Canadian Magician and Inside Magic Favorite Julie Eng teaches a magic trick that we cannot see.

While there is no evidence this is a result of the recent trade war with Canada, it is nonetheless frustrating as all get out.  According to Twitter, Ms. Eng, a treasure of North America and life-long performer, is part of a new program (or programme for our Canadian readers), called The Science Of Magic on CBC’s “The Nature of Things” show.  In fact, if you visit her well-executed website at www.magicienne.com you can see a link and a tease of the show.  We presume that if one (or more) lives in Canada, that one or ones can see Ms. Eng teach what is described as a simple coin magic trick with which one can mystify one’s friends and family.

Except we can’t because we don’t live in Canada and our antenna won’t pick up the CBC in our part of the high desert.  Our antenna is one of the now defunct Radio Shack’s best –  we’ve got that baby high in the air thanks to a cheap tower we picked up at the annual Burning Man trash and treasure after-fest sell-athon.  So, even with all four wings pointed north and standing 32.5 feet above the sandy desert floor, we can’t get CBC and see the trick or Ms. Eng.

We do get stations from Salt Lake City and Boise but they have very little in the way of magic programming.  In our native Michigan, we could watch the CBC on channel 99 so we could see Hockey Night in Canada and The Big Comfy Couch but not anymore.

Ms. Eng knows magic from her years of training and heritage as a member of a magic family.  (Her father had a magic shop in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada)).  She performs for thousands of private functions, festivals, conventions and special events around the globe – but none apparently in Mystic Hollow, California.  We checked our TV Guide (it came by mail on Thursday) and there was no mention of the CBC listings.  We put a bookmark for the Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune entries for each night of the coming week and sighed.

But Ms. Eng is more than a magician available to millions through the considerable broadcasting power of the CBC.  She is one of the founding organizers of two unique community outreach programs, My Magic Hands and Senior Sorcery.  She took part in Magicana’s productions, a theatrical show, Piff Paff Poof which was designed specifically to introduce the experience of the theatre to young families.

Incidentally, Piff, Paff Poof was our favorite trick featuring diaper pins throughout our career.  We were known world- over for our expert handling of the technically undemanding four-second effect.  We milked it for a full 15-minute bit by having everyone in the audience inspect the pins before and after the trick.  As our career went on, the audience numbers decreased; making the inspection part of the illusion much shorter.

Ms. Eng is frequently seen in the U.S. and beloved by audiences for her energy and innovation.  We’ve seen her perform live and named her an Inside Magic Favorite based on her live performance.  Under new FTC rules, a magic website cannot proclaim a person a “Favorite” or “Our Favorite” based on video, radio description, telegraph communication, shadow puppets or any non-live performance.  We suppose this is in reaction to YouTube’s popularity but we abide by the rules under which we are honored to publish.

So, the bottom line at the end of the day, when it comes down to brass tacks and the real root of things, we like Julie Eng very much and are very frustrated that we cannot see her new episode just because we don’t live in Canada.

[Update]  A reader from Luxemburg – a country that is not in Canada – has written to tell us that one can configure one’s computer to make it appear that one is in Canada and thereby watch programs to be broadcast only in Canada.

While we appreciate the tip, we cannot countenance breaking the FCC laws to see a show – even Ms. Eng’s show.  We become very paranoid when it comes to FCC regulations.  They have vans that drive all around cities looking for people breaking the law.

Our Uncle Taffy (also a magician at one time until his huffing of roughing fluid (he called it “aromatherapy”) rendered him less effective) who used to broadcast golf tournaments with his walkie-talkie, and later a HAM radio set.  The FCC nailed him and almost took away his walkie-talkie and HAM set until they determined neither was powered and he was just talking to himself about an imaginary golf game featuring cartoon characters from the pre-talkie era of Hollywood.  He would have long commentary about Betty Boop going head-to-head with Inky the Clown at Augusta’s famed Amen Corner.  The family thought it was a good habit and kept him off the public buses but the FCC had another view.

Uncle Taffy managed to kick his “aromatherapy” habit and now performs Three Card Monte for friends at his halfway house in Iowa.

We take no chances.

If you are fortunate enough to live in Canada, be sure to watch Ms. Eng tonight on the CBC.  You can tell us about it but don’t send us videotapes (VHS or Betamax) because that seems illegal too and our videotape machine (also from Radio Shack) won’t play tapes anymore because the heads need to be demagnetized and the store no longer sells the demagnetizer cassette.