I Lie for Money by Steve Spill

Author:Steve Spill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2015-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

WORLD’S GREATEST MAGICIANS AT THE MAGIC CASTLE

Chronologically speaking, this chapter is out of order, but I’m including it here so it will be closer to my Magic Castle era stuff. The title above was the title of a CBS TV special that was broadcast in September 1990. It’s easy for me to jump ahead seventeen years from 1973 in this book, but in real life I don’t want to jump ahead ten seconds . . . what am I talking about, make that five. Anyway, the host was a magic fan, Peter Scolari, who was/is best known for his roles in the television shows Newhart, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, and Bosom Buddies, the last of which he co-starred in with a then-little-known Tom Hanks.

As the title implies, the location was the Magic Castle and the show featured a who’s who of top-notch late eighties magicians performing illusions and close-up magic. A guy with dark sunglasses and a goose was also in the cast. I was the guy with the goose. The program was filmed between 3:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to avoid the Castle’s normal operating ours. My call time was 4:30 a.m.

Upon arrival I was directed to the parking lot, where I found my very own trailer dressing room. I unloaded my stuff and had a look around. The lights worked, the toilet flushed, and there was even hot water, real flowers, and a basket of fruit. Next stop, the brightly lit makeup and hair trailer. My face was their business and they had a big job disguising my every wart, scar, and blemish. I slept through the glamour treatment. Drooling was an issue and I was told I snored. Between arrival and makeup, two and a half hours had elapsed.

At 7:00 a.m. I emerged from my trailer wearing dark sunglasses and an electric-blue silk suit, and held under my arm was a life-size stuffed animal puppet goose. At 7:15 a.m. I was in my performance space, the Parlor of Prestidigitation, and someone shouted “Okay, here we go!” The crew went through its pre-take gyrations, “All right—three, two, one, action!”

“This is Geyser, the world’s only clairvoyant goose. He’s a mind reader . . . he’s gonna be reading some minds and I’m here to prove it to you.” I pointed to someone in the audience, “What’s your name?” It looked like the goose whispered in my ear, and I said, “The goose knew that . . . don’t worry, it gets better.”

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