Magic Moments

'Magic Moments', the name of the show I performed for the first time, at the Town Hall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, way back into the sixties, conjures up some very nostalgic moments for me. Named after a popular song sung by Perry Como, the Magic Circle of Malaysia made its debut. I also made my first television appearance on black & white television. My program consisted of a three glass suspension followed by a production item from inside a box, in which I produced among other things, a stack of ICI paint cans, earning the show $300 in advertising revenue. My final item was the Chinese Linking Ring, a rather difficult and complicated routine during which I formed a goldfish, a trishaw, an Imperial Crown, a ball, a hat, a Chinese coin using seven steel rings. It was not a good choice for a beginner but I persevered and practised until my left thumb swelled to twice its size! I suffered from stage fright and found my knees shaking. After the first night, I psyched myself to overcome the stage fright and on the second night, I regained my self confidence and had no problems after that.

Since then, I have performed in many shows and when I moved to Singapore, remained very active. Through the passage of time, I acquired many apparatus and books culminating in my being a magic collector. Among my collections are vintage masterpieces, intricate magic paraphernalia, precision metal and wooden pieces and books relating to the magical arts.

I am a Life Member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) and belong to the Order of Merlin. I am also a Life Member of the Society of American Magicians (SAM) and Charter Member of Assembly 90 (Singapore), which embodies the Singapore Association of Magicians (SAM).

Magic had been good to me all these years. The magic community worldwide is a very closed community, very guarded in secrecy and very peculiar in their own rights. When attending a magic meeting, it is not unusual to see groups of grown up adults huddled together on the floor, on the table and anywhere playing with balls, cards, ropes, coins and funny looking items. Serious business! Wives might see their husbands as being bonkers!

When I was on a course of study in Baltimore, USA, many years ago, I was immediately accepted into the magic community. Strangers invited me into their homes and meetings.

I was Vice President of a magic association in Singapore, enjoyed many years of fellowship and hours of fun and laughter, performing in the many charity stage shows and functions. I produced two of the charity shows at the World Trade Centre. Regrettably, I fell out with the group due to politics. I have always opposed the formation of cliques because it defeats the purpose of forming an association. It breaks up the membership into factions. Since I refused to be in any clique, I lost the cooperation of the committee itself. Fed up, I just walked out. I was also against piracy because members did not respect the copyright of others. Exclusivity is the keyword, and every magician tries to outsmart another magician by creating an act that no one else has. Prices of magic apparatus have gone up very much all these years. The good ones can fetch high prices. I used to pay a high price in order to have the exclusivity. What irks me is that someone will blatantly make copies without permission.

I am very sad now that since I am getting old and have not been performing magic, I have to reluctantly sell off my magic collection. Last year, I sold 94 pieces of my apparatus to some dealer in the USA. After haggling over the total price, we finally settled on US$12,000 for the lot. The shipping charges by UPS came up to over US$1,000, and this was bourne by the buyer. I had told the buyer that some of the items were more than 30 years old with some even more than 40 years old. Yet after he received the 7 cartons, he emailed me complaining about the conditions of the apparatus. We had a heated exchange of email. A couple of weeks later, he emailed me again, this time telling me that he was happy with the apparatus after all. When I visited his web site, I saw some of my things being advertised as 'mint condition', 'rare', 'hard to find', 'excellent condition', etc, etc, etc. Needless to say I will not deal with him anymore.

My magic collection is unique and I believe it is the only collection in Singapore. Since there are no other magic collectors in Singapore, there are no ready local buyers for my collection. I found much thrill in searching for the items all over the world. That is why I feel sad to see them go. The expensive items will eventually go to New Jersey in the USA, to a magic auction house. At home I have boxes of magic apparatus in the store room, in my display cabinet, under my bed, in my wardrobe and my wife will be very happy to see them all go. I shall miss my magic collection. In future posts, I shall relate some of my past magic performances and strange and funny episodes.

Till then....