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bignickolson New user 87 Posts |
Great grandfather let me take Scarne's Magic Tricks home from his bookshelf. I never did find out if he knew any magic, my 8 year old brain just wanted the book which I still think is a shame.
That and all the magic specials on the TV throughout the 90's. I had left it mostly behind until really finding the skepticism movement about 5-6 years ago. This of course led back to Randi, Penn & Teller, Banachek, etc and brought right back to magic. |
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TheMentalist314 New user 10 Posts |
The first time I had ever seen anyone perform magic on tv was David Blaine. Aftee seeing him doing crazy things that got crazy reactions I wanted to follow suit.
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diehards2080 Loyal user Brooklyn, New York 256 Posts |
Watching John Ritter host magic back in the days go me into it. What got me into cards and gambling themed magic and cheating at the card table was when Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants came on HBO. I was about 11 when it came on and was amazed about what he did and what he said.
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Greg755 Regular user 126 Posts |
I first got interested on the second day of first grade. They had a guy come in and do a hour show in the auditorium. Up to this point I had only seen Magicians on tv. I remember thinking he was not as good as Harry Blackstone orMark Wilson. I went to the Library and they had a copy of The Amateur Magicians Handbook. I took it home and read it several times, but it was just to much for my reading comprehension, and all that hard practice and I was thinking to myself that I would never be able to do this stuff. About three weeks later I was riding my bike home when I saw a new store in the strip mall. Miami Magic, Home of the Amazing Sammy... When I walked in and I was stunned, the place was packed with props, he even had some of the same things as Haryy Blackstone and Mark Wilson did. The owner Sammy, did the nickels and dimes for me and the split deck. I was hooked. I was worried because I thought it would take years of practice to do those tricks. Sammy told me he could teach me in 10 minutes. When he told me how much they cost (big bucks for a 6 year old kid in the sixties) My heart sank. When I got home all I could do was think about how magical those tricks were, its all I could think about. My parents said they could not afford it, I was so bummed. My dad said if I helped him clean out his pigeon coup and mow the yard he would pay me $1 each time. He said if I wanted to I could use his lawn mower to try and mow other people's lawns. So it took about 3 months but finally I had enough to buy the tricks. Sammy was right, in no time at all I WAS a magician!!! Of course before I left he had to show me the stack of quarters. Holy cow they cost WAY more than the other two tricks combined... I showed those two tricks to everyone and their brother, twice... Just about then my birthday was coming up. My parents took me to ARTS Steakhouse for my birthday. I did not know why but as soon as we got there I spotted the Magician at another table. I could barley contain myself, if this guy didn't get to our table soon I was going to pee my self. The first thing he did was to vanish my moms lit cigarette in the table cloth. Then he did the Stack of quarters to dimes which, I already had seen, but again it really blew me away because there was no way those quarters fit inside those dimes. Then he puled out three cups and three balls and at the end of it all he produced two eggs and a live chick. I couldn't believe my eyes. As far as I was concerned this guy was the greatest magician on the face of the Planet, even better than Mark Wilson and Blackstone. At the end He said happy birth day and GAVE me a present (from my parents) Inside was a set of plastic cups and balls, A thumb tip and a $10 gift certificate to Miami Magic. In my mind I was sure that I now held the secrets of the world in my hands... The next Morning Poor Sammy had one excited kid waiting for him at the magic shop, I beat him there by two hours... I described in detail about the magician at the restaurant. He said "since it is your birthday" I will sell you that Stack of quarters trick for half price! WHAT LUCK!!! I just happened to have a $10 gift certificate and the Johnson stack of quarters was normally $20. Then he GAVE ME 12 issues of the Linking ring and said if you keep practicing, in a few years I will get you into our club (IBM) My brain just exploded when I found out there was a secret Magic Club. That was it, I was hooked.
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Wizard of Oz Inner circle Most people wish I didn't have 5150 Posts |
Awesome story Greg755.
Reminds me of my best birthday gift ever. A $25 gift certificate to The Magic Hat. It was also a magic store in a mall, and that certificate may as well have been a piece of gold. I'm not sure what was better, the tricks I ended up buying or the anticipation.
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
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thornster New user Florida 2 Posts |
Like many growing up in the 1960s:
Mark Wilson A magician that appeared at my elementary school a couple of times A magic set that my parents gave me for Christmas one year David |
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daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
I still see myself as a five year old boy, wide eyed, sitting on the floor, watching Mark Wilson's Magical Land Of Alakazam.
Mark magically made things disappear, so I had faith that I could do it too. But I cried after I put a handkerchief in my metal lunch box, and it refused to disappear for me! G Then there was the toy magic sets my parents bought me. And my time spent in dusty corners of the library, reading musty old magic books, trying to learn the secrets of the mysterious magical arts. There were the shows I put on for my little friends in the neighborhood. And there was the wonderful inspiration of the very magical Doug Henning in the 70's. Â Those are some starting points for me...
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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The Darkness New user Hong Kong 13 Posts |
When I was 9 years old, I became fascinated with recreational mathematics. So I read many topics such as puzzles and magic squares. One time, I stumbled upon some mathematical card tricks in a book by Martin Gardner. When I performed them to my friends, they are quite impressed. From there, I became interested in magic and bought some books such as Royal Road to Card Magic and Lorayne's "The Magic Book".
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Milan Irigoyen New user France, Belfort 5 Posts |
Daryl's Hot Shot Cut.
A normal wednesday afternoon in high school, slacking on youtube instead of working ("normal" hehe), when I come across a video of a guy doing a basic "pick a card, hot shot cut, is this your card?". I found that so incredibly cool that I searched around, found a commment talking about the Daryl's Encyclopedia of Card Sleights, found the whole series, and started practising. I remember my mom's face when I blew her mind with just a control and a glide. Good times. |
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daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
It's amazing to me, as I read these posts, how just a seemingly  chance encounter can seal a person's fate for life. We never know who we are influencing when we do magic.
Besides my earlier influences, which I mentioned, after graduating from High School, I immediately enlisted in the Air Force. One day I was at the base exchange store, (we called it the b.x.) and right there in the entrance foyer was a guy set up with a table, and he was doing magic. Sponge ball to cube, professor's nightmare, etc. I found it absolutely fascinating. I at that time had NO IDEA how he did the effects. It looked to my young eyes to  be pure magic. Miracles! So I found a magazine on magic, then I found a small magic shop, and luckily they carried those very tricks he showed me. I happily plunked down my money, took my treasures back to my barracks room, and my journey began. Decades later, I still include those effects in my shows. I don't know what that magician's name was, but I'd sure like to thank him. He had NO IDEA what he started by that little performance in the b.x! So it is with all of us. We never know what we are starting or who we are influencing. I like to imagine that through school shows that I have done in the past, perhaps a handful of young boys were influenced to become magicians from watching me. Maybe a few of them went home and begged mom for a toy magic set for Christmas. Who knows? Maybe one of them will turn out to be the next David Copperfield. (.I know I sure won't!) But there is no way of knowing. Only eternity will tell. So learn your craft. Learn it well. Strive for excellence. Spread your wonders wherever you go. Make the world a better place. Teach others to believe. And you just never know who's life you are going to touch. But with magiic, you certainly now have the tools. The power is in your hands! Daff
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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Sackninja New user 64 Posts |
It was my trip to universal studios florida that really got me into magic. I went to the theatre magic show with my parent kind of by accident. But I did go to it and it was all amazing. I got my parents to buy me the deal, which included the Svengali, levitator, wonder lights and sponge balls.
It was almost a year when I actual opened them. I couldn't open them until I got home and kind of forgot about them. But when I did I really got into it. I've kind of been on and off magic since them. I've made four purchases total since I started magic. Penguin choose 5, loads of decks and the royal road to card magic. Also got some sankey stuff as a present. But I still think the theatre magic bundle was the most useful stuff I got. I love the wonder lights. |
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daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
By the wonder lights are you talking about D'lites? (by Rocco)Â
They are good for starting out, but I advise against using them in payed shows because you will probably get busted by some eight or nine year old kid. The reason I'm saying that is because they have been over exposed. I'm talking about by the millions. Every kid who has been into magic at least three days knows them. It's a sad thing, because before the exposure, they were a wonderful effect. I've even heard of kiosks at malls set up to sell these lights. It's just like the sign on McDonald's. Billions and billions sold.
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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Sackninja New user 64 Posts |
No, not dlites. I'm talking about these. http://www.theatremagic.com/shop/22-kits/wonder-lights/
Thankfully they're a completely different method (Maybe not the right word) to dlites. Plus I don't think dlites are as big here in ireland as they are elsewhere. I've never heard of anyone having them. I guess we will have to wait until I start using them with strangers to see if anyone knows dlites. But with the wonder lights I should be able to disprove their ideas. |
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Alex R. Weinberg Veteran user 353 Posts |
I got into magic when I was a really little kid, when a man showed me a very simple few tricks. I was astonished, I then determined from then on I wanted to know how to do it and perform the same miracle for others. That is how it all started!
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daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
It's amazing to me how many of us had a similar experience as David Copperfield had when he was a boy.
It's doubly amazing to me how many of us are NOT the next David Copperfield (LOL)
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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vianns Regular user France - Paris 134 Posts |
When I was young, I loved to see magicians and my parents bought me a "Magicien case", with a thumb, a "stick", some ropes and cups... but I never really did anything with that. 8 months ago, I saw a performance in Paris, the first since many years. And some routine really impressed me (flash paper, IT and some cards routines) and I looked for the tricks. This way I discovered some techniques and wanted to learn them.
I started with cards and now I'm heading to mentalism/bizarre magick. Looks more interesting for me |
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DallasFrank Regular user Hey Rocky watch me pull a Rabbit outta my hat...oops wrong hat! 104 Posts |
J.B. Bobo hooked me with his yearly shows at our school.I am quite sure he started many a young boy in Texas and the Southwest on the road to magic.
Frank |
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KirbyKoolAid New user 54 Posts |
A few things. A mixture of Derren Brown on TV (and seeing the Enigma tour) and seeing Paul Zenon at the Gadget Show LIve a couple of years ago. I thought I could do a couple of things the latter did, so I figuered I may as well try.
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lifeofwonder New user Australia 54 Posts |
Was shown a card trick from my uncle, and was hooked. I was also shy and it really boosted my confidence when I was young.
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sirbrad Inner circle PA 2096 Posts |
There was two defining moments that made me realize that magic was going to be my future and that I wanted to be a magician and a professional full-time. The very first trick that I saw up close was the Ball and Vase. I was six years old and my best friend at the time showed me it and I was absolutely floored. He received it in an old Adam’s magic set that he got for Christmas, and after I saw that trick I just had to know how such a miraculous feat could be possible. I offered to buy the set from him for three dollars, which was a lot of money back then. Well to a kid at least. He thought it was a steal that I would pay so much for this set, and it was just a ton of candy money in his pocket.
So he asked his parents if he could sell me it, and they complied thankfully. I still have some of the tricks from that same set today, and the Ball and Vase that started it all which is one of my most important and valuable items because of that. I knew I was going to be into this intriguing hobby for the long haul. At first it was just a clandestine hobby that I kept to myself, as I was very shy and extremely introverted as a kid. The 2nd time was my first time ever seeing a live magician at a local fair. This actually happened just a little while after seeing the Ball and Vase. He was set up with a suitcase table, glamorous, glitzy magic props, a bird that appeared from smoke and had a rope ladder, and a close-up table with the cups and balls, Transposing coins, sponge balls, and many other close-up props. I walked up to the table, being the young and extremely curious kid that I was. He was wearing a brightly colored suit and tie, and with all kinds of magical looking accessories he came up to me. He looked just like Alexander Hermann, (one of the most famous magicians of the nineteenth century) mustache, goatee and all. He just finished making a dove appear out of thin air in a puff of smoke, and placed it on a little ladder made of rope and wood. He then asked me if I "wanted to see something amazing," even though I already just had. He told me to "open my hand and hold onto this little red sponge ball, and to squeeze it tightly so that he could not take it out." Then he brought another one out and placed it in his own closed fist as well. He did a few magical gestures, pointed to my hand, and then asked me; "Did you feel anything?" I said "No." He then said "Look" as he opened his hand finger by finger...the ball was gone! Where could it have possibly went? He then pointed to my hand, I opened it...and lo and behold there were two balls! I thought to myself no way could this be possible, I never even opened my hand the entire time! He was nowhere near my hand! Man if I could do that...if only I could do that... I had no clue how on earth he possibly made that sponge ball appear in my hand. Little did I know that I would be doing that very same effect for many years to come, and creating the same wonder and astonishment within other people's lives as he did mine. That was my first initial exposure to magic seeing a professional perform close-up. That moment of astonishment manifested a deep desire within me to learn how to do magic. Not just to learn the secrets, but how to perform magic. It was the next day that I made the trip to my local library to find any books I could on magic, and I mean any! I found about six decent ones at the time, and checked them all out. After careful study and hours of practice, I realized just how difficult magic was to perform, and even more so for a live audience. For some reason however I was drawn to this challenge. From that day on my lifelong magical journey had begun and continues till this day.
The great trouble with magicians is the fact that they believe when they have bought a certain trick or piece of apparatus, and know the method or procedure, that they are full-fledged mystifiers. -- Harry Houdini
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