicity than they deserve but if you did a Google search for ‘magic contests’ and ‘performance enhancers,’ you would find literally hundreds of hits on the subject.”

I asked if he had heard about the Spirit Cabinet scandal and if so, what did he think they used.

“I did hear about it and it’s a shame. A couple of the judges said they thought something wasn’t right when she was able to get tied back up so quickly. It had to be something artificial and the testing showed they were right.”

I asked what kind of artificial substance they could have used? Fanning powder, roughing fluid?

“(Laughs) I don’t think people have used fanning powder or roughing fluid for years. That stuff doesn’t really help anyway. No, from what I hear, she had some other type of more sophisticated substance. Apparently she was trying to mask its presence with birth control pills.”

This morning, as I was heading to the airport, I spoke with the woman at the center of the scandal. Her version is different.

“The idea that I could use some drug to make me perform better makes no sense. If I were taking some stimulant, I’d be jumpy and the committee would know it. If I was using a sedative, I’d be to slow to perform the trick. I think what you have is a bunch of bitter old men who don’t want to see something they can’t explain. If it is too good, it’s got to be fake. That’s how they got to Baumgartner. He did things no one could explain and so they had to humiliate him; they had to keep the bar low enough for the hacks in our business.”

So, you’re saying you didn’t use any drugs or enhancement products?

“Absolutely. Why didn’t they find any trace in my partner? Don’t you think he’d be exposed to it as well? This is an old wives story that is gaining ground because there are some in our business who s—k and have to fight to keep the younger or more talented of us down.”

That’s a pretty bold claim.

“No more bold than I found something to take before a performance that would allow me to do a great spirit cabinet. Have they ever tested the Falkensteins? Their routine is almost as fast as ours – in fact, we use their idea of the sash ties – but because they’re professional and not doing contests, the Magic Elite can’t touch them. They know that the up-and-comers have to get their publicity through contests. That’s how Lance Burton did it. I know for a fact he didn’t use any substances but I will bet you anything that if they could have found something in his system after FISM, they’d have said that was the cause of his greatness and banned him. No one likes to be passed up by people who work hard and innovate.”

They said you masked the drugs with birth control pills.

“That’s insane. Number one, not that it is anyone’s business, but I am not on birth control pills. My partner and I are not even romantically engaged. We’re just partners in the act. Number two, let’s say I was taking birth control pills, how would they suggest that masked anything. They’re saying they can’t identify the substance because of the masking but that assumes there is something to mask and that I am taking the pills. Number three, it is just another excuse to bad-mouth the female performer. I never heard anyone be accused of using a specific masking agent. The only time they come forward with the type of masking agent is when there is a female magician. They want me to appear promiscuous or something. It’s just such c—p.”

I did check into the history of publicity on the type of masking agents and she was right. According to a LexisNexis search, there have only been three public disclosures of alleged masking agents and two were birth control bills and one was a female contraceptive commonly called “the morning after pill.” I could find no disclosures involving masking agents in which the alleged doper was male.

I asked the convention coordinator why the alleged masking agent was released to the press in this most recent case.

“We’re trying to be honest with the public. We don’t want to say, ‘we found something and we’re not going to tell you what it is.’”

But isn’t that what you are doing by not identifying the substance the agent allegedly masked?

“You can play the word games all day. We can’t let people use masking agents to get away with breaking the rules. Is it possible she didn’t have any of the banned substances? Sure. But it is more likely that she had the substance and that was precisely why she took the pills.”

It is unseemly for magicians to use these enhancement drugs (whatever they are) to get ahead and as much as I would like to think it really could be nothing more than jealous judges trying to hold down the better, newer magicians, I just can’t imagine it is possible.

I think anyone who has performed their hard-practiced act in a contest, would agree that he or she received a fair shake from the judges. In fact, magic contest judging has to be the one area of our American life where you can rest assured that the best magician will win. It sounds like the violators, the drug-takers, are the ones now claiming foul. If they are so clean, why don’t they just allow the judges to take all the samples they want and to decide, based on the judge’s sole discretion, whether the absence of an enhancing product means either that there is no enhancing product or that there is but that it is effectively masked.

It is time to crack down on those who would demonstrate artificially boosted prowess. We need to send a strong message to the youth in our Art: even though we may not see the drugs that make you more magical, we know when it’s there – even when it’s not. Just say no.