Category: Magic Castle News

Latest Magic News, Magic Castle News

School for Scoundrels Class this Weekend

Pop_Haydn_the_Shell_GameThis weekend, we will be at the feet of the masters, Pop Haydn, Bob Sheets and Chef Anton together teaching the ways of the Scoundrel at The Magic Castle here in Hollywood.  It is a two-day class in the essentials of scoundreling with special attention paid to Three-Card Monte, The Shell Game and Fast and Loose.

The esteemed professors note that the course is “perfect for the historian, steampunker, gambler, lawyer or police officer as well as the magician, this course gives you the inside information.”  We are at least two or three of those types of people so the course should be a perfect fit.

We understand there were only 20 seats available and they may have already been sold out by the time this article posts.

We will report back on what we have learned both in the classroom and in any wayward attempts to scoundrel on the mean streets of Hollywood or Beverly Hills.

We are thinking of getting a specially made cardboard box on which to perform our soon to be acquired Three-Card Monte skills just outside the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset.

We could make it look like it was a shipping container for Louis Vuitton handbags or Christian Louboutin shoes so it would not arouse suspicion amongst the throngs we expect will encircle us with cash money in their hands and dreams of big winnings in their hearts.

Check out the School for Scoundrels site for more information and peruse their great offerings here.

Magic Castle News, Magic News

Do Magicians Need Manicures?

Inside Magic Image of Clean Fingers and FingernailsWe got our first manicure ever the other day.  It will be our last – at least our last voluntarily received.

It was inevitable, we presume.  We were in Hollywood, performing on the weekends in the amateur rooms at The Magic Castle and all the other guys had manicures and, well, we just gave into it.

We have been performing magic since we were seven and have tried to take good care of our hands and fingernails ever since we started working as a demonstrator at Paul Diamonds Magic and Fun Wagon at the Palm Beach Mall.  Barry Gibbs – our mentor and boss – explained the need to have clean hands and neat fingernails.  He never mentioned getting a manicure.

When big-time magicians would tour through our local clubs, we noticed that some of them would have shiny fingernails but assumed it was a Hollywood or New York City thing.  We did not recall seeing any of the Chicago pros with shiny, smooth fingernails.  Maybe they had them and we just did not notice.

But then we hit Hollywood.  Everyone had manicures.

In fact, even our taxi driver from the airport to our beautiful studio apartment next to the store that bakes dog food on Santa Monica Boulevard had shiny nails.

He was otherwise a gruff looking man with a very short fuse when it came to people driving slower, faster or different than he would like.  Nevertheless, if you were to examine only his nails, you would assume he was a member of a royal family.  We were going to ask him about his decision to get a manicure but he was very focused on driving very quickly and using his well-maintained middle finger to express his constant displeasure with our fellow travelers.

We debated taking the plunge.  What if someone saw us going into one of the hundreds of “manicure parlors” that line the boulevards crisscrossing Hollywood?  Fortunately, we don’t know many people out here yet and so the chances were low that we would be spotted.  Perhaps, even if we were spotted, the spotter would not care.  Maybe manicures are okay in this realm.

We tried a couple of sample runs; walking in to parlors with their specialized chairs and tables and tools with what must have appeared to be an awkward sense of nonchalance.  On the other hand, maybe we just looked addled, confused or weird.

Several times the kind Asian women attempted to get us seated to begin the process right away.  Several times we pulled away like a weirdo possessed by an infantile fear of having his nails cut.

We wanted to discuss the topic with friends in a safe environment.  One night, after performing a couple of sets in Hat & Hare room at The Magic Castle, we asked some of the other performers if they got manicures.  It took us a while to get to the point and we may have actually stammered.

We must have sounded self-conscious and/or creepy because we received no response.  The conversation broke shortly after we asked the question.  It was likely our paranoia but it seemed like they were avoiding having eye-contact with us for the rest of the night.

We read up on how to give oneself a manicure and immediately deleted our search history after determining that it was a specialty we did not possess.  We needed a pro.  We needed a non-judgmental pro who could keep secrets.

We found just such a pro just a few blocks from our apartment.  Hong Kong Nails and Spa was open until 11:00 pm and staffed with very friendly, caring people who did not view us as abnormal or deviant.  Or maybe they did but they did not let on.

Lisa – not her real name – was the manager on duty and ushered us into the big, elevated and comfortable chair.  She did not even ask why we were there.  It was as if she just knew.  Of course, there are probably few non-manicure related reasons a person walks into a nail parlor at 9:00 pm so maybe she did not need to have the deductive reasoning skills of Sherlock Holmes.

We say that “Lisa” was not her real name because it was not.  It was the name she gave us but said it was her “American” name.  Her real name was too difficult for most customers and so she adopted “Lisa” after seeing the Simpson’s cartoon show.  We told her our real name.  We were coming to terms with our trust issues in her caring hands and warm, soapy water.

Apparently, we have been blithely ignorant of just how repulsive cuticles can be.  We had no idea.  Lisa explained that part of the reason people come for manicures is to have their cuticles removed or pushed back.  The cuticles keep growing back and trained professionals like Lisa are on the front lines, cutting and pushing against their incessant creeping.

Who knew?

Even now that we know about cuticles, we still have a hard time seeing cuticles on others.  One’s observation skills must develop in this area.  Lisa could spot our cuticles from the moment we walked into the parlor.  Hers must be a tortured life: seeing so many cuticles every day.  If they are truly as disgusting as she described, we have no idea how she could ever eat from a fast-food counter.

We watched as she applied a special gel to the base of our fingernails and then used a cutting implement from the late 14th Century to carve away more than 50 years of cuticle growth.  We expected to feel lighter and more mobile after the process but the difference was not immediately evident.

The good news was there very little in the way of blood.  We bleed easily and once we start, we do not stop for hours.  It is not an attractive trait and seems to have very little benefit to us or our progeny in an evolutionary sense.

Lisa asked if we wanted to have clear polish put on our fingernails now that they were free of the unsightly (but to us, practically invisible) cuticles and all ridges were buffed away.

We thought about it but because we are so insecure in our masculinity and have a lot issues, we demurred.  We immediately regretted declining the offer and tried to explain our “issues” to Lisa but surprisingly, it was not that big a deal to her.  She was a total pro or she didn’t care.

We tried out our new fingers at the Castle last weekend.  We discerned no improvement in our audiences’ enjoyment or appreciation for our practiced efforts.  None.  We thought about drawing attention to the manicure by saying things about cuticles and ridges but could not work those words into our multi-reveal card routine.  We even intentionally rocked our hands in the spotlight to pick up the maximum glint and sparkle but to no avail.

Perhaps having a manicure is unnecessary to succeed at performing magic.  Perhaps it is not the lack of ridges or unsightly cuticles that brings audiences to their feet, wild with enthusiastic applause and demands for an encore.  Maybe we wasted $20.00.

Maybe we should look into getting our nose hair trimmed.

Magic Castle News

Allan Ackerman and Audience Members Gone Wild

Inside Magic Image of Salvador DaliWe have learned so much from Allan Ackerman over the years. His 11 disk set on Erdnase is one of our favorite go-to DVD collections. We love card sleights, we’re from Chicago, we worshiped Ed Marlo and so Mr. Ackerman is a natural fit for us.

Mr. Ackerman was at the Magic Castle last week, performing in the wonderfully appointed Close-Up Gallery. The guy is good. He makes hard stuff look invisible. At the end of the week, he provided the Magician Member only lecture and we stumbled away from the event exhausted. We were tired but it was a good kind of tired. He had some amazing routines and patiently taught each to the nearly sold-out group of very appreciative students.

We mention Mr. Ackerman not only to praise his skills and encyclopedic knowledge of our favorite branch of magic but also to ponder on page what makes bad audience members behave the way they do.

Last week, we watched as Mr. Ackerman dealt with an audience member who was determined to make the show her own. She was an attractive and seemingly normal individual who had demonstrated fine manners before and after the show. But during the show, she turned from a pleasant member of society to someone who caused us concern.

Mr. Ackerman was about to perform what appeared to be a multiple card revelation. He had various spectators select a card from the deck as he riffled through the pack. All was going smoothly until he encountered the subject of our anthropological study.

Armed with apparently a little knowledge of how card tricks work, she sought to disrupt the proceedings by demanding that Mr. Ackerman re-do the selection process several times to make sure that she selected precisely the card she thought she wanted.

The show essentially came to a halt as the spectator insisted Mr. Ackerman conform to her requirements. Finally, in a genial manner, he spread the deck on the table and asked her to take a card according to her whim. The trick was a success despite her efforts to undermine but the rhythm was lost and the rest of the audience suffered as a result.

Why are some people like that? Why would someone want to disrupt a performance. We are not judging but sincerely asking.

The disrupting individual must receive some benefit by acting that way. Assuming that the person is rational, he or she would not do something that would bring discomfort or bad feelings. Or perhaps he or she does feel discomfort but the psychic benefit is greater than the discomfort.

Continue reading “Allan Ackerman and Audience Members Gone Wild” →

Magic Castle News

Lisa Cousins Takes Us Back to Magic of 1909

Inside Magic Image of Lisa Cousins in the Magic Castle's Parlor of PrestidigitationWe love magic and we love history. Ergo, we love Magic History. We love it so much that we went to see Lisa Cousins perform in the Magic Castle’s Parlor of Prestidigitation more than once last week.

Ms. Cousins is an accomplished performer, librarian along with Bill Goodwin in the William W. Larsen Memorial Library and has an infectious appreciation for the history of our craft.

She took audiences back to 1909 when the Lane Mansion – the physical home of the Academy of Magical Arts a/k/a The Magic Castle – was made ready for its first residents. In a well-scripted and delightfully presented show, audiences learned about some of the magic props and styles of the time.

Of particular interest to history buffs like yours truly, Ms. Cousins introduced us to Alice Roosevelt – daughter of Teddy – and her passion for magic. Along the way, we saw the types of magic being sold in brick-and-mortar magic stores and taught through books available to amateurs like the president’s daughter.

Ms. Cousins ended her performance with a wonderful effect set to music originally recorded on an Edison Wax Cylinder in which five watches vanished and reappeared.

The landscape surrounding the Lane Mansion changed almost as soon as the home was made ready for its first residents. The orange groves and dirt roads that made up the Village of Hollywood was claimed by studios and buildings for the nascent film industry.

It is fitting, Ms. Cousins observed, that the Lane Mansion would become a place where magicians could perform as their former venues transformed into “movie houses.”

Ms. Cousins promised to transport audiences back to 1909 and was entirely successful.

We hated to leave that magical time.

The show should be nominated for the Parlor Performer of the Year award.

Magic Castle News

Arthur Trace and Lisa Cousins at the Castle this Week

Inside Magic Favorite Arthur TraceLisa Cousins and Arthur Trace are appearing side-by-side this week at the Magic Castle.

Ms. Cousins, who with Bill Goodwin manages the gem of the Magic Castle – the William W. Larsen. Memorial Library, will be performing in the Parlor of Mystery presenting magic from history. We are looking forward to learning more about what amused, baffled and entertained audiences at the time of Teddy Roosevelt.

Right next door, Inside Magic Favorite Mr. Trace will bring his incredible combination of great manipulative skill and perfect stage presence to what we predict will be completely full houses.

Speaking of which, one of the best things about the Magic Castle is that it constantly attracts so many non-magicians every night of the week. But the downside of such popularity is that seats fill quickly. We are accustomed to giving up our seat if a non-member is waiting. We assume there will be another opportunity to see the performer during one of our later visits in the week. For the non-magician guest, however, this may be their first or only visit.

Last week, we started to doubt our chivalrous approach. We missed out on Bob Cassidy twice – but ultimately saw him on our last try. He was fantastic – as expected. Mr. Cassidy is truly a master of his craft and we are thankful on behalf of all society that he chose to use his powers for good and not evil.

As a student of his DVDs, books (both ebooks and old-fashioned paper and ink) and commercial effects, we are familiar with his methods. And yet, even though he performed an effect he teaches on Mental Miracles, we were still blown away. That is to say, we knew what he was going to do, how he was going to do it and what he did but were still amazed. We didn’t see him do “it” or, for that matter, anything at all.

He is, as they say, really good.

Perhaps he really has special powers and has published the “secrets” to his tricks to distract from his special abilities?

Is that delusional?

We normally do not go in for conspiracy theories unless they involve movie stars or intricate secret societies with cool handshakes and funny hats populated by people who may or may not be in charge of the “real” government.

We also are reluctant to discount any conspiracy theories related to “reality stars” Honey Boo Boo and the Kardashians – there does not seem to be any other plausible explanation for their popularity.

We were sitting next to a fellow student of the great Mr. Cassidy and she was just as amazed. She too had read the books, knew how he was going to do what he was going to do what he did but didn’t see him do what he needed to do to get it done. She attributed this to his presentation and did not buy into our theory that he actually could read minds.

We wanted to engage in further conversation about the likely extra-terrestrial source of Mr. Cassidy’s power but she did not seem interested in continuing the discussion. Actually, she left so quickly we thought there might be a fire or a tiger behind us. Maybe she was just in a hurry. Yes, that is probably it. Unless “they” got to her and she worried about exploring the topic.

We gave up our place in line twice to see Bill Goodwin in the Close-Up Gallery and thought we would have a chance to see him on our third try. We were wrong and got boxed out.

Life is not fair.

Mr. Goodwin was named the Magic Castle Close-Up Performer of the Year at the last awards ceremony and a really nice guy. He runs the Library as if it were his own and all members are his good friends with whom he is willing to share the incredible collection.

We were very disappointed that we could not see him perform. We pouted and thought unkind things towards those who did get to see him – including one member who said he saw him perform twice last week.

We didn’t mean anything bad to happen to that member but at the same time we were jealous, envious and would not have wanted him to win the lottery.

We engaged in self-loathing – still legal in California – for our negative thoughts and tried to ease away the pain with a large Diet Coke. We drank it too quickly and got brain freeze and, seconds later, the hiccups.

We were clearly being punished for our evil envy. We accepted the hiccups like the martyr we were trying to resemble and moped our way back to our little apartment behind the dog treats bakery on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Our two cats could tell something was wrong. They were trying to say something but their powers of communication are rudimentary. We asked them to be more clear or at least more concise or at least to speak one at a time. Cats don’t accept criticism well and they meowed in a manner to suggest the communication problem was ours and not theirs.

As we fell asleep on the inflatable mattress we realized what they were trying to tell us: they had punctured the mattress.

We fell asleep, hiccupping, on the shag carpet and rubber mattress wondering how we could have ever thought we had suffered a wrong.   We did see some great shows – just not all that we wanted to see – we did have a wonderful Diet Coke – evidenced by our hiccups 22 seconds apart – and we had cats who were willing to warn us of problems with our inflatable furniture – although reluctant to admit their complicity in those problems.

Outside the window, we could hear life going on. Tomorrow (today) is a new day and this week will be a new week with great performers to see at the Magic Castle. Our cats curled up at the foot of the sheet of rubber that was our bed and we could feel their purring. They were content. Our hiccups ended and peace fell upon us.

Magic Castle News

Chocked Full of Magical Goodness – This Week at the Castle

The Magic CastleWhat a week ahead at the World Famous Magic Castle.

The line-up of performers is usually very strong but the next week will feature some amazing talent in all rooms.

Long-time readers of Inside Magic are no doubt aware of our deep reverence for mentalist Bob Cassidy. If Mr. Cassidy wrote it or said it, we consumed it. We have two copies of his outstanding DVD Mental Miracles.

Why two?

It is an old habit from our days working with vinyl records as a disc jockey back in the Midwest. We used to buy two of the great records – one to keep in pristine condition and the other to play. We learned later that DVDs do not wear out quite as quickly as old-fashioned long-playing records or VHS tapes. But, just in case, we are ready.

Plus it is a phenomenal DVD with great mentalism and expert teaching. We used two of the effects – with our own twist – to win some contests. By “with our own twist” we mean we did not steal directly from Mr. Cassidy’s performance.

For instance, we were not as smooth or polished in our presentation and we left out the parts that required any dexterity or thinking. We did, however, don glasses and combed our hair like him. We consider our routines more of an homage rather than a deliberate word-for-word theft of his hard work but only because we like to rationalize to avoid shame spirals and excessive but well-founded self-doubt.

Mr. Cassidy will be in the Parlor of Prestidigitation and so will we. We will be seated, staring with the creepy kind of facial expression that one sees in the lovelorn or pathological, hoping against hope that he chooses us as a volunteer. If he does, we’ll report it here.

Following Mr. Cassidy as the late performer in the Parlor is Rafael Benatar.

We attended Mr. Benatar’s lecture on Sunday and were really impressed. He has a great presence and a well-considered approach to performing magic based on his study under Ascano of Spain. His Cups and Balls was a joy to watch. We learned his own cups had been stolen from his dressing room the night before. We were shocked to hear the news. Call us naïve but we couldn’t imagine a magician stealing props from a colleague. Perhaps it was a non-magician? We thought that was the case until we heard that the thief left the electronics and took only the cups.

Mr. Benatar performed in the Close-Up Gallery last week and will be performing his parlor act in the Parlor – which makes perfect sense and likely did not need to be written.

But wait, there is more.

The Magic Castle’s Librarian Bill Goodwin will be appearing in the Close-Up Gallery and this will be our first opportunity to see him in action. His reputation precedes him and he comes fresh off his win as Close-Up Performer of the Year. We cannot wait to see him perform.

And yet there is even more.

In the Palace of Mystery, Rob Zabrecky, Ardan James and Tina Lenert will be performing on the big stage.

Seriously. At what point does the government need to step in and stop the madness? How many great acts can be booked in one week? Has the Magic Castle no respect for those of us with day jobs who need to get up in the morning?

We have started a course of six espressos every four hours to keep alert so that we can enjoy every minute.

We love performing in the Hat and Hare or Gallery downstairs on the weekends (or whenever we can find one or more people willing to take a card, any card) and sometimes we even feel like we did an okay job in the amateur, impromptu showcase. The contrast this week between the accomplished magicians upstairs and our trembling pawing at cards and spectators downstairs may be too great for us to bear. This might be a great week to just watch the masters at work and enjoy.

Magic Castle News

Japan Week at the Magic Castle

The Magic CastleThe world famous Magic Castle is hosting some incredible magicians from Japan during their appropriately titled, Japan Week.

We had a chance to see Wakaba in the Parlor of Prestidigitation after watching the Palace of Mystery show starring HAMAchan, Toritto and Masataka Jimbo.

It was a fantastic evening and we will be going back for more this evening.

Wakaba was both charming and funny. She endears herself almost immediately with the audience and is able to overcome (or skillfully take advantage of) any language issue that may exist. Her character on stage is vulnerable and adorable whilst being funny and genuinely charming.

Toritto was the emcee for the Palace of Mystery show and did a great job of getting a slightly rowdy audience in-line and on his side. The first act was HAMAchan and his very lovely assistant. They owned the stage and took over the room with high energy, quirky comedy and great magic. We loved their dances and their impromptu interplay with volunteers from the audience.

Toritto performed the second set mixing comedy and skill with a unique take on the Slydini Paper Ball routine. This effect can and has been done poorly by so many magicians, it was great to see someone with Toritto’s skill and audience management ability do it justice.

The Palace of Mystery finale was Masataka Jimbo. He performed an impossible manipulation act to a stunned audience. He had productions that we cannot explain and assume, therefore, he is a witch of some sort. We almost tired of the woman sitting directly in front of us yelping, “No, no way!” with each more astounding demonstration. His last production caught us off guard and we actually mimicked the woman in front of us, joining her in an exasperated, “No, no way!” of our own. Embarrassingly, our voice was about an octave higher than hers but in synch word-for-word.

A great night and we are looking forward to more this evening and throughout the weekend.

Latest Magic News, Magic Castle News, Magic of Australia

Magician Tim Ellis is a Dangerous Man

Inside Magic Favorite Magician Tim EllisTim Ellis is a dangerous magician.

Nice guy, sure. But dangerous.

Not because he does dangerous magic and teaches others how to do it during his five-star lecture but because he makes the difficult look easy.

Mr. Ellis is from Australia – a land where danger and adventure await all and at all times.

We have never been there but have developed our conception of what it is all about from television, movies and Outback Steak House. It is a place where people are always friendly, helpful, genuine and innovative. We have met seven people from Australia and every one of them met that stereotype. Ipso facto, QED.

Mr. Ellis has been a supporter of Inside Magic since the early days of this virtual news source. We first met him in Garden City, Michigan where he and his former partner and spouse Sue-Anne Webster lectured a capacity crowd on how to be innovative (and have fun) with magic. It was a great experience and we accurately reported about it on the old rendition of Inside Magic.

Mr. Ellis took the time to correct our various grammatical mistakes and word choice and we developed a perfect – if co-dependent – relationship with him from that day. He is a great writer and so we gladly accepted his submissions and story ideas over the years. He was kind enough to send us several items for review and, not surprisingly, our reviews were almost always glowing.

Longtime readers likely recall the one exception to our effusive praise for his work. We dismissed his 24 Years of Living Next Door to Ellis DVD but retracted this criticism once we realized we needed a DVD player to watch the disk. We had spent hours trying to fit it into our GAF ViewMaster — a technology that apparently was not compatible with the new DVD format.

We revised our review to hide our error and tried to delete the negative reviews from the internet. But you know how that goes. The stuff you don’t want to live forever does and the stuff in which you have great pride, doesn’t stay a day. That is why you can still find videos of our unfortunate scuffle with security backstage at the H.R. Pufnstuf National Tour but our classic articles on the history of magic cannot be found.

But we digress.

Tim Ellis is to magic what diamonds are to minerals. He is the best and brightest and can cut glass and liked by women.

He is charming and clever and generous. His lecture begins with his silent Razor Blade swallowing trick and is followed by attempts to switch a coin from the clutches of a mouse trap and then a bear trap. Sure, not the best stuff for kids’ shows but then again kids today are growing up so quickly and it will give them something to talk about with social workers later in life.

To be fair, Mr. Ellis does not believe the Razor Blade swallowing or bear trap trick is for kids. In fact, we are pretty sure he explicitly said they were not. But that is just one magician’s opinion. Perhaps kids in the US are more able to handle such magic. After all, we have more television channels in the US than they have in Australia. We think we read they only have one or two channels and one of them is ABC but not our ABC – a different one where the A stands for Australian. Sort of like how people knock-off Dairy Queen by calling their ice cream stores, Dairy King.

Again, we are far afield of the true purpose of this post. We are here to praise Mr. Ellis, not to bury him in ephemera and trivia.

Mr. Ellis provided attendees with a simple mnemonic to improve their acts.   He speaks from a wealth of experience. His message is woven like a high-priced hair transplant throughout his lecture. And like a great hair-transplant, we left with something with which we can work. Sort of a virtual comb-over to hide the glaring bald spots in our routine. Perhaps the hair transplant metaphor has limited usefulness. Perhaps we need a better copy editor.

[Editor: You have a better copy editor, you just ignore me].

Mr. Ellis performed later in the Parlor of Prestidigitation and was outstanding. He has adopted a somewhat more serious persona on stage – still playful but less non-stop comedic – and it works very well for him. He endears himself to the audience in the opening fifteen seconds with a simple, silent entrance that is quirky and engaging. He performed his Razor Blade routine and did so with such great effect that audience members were genuinely concerned about his safety. They were urging him to not swallow the blades and were relieved when the trick was complete. He clearly connected with them from the outset and held their attention for the remainder of the show.

To return to our thesis: Mr. Ellis is dangerous. He performs so effortlessly that one (namely us) could easily assume that what he does takes no effort. We would be wrong. His smooth presentation is perfectly timed to the music selections and yet seems spontaneous. Clearly it cannot be that his spontaneous interaction with his audience just happens to end perfectly and at the exact same time as the music ends but it sure seems like it. We are guessing it has something to do with planning, rehearsal and experience. But this is just our guess. It could be that he is incredibly lucky to find audiences that interact exactly on cue to help him perform tricks they have never seen to music selections they do not choose.

Mr. Ellis will be heading back to Australia soon. If you have had a chance to see him on this most recent tour, consider yourself fortunate. If you haven’t seen him lately, we dare say you haven’t really seen him. Check out his website, get his DVDs (particularly 24 Years of Living Next Door to Ellis – if you have a DVD player) and seek him out.

Mr. Ellis is a dangerous talent and one we are proud to consider a friend.

Magic Castle News, Magic of UK

Sebastian Walton – Young Magician in Age Only

Inside Magic Image of Sebastian Walton - MagicianSebastian Walton is the real deal.  We watched this young man perform in the Parlour of Prestidigitation at the world-famous Magic Castle and were blown away on many levels.

First of all, he is young.

Not “Young for the Castle” kind of young but younger.  Young as in “you cannot buy liquor or rent a car or legally join on-line dating services” kind of young.

He claims to be 18 and that is possible but what is unlikely is that he is that good with so little in the way of real life performing experience. He has won several of the Magic Circle’s young magician awards, performed on UK television and has been seen by royalty.  That is a lot to accomplish in a decade.  That is a lot to accomplish in a lifetime.  The closest we have come to being viewed by royalty involved a webcam with someone who said they were a royal or something like that.

How can someone just 18 years-of-age know how to handle a sophisticated magic audience in a foreign country with such skill?

Presumably he has never been booed off the stage by seven year-olds whilst (that’s UK talk for “while”) performing a show for free in a public library during a heat wave in coastal Florida all the while wondering if his borrowed dove is going to survive waiting its production in the big finale.  He has never tried to squeeze in one last performance of a home-made Zig-Zag before his once svelte female assistant goes into labor. We doubt he has ever herniated himself trying to blow-up balloon animals for a mall’s worth of demanding kids.

There is only one explanation for this phenomenon.  He must be talented beyond his years.

He began his routine with an extraordinary routine wherein any audience member called the name of a card and he caused it to rise from, shoot out of, escape or otherwise mysteriously appear from a freely-handled deck of cards.  It was something to see.  We were in the back row of the Parlor and were blown away by his presence and audience management abilities.

We were in the back row because this young man has followers who cued (UK talk for “got in line”) to get the prime.  Some of the fans were from his home country and were very polite and proper in their refusal to allow us to sit on their laps or lay across two of them.

But even from the cheap seats, we marveled at how he owned the room and he held them in his unblemished (by liver spots and excessive wrinkles seen on performers of our ancient demographic) palm with a charming confidence.

We were honored that he came downstairs to the Museum and caught part of act.  We wanted to stop our ramblings and messy sleights to introduce him to the room ala Ed Sullivan (a reference Mr. Walton will need to do the Google to learn) but were so self-conscious that we thought it best to remain focused on the task at hand (wrinkled and bespotted though that hand was).

He performed incredible demonstration of card dexterity for a cheering throng, we tried to remember which side of the TV Magic Cards we were supposed to have face-up.  At least that was what we felt at the time.

Mr. Walton will be appearing at The Castle this weekend and should not be missed.  He is a genuine star – not a genuine “future” star or promising young performer — the real deal.

Check out his impressive credentials and promotional materials on his website here.

Magic Castle News

Caveney, Lenert, Gaughan, Valentine & Mystina – Amazing Night

Inside Magic Image of Herrmann's Astarte or Maid of the Moon IllusionThursday night at The Magic Castle offered an amazing lineup of incredible magic and magic history.  Mike Caveney, Tina Lenert, John Gaughan and Mystina brought about a standing ovation with their show in the Palace of Mystery.  Steve Valentine similarly received a standing ovation in the Close-up Gallery.

Standing ovations are not often seen in either venue but were appropriate in each instance.

The Palace show was a treat and of great historical significance.  Mr. Caveney and Ms. Lenert performed with their usual charming style: Mr. Caveney working the audience as emcee and Ms. Lenert performing her perfect pantomime routine.  We have seen these performers on several occasions over the years and can honestly say this was their best.  Ms. Lenert is a master of her craft and brings so much authenticity to her portrayal of a lonely cleaning woman who yearns for love and attention. Mr. Caveney is the perfect counter for the romanticized magic of Ms. Lenert with his easy rapport with the audience and astounding magic.

A woman seated in front of us commented, “They seem like they would be a good couple.”

But the matchmaker audience member was blown away by John Gaughan’s presentation of Astarte or Maid of the Moon.  We know that it had precisely that effect on her because she nearly screamed to her friend (over the standing ovation), “Oh my God!  That totally blew me away!”

Indeed, she had good reason to “be blown away.”  Mr. Gaughan enlisted the assistance of Inside Magic Favorite Mystina to perform the most baffling levitation or flying effect we have ever witnessed.

After a short historical introduction of the Astarte‘s origins, Mr. Gaughan presented the illusion flawlessly with Mystina.  She serenaded the moon and flew to a perch on its crescent shape. From there, she pirouetted about the very brightly lit stage, turned 360 degrees both vertically and horizontally.  

She glided through a solid steel hoop first while Mr. Gaughan held it, and then, incredibly, while she held it. It was lovely.

It was truly magic.

“How was it done?”  The talkative audience member asked after again attesting that she had been “blown away.”

No one offered a solution.  That made us very happy.

Mr. Valentine is a master of many skills.  He is an actor who plays the part of a magician who is an actor who is really a very funny person with exceptional sleight of hands skills. 

A woman seated next to us in the close-up gallery described him (before the show began) as the “best looking magician ever.”  That is either damming with faint praise or an earnest compliment if one includes Cary Grant and Tony Curtis in the category against which she is comparing Mr. Valentine.

Mr. Valentine’s routine is anything but routine.  He is irreverent and rapid-fire with high energy and higher trick-per-minute ratio than any performer we have witnessed.  (We do not know how trick-per-minute is translated into the metric system). 

His mastery of cards is outdone only by his mastery of the audience.  He is a gutsy performer who uses the Classic Force with the confidence of someone using a one-way forcing deck.

He is funny, charming and completely in control even though at times it seemed impossible that any of what we were seeing was planned. 

We intended to provide a description of every effect he performed in the set but that would have taken several days of writing and a new thesaurus – there was too much and it was all too good. 

Our favorite effect, though, had to be his barehanded production of a fairy.

We were reluctant to write anything about the shows because we intend to return to see both tonight and this weekend.  As it was, the lines for both were lengthy and not everyone made it into the show rooms.  We fear our praise of the acts will only exacerbate (not a dirty word, we checked) the problem.  Fortunately, we have a very low readership and we are rarely considered an authoritative source for show recommendations.