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Fun vanishes when magic is revealed
By Mike Moore
As a rule, it's a good idea to pay attention to anybody who can turn you into a rabbit. Bob Bohm is such a person.
The 48-year-old Mount Pleasant resident is a full-time magician. When he heard the Outagamie Museum in Appleton planned an exhibit that would give away the secret to Houdini's "metamorphosis" trick, he was fuming.
Through an online chat room with other magicians, he spread the word. Pretty soon, magic makers across the world had steam coming out of their black hats.
"Magicians today still use that trick," Bohm said. "I do that trick."
Rather than stomp their feet, Bohm and his fellow magicians embraced the idea of honoring Houdini. Bohm sent a letter to the Outagamie Museum suggesting an alternative exhibit. Instead of highlighting the metamorphosis trick, in which Houdini magically switched places with an assistant on the outside while handcuffed inside a sack and locked in a trunk, why not focus on the straitjacket trick? Although I won't ruin it by telling you how it works, metamorphosis is based more on a gimmick. The straitjacket trick has no gimmick. You get it off as quickly as possible, period. Visitors to the museum would come away with more respect for magicians even though they know how it's done, the magicians thought.
Bohm knew the exhibit was planned to be interactive. He had that covered. Five or six different sizes of straitjackets could be set up and visitors from 3 to 103 could try to shimmy their way out. A manufacturer offered to donate the jackets. Unless they were ever committed to an asylum, it's doubtful anybody would match Houdini's speed.
In case you were wondering, no, museum officials haven't been spotted hopping around or foraging for carrots. The magic community has taken a colder approach and essentially sworn off the place. Bohm has to suppress his curiosity to see how the exhibit is set up.
"The only reason I'll go to Appleton now is if I'm paid to go up there," he said.
This is the just the latest step. The Fox network struck a big blow in recent years when it broadcast a masked magician showing viewers how stuff worked.
Sure, this flies in the face of professional courtesy. The tricks these people work for months to perfect are now being given away for free. D.J. Ehlert came up with a decent analogy. He's the 34-year-old vice president of the Southeast Wisconsin Magical Entertainers Club which meets in Racine.
"If I had the Colonel Sanders recipe, I'd give it back," Ehlert said.
Doesn't the code oblige him to protect the chicken? Never mind. Local magicians say the real damage of revealing secrets isn't to them. People still turn out to see the live performances. The TV specials, along with ones the pros consider more legitimate, help raise interest.
It's the audience that loses the most. Once they've seen the wizard behind the curtain, people stop seeing it as something almost supernatural. And that stinks.
"Then you're just watching science," said Ehlert, who also runs the Kenosha Magic store with his wife. "You're stealing from the audience the real magic."
Outagamie Museum administrators defended the Houdini exhibit, saying his secrets can be found online or in books. Magicians are glad to teach people how to do things, but they want to see a spark of interest first.
"If they want to learn magic tricks, there are plenty of avenues for them," Ehlert said, "but it's another thing to take it one step further and cram it down people's throats."
What's done is done, so magicians will adapt. They're part storyteller anyway, points out Dave Spring. A 33-year-old part-time magician from Kenosha, he said a spectacular performer can overcome a lot.
There's even hope for the people who've lost their magical virginity. Bohm said, while he's had to temporarily shelve tricks that have been exposed, it won't be long until he can start trotting them back out.
"People have a very short memory," he said. "They'll remember that they saw it, but they won't remember how it was done."
Mike Moore is the associate editor of The Journal Times. He can be reached at (262) 631-1724 or by e-mail at: mmoore@journaltimes.com
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