Now here's a good question! (Magician Origin Stories)

[Felgrand292]

Hello all good sirs and ladies,
I haven't been particularly active on the forums, I'm ashamed to say, but I thought I'd kick of my first thread with a good one.
I want to ask you how you got into magic!
Through family, friends or even if you went to a show and thought: "I need to do that!", I'd like to know!
My personal story is a simple one, when I was about 5, I spent a lot of time at my Grandma's. She wasn't technologically savey then (And still isn't) so all I had for entertainment was an old TV. This TV being my Grandma's, it didn't have many channels. In fact I was only interested in 2: CBBC and CITV. I soon outgrew that latter, so I was down to one channel. At the time I got home from school, one show in particular was on: Tricky TV. This show became my visual bible. Hosted by Steven Mulhern, and the tricks were performed and explained by child magicians, this was perfect. It wasn't until about a year later that I got my first deck, so up until then I used Yu-Gi-Oh cards (I know right). I had an obsession with magic for a while, but being so young, I didn't have the confidence to perform, so that flame flicked down to but an ember. When I hit secondary school, I gained a new confidence in myself, and picked up a deck again. This time it felt right, and now I'm in my last year at that school and I'm constantly performing for friends and family, hoping to go onto great and magical things.

So that's my story, but what's yours?

Fel

 

[Justin.Morris]

Thanks for sharing! I've always picked up tricks as a kid and in university I attended a university staff party and there was a deck sitting on the table. I started showing people some of the tricks I had accumulated and was so surprised how much they enjoyed them. They talked about them for months after. I then talked to a magician I knew and asked where I could learn more. He then showed me things with cards that I had never even thought possible. I was hooked.

 

[WolfSage]

My story is a little different compared to all of the other magicians I've heard. For one thing, it's longer.

When I was little, the world felt like a magical place. From thinking that the secret compartment behind the curtain held gold and treasures, to thinking the hole in my sisters viola held a magic that made it play. I saw it everywhere. But it gradually withered as I grew older. I learned the secret compartment led to a gas valve. I learned that the hole in the viola helped the strings vibrate etc. In late elementary and middle school, I had a lot of pain. From my mom going into politics and hardly getting to see her, to getting sick for 4 months and finding out the military won't accept me (my dream was to become female soldier). The world lost it's light.

One night, I was watching a cartoon and a character did a simple ribbon spread while playing cards. Bent on finding the trick, I searched everywhere and stumbled upon numerous cardistry tutorials. They were all so beautiful, I had to master them all. And then I saw a card vanish. I saw things being transformed into other things, and people breathing smoke and fire and walking on glass. The magic didn't go away. It was there the whole time. I wanted to work on all of these. I performed a vanish for some people. And they smiled and their eyes lit up. And for the first time in ages, I smiled too.

I was hooked.

 

[Timewise64]

My second grade teacher's husband was a magician. He gave us a show in 1957. I was really intrigued by magic, but living in a small town, I had no access to magic or magic tricks (We had no TV stations, limited phone service, let alone internet).

When I was around 10 years old (1960)...a new family moved to the small mountain town we lived in. They had a son, my age and an older son who was in High School. The younger son and I became friends quickly because we had many similar interests. One day his brother came to our grade school and did a magic show. He had a very good magic show, and I was amazed! In time, when I was over at their house after school, his big brother would show us a trick or two, which again peaked my interest. I even paid my friend, his little brother $5 (which was a ton of money in those days) for the secret to sticking pins in balloons......I still do it, but he really got to me on that one...!

Every summer I was lucky in that I got to go spend 4-6 weeks with my Grandparents who lived in Denver. And I knew they had magic stores I could go to. So every year after 1960, I worked at making money all year, shoveling snow, washing dishes, newspaper delivery, picking up pop bottles, selling greeting cards, etc.. Then each summer I would shop for hours in 2 magic stores while in Denver. I have been hooked every since. I stopped doing magic in high school and through much of my adult life, But 3 years ago I jumped back in as I now I have the time and money....since I am retired! And I have six Grandkids, who love to see Poppy do magic....! My focus is KIDS only hope to do more volunteer shows as the opportunities come up and my show gets better.....!

 

[Stu-pendous]

I was a pretty uninteresting young kid, but one day, on a school trip to a card factory, I was bitten by a radioactive ace of spades. I felt really sick the next few days and then I started to develop superhuman skills if card sleights and body manipulation.
Now I go by the name StuPendous and save people all over my city from bordom.
I am entertainment
I am the night (crap that ones taken)
I am StuPendous.



.... But seriously I watched Sherri Lewis and lamb chop as a kid and she showed me magic, and then Rudy Coby's tv special got me hooked.