South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
There’s no disappearing act for South Florida magicians
Magicians are often overlooked when it comes to performers who are suffering during COVID19.
Broward and Palm Beach counties are home to hundreds of illusionists, and they have a few tricks up their sleeves when it comes to treading water through the pandemic.
Boynton Beach resident Hank Feinberg, an officer with the Society of American Magicians Boca Raton chapter, is a networker and point-person in the South Florida world of magic. He keeps a list of over 550 magicians throughout Florida. He said the impact on the field has been immediate and challenging for the entertainers.
“The problem now, of course, is that magic is a theatrical art form that is done in front of people,” Feinberg said. “So because of the coronavirus, magicians have literally lost their income. Vegas is dead. Vegas is closed.
And the million multimillion-dollar shows have closed down.”
He said that David Copperfield, who he and some other magicians were on a conference call with recently, usually does 400 shows a year.
“But it’s not only those high-level performers,” Feinberg said. “The local magicians who did birthday parties and gigs in country clubs and in restaurants can’t work. They just totally lost their income. That’s the majority of performers. There are about 7,000 magicians throughout the United States.”
Billy Byron, president of the Fort Lauderdale Magic Society, said, “In Broward County, there are about 150 magicians who are members of the group. Most of them are in their 40s through their 80s.”
Byron said that he has been working with Broward County magicians to support them as much as he can.
“Magicians are doing what they can during this epidemic,” he said. “We all have to rearrange things, particularly those magicians who are full time, where their livelihood depends on their shows.”
He said that everyone in the field is struggling, regardless of their level of magic.
“Whether they are smaller venue magicians or international performers, everybody is dealing with the same situation,” he said.
The magic of Zoom
Both Feinberg and Byron, who often collaborate with each other on events, said Zoom has become the tool of choice for magicians, much as it has been for everyone else.
Byron sees that performers are beginning to innovate.
“Some magicians are beginning to charge for some of the Zoom shows,” he said. “Especially when you’re a full-time performer, you will try anything to try to offset your money losses.”
Feinberg recently was part of a high-level international magician performance.
“I attended a Zoom performance last weekend with a magician by the name of Clarissa Hendrix,” he said. “Clarissa lives up in Calgary, Canada. During the weekend, she puts on live, interactive Zoom magic shows with no more than 40 people in the audience. She’s been doing this now for about four weeks and she sells out her performances, charging $20 per ticket.”
According to Feinberg and Byron, magicians are finding mutual support through regular Zoom meetings.
“It’s very new territory for everyone,” Byron said. “But everyone seems to be becoming more and more comfortable with it.
“We’re coming along really fine with Zoom. We’re doing magic for people all over the place. And magicians are participating in meetings from all over the world. It’s very interesting because you meet people and other magicians that you ordinarily would never meet.”
Houdini seance goes virtual
A regular occurrence over the years has been a seance that seeks to get the attention of the late illusionist Harry Houdini. The world-famous magician died on Halloween in 1926. Ever since, events have been held to try to communicate with him, even though Houdini was a major critic of professional psychics and mediums. His main criticism came from those who tried to defraud people of major sums of money to try to connect people with lost loved ones.
Dorothy Dietrich, who has been referred to as the “First Female Houdini” because of the nature of her acts, held a virtual seance to try to connect with Houdini. Owner of the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, she invited hundreds of magicians around the country for the online seance.
The Zoom event was mostly informational about Houdini’s life. At one point, however, Detrich was summoning Houdini and asking him to show himself when a block that had been placed on the seance table mysteriously fell over.
“I was handling the block beforehand when we were setting up the table,” she said. “I stood it up on end instead of having it lay on the table. I was talking about the 1953 Houdini movie with Tony Curtis. Then I explain that they got the story wrong at the end of the movie. The film claimed that Houdini died during the water torture act. I know that would have been irritating for Houdini because it would irritate me. That’s when the block fell.”
Dietrich said while she prefers the in-person experience for her performances, Zoom has potential for magicians.
“It was very uncomfortable for us at the beginning, as we’re all learning the technology of it. But it’s coming along. I love that it’s available,” she said.
Young magician copes
Dominic Ferri is a 20-year-old magician from Coral Springs. He has been interested in magic since he was 10.
“A lot of people who get into magic are interested in magic at a very young age, and then some either continue with it or they find other passions,” he said. I was one of those who decided to just stay with it.”
His favorite style of magic is called mentalism in which performers appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities.
“I’ve always been interested in psychology and understanding people’s minds,” he said.
Ferri has been trying to adjust to 2020 with his performances. He’s working on putting together a live show on Zoom.
“I need to get a poster set up and ready to go. But I am planning a virtual show soon,” he said. “I have been doing some private events during COVID. Sometimes clients contact me and want me to perform via Zoom. Some of the private parties via video have even been in other countries, like Canada.”
The magic of giving
Magicians who can afford to this year have been finding ways of continuing to give back to nonprofits in the area.
“Typically, we do a lot of charity work,” Feinberg said. “We work with the Boating & Beach Bash for People with Disabilities. We work with the Vital Flight, which helps people who need it get free air transportation. We also work with the Veterans of Foreign Wars group.”
A big effort this year has been the production of a 50-minute video that is being shared with children’s hospitals, which Feinberg said is even more important this year.
“We realized that a lot of the kids who go into the hospital cannot have people in their room this year because of the coronavirus,” he said. “So we produced a video using the theme of Grandmaster Grady and his Magical Friends.”
“The video is going to go into the Jack Nicklaus Children’s Hospital to be played around the clock for the kids,” Feinberg said. “Plus, now it’s also going into the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital for the same purpose.
“We’re also working with the Children’s Hospital Association, which has 220 members across the United States,” he said. “They absolutely love the video, and it’s going to be offered for free to every children’s hospital in the United States.”