Young or old, they have that magic
By Taryn Plumb |
Globe Correspondent
November 24, 2013
It all started out with a simple coin trick.
Amazed at what he had seen, and eager to master its secret and learn more, Derek Dubois was soon the owner of his first magic set.
Now, five years and many hours of practice later, the Everett 14-year-old regularly performs at birthday parties, corporate events, and retirement homes, and he’s also president of the local chapter of the Society of Young Magicians.
“It’s always been a dream to take it to the top,” said the teenager, dressed in a black blazer and pants, eyes rimmed by black-framed glasses. “Hopefully one day I’ll have a professional show. I love to entertain people.”
The domain of magic entices all types — aspiring David Copperfields like Dubois; hobbyists and dabblers; old-timers who have tried it all. Many look forward to meeting other practitioners for the opportunity to catch up on new tricks and learn from the masters.
The Society of American Magicians, Witch City Assembly 104, holds conventions for just that purpose, the most recent one held earlier this month in Peabody.
The craft isn’t just about illusions or sleights of hand, said local practitioners.
“The thing that’s so great about magic, especially for kids, is it makes you use your mind,” said Eddie Gardner, 64, club vice president and owner of Diamond’s Magic store in Peabody. It also builds confidence and public speaking skills, he said.
Beyond the expected birthday parties, magicians can be called to perform at corporate functions, trade shows, day-care centers, fairs, and hospitals. “Magic opens up so many opportunities,” Gardner said.
Stephen Anderson, 71, of Andover, agreed, noting that magic “requires you to use your head and your personality.”
“It’s not about tricking; it’s about making a presentation or story come alive,” he said.
The retired salesman’s interest in magic is purely a hobby, a way to connect with his six grandchildren, who range from third-grade twins to college age.
“I’ve always used magic as part of home entertainment, rather than the television,” he said as he stood outside the convention’s crowded lecture room, where balloons shaped like playing cards lightly bobbed against the walls.
When he was a boy, Anderson had numerous magic sets, honing his skills to impress friends. Now, manipulation of magic tricks helps to keep his “fingers nimble . . . [and] mind sharp,” he said, although he noted that he can no longer do tricks with a full deck of cards because his hands “aren’t young anymore.”
So instead, he tends to do a lot with coins — making them multiply, appear, disappear. The youngest of his grandchildren express astonishment, while the older ones tend to sneak props away to show their friends.
“Which is actually good,” he said with a shrug, “because it passes it on to someone else.”
The Society of American Magicians was founded in 1902 in New York City, and boasts among its current and former members the legendary Harry Houdini, Copperfield, and Siegfried & Roy. The Witch City chapter has about 60 members, and meets once a month.
The 12th annual gala show, which drew hundreds of magicians from throughout New England to the Holiday Inn in Peabody, included full shows, close-up demonstrations, and lectures from such headliners as Eugene Burger, Andrew Goldenhersh, and Bill Abbott.
In a dealer’s room at the conference, tables were packed: dozens of playing cards — including giant, book-sized ones — nesting bottles, multiplying balls, coin funnels, clarity (switching) boxes, spoof tarantulas, DVDs on mastering everything from balloon animals to card tricks, and many other items that only magic-makers could understand.
Gardner, a magician for 37 years, said his store has 9,000 items and caters to “collectors, hobbyists, professionals, wannabes, think-they-ares.”
“You get a lot of very unusual people,” he said.
Peter Jackson, 56, of Gloucester, is a full-time technical installer who has been practicing magic for 25 years.
He is a magician of the classic sort: rabbit, magic wand, and all.
Some of his favorite tricks include pulling cards out of “real brains,” cutting his “glamorous” assistant Lulu into three pieces – but, not to worry, she’s only 6 inches tall – and, of course, producing his black-eared white rabbit, fittingly named “Top Hat,” seemingly out of nowhere.
“It’s all fun. I definitely don’t take myself too seriously,” said Jackson, who lists Mac King, a resident performer at Harrah’s Las Vegas, as one of his favorites. “When I was a little guy, I saw magic, fell in love with it.”
Which is the same you’ll hear from many others in the craft, including J. Hubbard of Salem.
“A friend of mine was into magic; he got me into it,” said Hubbard, 49, who sports a distinctive white beard and curlicue mustache. “That was so long ago,” he added with a laugh.
He went on to do his first paid magic show at age 10, emphasizing family-style, close-up magic.
Today, he still does magic shows and idolizes such greats as Doug Henning, Jeff McBride, and Lance Burton, but he’s cultivated a repertoire of other characters as well, including a realistic Santa and a wise-cracking clown who very often bumbles his own capers.
He’s mastered face-painting, too, most notably for jersey-wearing youngsters at Fenway Park.
And he’s happy to tell people that, fittingly, he met his future wife at Chuck E. Cheese’s among the shrill chaos of birthday parties, singing animatronics, and cold pizza.
“I’m in the entertainment business full time, somehow,” he joked.
Original story link.
© 2013 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC
It all started out with a simple coin trick.
Amazed at what he had seen, and eager to master its secret and learn more, Derek Dubois was soon the owner of his first magic set.
Now, five years and many hours of practice later, the Everett 14-year-old regularly performs at birthday parties, corporate events, and retirement homes, and he’s also president of the local chapter of the Society of Young Magicians.
“It’s always been a dream to take it to the top,” said the teenager, dressed in a black blazer and pants, eyes rimmed by black-framed glasses. “Hopefully one day I’ll have a professional show. I love to entertain people.”
The domain of magic entices all types — aspiring David Copperfields like Dubois; hobbyists and dabblers; old-timers who have tried it all. Many look forward to meeting other practitioners for the opportunity to catch up on new tricks and learn from the masters.
The Society of American Magicians, Witch City Assembly 104, holds conventions for just that purpose, the most recent one held earlier this month in Peabody.
The craft isn’t just about illusions or sleights of hand, said local practitioners.
“The thing that’s so great about magic, especially for kids, is it makes you use your mind,” said Eddie Gardner, 64, club vice president and owner of Diamond’s Magic store in Peabody. It also builds confidence and public speaking skills, he said.
Beyond the expected birthday parties, magicians can be called to perform at corporate functions, trade shows, day-care centers, fairs, and hospitals. “Magic opens up so many opportunities,” Gardner said.
Stephen Anderson, 71, of Andover, agreed, noting that magic “requires you to use your head and your personality.”
“It’s not about tricking; it’s about making a presentation or story come alive,” he said.
The retired salesman’s interest in magic is purely a hobby, a way to connect with his six grandchildren, who range from third-grade twins to college age.
“I’ve always used magic as part of home entertainment, rather than the television,” he said as he stood outside the convention’s crowded lecture room, where balloons shaped like playing cards lightly bobbed against the walls.
When he was a boy, Anderson had numerous magic sets, honing his skills to impress friends. Now, manipulation of magic tricks helps to keep his “fingers nimble . . . [and] mind sharp,” he said, although he noted that he can no longer do tricks with a full deck of cards because his hands “aren’t young anymore.”
So instead, he tends to do a lot with coins — making them multiply, appear, disappear. The youngest of his grandchildren express astonishment, while the older ones tend to sneak props away to show their friends.
“Which is actually good,” he said with a shrug, “because it passes it on to someone else.”
The Society of American Magicians was founded in 1902 in New York City, and boasts among its current and former members the legendary Harry Houdini, Copperfield, and Siegfried & Roy. The Witch City chapter has about 60 members, and meets once a month.
The 12th annual gala show, which drew hundreds of magicians from throughout New England to the Holiday Inn in Peabody, included full shows, close-up demonstrations, and lectures from such headliners as Eugene Burger, Andrew Goldenhersh, and Bill Abbott.
In a dealer’s room at the conference, tables were packed: dozens of playing cards — including giant, book-sized ones — nesting bottles, multiplying balls, coin funnels, clarity (switching) boxes, spoof tarantulas, DVDs on mastering everything from balloon animals to card tricks, and many other items that only magic-makers could understand.
Gardner, a magician for 37 years, said his store has 9,000 items and caters to “collectors, hobbyists, professionals, wannabes, think-they-ares.”
“You get a lot of very unusual people,” he said.
Peter Jackson, 56, of Gloucester, is a full-time technical installer who has been practicing magic for 25 years.
He is a magician of the classic sort: rabbit, magic wand, and all.
Some of his favorite tricks include pulling cards out of “real brains,” cutting his “glamorous” assistant Lulu into three pieces – but, not to worry, she’s only 6 inches tall – and, of course, producing his black-eared white rabbit, fittingly named “Top Hat,” seemingly out of nowhere.
“It’s all fun. I definitely don’t take myself too seriously,” said Jackson, who lists Mac King, a resident performer at Harrah’s Las Vegas, as one of his favorites. “When I was a little guy, I saw magic, fell in love with it.”
Which is the same you’ll hear from many others in the craft, including J. Hubbard of Salem.
“A friend of mine was into magic; he got me into it,” said Hubbard, 49, who sports a distinctive white beard and curlicue mustache. “That was so long ago,” he added with a laugh.
He went on to do his first paid magic show at age 10, emphasizing family-style, close-up magic.
Today, he still does magic shows and idolizes such greats as Doug Henning, Jeff McBride, and Lance Burton, but he’s cultivated a repertoire of other characters as well, including a realistic Santa and a wise-cracking clown who very often bumbles his own capers.
He’s mastered face-painting, too, most notably for jersey-wearing youngsters at Fenway Park.
And he’s happy to tell people that, fittingly, he met his future wife at Chuck E. Cheese’s among the shrill chaos of birthday parties, singing animatronics, and cold pizza.
“I’m in the entertainment business full time, somehow,” he joked.
Original story link.
© 2013 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC
