My first gimmick I think. The Svengali deck

The first trick to knock me over was Tricky Bottles! Saw it performed by my brother (the demostrator) in a magic shop. I was 23.

I got started during final exams in high-school, when I picked up a deck of cards and Mark Wilson's book instead of studying.

Great question! I'd seen a few close up magicians at weddings etc and had always been hugely impressed but never, for some reason, thought that magic was something that I would be able to do. I remember one guy floating a ring, changing my £20 into £5 etc and getting a great reaction - especially (from me) when he changed it back.

Cut to December 2003 and I'm at a friend's place. His sister is doing a few tricks with a deck of cards. I CANNOT figure out how she knows my card. I make her repeat the trick 6 times. I STILL couldn't figure it out. The next day, I'm round at my brother's place. I grab a deck and go through the trick with my niece, just describing the trick my friend's sis had done. My niece had picked a card and I was describing the effect - not consciously doing it and certainly not even hoping that I could achieve it. So I said "...and that's your card", as if I was actually doing the trick. My niece looked at me and said "Yes, it is - how the **^%$ did you do that?". I could have played it cool and said "Yup, that's magic." but I totally blew it and freaked out that I'd picked the card in a 1 in 52 chance.

I went through the whole trick again and reconstructed it. Even though I'd just got lucky with picking my niece's card, I worked out how to do it and did it a few more times for myself to check. I was hooked and, the next day, I made the first of many trips to my local magic shop...

Birthday-Party in september 2004, some german magicians were there as friends of the host (friend of mine). One was (is) a very impressive cardman, did oil&water and many other feats for me, I didn't get anything.

So I realised magic as an art, and tried to become some kind of 'knowing' spectator. My goal was not to know all the secrets, I just wanted to know enough to see if a magician is a good one or not. Just to pay respect to the art and the artist.

I bought some books, visited the internet, and here I am, reading and practicing card magic. Now I have some (little) knowledge, but unfortunately the magic is more or less gone. I see a trick and think 'top change' or 'double lift' today, nothing left like 'unbelievable', 'impossible', 'he couldn't do anything'...

The very first time I remember seeing a magician was at an assembly in elementary school. His magic had a message--say no to drugs (and I remember him doing the "squaring the circle" trick while saying "it's hip to be square"-ha!), but I honestly was more interested in the magic he performed, than the anti-drug message he had. I even made my parents take me back to school that evening where he performed the exact same show during the PTA meeting. I was in complete awe. Soon after, I learned that some magician by the name of David Copperfield performed on TV. When his next special aired, I watched, and became ever more fascinated. His "Flying" special was the one that made me take the leap from simply watching magic to checking out books from the library, buying my own books, and buying tricks from US Toy--the first real magic shop I ever went into. Magic will always take up a good part of my spare time.

Brandon

I had a few magic sets when I was young but I didn't really get into magic until I saw David Blaine perform on tv.

As a teenager, I often attended the New York State Fair in my hometown of Syracuse. One year while there, I watched a guy on the midway demonstrating and selling a deck of magic cards. He said they were only $2, and "anyone could do it." I must have been particularly flushed that day because I happened to have the $2, and I was just dumb enough to really believe "anyone could do it." I responded to the pitch, bought the cards, went home, practiced diligently, and found that I actually could do what I came to know as a Svengali routine.

Later, as a young man, I met a chap who amazed me with a couple of card tricks that did not depend upon a trick deck. He was kind enough to teach me how to do the classic force and two magical ways to produce the chosen card. I knew only this force so there was little danger I could bore anyone with card tricks. I must say that I was soon a very popular magician--perhaps because of my severely limited repertoire. And, oh yes, to this day, I do a mean classic force. (You would, too, if that was the only magic trick you knew.)

Still later, I had the great good fortune to lose my old Svengali deck. I was, therefore, forced to look in the yellow pages and find a magic shop where I expected a replacement could be found. I was soon at Jack Miller's door, wondering how a magic shop could possibly be in what looked like any other residence in the Valley section of Syracuse. But, since that was the address shown in the telephone book, I knocked on the door. Soon, I was in what turned out to be Jack's basement magic shop.

It took very little effort on Jack's part to fool me with his wares. Like most beginning magicians, I was firmly in the grasp of what I think of as the "secret acquisition stage" of my magical development. In other words, if it fooled me, I would just buy the trick without the least thought of how, where, or if I might actually use it.

Naturally, I soon had a shelf full of "secrets," as Jack was a masterful demonstrator and I was (and am) easily deceived. I still have not figured out a use for many of these antiques.

Soon, Jack wanted out of the retail magic business to concentrate on his very large wholesale and manufacturing enterprises. (If you have a Hot Rod, Jumping Gem, Gembuster, glitter wand, mouth coil, Top Hat Surprise, or a similar effect made from 1970 to 1995, the odds are that it was made by Jack.) We worked out a deal and I moved his basement retail operation to my own basement. For the next 11 years, I operated the shop from my home in Fayetteville, NY. This operation was, no doubt, in violation of the Magna Carta, the constitution, and every possible NY state zoning regulation, but, I had nice neighbors, and maintained the business until we moved south in 1983.

Now all these years later I am still enjoying magic, and have even written two books on the subject. My wife and I go to magician's conventions all over the country, selling my books, and having a good time.

Click on http://erh4.homestead.com/JerryLee.html and you'll see the third generation of Hutchisons doing a magic show in my living room. I only hope these grandkids get one tenth the enjoyment that I have from this great hobby.

Edward Hutchison
Madison, MS

When I was about 7 or 8 I received a Mark Wilson Magic Kit. I remember doing the vanishing milk into a newspaper cone and spilling milk onto this woman's head! LOL!

Will

I also had Mark Wilson's magic kit, but that really didn't spark my magic. When I went to vegas when I was around 11 I saw a bunch of magic shops and purchase a floating card, linking rings and scotch and soda. When I went home I bought some books, forgot about magic for a while but then bought bobo's coin magic book, read it and went crazy. A few years pasted and here I am.

For me it was David Copperfield. I used to always watch when he and other magicians were on tv. I loved the mentalism trick where they would put numbers or pictures on the screen, and have you pick one and move your hand around, and then guess which one you were on. I know how that works now, but it's still pretty cool.

My friend can do a few passes etc, and is really good at them, he looked really cool doing them, so I thought well why don't I try and learn em.

I have learnt a few, but I'm very new to magic so its nothing special.

I don't want to do it for performances or whatever, just for friends and that.

I was “drafted” into magic.

I had to spend several summers with an uncle because both my parents had to work and they could not afford “child care” for four kids. Each of us kids “got” to spend the summer months with a different relative.

I was lucky; I was sent to spend my summers with my father’s brother. Which meant that I got to travel with him. He was a Carney. That is, he made his living traveling with various carnivals in the southwest and south of the USA. In general he ran a “flat show” (gambling joint).

Two weeks into my first summer, the ten-in-one operator lost a couple of acts. He needed to fill the spots. He and my uncle decided that I should become “the worlds youngest Professional magician!” I was 12 almost 13 and very small and slight for my age. I also looked younger than my age. Just based on size alone they told the crowds that I was only 8 years old! Hey, I could have passed for seven!

The ten-in-one operator gave me an Egg-Bag, a Die-Box, and a spool of rope. He taught me a routine for each and spent a couple of days drilling me on presentation and performance of my spot/act. Three days later I was on stage and earning money as a magician. I got critiqued after each set by all the performers. I got competent fast!

The act consisted of a fairly good Egg-Bag routine with a lemon production finish, a standard die box routine, and a cut and restored rope.

There were two other effects I was trained to do. The first was a Broom Suspension that was my bit to perform "out front", to help gather a crowd. I would use one of the female performers or a girl from the “Kooch” show (owned and operated by the same guy).

I also performed the “Blade-Box” as a blow-off to make a little extra money inside. Again, some poor girl was drafted to be my assistant. My boyish prank was to reach into the box and pull off her costume after I had sectioned her with the blades. This of course was when it was only when needed as a blow-off to make extra money.

The broom suspension and the blade box belonged to the ten-in-one operator and apparently had been abandoned by a previous magician who tended to drink a bit and just wandered off one night and never came back.

The egg-bag was a heavy, red, wool flannel affair. It may have been home made and I still have it. It has a few spots on it that the cleaner couldn’t get out but is as functional as the day I got it. It was not new when I got it.

The die box was a rather primitive affair. It did not have a sound gimmick (noise maker) or any fake door panel to show the die present in a compartment. It was small, The die being 2.5 inches cube, and the box itself only 6.5 inches by 3.25 inches (front to back) by 3.5 inches deep (top to bottom). The shell was made from steel! It was painted red and I still have it and still use it from time to time.

In the early 70’s discovered that the Rubik’s cube was the same size as the die. So I bought two Cubes, painted the shell glossy black, peeled the square colored squares from one Cube and stuck them on the shell. Viola! Rubik’s Cube box! I added new brass hinges to the box at that time. The old hinges were painted and looked horrible!

I still have the original die.

I added to my repertory over the summer and over the next few years. But that was my first experience with magic. I was hooked from the beginning.

I became interested in magic when a magician performed at our cub scout Blue and Gold Banquet. About a year or so later a friend in 6th grade got a magic set and wanted to do a show for our class. I begged him to let me be his assistant. From there on I was hooked. I wrote away for the catalogs from different companies advertised in magazines, saved my money, and started collecting different tricks.

Well u'd think with Uncle Harry (sr.) being in the family that would have been my inspiration, but I didn't meet him until after I was well entrenched into magic. My actual inspiration came from a very young magician doing a 15 minute show twice a week on WFAA in Dallas, called Time for Magic. He totally facinated me (and his wife wasn't half bad to look at either, even for a 4 year old). Watching his shows only increased my desire to learn to do what he did. I managed to get a give away magic trick from him at a local personal appearance at a supermarket and was so hooked after that. Hounded my folks til they finally gave in and about the time he was doing the Syndicated Magic Circus series, just prior to Alakazam, I finally got a Mark Wilson magic set. It was all out from there on. And in spite of having met Uncle Harry three times and many other fantastic magicians such as Dai Vernon, and Slydini, Mark, to this day, is still my favorite magician.

Well in short (very short!) my fascination was drawn out through a combination of factors. Some of the major ones being: James Bond (don't ask... otherwise it becomes a long story), cons (as in grifting), and card sharping.

So inadvertently (and delightfully) I ended up in this life!

Cheers,
-Matt (TK)

Belive it or not my principle started me in magic

When I was younger I used to watch the Doug Henning specials on CBS and then I took second place in a talent show when I was in the second grade. I have been hooked ever since. I just want to add no matter how many tricks I learn or discover, I still get amazed when I see a great act. I think that is the true beauty of magic.

I have always been interested in magic. Then one year I got to know a guy who knew some magic and from then on I have loved it. Watching someone do a trick that you do not have a clue how to do is amazing. I like doing magic now because it makes me feel superior to other people, only joking!I do it because I love it when someone really cannot fathom how on earth you did a certain effect. the only downside with me being into magic now is that I cannot seem to just watch a show and enjoy it, I always have to try and work it out! By that I don't mean I sit there and pick apart someones show! I mean that I am always thinking in my head possible solutions.

My parents saw a kids book titled "The Klutz Book of Magic" while shopping for x-mas presents for us kids one year. Little did they realize what they started.