magic: a personal history

I don’t remember how my interest in magic started. Maybe David Copperfield sparked it or maybe it just began because of the Eddie’s Trick Shop across the street from where my grandmother worked (this was back when they had a store on Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain). To explain why I first went there requires a quick trip back to kindergarten.

For Halloween that year, my grandmother and great grandmother made me a clown costume. It happened to be red, white, and blue so the next summer, at the age of seven, I walked with a group of clowns from my grandparents’ church in the Stone Mountain Fourth of July parade. I enjoyed the experience so much that I decided to continue. (I ended up walking in that parade as a clown for 20 more years, but that’s a story for another day.)

So I wound up at the aforementioned Eddie’s Trick Shop to take clown lessons. Along with those I took magic lessons, learning such standards as Cup and Balls, Cut and Restored Rope, and tricks with foam rabbits. I never found a shop quite as convenient when I lived in Colorado so I never really found my way into the magic community the way so many did. I do vaguely remember a magic and joke store in some mall out there that may have been called Zeezo’s Zeno’s Magic Castle, but I can’t find anything about it so that name may be completely cooked up by my subconscious.

Whenever I came back to Georgia to visit though I’d make at least one trip to Eddie’s. I always left a little disappointed that I couldn’t afford the big stuff on the top shelves that looked just like tricks I’d seen on TV or read about in books. Instead I’d walk out with a jewel paddle, a money clip, or some other small illusion.

Eventually I discovered Houdini and escape tricks. Finally I had found something that could be big without costing a lot (especially as my father already had a set of lockpicks that he let me play with). I got to be pretty good at picking padlocks. In fact, years later when my mom lost the key to a fireproof safe she had (with the instructions for getting replacement keys inside), I created a set of lockpicks from a hanger and picked open the safe.

My interest in magic continued through elementary and junior high. In high school though filmmaking became my primary passion and magic faded into just another childhood memory. Every time I moved since then I’d rediscover my old magic tricks and briefly consider keeping them close to hand. Other items would take precedence though and that box would wind up in an attic or back of a closet.

Just over a year ago though a mention of the site theory11 popped up on some blog I read. I was intrigued and quickly discovered that magic and magicians were all over the web. Since then I’ve subscribed to Genii magazine, added several sites to my Google Reader list (primarily iTricks and The Magic Newswire), and bought a few items from theory11 and Ellusionist.

I don’t plan to become a professional or even a performing amateur, just the guy that might do a trick or two at a party. Most of what I have been trying to learn are just card tricks and other illusions that don’t require any sort of gimmicks or large props. My girlfriend, Rosie, has been wonderfully supportive of my interest despite how I freaked her out one time with Control.

I often wonder what might have been, if I’d been a bit more driven as a kid. Could I have actually become a true magician? In a certain sense though, I never did leave magic. I just created illusions with a camera instead of a deck of cards.