Magicians Make Laughter Appear
A Group Of 20 'Odd' Magicians Band Together For The First Time To Put On A Show In Leesburg.
LEESBURG — ''Hello. My name is Ian. I-A-N. The last three letters of magician.''
With that, Ian Sutz announced the first-ever magic show of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Ring 258, Leesburg chapter, home to what Sutz described as 20 ''odd'' magicians.
They are veterans of their craft, some with long lifetimes of performing. They performed Wednesday afternoon to an audience of about two dozen, mostly people of retirement age, who paid $2.50 each for a plush rocking seat in the old Tropic theater in downtown Leesburg.
Judd and Beverly Freyd, who live near the Lake Square Mall, came because they like magic, such as David Copperfield's recent act in Orlando during which he made an airliner disappear.
''It's fun to be fooled,'' he said.
While no planes vanished in Leesburg Wednesday, Sutz got the show going with a laughing clown he called ''Happy'' who ''just sits on the pot all day and sometimes we have to empty the pot.''
Sutz, who owns the Tropic Cinemagic theater, made popcorn and was the emcee for Ring 258's magic show. That gave him several chances to empty Happy's pot of a clear liquid.
The trick, better seen than told, was that Happy the doll appeared somehow to use the pot as a commode.
Sutz was swept up with the humor of Happy and stood there laughing for a moment, his white-shirted belly rising and falling under his magician's black tail coat.
A lot of the magic was a classic mix with comedy, a patter of one-liners and puns. In that, the practitioners were polished.
A magician called LeMac (read it backward) did a cigarette trick, one he had done for years, even in the Navy.
The trick was to make his left hand appear to produce a cigarette as fast as his right hand could pocket them.
By the way, LeMac got a Navy medal for saving two girls - one for himself and one for the commander, he joked.
LeMac stepped aside after that one-liner.
Among those sharing excerpts from their magical careers was Bob Hayes. Fifty years ago at age 12, his grandmother took him to watch magician Harry Blackstone pull a rabbit out of his hat.
With that, Ian Sutz announced the first-ever magic show of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Ring 258, Leesburg chapter, home to what Sutz described as 20 ''odd'' magicians.
Judd and Beverly Freyd, who live near the Lake Square Mall, came because they like magic, such as David Copperfield's recent act in Orlando during which he made an airliner disappear.
''It's fun to be fooled,'' he said.
While no planes vanished in Leesburg Wednesday, Sutz got the show going with a laughing clown he called ''Happy'' who ''just sits on the pot all day and sometimes we have to empty the pot.''
Sutz, who owns the Tropic Cinemagic theater, made popcorn and was the emcee for Ring 258's magic show. That gave him several chances to empty Happy's pot of a clear liquid.
The trick, better seen than told, was that Happy the doll appeared somehow to use the pot as a commode.
Sutz was swept up with the humor of Happy and stood there laughing for a moment, his white-shirted belly rising and falling under his magician's black tail coat.
A lot of the magic was a classic mix with comedy, a patter of one-liners and puns. In that, the practitioners were polished.
A magician called LeMac (read it backward) did a cigarette trick, one he had done for years, even in the Navy.
The trick was to make his left hand appear to produce a cigarette as fast as his right hand could pocket them.
By the way, LeMac got a Navy medal for saving two girls - one for himself and one for the commander, he joked.
LeMac stepped aside after that one-liner.
Among those sharing excerpts from their magical careers was Bob Hayes. Fifty years ago at age 12, his grandmother took him to watch magician Harry Blackstone pull a rabbit out of his hat.
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