We read that today, January 31st, is International Magic Day and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Magic has done so much to make our life so exciting, interesting and satisfying. There is a special feeling in bringing a special feeling to an audience member. When the volunteer shows surprise or shock at what they have witnessed from a close-up perspective and validates the magic effect for the rest of the audience. They trust the volunteer, the volunteer is amazed by the magician and thus the audience shares the amazement.
We have so many effects in bins, closets, suitcases and bookshelves.
Some will never see the light of day, some will be practiced and yet never included in our act but will be held in our suit pockets waiting to be pulled out and shown. Our prop for our close-up routine as performed in the amateurs’ room at the Magic Castle consists of a single Bee deck with the Billy McComb crimp but our pockets are filled with so much more.
Magic taught us to come out of our shy personality, to have confidence in presentation, experience the joy in making an audience laugh and gasp, and provide us with a history to pass along to younger magicians just as we had been taught by our mentors.
We are asked after virtually every performance, “how did you learn?” The question warms our heart because we remember all those professionals and amateurs who took the time to teach, watch, help to evaluate our performance and provide meaningful feedback. We think of their kind eyes watching our performances at IBM and SAM club meetings and their kind words, later at a diner, about how we can improve and what we did well.
So, International Magic Day is a day to remember our mentors, family (always patient and willing to take a card, any card), and the enormous giants of our craft both historical and present.
What a wonderful life magic has provided.
Young magician Lee Winters sounds like our kind of guy. He loves magic, is industrious and gives back to his community. It is entirely fitting that the 