David Williamson r e s Ridiculous He's R s ' Back DECEMBER 2013 • $6 • 2013 DECEMBER

Genii The Conjurors’ Magazine David

NotWilliamson So ridiculous by David Britland

In 1961, in the little town of Xenia, Ohio, some farm- ers found a pod in a field, still smoking. Inside, wrapped in a close-up mat, was a baby from another world. That baby was David Williamson. Xenia was subsequently laid low by a huge tornado which left David’s magical educa- tion to a man going by the name of Quacky the . Or at least that’s what David Williamson said when I saw him interviewed for his new DVD set, Ridiculous. I haven’t been able to verify the smoking pod story. But he was born in Xenia. There was a tornado. And a guy called Quacky the Clown. And, watching David Williamson perform , who could possibly doubt that he is from another world? The usual accolades don’t do justice to the talents of David Williamson. He’s an award-winning magician. One of the world’s best and most versatile sleight-of- hand artists. A terrific teacher of magic. A great come- dian and an exceptional stage performer. But for me David Williamson is more than that. He’s a magician who changed the way we do magic.

78 GENII Williamson Photo by JP Cezanne DECEMBER 2013 79 David brought to Magic ...

a seemingly effortless style in which the magic seems natural and spontaneous. David’s own inspirations were Slydini, Del Ray, and Albert Goshman. but, in the 1980s, David brought a youthful energy to his magic that we were not accustomed to.

first heard about him at a magic just happens.” it was many years in the making. lecture by This is what David brought to magic, Xenia is in America’s Midwest, in 1982. It was hosted by a seemingly effortless style in which the approximately 20 miles from Dayton. at his home magic seems natural and spontaneous. It was where David Williamson spent in Holland Park. It was an David’s own inspirations were Slydini, his childhood, fighting with his two Iinspiring lecture. Michael Ammar per- Del Ray, and Albert Goshman but, in brothers, climbing trees, and throwing formed and explained some innovative the 1980s, David brought a youthful rocks at passing trucks. The seed for magic, the best of a new generation energy to his magic that we were not change came, as it does for many magi- of magicians. He also mentioned a accustomed to. We’d paid homage to cians, with the arrival of a magic set, a friend of his, David Williamson, the the Stars of Magic era legends, as we Christmas present when David was nine creator of The Striking Vanish, a move should, but it was a rare day when you years old. It was the same year he read a that has since become a standard. A sat down at a table to entertain your book at school about Houdini. The last couple of years later I saw David lec- spectators. David Williamson’s magic chapter described how to do the French ture in London, an event arranged by was built for the “now.” You stood, you Drop. David practiced it, well enough Chris Power and JJ who had already worked the room, the body language for the teacher, Mrs. Moore, to pat him picked him as one to watch. Their was loose and guileless, and the magic, on the shoulder and say, “Maybe some- day you’ll be a magician.” It was, says David, “The first time anyone had said I’d be anything.” “That year Shepherd the Great, a magi- cian, came to our school. He did a great little school program. Mrs. Moore knew I was interested in magic, so she talked to the magician and he allowed me to come backstage and let me load his gear into his van, which had a rabbit and top hat painted on its side. I felt honored. I knew I was in the fraternity then and knew that was what I wanted to do.” David’s magical epiphany came dur- ing Shepherd the Great’s performance of the “Color Changing Plumes.” David describes the plumes being pushed through the tube, “He had a red plume, put it in the tube, and a blue one came out. And he put it back on the stand. Red to Blue. Then he takes a yellow one puts it in the tube and a red one comes out. And I started to see a pattern. Ah ha! I’m on to this guy. Then he takes a green one and puts it in the tube. And I magazine, Opus, later declared him their really did just seem to happen free of turned to my friend and said the green favorite close-up magician, praising his structure and formality. It was a new one is going to come out yellow. And a fluid and the way an way of performing and one that every purple one came out! At that moment, aura of magic seems to surround David magician wanted to emulate. That style I thought wait a minute. There’s some- Williamson creating an impression “that exists because of David Williamson and thing going on here. I need to find out

80 GENII

W N W N a a tc h tc h ACE CUTTING ACE CUTTING (Performance) (Explanation)

what’s going on. He sucked me in. He clobbered me. My brain was on fire.” The next milestone on the journey occurred when he was 11 or 12 and read The Amateur Magician’s Handbook. Written by Henry Hay (June Barrows Mussey) it owed much to his travels around the world as a young man where he met the greats of magic like T. Nelson Downs and learned from them. It made concrete the idea that there was indeed a fraternity of magicians sharing secrets. It was a group that David very much wanted to join. David’s grandfather helped him build a magic box, one of his own design. He could show it empty, reach in, and pull out a bunch of silks. He still has it. But its debut at a school talent show didn’t go so well. He reached through a flap in the box to pick up a bundle of handker- chiefs that was hanging on a nail behind the table. Unfortunately the flap closed on his hand and he couldn’t get it free. “I pulled and I couldn’t get my hand out,” says David. “It was almost like a comedy routine.” David performed magic at county shows, birthday parties, and old folks homes. To get more work he took to wearing a T-shirt that had “Magician for Magic Conference in 2012. The tornado and physical wreckage that a bizarre Hire” printed on the front. “Did I ever came at a strange time in David’s life, note of optimism emerged … Quacky get any work from that?” asks David. things were not good at home. His par- the Clown. “No. Did people say, ‘Let me get the ents had been constantly arguing. They When David describes Quacky you number for that?’ No. It was stupid.” got divorced. And now his town had can’t help but imagine Crusty the Clown However, another promotional idea been flattened. It was from this social from The Simpsons. Quacky lived in a did work. His box-building grandfather trailer strewn with beer cans where his had an old fashioned printing press in daughter inflated the modeling balloons the basement. He taught David how to for the day’s show. Then he wandered set type and soon he had his first busi- through the tornado-wrecked streets of ness cards. Xenia, wearing yellow duck feet clown Magic sets, home-built production shoes, doing magic tricks, making bal- boxes, and business cards: all familiar loon models, mooing and barking and waypoints in the journey of the magi- kicking kids away whenever they came cian. But the next milestone was one too close. David loved it. “It was the that few can mark on their map, a tor- most ridiculous, wonderful thing that nado strike. It happened in April 1974 could possibly have happened to me at and was the second largest tornado that point.” outbreak in the history of the U.S.A. David followed Quacky everywhere, David’s home town of Xenia was hit eventually being allowed to assist by with devastating force, 32 people were carrying the net full of inflated balloons. killed, over a thousand injured, and a In a quiet moment inside Quacky’s trail- large part of the town laid waste. er, he advised David never to take up David told the story at the Essential the performing life. It was advice that

DECEMBER 2013 81 He was a mentalist. I don’t know who it was. I know it wasn’t because I don’t think he drives does he? But Max is the kind of guy who would do something like this. He saved all our stuff and he replaced everything that was damaged. The next day he brought us new copies of all the books we had bought. That made a big impression on me about the fraternity of magicians.” Fraternities have secret initiation rites and David learned that magic conven- tions were no exception. At the TAOM convention in Texas he met . “I think we were in our late teens or something. Some old guy comes by and says ‘we want you two boys in the Presidential Suite at mid- night for the Order of Merlin meet- fell on deaf ears. What was not to like in 1973 when he visited Abbott’s Magic ing. There’s an induction ceremony, be about Quacky’s life? “He’s got wheels, Convention. His mother had read in there.’ We were all excited. We didn’t he’s got somewhere to live, he can go a newspaper that there was a magic know what this was. We were so proud wherever he wants.” David wanted to festival in Colon, Michigan. She offered of ourselves being invited up to the be just like Quacky. “I see a guy actually to drop him there while she drove on to Order of Merlin Society.” making a living and traveling around visit her sister in Wisconsin. “We were brought into this suite, a the Midwest,” says David. “It gave me a “There was another kid from private dining room. The doors open. romantic notion of what a professional Cincinnati who was about my age and There’s candles everywhere. I don’t performer must be.” interested in magic. My mom knew know who all the guys were but it’s a It comes as a surprise when David says his mom. I had a little pup tent. She bunch of old gray-haired magicians that he wasn’t a natural performer. Compared dropped us in a dairy field in Colon you never talk to because you’re the to his brother Gary he was less outgoing, and then she took off toward her sister’s cool teenagers. But was a talented kid with lots of friends. “My house. There we were, 12 years old. We definitely there. And Ed Campagna, the younger brother Gary was one of those barely knew how to pitch the tent but it boss of the TAOM in those years. He kids who could do anything. He could was the greatest weekend of my life. We was an interesting guy who worked for pick up a guitar and within half an hour sat there at the picnic table every night NASA. Lots of stories there.” he could pick up a song. If he took three with Colman lanterns and these guys “They were all sitting around this balls he could learn to juggle in an after- showing us magic tricks.” candlelit table. It was very intimidat- noon.” To David’s horror he even turned , , and Monk ing. They had towels on their heads his hand to magic. Watson were among the performers like Swamis. Like Genii has. Turbans. “He could pick up a deck of cards that impressed David. He watched Johnny and I come in. It’s like The and he could Back Palm. He could Back Gene Anderson lecture and perform his Wizard of Oz, how they go down the Palm, two, three, four cards. He could famous “Torn and Restored Newspaper.” hallway and shaking. We’re shaking in squeeze out a Pressure Fan quicker than He saw Jose de la Torre change the color our boots.” I could. I finally made him stop. No of penknives. And was totally mystified “And they said, ‘You have been cho- more magic for you. Let me have magic. by a mysterious floating ball under the sen to be inducted into the voodoo soci- I made him stay away from magic. That control of Neil Foster. ety of the Order of Merlin.’ So they had was my area.” From Hank Morehouse he bought this ceremony with all this double talk. “It was also a way for a shy kid to a bunch of recommended books I forget exactly what was said. But they put himself out there a little bit and get and stowed them away in his tent. had us say the names of two wizards, noticed by people at school. School is Unfortunately the tent was pitched in a Willard from the West and Herrmann a competitive place for a kid. There’s a gulley and on the first night of the con- from the East. And we recited these lot going on and you have to find your vention it rained. Everything was ruined. incantations. It was all very serious and place. Magic became my thing, my safe But then something happened that fur- very mysterious.” place.” ther convinced David that the world of “Finally we had two voodoo balls The fraternity of magicians that magic really was something special. and they said to put both voodoo balls David had imagined became a reality “This guy jumps into his Mercedes. in one hand. And we did. And they

82 GENII The Doors Open...

There’s candles everywhere. I don’t know who all the guys were but it’s a bunch of old gray-haired magicians that you never talk to because you’re the cool teenagers.

But Jay Marshall was definitely there...

They were all sitting around this candlelit table. It was very intimidating.

They had towels on their heads like Swamis...

said, ‘Now squeeze the magic voodoo balls.’ And we squeezed them and all the guys sitting around the table went ‘Oooooooooh’ as if in pain. Then they’d break into laughter. Then they go, ‘Okay get lost! Next’.” ~ David entered his first magic competi- tion in Galion, Ohio. He didn’t win but Michael Ammar came up to him and complimented him on his per- formance. He was three years older than David and more knowledgeable. Ammar, along with Gary Plants whom David also met there, would not only become very influential on David’s growth as a sleight of hand worker but lifelong friends. Photo by JP Cezanne

DECEMBER 2013 83

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It might have been Gary Plants who first time we were in a class together was going strong enough that I could be played a part in one of David’s pranks and I was doing ‘Chink a Chink,’ the the breadwinner. That’s what I recom- some time later. “I’d been tipped off, version, where the hands mend to young magicians. They say, ‘I by Gary or someone, about a trick that float above the coins. It really looks like want to be a professional magician, do had been fooling everyone with. magic when done from the right angle you have any advice?’ I say yes. Make He was cutting a swathe across the coun- and done well. And I must have done it sure your girlfriend gets a good educa- try doing his lectures and fooling every- well because she turned to me without tion and a good job and you might have one with this trick.” Daryl was appearing irony and said, ‘Are you a warlock,’ as a chance.” in Cincinnati and David went along if warlocks existed. I went, ‘Yes I am.’ At that time David’s professional life with his girlfriend Marsha, who had That was the beginning. That was the as a magician was about as glamorous as been primed about the magician-busting first time she spoke to me.” the life of Quacky the Clown. While in effect. Afterward they went to eat and, They married when they were in college David performed magic at din- sure enough, Daryl did the trick that he’d college. It was an unpretentious affair. ner theaters in the evening, but to pay been fooling everyone with. David found a preacher out of the the rent he also had to wash dishes at “So he does this trick for us and he phone book and for $35 he came to his a Greek restaurant, The Colony House doesn’t know us from Adam. There was mother’s house and said the right words in Fairborn. In the magic world he was this teenage girl sitting at the table with and the marriage was made. Marsha making his mark winning the Gold this skinny kid and he blows everybody studied for her degree and then went to Cups at the 1981 Pittsburgh I.B.M. away with this card trick. Then Marsha language school in Vermont but David convention. It was a competition Mike turns to me and in a loud voice says, lasted only two years as an art major. Ammar had talked him into. ‘Isn’t that the Mexican Joe Crimp.’ And I Despite a love of cartoons and anima- “I brought the Gold Cups home, put could see Daryl thinking what the heck? tion his heart wasn’t in it. them on the shelf, put on my apron, I’m in the middle of nowhere Ohio and “Marsha supported my career many and the next day went back to wash- this teenage girl knows what I’ve been times. She worked a full time job and ing dishes for the lunch crowd at The fooling every card man from coast to allowed me to dabble in magic and try Colony House. It taught me a work coast. Moments like that are just great.” to get a career going. Then we switched ethic. And every once and a while, Taki David and Marsha began dating in places when we had children 10 years and George, the two Greek brothers high school. “She was always the girl I later, Ben and Anna. She was able to who owned the restaurant would say, passed in the hallway. I remember the stay home and by that point my career ‘David come out here.’ And I’d be in my

84 GENII Photos by S usan gartner

apron. ‘Show my friend a trick.’ And I’d do a card trick. ‘He’s an international award winner.’ The guy’s like, ‘Really?’ ‘Go back in there get the plate clean. You left too much cheese on it last time.’ Yes Sir! Those were good times.” In 1984 Marsha left for a semester to study in Leningrad. Meanwhile David accepted an invitation from Thomas Van ventions. Ron McMillan was there in Büren Lenger to lecture in Hannover, London and the whole McMillan fam- Germany. Michael Ammar had recom- ily embraced me as one of their own. mended him. “It was a life changing The International Day Convention experience. Any time you take a kid became a big part of my life for years from the Midwest and put him in after that, and all the people in England Europe it’s culture shock, but it opened that I met.” my eyes to a bigger world and different The impact that David had on magi- ways of living. It was just fantastic.” cians in the U.K. was huge. David was “I’ll never forget sitting at a magic performing first class magic, demon- convention and Ascanio was there. And strating serious skills but not being in Johnny Lonn was there. And there’d be the least bit serious about it. There was some guys from France. Bernard Bilis a youthful vigor to it. An energy and and Jean Jacques Sanvert and just all the natural humor that had been lacking in great European magicians. There may magic, a craft that often took itself too have been five or six languages repre- seriously. He was connected, not just sented at the table. I was just this kid with the audience but with the time from Ohio and I had no idea what they he was living in. I think it’s fair to say were saying. So I sat next to Roberto that when U.K. magicians saw David Giobbi, who simultaneously translated Williamson work, they found a shining every conversation for me. And then put example of how magic could be reimag- it in context on top of that. Historical ined for a new generation of magicians. and cultural. So Roberto became a great “I went all over Europe, 30 some friend. He was my Rosetta Stone when- cities. Riding the trains. It was fan- ever I was in Europe. Whenever I saw tastic. I was 20 or 21 years old. Roberto at a convention I would stay by Marsha was in Russia so we didn’t his side. Not to mention his incredible see each other for months that year. magic knowledge and his chops. He was When we finally got back together in another teacher along the way for me.” Washington D.C. she went to gradu- “I bumped into Chris Power and JJ ate school and I worked as a waiter in Italy on that tour. They became great in the afternoons and did magic at friends and my advocates in England. the dinner theater at night. And we They helped me get work at magic con- built a life.”

DECEMBER 2013 85 David was performing first class magic...

demonstrating serious skills but not being in the least bit serious about it. There was a youthful vigor to it.

Back then, Washington was a great with plans to build one in Washington. it look alive. And he had an original place for magic. David remembers Steve “I said why would I want to do that. routine with it that just killed every- Spill and Bob Sheets performing at I don’t want to work in a magic shop. body. And I bought one from him just the Inn of Magic, a supper club in an That sounds awful and horrible. John like everybody else. And I couldn’t do exclusive part of the city. “They did a said they were paying commission plus anything with it and it sat in my drawer show together and it was the greatest basic. It was about what I was making for years. Then I joined Magic Masters magic show I’d ever seen. It was funny. but not quite. Then he said they have and I realized that Magic Masters was It was amazing. And the chemistry of dental insurance. They pay dental? I the house that Rocky built. For every those two guys on stage, I haven’t seen said I’m there!” magic trick that they sold over the anything like it even today.” It was at Magic Masters that David counter they sold 20 or 30 Rockies.” Other magicians congregated at the would be reacquainted with someone Dennis Sowers and Mike Abston, two venue; Scotty York, Bob Kohler, John who would become a major figure in of Magic Masters’ top salesmen, taught Kennedy. Meanwhile David was work- his life, Rocky Raccoon. “I saw Rocky David how to perform with Rocky. ing at the dinner theater doing close-up Raccoon years before Magic Masters, “Dennis could make Rocky look alive. at the tables and some stage routines. In performed by a fantastic performer I think his brain had separated at some 1986 a different opportunity came his named Jeff Justice who worked the point where half of it was Rocky. Rocky way. His friend John called and told him convention circuit in the early 80s. I would pay attention to other noises and about Magic Masters, a chain of magic would see him at the TAOM or up in look around while he’s holding a conver- shops created by Ken Fletcher that was Columbus at the Magi-Fest. And he had sation. If he said something about Rocky, opening up around the country and great hands with Rocky. He could make Rocky would look at him. What?”

86 GENII The Man

VanishingBy

avid Williamson is the van- ishing man. Before I explain, I’m going to state unequivo- Dcally that there are are more hilarious, gut-busting, brain-crushing, amazing, literally unbelievable stories about impromptu miracles, one-time-only performances, magician-fooling effects, and practical jokes engineered by David Williamson than any magician alive. But Williamson’s greatest per- formance is the after-hours, off-stage miracle “The Vanishing Man”. If you were lucky enough to be at select conventions in the 1990s, you probably heard about (or perhaps witnessed) this impossibility. It would begin with David gathering a select group of people in a hotel suite. He would explain that he had a modern variation of a classic effect, based on the “locked room mystery” sub-genre of fiction. He’d invite people to step into the bathroom with him. He’d point out that there are no extra doors, the ceiling tiles don’t move, there are no access panels in the walls, there are no windows, etc. He’d say, OK go out, and count to ten. After counting to ten, a friend (acting as the door moni- tor) would give the instructions to go in and look everywhere, in the trash can, Photo by JP Cezanne under the sink, in the ceiling panels, everywhere. Do everything you can to in Boston, in room 419 of the Statler The blanket was then dropped, and try to find him. They’d walk in with an Hotel, he performed a legendary stunt. Ken was gone. Everyone was permitted incredible sense of anticipation for what Word would circulate that there was to search the entire room and bathroom they would see. something very mysterious going on in his carefully, but there was no trace of room, a must-see genuine miracle. As soon Ken. For half an hour, with hundreds • as a few people gathered in the room, Ken jamming the halls, groups of five to This legendary stunt was inspired, in Allen, along with two assistants presented ten people would search the room, part, by a similar legendary stunt per- the following mind-boggling performance: the room, the bathroom, in the closet, formed by Ken Allen in the 1950s. Ken Ken stood backed into an alcove in under the bed, even the drawers, but Allen was a magic dealer and inventor, front of the door leading to the bathroom never discovering the magician’s hide- who started working for Abbott’s in the as the two assistants, lifted a blanket in out. After all were satisfied he had dis- 1940s before branching off on his own. front of Ken so that he was out of sight for appeared, his two friends again held up At the S.A.M. convention in May 1952 about five to thirty seconds (reports vary). the blanket, counted to ten, the blanket

DECEMBER 2013 87 Photos by JP Cezanne

MISER'S DREAM

(Method)

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“In his hands the Raccoon became David’s style. He’d been inspired Dustin Hoffman or Al Pacino. Acting by Tom Mullica, among others, with pathos and anger, all the emotions. who had shown that great com- I don’t know how he did it. Nobody is edy can be accompanied by great their equal. Dennis and Mike.” Rocky magic. His appearances at magic Raccoon soon became a staple part of conventions were eagerly looked David’s own repertoire, a highlight of his forward to as his antics got funnier act and a vehicle for tremendous comedy. and more outlandish. “I got a little 1989 saw the publication of more goofy at magic conventions. Williamson’s Wonders, written, illustrat- I thought, well, there are other ed, and published by Richard Kaufman. guys who do great magic. They “Richard came to me, I lectured in New don’t want to see me do a four Ace Jersey and he was there. He said, ‘Do trick. I can offer something else. So you want to do a book?’ I said, ‘Let me I started being a little silly.” While

think about it. Yes, yes I do.’ Because all welcomed by conventioneers the silli-

these other guys were having books. He ness became a problem when it came to W N W N a a told me later that this was the thinnest being booked by Bill Herz, one of the tc h tc h book possible to put a hardcover on. most influential bookers on INTUITION INTUITION That’s the thinnest hardcover the corporate circuit. (Performance) (Explanation) book in magic and had sug- I’m proud of that gested David to Bill and wouldn’t take it seriously. So he didn’t fact.” He should be Bill had rejected him. want to hire me. Mike said ‘Look, just proud of the mate- He’d seen him work con- have him, I’ll pay his fee if you don’t like rial too, gathering ventions and thought him.’ That’s an example of the way Mike together as it did the he joked around too goes out of his way to help people.” very best of David’s much. “That was my Bill booked David and, as Mike had repertoire. reputation for magic predicted, everything went well. “Bill Comedy was becom- conventions because started hiring me after that and we ing a bigger part of I got very goofy and became very close friends. And he kept

88 GENII dropped and there he was, smiling. He went in one at a time and reemerge a Submarine thing where you pour repeated this stunt many times during the few minutes later amazed, proclaiming water down someone’s sleeve, and convention and all Ken would give for a that they had no idea where he went. we were all in a crazy mood. clue was, “I used to be an acrobat.” It cre- As you stepped into the bathroom, you “At one point we all ended up ated such a sensation it was even reported would check all the logical, obvious marching to the bathroom off the in a Boston newspaper. places, the shower, under the sink, etc. lobby of the hotel; there were about Here is how he accomplished this. At that If you stepped around the corner where twenty of us. David’s “door moni- time, Statler Hotels had specially designed the toilet is, you would see Williamson tor” set the scene and explained the medicine cabinets in the bathrooms. Once a crouched on top of the toilet with his ground rules. We watched David hidden lock was opened, the whole cabinet hair wet, holding up a towel rack he’d go into the bathroom, heard a toilet swung open allowing workmen to climb torn from the wall, with a towel draped flush, and then waited until given through into a sort of air shaft to do plumb- over it that he was awkwardly trying the go ahead. We took turns going ing and electrical work. Ken had discovered to hide behind. (Of course, what you into the bathroom. When people a way to open the cabinet. saw varied with each performance. emerged, they were instructed not During the performance, Ken would Sometimes he would crouch in the to say anything to the rest of the duck down behind the blanket and crawl corner behind the toilet sucking his group, let those of us waiting have into the bathroom. He would open the thumb, with a whipped cream-like swirl own experience. But they were all cabinet, and climb into the space between of toilet paper around his head, like a acting strange. Some were laughing, the walls. He braced the rubber soles of three-year-old who thinks he’s invisible.) some looked stunned. his shoes against the opposite wall as he You would walk out of the bathroom, “Between people Williamson held onto the cabinet from behind. Because mostly likely with an perplexed look on would occasionally stick his head there was nothing between him and your face, and say you were stumped, out of the bathroom, and talk to ground level, four stories down, one slip and then stick around to watch the rest the door monitor, or ask how many could have been fatal, which makes the of the group go in, now that you were were left in line. When it was my fact that he repeated the illusion several “in on it”. As more people went in the turn to walk in, I didn’t know what times all the more remarkable. group of voluntary co-conspirators grew to expect—with Williamson, you There is a bonus to this story, and and it became funnier with every person don’t know if it’s going to be really, that is the rumor that Ken wasn’t the who went in. really good, or really, really funny. one who figured out how to pull off When the last person emerged, “But I walked in and he was just this miracle. Another dealer tipped him David would reappear and the group gone. Completely. I couldn’t believe off as to the mechanics of the medicine would disperse disciple-like, spreading it. The only evidence that he had chest and encouraged him to perform the word about the miracle they had been there is his jacket which was the stunt. This raises the question, why witnessed, creating an unbelievable draped over one of the toilet bowls. did this rival dealer supply Ken with desire among convention-goers who I lifted the jacket to see if he was in this information and encourage him to weren’t in the right place at the right the bowl, and of course he wasn’t. perform the “Vanishing Dealer” instead time. It would not take long before He was nowhere. of doing it himself? Because he was everyone was asking, “Have you see “Later, when I told people he van- having an affair with Ken’s wife, and he Williamson’s vanishing thing?” People ished, they said, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ I knew he’d have a window of opportuni- would beg Williamson to repeat it. It had to tell them, ‘No, he was really ty to be in another hotel room with Mrs. became an aspirational experience. gone.’ It literally is one of my favor- Allen, while Ken was creating a legend. I’d heard the legend of Williamson’s ite pieces of magic I’ve ever seen. It “Vanishing Man,” and even though totally blew my mind.” • I’d been told what the “surprise” was, Astonishment is an experience Hotels with this structural feature don’t I still wanted to experience it, but magicians crave, but rarely are lucky exist anymore (or are extremely rare) assumed it was a thing of the past, and enough to encounter. That night and Williamson was forced to pursue a I would never get a chance to see it. Doug McKenzie, and a few other different approach, which he did in in But Williamson decided to revive it at fortunate individuals, were aston- his inimical creative way. If you were the third Magic-Con in San Diego in ished. They followed Williamson one of the lucky few who got to wit- 2012. Here’s how it went down in the into a bathroom where there was no ness a performance, your experience words of Doug McKenzie: place to hide, no way to escape, and would have been something like this: “I was hanging out with Williamson, he was gone. The son of a bitch did After Williamson went into the bath- and a few other people late at night. it, he found an actual method. room, you’d hear a toilet flush, and We were all just jamming and David Williamson really is the you would wait your turn as people Williamson was doing gags, like the vanishing man. •

DECEMBER 2013 89 SALT VANISH (Method)

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beautiful boats and all the beautiful people.’ And I’m pinching myself. How did I get here? I’m the kid from Xenia.” Marsha and me and my family with a you can build a career.” Whenever you ask David to explain roof over our heads because of his book- The 1990s saw a rise in TV magic, where these seemingly golden opportu- ing me and his kindness over the years.” and two television producers, John nities spring from he is always quick to David says he had two possible routes Fisher and Gary Ouellet, both thought tell you what others did for him rather at this point in his career. The first was that David was perfect for television. than what he accomplished by himself. to work his act in the comedy clubs. John Fisher, who produced The Paul He traces his success back to his earli- They paid badly, you stayed in cheap Daniels Magic Show for many years, saw est days via a long list of names and of hotels, it was a tough life. But it was also David, Rudy Coby, and Jeff Hobson on events, like Abbott’s magic convention, where creative entertainers honed their a magic cruise and created a TV series that proved beyond doubt that the acts and bookers and television produc- called The Magic Comedy Strip in the fraternity he wanted to exist, the frater- ers came to find their next stars. U.K. Meanwhile Gary Ouellet was pro- nity he learned about from The Amateur “The other way was the corporate ducing one huge TV magic special after Magician’s Handbook, was a reality. route that people like and another including The World’s Greatest “Obie O’Brien, Hank Morehouse, Joe Bill Herz were doing. It wasn’t as popu- Magic series of shows. He hired David Stevens, Don Tanner, Jep Hostetler, these lated and it was tougher to get into but for a Champions of Magic special set in are the unsung heroes of magic. There is offered a nice pay check. You stay in nice Monaco. It was an experience that gave no way you could make enough money hotels, you’re usually done by nine or ten David pause for thought. to justify how hard these guys work and o’clock in the evening, and you can build “It’s one of those moments in my life their goodwill toward young magicians. a regular family life. I chose that route. where you think, ‘I’m taking a helicop- These are the guys who made opportu- You’re not going to be famous and you’re ter from Nice to Monte Carlo. I’m in nities for me. These are the guys that not going to be super rich, but you could this helicopter flying over Monte Carlo, help our careers and help the art.” raise a family, you can have a life. and there’s the casino there’s the harbor, the There were many more opportuni- ties over the years. The entertainment business survives on hope, the hope of the next big thing coming your way, the showbiz break that will change your life. “I like to think that Marsha has helped ground me. I’ve walked away from opportunities because my family came first. There have been three points in my life where I’ve called Marsha and said, ‘We’re done, all I have to do is sign this thing and we’re set for life.’ Three moments like that and they’ve either fallen through or I’ve just walked away from them because they didn’t feel right. They would have been bad for Marsha and me, and bad for our family. I don’t regret those moments.” The recent economic downturn in the U.S. and elsewhere led to a decline in corporate bookings. While there were further television adventures, a com- pletely unexpected avenue opened up

90 GENII is doing in were a cynical kind of person, it’s like those shows. corny, but they were always so nice: He describes We saw our friends around the world, we it as “a crazy visited with so and so, you’re always wel- fun show” and come at The , it’s a wonderful sounds like it group of people’.” has those wild “I just remember, being a kid, read- in an offer to work the Disney Cruise and goofy moments we’ve come to ing my Genii magazine, having a warm Line. It was met with skepticism. know. But it’s also filled with great ideas feeling for the fraternity of magic. It felt “I said I don’t want to do it. I did a and solid magic. He has been kind like a lot of nice people. So it doesn’t cruise ship 25 years ago and didn’t enjoy enough to share some of these ideas come down to the tricks or the career it. I had to call bingo and dance with old and all I can say is that I can’t wait or the secrets or the professional jeal- ladies and stay below in crummy crew to see them. I’m really amazed at the ousies. In the end, to me, it comes cabins. I didn’t really like it and being on approach he is taking. This is David down to the people in magic. For some the ocean. I figured that wasn’t for me. Williamson at his very best, innovative reason the people drawn to magic are But economics forced me to say yes.” family entertainment that is clever, art- really great people. I’ve walked through The Disney Cruise Line wasn’t like any fully performed, and big enough to hold other careers, in my corporate days, and cruise David had been on before. The a huge audience spellbound. David is looked into other societies and groups cruise industry has weathered the eco- once again in his element. Enjoying of people. And it doesn’t seem the same. nomic storm and continues to grow. The more than ever the life that only magic There’s something about the people in ships are vast and getting bigger. They can offer. magic. I can’t put my finger on it but come fitted out with nightclubs, cinemas, A succession of unexpected kindness- they seem to have big hearts. And that’s restaurants, bars, sports and gym facili- es often leads us to the things we come why I’m thankful for it.” • ties, and theaters—huge state of the art to love. They are the performing venues of the kind in which milestones by which any magician would be proud to work. all magicians can David usually boards the ship half- mark their lives. For way through the cruise. He’ll do a David it began with lounge show for the adults. The next the gift of a magic set. night he might do two 45 to 60 minute A thoughtful teacher shows for the entire ship in a theater who introduced him that seats 2,500 people. In the after- to Shepherd the Great. noons he’ll teach a magic class. And A book by Henry Hay there’s a 10-minute spot in the farewell revealing a secret fra- show. The scale of the venue and variety ternity of magicians. A of work has provided David with new duck-footed Quacky creative challenges. the Clown who pro- “I’ve had to work real hard to come duced hope and up with routines that work for the ship. magic when every- I had to rack my brain. What material thing else had disap- could I do, because my little corporate peared. And a men- club act wouldn’t cut it for these big talist at a convention audiences who were looking to have a who proved that the lot of fun?” kindness of strangers “I went to the Blackpool Magic can change a boy’s life. Convention this year. In previous years If you are looking for I’d be looking at the card gimmicks and signs there are plenty the wallets and the card books and the to be found. stuff where I thought I belonged for “I remember Bill years, the things that interested me. Larsen,” says David, This year I was over there with the “who would always Paper Hat Tears and the folding wands write ‘Genii Speaks,’ and I was just loving it. I was buying all and he was such a kinds of things because I know the kids positive person. And on the ship are going to love this.” in hindsight you can I’d love to tell you exactly what David look at it, and, if you

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