Welcome to Kids Stuff. Today’s column is Part II of my magical encounter with Mark Kalin of Kalin and Jinger’s Real Magic, which is being performed at Trump Marina in Atlantic City through Aug. 17.
Part I contained information on how the Internet will affect magic, how Mark and Jinger vanished an American Airlines jumbo jet, and how Mark honed his skills.
I learned that some magicians take a haphazard way to perfect their trick. Some play with it out of a book, perform it for somebody, mess it up and figure it out while performing it. Mark takes a different approach.
"We plan things very, very carefully," he said. "I do a lot of thinking about the trick. Is it the right trick? What is the best method? Then we come up with the trick and think about the presentation, the music and what you are going to say."
You could say it is really like putting a play together. This process could take several months at least, from the point of an idea to the point that it actually gets out on stage.
"The important thing is that once it gets out on stage, it is ready to be out there," Mark said.
I noticed a big theme that Mark and Jinger consistently do over and over. They involve the audience and try to build a bond with them, which is important to keeping their attention.
The cast is mainly Mark and Jinger; however, two women and two men help out with the props. Believe it or not, it takes a day and a half to two days to complete the lighting plans for the show. All of the equipment for the show was transported in one 26-foot truck.
The show commenced with background circus music, along with a voice saying, "step right up." The first illusion utilized a white screen with shadows that appeared and disappeared. This was followed by Jinger and the decompressing box. Jinger stepped into a relatively small box, while Mark pushed a wooden cane into one side of the box to decompress the area until Jinger vanished.
The next trick was surgery without the blood. This illusion needed two audience members. One held a strap attached to Jinger’s legs; the other strap was attached to a secure collar around her neck. I believe this was to ensure she was there during the entire trick. They laid her on a surgery table, similar to the ones they used years ago. Then they put two halved wooden caskets on top of her with the front opened so the audience could see her. Also, there were four holes on top: two were for penetrating with swords, and Mark smiled while saying the other two were for "drainage."
Another trick was an authentic Chinese Box trick, which he purchased at a magic shop in Pasadena, Calif. He especially knew the Chinese Box was authentic when part of it was made in Germany. Basically, the boxes appeared and disappeared within each other.
Mark told the audience that he did not really understand or like puzzles, but Jinger did. He told the audience that it was "not about finding an illusion, it’s about enjoying the mystery." This was totally mind boggling. Jinger stepped inside a puzzle-shaped cart that held spaces for large puzzle pieces. As Mark picked up pieces and put the puzzle together, the pieces formed a human figure. As he started folding the pieces down with Jinger in it, she began to disappear, until she vanished. As he began to reassemble the pieces, she started reappearing until she was whole again. Talk about a nerve-racking decision!
The next trick was very interactive with the audience, specifically one couple in the crowd. The man, or "victim," put his wallet in a white box that was placed on a cart numbered 1 through 6. Then Mark took out five more white boxes that weighed and looked the same. The boxes were shifted around on the cart. The wife answered sudden-death questions to hopefully eliminate the empty boxes in the incinerator. Although it looked and sounded like the man’s wallet was destroyed, there was one box left. Inside, was miraculously his wallet.
Another illusion utilized a volunteer from the audience. They named him The Great Amazing Eddy, since his name was Ed. Since Ed was the magician for the trick, Mark walked off stage. After standing alone onstage, Eddy, from Millville, N.J., was surprised by four hooded people as they brought the trick of doom to front and center stage.
Mark and Jinger returned to the stage. Jinger sat on a prop with two large poles on each side. Mark took away her chair and she was levitating. Then he took away one of the poles and she was still floating in air. To make sure there were no strings attached, Mark took a hula hoop of fire and passed it over and around Jinger.
The next part of the show was definitely not new for Mark, because this was one of the first tricks he learned as a kid from a magic book: billiard balls. This was sleight of hand with great hand manipulation. He made billiard balls appear and disappear in front of the audience’s eyes. Finally, after making all of the balls disappear, he smashed the final one into his shoulder and it became flat.
The illusion following the billiard balls had a very neat, unique idea. They wanted to allow the audience to see them perform a trick from behind stage, so they could see how a trick was executed. They faced the back of the stage as if they were performing to an audience there.
Finger rings, as everyone knows, are circular, but to Mark they are circles of mystery. He took three rings from separate people in the audience: two women’s rings and one male’s ring. He promised they would be returned exactly how they were given to him.
Mark placed all three in a wine glass. He took a wand-like prop, waved it over the glass, put the wand in the glass and took out the exact three rings, only they were all interloped together. Three solid gold rings were magically intertwined. He showed them to the ring’s owners and they claimed that they were their rings. He then put the rings back in the glass and when he pulled them out they were disconnected. Could this be witchcraft, an optical illusion or some outside force?
On one of the last acts, you could say Mark made a point. He performed this to a song titled The End. Mark’s hands were cuffed and he was tightly secured to a metal table with numerous spikes above him. No more description, you need to see this in person.
Mark once again talked about a circle of mystery. He included in his monologue, that "we can live in a life of wonders… we are taught to avoid the mysterious."
I had to ask Mark if Houdini was the best magician.
"In his day, Houdini was known as a pretty rotten magician by fellow magicians," Mark replied. "There is a difference between quality and fame. Houdini was the ultimate showman. They did not have Internet, television back then. To get a message out to the world was pretty difficult.
"Houdini was a great marketer but not generally considered technically a great magician," Mark added. "He was great at self promotion. Houdini did the same tricks everyone else was doing but not even as well. But he created a persona of a man that had supernatural powers and could escape from anything."
Mark’s advice to children interested in a career in magic: "Do what you love. The rest will come."
He stressed that too many people think there is a shortcut, but in reality there is no substitute for practice and hard work.
The bottom line — this show is definitely worth seeing and is audience friendly for all ages.
Tickets for Kalin and Jinger's Real Magic can be purchased through Ticketmaster at 1-800-736-1420 or www.ticketmaster.com CONTEST WINNERS
Jonathan Deglin, owner of Main Line Oogles n Googles, generously donated two full party gift certificates for two lucky Kids Stuff contest winners: Debbie Vassallo and Susan Asimos. ••
Columnist William Feldman can be contacted by e-mail at wmkidscolumn@aol.com