One of my earliest magical memories was watching Doug Henning on television. I was 7. With all the lavish and whimsical illusions coming from the TV screen, one image captured me—a close up of Henning's hand. In it, one nickel. He slowly closed his hand, and when he opened it the nickel was gone! With my jaw still dropped and my eyes fixated on the screen, his fingers closed, then slowly opened to reveal the nickel. It was so simple and pure, yet incredibly magical. It defied explanation. Well, that's all it took for me. It was a tipping point. I officially became a student of the art so that I too could bring the same childlike wonder to others of any age.
As I approach turning 41 next month, it's kind of cool to look back at how the whole magic thing got started with me. What's your earliest memory? How has shaped you?
Posts
1 comment:
I have similar memories. At a similar age to you I have early memories of Doug Henning, David Nixon, then Paul Daniels. Growing up in Britain we had a different TV mix to you in the US.
From an early age up until the age of about 20 I looked forward to there being a major magic show on TV each Christmas. I would scour the schedule looking for the magic spectacular.
My memories are Doug Henning and then lots of David Copperfield. Eventually Lance Burton specials took over and over the last decade we have had no big illusion spectaculars on TV. It doesn't stop me looking for them each year.
I think the one moment that stands out in my memory is as an early teenager watching the Paul Daniels show. Hans Moretti climbed in a cardboard box while knives were 'randomly' thrust into it. At the end he came out of the same small box dressed as a clown holding a chicken (and if I remember correctly a balloon)!
Post a Comment