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Franklin Park magician starts tricky career Franklin Park Herald By Linda Taylor February 24, 1988 It’s a tricky career to break into, but Franklin Park resident Tom Interval is determined to become a professional magician. His determination has lasted 11 years, since his mother bought him a magic kit to now. When he was 12, he started entertaining live audiences, and later started performing each year at the North Hills Arts Festivals. Now, at age 21, he will start his first long-term job in the magic field. On Monday he and his family loaded his personal belongings into his car and the family van. After an about nine-hour drive, they arrived at Busch Gardens, an amusement park near Williamsburg, Va. Interval will work at the park until Sept. 5. The job officially begins in March, but he will spend the next few weeks promoting the park’s new magic shop, in which he will demonstrate magic items for sale and perform other close-up sleight-of-hand tricks for visitors. The promotion, from what he had been told ahead of time, might include a press tour and appearances on a talk show or two. He said he doesn’t mind doing it because for magicians, promotion is everything. He already has practice promoting himself. He mails out press releases and promotional photographs of himself, including ones with him in a tuxedo with fire leaping from his hand or with a dove balancing on a fanned deck of cards. Such promo photos are expensive, however, and that’s where his father helps out. A photographer, his father shoots the photos and Interval can buy the wallet size photos in bulk, 100 at a time. “Promotion is really important. A bad magician can get jobs if he promotes himself well. He can make it, to a point.” Luckily, Interval is a good magician. In 1985 he was named Pittsburgh Magician of the Year by his colleagues in the International Brotherhood of Magicians. His father says some of the magicians he was chosen over were “twice his age.” One reason being good at promoting yourself and being good yourself is so important is that there is a surprising number of areas for professional magicians to try to break into, and none seem to offer traditional long-term careers. A magician is like a freelance writer; he must solicit jobs from companies or people or organizations. While some magicians make it big and seem to be always occupied, they probably have had to go through the same process. Perhaps that’s the reason behind one of Interval’s observations: “There are millions of hobbyists, but only a few who make a career in it.” It’s a good thing there are many fields to choose jobs from. Interval lists a few: Children’s parties, shows in malls, shows on cruise ships, shows at dinner theaters and so on, comedy magic, trade show magic, close-up magic and stage magic. Comedy magic is what one would see in a comedy club, where the stand-up comedian incorporates tricks into his act. Many magicians don’t like the comedy branch, Interval said. Close-up magic consists of tricks performed close to a small audience rather than on a stage away from the spectators. It involves tricks done through sleight of hand. This is the type of magic he will perform in the Busch Gardens shop. Stage magic consists of illusions performed on a stage, usually with props. “If you think of where a singer can perform, in a lot of cases a magician can perform.” Some magicians make their living by performing a little in a lot of fields, Interval said. Some survive by doing some kids’ shows, some mall shows, and some comedy magic. Interval would like to work trade shows as a way to fund his true love-stage illusions. “I’d like to do that as a living to make money. Then I could do big stage illusions.” The equipment for stage illusions can range from $95 for the buzz-saw the woman in half, to $1,500 for a woman in a box sawed in half, for example. “David Copperfield’s stage illusions can cost millions,” he said. Interval has switched between close-up magic and stage magic during his years of doing magic. He says it is helpful to be able to do both types of magic. “Doug Henning can do close-up magic. Many can’t, even simple tricks. Kids will come back stage and ask them to do a trick, and they can’t. They can’t even do simple tricks,” he said. And simple tricks, he says, are sometimes the best. The best tricks are quickly done. Long, drawn out tricks work like overly long jokes—the audience gets bored. Interval’s talent with sleight of hand fits in well with companies’ trade shows, in which each company displays and promotes its wares. For example, a special card trick works wonders for a printing company’s display. Interval puts a deck of cards—just like a regular deck of playing cards but blank—on his black velvet mat. The mat is his stage in close-up art, and is very portable, perfect for a corporate magician who will travel the country in search of trade shows. There are only about a dozen magicians who make their living this way, he said, which he hopes will help his chances of becoming one. He fans out the cards to show they are all blank. In his magician lingo, he dramatically says he is thinking of a card—the king of hearts. He taps the deck, and pulls out a card with the king on the front and blank on the back. “I forgot to think of a back.” He concentrates, taps the deck and pulls out a card with a design on the back and a blank front. Next, he says he will “glue” them together. He places the king on the front of the deck, and the card with the design on the back of the deck. “Now we have a front and a back.” He taps the deck, then, presto, he fans out a deck of perfectly printed playing cards. The cards have printed themselves. Or have they? Part of the magic of magic is being able to believe the impossible and enjoy it. “Everyone has the desire to believe in something,” he said. To learn more, contact Tom now. Back to Top