I was a little kid. Probably 4 or 5 when I got a Fisher Price Magic set as a present. It was a fun toy. I never put on an official magic show with it. I just sort of played around. I had a pet mouse that I would vanish using the special box that came with it. Also, in elementary school, there was something called the Junior Scholastic book club. To encourage reading, they sent out a catalogue of books you could mail order, and encouraged kids to pick some out. I picked out a couple magic books. (The sort of Magic for kids books you might find at the library). Also I was very into a show called Mr.Wizard. He did science demonstrations that sort of had a magical feel to them. My father was also a scientist, and he would take me to his lab on occasion, and do some demonstratins for me. We did things like put marshmellows in the vaccuum chamber, or made the hard boiled egg get sucked into bottle. For a long time this was all I thought about magic. Just cool little demonstrations here and there. It was until the end of high school, that I got into magic as I think of it now. Sleight of hand and card tricks and such. And relishing the reactions I could elicit from people.

I am 12 and I started magic when I was 10. Age doesn't matter.

Well for me I just stated to learn magic and study it it around 3 or 4 years ago but when I was a kid and the magician who came to are school was who got me into wanting to be where am at today..but it was the mask magicain and david blaine who really sparked my intest back to when I was a kid and I have'nt look back..now I know who the real greats are..

I just started 2 years ago.

Sounds like my story is similar to most: I started with a cheap little magic kit in grade school, did one show for my class and embarassed myself! Thus it got tucked away and forgotten. Then in Middle School (7th-8th grades) I started to play with cards and just haven't stopped. I'd toyed with the idea of going further for a few years now and just within the past two I've really began to expand my skills and scope of study. Now my wife is encouraging me to follow my dreams and put together a small show for pubs and parties. *sigh* An understanding wife is a wonderful treasure indeed!

I started again a few weeks ago after a long break from doing some packet tricks when I was a kid. I'm almost 33 now. The kicker is I have David Blaine to thank for getting me back into it! (please don't hate me for that!)

Hmmmmm not going to, just because your way older then me, I started just 2 years ago, but the tenacious practices paid off big time!

I started magic when I was a child. But, there was a thirty year gap when I wasn't involved in magic. I got back into magic at age thirty-seven and it feels like I never left.

6 when I got my first magic kid, I still have some items, then long time nothing, started again at the age of 18 and never stopped. Now practice almost daily

First grade, but I fell out of magic but now I'm almost ready to hire.

1974 was the year. I was 18. Bill Bixby was the Magician and I was hooked. At that time there was only one magic shop in Toronto and not far from where I worked. I bought the shrinking die. I was hooked.

A year after that I made the biggest mistake of my life. I went on a bus trip to Florida with my parents and on the bus was Kay Arnott the wife of Bill Arnott the famous Toronto magician. H had just died and my father mentioned to her that I was interested in magic so she spoke to me. Being shy I said I wasn't that interested. Kaye had all her husbands equipment in the house and she told me that if I was interested I could come and see it. I never did take her up on her offer and who knows where or what I could have been by now.

Use your chances you never know what you will miss if you don't.

After that I became a member of the I.B.M.
:magicrabbit:

I was heavily involved in the occult for a good, solid decade and then discovered magic last December at the Hollywood Magic Shop in Hollywood, CA.

I watched Newell and Jeff do some tricks and I was hooked.

I'm back in Alabama to help with a sick family member and I've got time to practice.

My card tricks are getting better and now I'm turning my attention more towards billet work.

Last night at a local bar I did some cold reading with great success. I've found that it works best on drunks. ;-)

I think magicians are magicians all their lives - when they cultivate that passion is rather irrelevant, 14 or 44. That passion is ingrained within everyone reading this post.

I loved the first trick I ever saw (3 yrs. old, Dad pulls his thumb off), the first magic special I saw on TV (7 yrs. old, World's Greatest Magic), the first little magic show I put on for friends and family (10 yrs. old, 5th grade Talent Show), the first time I actually starting taking it seriously (14 yrs. old, initially - yes, I confess - influenced by Mr. Blaine), the first time I created a trick (16 yrs. old, still one of my favorites today at "Tyler Magic"), and the first time I really started to look and think deep into the history, art, and power of magic (18 yrs. old, after reading Absolute Magic).

That's my journey, as far as it's come so far, and I'm sure yours is much the same. Magicians can never truly pinpoint an age when they first became magicians because we've always been magicians and always will be becoming new magicians, if we are fortunate enough, for the rest of our lives.

When it comes to age of magicians .. interestingly enough , who says you cannot teach an old dog new tricks .. we have an OLLLLLd fellow in our ring .. Picked up the Bus. in his later 70's , and even today in his Mid eightys he is performing at seniors shows .. and performs close up at most all club functions , Between himself and one other they do a wonderful half hour show called Senior Sorcery, all in the grandest style and music for mood, this fellow has a Benson's bowl routine that kills , we also have another member who picked it up in his mid fortys and is quickly becomming on Canadas premier trade show acts , as well as having a regular gig in Arizona for 8 weeks a year ,, during Our winter how tough is that ! , I think I really like magic for the fact that there really is a Gig that's not inhibited by age , No Matter when you start , how old how young ..I can honestly say I have friends from 14 to 98 years old that I hang out with on a regular basis , with each contributing to the magic community in their own unique way

I'm 17 and have been doing magic for about 4 months, not really any hardcore practising but just messing around with a few card sleights and tricks using them. Im really interested in going further but a lack of money to spend on the books I need doesn't help Having said that, it doesn make me squeeze everything out of the few books I do have which I suppose is a good thing in itself.

Starting about now is great for me, I am able to practise near enough when I feel like it, and don't usually have a problem understanding the principles of many tricks.

Most importantly, just having fun once magic is no longer fun for me, I'm sure ill stop but for now I'm loving it.

Tom

ì started when I was five and then it was getting boring then I started again when I was 12 and now i`m 13

I'm one of those boys that recieved a Magic set at age 5, and took it as an act of fate Around the time highschool started up, and I discovered the opposite sex, magic sat on a shelf for a couple years, and I started back up when I was 20 and well into college.

I guess I can't really relate to the starting late feeling, but I do seem to get it now and then when I meet "child prodigy" Magicians that never seemed to stop pointing out the fact they've been performing for audiences since the age of 7.

We're not pop stars. We're Magicians. No one is going to boo us off stage ( to an extent ), or refuse to give us a record deal, or part in a movie because we don't have sex appeal or killer vocal chords.

I was 4 (9 years ago) and my Grandpa put on a little magic show. I have been hooked ever since. I also agree with those who say that it's not when you started that matters, it's how you perform the trick.

Dai Vernon once told me (yes, he told me) that he started Magic when he was 5 years old and wasted 5 years.

If you think you wasted 30 years before you started Magic, you should try and find things other than Magic also because there are many things as wonderful as Magic.

Hideo Kato

P.S.
Congratulation for your encounter with Magic anyway!

I 'puttered around' from a very early age, studied ventriloquism seriously at age 11, and then launched into magic and escapes seriously at age 13. I began looking into mentalism around the age of 15.

Steve